The gymnasium at the Greek Orthodox cathedral in Tenafly has been the site of children's' basketball and volleyball games for years. But now the room with its wooden floors has a new function: promoting peace.

Sporting new art and a new name, Peace Memorial Gymnasium is adorned with 63 recently unveiled gold plaques etched with well-known words of peace from Greek Orthodox leaders and other religious and secular figures.

"When young people are in the gymnasium, they will have the background of these messages,'' said Michael Parlamis, who led the art project and donated funds to make it happen at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Theologian on East Clinton Avenue.

"It's an alternative to what young people are constantly subjected to in society. We just hope this kind of thing can be repeated elsewhere.''

Although the project was designed with young people in mind, all guests and visitors using the gym can read quotes by U.S. presidents, including George H. Bush, Richard Nixon, and John F. Kennedy as well as the words of Nobel Peace Prize winners Anwar Sadat and Desmond Tutu among others. The Bible and the Koran are also quoted in the collection.

"An insincere Peace is better than a sincere war,'' reads one quote from a Jewish proverb.

Besides the plaques, the gymnasium is adorned with circular stained-glass windows and one wall with a 60-by-16-foot mural, its centerpiece a large dove outlined in 24 karat gold and painted in oil. The white dove, carrying an olive branch, was painted by an expert in religious imagery, Guillermo Esparza of New York City. Esparza, whose sculptures and paintings are found in museums, churches, and cathedrals, was working on the dove in his studio when the World Trade Center was attacked.

The windows were blown out and a cloud of smoke filled the studio, a block from the Twin Towers, Esparza said. Some debris and dust attached itself to the canvas where it remains today.

"The dust is sealed into the painting under a layer of white pearlescent paint,'' he said. "The dust came in and there is no going back. Once it came in, it was on the painting. I took it to the cathedral and unrolled it there on the floor and the parishioners came there to touch it.''

The idea of having a peace gymnasium was born in response to the death of 20-year old Alexia Tsairis, a victim of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The young woman and her parents lived in Franklin Lakes and were parishioners of the cathedral. She was on her way back to the United States from London on Dec. 21, 1988, to be with her family during the holidays. She died with 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground when a terrorist bomb detonated, bringing the plane down in Lockerbie.

"The [family] decided that rather than do a memorial [at the cathedral] they wanted to make a statement that would have a lasting impact,'' said Parlamis, Tsairis' uncle.

The gymnasium, which is also used for social gatherings, was part of a multimillion-dollar church expansion that began soon after the downing of the Pan Am flight. Tsairis was returning home from London, where she had spent the semester studying photojournalism at the Syracuse University London Center.

The Rev. John Alexandrou, dean of the cathedral, said although the peace gymnasium had been in the making since the late Eighties, last year's terrorism attack in Manhattan pushed the project forward.

"We needed to raise the funds and proceed slowly,'' he said. "But after Sept. 11 we really pushed for it, to complete it and give the name as we have it.''

The cost of the gymnasium portion of the cathedral's expansion was paid for by the Alexia Foundation for World Peace and the Saint John the Theologian Gymnasium Charitable Trust Fund.

Project supporters say the gymnasium is not only a tribute to Tsairis but to all the "victims caught in the crossfire of human conflict.''

"It is my belief that the era that we are living in requires peace advocacy,'' said Parlamis. "9/11 changed everything, because now terrorism is not only something that is remote, but it could be in your back yard.''

To keep the issue of world peace alive, Saint John the Theologian Cathedral also formed the World Peace Institute, an organization whose goal is to keep peace on the front burner by sponsoring conferences focusing on the subject.

"It is incumbent upon us all, as individuals, as a nation, and as a major faith group to be in the vanguard of working toward preserving the peace for the generations to come,'' said Tsairis' mother, Aphrodite, at the unveiling of the gymnasium art. "The creation of the World Peace Institute here at St. John the Theologian is an important step to that end.''

"This is the time that we have seen evil and this is the time for good people to do something,'' added Parlamis. "To speak out, to form advocacy groups that will influence young people. That they grow up looking and insisting for peaceful answers and not war.''

Parlamis said the institute wants to ask internationally recognized peace advocates to speak at the gymnasium and invite community members to attend. Among the people Parlamis would like to invite are Nelson Mandela and other Nobel Peace Prize laureates, he said.

Monsy Alvarado's e-mail address is alvarado@northjersey.com
(Permission granted by The Record to reprint this article)
The Record

Related Stories

Tenafly Cathedral Dedicates Peace Memorial Gymnasium (Orthodox Observer)

Archbishop Dedicates Peace Memorial Gymnasium at Tenafly Cathedral,
Bestows Medal of Saint Paul

SEPTEMBER 29, 2002

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian in Tenafly, New Jersey this past Sunday, September 29, 2002. The Archbishop’s visit marked several occasions of significance both for the parish and the Tenafly community at large, among which included the dedication of the Peace Memorial Gymnasium, established in memory of Alexia Tsairis, a victim of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Full Story