Visitors to the World Trade Centre before September 11th may have spotted a little white building topped by a cross standing incongruously in a car-park beside the south tower. It had a sign on the white-washed wall saying: "Please no graffiti. This is a church".
I pushed open the tiny wooden doors once and found myself in a sanctuary of gilded icons, ornate crucibles and flickering candles. A Greek Orthodox priest was chanting the liturgy for a congregation of five.
For decades the 35 ft-high, 22 ft-wide and 56 ft-deep church of St Nicholas stood as a spiritual counterpoint to the world of global finance which overshadowed it.
The minuscule place of worship defied developers ever since it was converted from a residence to a church in 1922 to serve a Greek immigrant community.
Bankers and brokers seeking spiritual retreat from the frenetic pace of the financial industry often visited for a few moments' reflection before returning to the twin towers nearby.
St Nicholas's church is no more. On Tuesday of last week it was obliterated when the south tower collapsed. The pastor, Father Romas, arrived on Wednesday to find it smashed by the weight of the falling skyscraper. The 90 or so regular worshippers are all apparently safe as the church was unoccupied other than by a parishioner, Mr Bill Tarazonas, who was there to admit an electrician. They fled before the towers fell.
Many churches in the financial centre served immigrant communities which have now moved on. One which retains its arched doorway has become an Irish bar called Moran's.
The oldest, Trinity Church, at Wall Street and Broadway, a much-visited gothic revival building, was the city's tallest structure until 1892. It once was a slum landlord until embarrassing publicity forced it to knock down its properties a century ago. Its crowded graveyard houses some famous financiers, including Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury.
St Paul's on Broadway and Fulton, a British-built church dating back to 1766, also survived.
Father Romas hopes to get a permit from New York to rebuild St Nicholas but his immediate concern is finding the 16th- and 18th- century relics of Saints Nicholas, Katherine and Savvas which were on the top floor.
The congregation of St Nicholas plans to launch an appeal among Greeks worldwide. The building was insured for $1 million but the reconstruction will cost much more - certainly more than the $25,000 it took to create "the little church that could" eight decades ago.