New Greek Orthodox Cathedral In The Gulf

This is certainly more than the Turks or the Jews or the Western Europeans have ever done for us. Mighty civilized behavior by our Arab friends, the news is courtesy of UAE (United Arab Emirates-based) Gulf News , self-described as "the leading English language newspaper of the United Arab Emirates" :


An artist's impression of the first Greek Orthodox church
in the UAE.


Published: 18/6/2005, 08:45 (UAE)
Dubai: Dubai Construction on the first Greek Orthodox church in the UAE, in Jebel Ali, is likely to begin by the end of the year.

St Mary's Greek Orthodox Church has been made possible after General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Defence Minister, donated a plot of land.

John Theodory, an Arab Canadian who is chairman of the church committee, said the church members were "very grateful" to Shaikh Mohammad for donating the 1,800 square-metre plot of land.

Theodory said there was a Greek Orthodox church in Iraq and a rented villa in Kuwait for worshippers, but said St Marys would be the first Greek Orthodox church in the Gulf built in the proper manner.

It will take this long to finish the church because after the construction there is lots of artistic work that must be completed. It will be a real Byzantine construction of the kind you can often find in Athens, he said.