Construction on Greek Orthodox church to begin by year-end

Dubai Construction on the first Greek Orthodox church in the UAE, in Jebel Ali, is likely to begin by the end of the year.

Church members said the intricate design means the building is not likely to be finished until 2007.

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.

Until now, members of the Greek Orthodox Christian community in the UAE have had to use churches of other denominations for services.

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.

"Definitely it will be a good feeling to have our own church because the way we carry out prayers is different from the other churches.

"When we have our own church we will have better availability for marriages, baptisms and funerals.

"We have been using Holy Trinity Church in Dubai for more than 20 years and although we have a very good relationship with them, we do not have full availability because so many people use it," he said.

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

He added that worshippers from Russia, Syria, Greece, the Ukraine and Cyprus, among other places, would all regularly use the new church. Services will be conducted in Arabic and Greek.

Theodory said he hoped construction would start in October once plans had received approval and would take up to one-and-a-half years.

"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.

Greek Orthodox services regularly attract as many as 400 people in Dubai and about 200 in Sharjah.

During major Christian festivals such as Easter there can be as many as 2,000 people attending.

The church is being paid for by donations from members of the Greek Orthodox community in the UAE.