By Linda Taaffe

Photo by Joe Hu, Town Crier

Antiochian church continues with worship despite destructive fire

Prayer services took place at the charred remains of the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Redeemer last week, just three days after a suspicious three-alarm blaze destroyed the church that borders Los Altos Hills, turning the site into a federal crime scene.

More than two dozen parishioners from as far as San Mateo and Morgan Hill gathered to pray April 10, along the sidewalk in front of the yellow police tape stretched across the Magdalena Avenue property in unincorporated Los Altos.

A crew of federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sifted through the ruins just a few yards away, searching for evidence of possible foul play. The church’s predominantly Middle Eastern congregation has led some community members to suspect that the fire was a hate crime.

This was the first time parishioners had gathered at the site since the morning that a fire broke out in the church April 7. The congregation was in the midst of holding Lenten celebrations in preparation for Easter May 5 when the fire occurred. The Right Rev. Bishop Joseph, who flew up from Los Angeles to lead the special prayer service, read from the Bible, “Deliver us from this trouble … All trials of this life are given by Thee,” before Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies escorted him through the crime tape to sprinkle holy water on the church’s blackened remains.

Longtime parishioner Widad Tarazi watched Rev. Bishop Joseph trek through the ashes from the street with tears in her eyes.

“There are 170 families (in the church), but we’ve been like one family from the beginning,” she said. “This (tragedy) is what is going to keep us going, make us stronger.”

Tarazi has raised five children in the church during the past 29 years. The fire destroyed the altar that had the name of her deceased daughter inscribed on it.

“I have happy and sad memories in the church that are left there,” she said.

The fire’s cause was still under investigation on the day of the prayer service. Parishioners said they were praying that the fire was an accident.

“We’ve never had anybody hate us. Everybody that came to the church would say, ‘What a beautiful church.’ We welcomed everybody,” Tarazi said.

Rev. Bishop Joseph said the church’s ministry is about people, not politics.

“We never talk politics in church. That’s why the question is ‘why?’” he said about the fire, which caused an estimated $1 million in damages.

Numerous community groups have stepped forward to support the congregation, donating pews, an altar, money and other needed items, church members said.

Church members said they plan to celebrate Easter at the Magdalena site next week.

Investigators ruled the fire arson the day following the prayer service.