The hand-crafted Holy Table was in place. The chalices recently had come in from Romania.
After three years of preparation, the consecration of St. Mary Romanian Orthodox Church was only three weeks away.
But the sanctuary of the church near Dacula was heavily damaged by a two-alarm fire Thursday morning, putting an indefinite hold on the highly anticipated ceremony.
"I'm heartbroken," said the Rev. Nicolae Clempus, priest of the church. "It was going to be a proud moment for all of us."
Gwinnett fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge said a passerby reported a fire at the church in the 2800 block of Winder Highway about 8:30 a.m.
Arriving fire crews found the fire burning in the floors and walls of the sanctuary and pulpit area, Rutledge said. There was no one at the church when firefighters arrived and no injuries had been reported, he said.
Firefighters had the blaze under control at 9:20 a.m., Rutledge said, adding the interior of the sanctuary area sustained "extensive" damage.
Rutledge said the fire appeared to have started in the sanctuary near the pulpit, where there were a number of electrical components. Foul play is not suspected.
An investigator with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was assisting Gwinnett firefighters in determining the cause of the fire. Rutledge said that is “common for a fire in a place of worship.”
That was of little solace to Clempus and the dozen or so parishioners who gathered outside the church Thursday afternoon.
Most of them were original members of the church, which was founded in 2001. Clempus, who came to Gwinnett from Romania with his wife, started St. Mary with only a handful of families from the tight-knit Romanian community in the area.
In those early days, church members attended services at a small chapel in the middle of a cemetery in southwest Atlanta and later in a social hall loaned to them by a Catholic church in Norcross.
Eventually a church member purchased a plot of land for them in the woods along Winder Highway and they put together enough money to build a chapel.
"We started from scratch," said Anda Tanasescu of Suwanee. "But so many of us have started over all of our lives."
When they finally opened the doors to their parish on Easter 2008, everyone looked forward to the consecration of the church. It would be the completion of that dream.
It was scheduled for May 28. Archdiocese officials from across the country and even Romania were planning to attend.
"It's like baptizing a building," said the Rev. Nicholas Apostola, vicar of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas. "It was a big deal. I'm sure [Clempus] is devastated."
He is. But Clempus said he hopes to rebuild the sanctuary again.
"It's painful," he said. "But everything is going to be fine."
Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this article.
About the Author
