The relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Orthodox Church has always been strong in this particular place. Not only was Holy Trinity Chapel the site of the first Orthodox Liturgy in New York - and the first known to have been performed in an Episcopal Church - but when Holy Trinity Chapel came up for sale in 1942, it was Orthodox congregations who were given preference for this sale. Furthermore, in the years before the Serbian Orthodox group had their own church, the Serbian congregation was allowed use of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Not only that, but when two of their notable members - [[w:Mihajlo Pupin|Michael Pupin]] (1858-1935) and [[w:Nikola Tesla|Nikola Tesla]] (1856-1943) - not only were died, their funerals were held here, but and the Episcopal Bishop Manning (mentioned above) took part in both<ref name="pupinobit">[http://ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/6/6f/Pupin_-_obituaries_for_pupin.pdf Pupin Obituaries] Engineering and Technology History Wiki</ref><ref name="teslaobit">[http://www.teslasociety.com/orbit.htm Tesla Obituaries] Tesla Memorial Society of New York</ref><ref name="stjohnpic">[http://www.teslasociety.com/teslasites.htm Picture of Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where Tesla's funeral was held] Tesla Memorial Society of New York</ref>. (Busts of Pupin and Tesla were erected in front of St. Sava once the Serbian congregation moved into the former Holy Trinity Chapel.) After the 2016 fire, the first Divine Liturgy the congregation of St. Sava held was in the Episcopalian Calvary Church (located on Park Avenue) and , the second in St. George Episcopal Church (connected to Calvary Church) on East 16th Street has , who had also offered the congregation space for the time being, and continuing Sunday Divine Liturgies are being held at the Good Shepherd Chapel of the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (while weekday services are being held at [[St.Eleftherios Church (New York, New York)|St. Eleftherios Greek Orthodox Church]]).

Holy Trinity Church had looked into selling Holy Trinity Chapel as early as 1915, along with other satellite chapels of theirs, but the parish, along with their new priest, resisted these efforts and struggled on for nearly another 30 years. In 1940, a series of fourteen murals created by artist Rachel M. Richardson were dedicated. She had spent ten years creating the set; the church was put up for sale a scant two years later.

On Pascha Sunday, May 1, 2016, a fire was seen burning in St. Sava Cathedral. The blaze quickly grew to a 4-alarm fire, and over 170 firefighters were dispatched to the scene to battle it. It remains unclear if any of the building can be saved, although initial Initial reports from [[May 2 indicate ]] indicated that the exterior walls may still be structurally stable. However, but the interior and roof were completely gutted. Because the cause of the fire was not immediately clear, the Fire Department of New York initially treated this fire as 'suspicious', although this does not necessarily mean that they suspected arson. Subsequently, FDNY has stated that they suspect a box containing partially-burned candles may have ignited if they were not all extinguished completely. (Because of the sheer number of candles in most Orthodox Churches, candles are very often looked to as the cause of fires. While this is sometimes the case, in others, such as the fire at [[St. Nikola Church (Cudahy, Wisconsin)|St. Nikola Church in Cudahy, Wisconsin]] candles were initially thought to have ignited it, but it turned out to be have been an electrical fire.) The last people to leave St. Sava Cathedral are said to have left about 3pm; the fire was reported at 6:50pm; for their own safety firefighters were only able to go to the interior for a few minutes, seeing that the choir platform was already engulfed in flame. This led investigators to conclude that the fire had been burning, unnoticed, for some time despite the fact that a flea market had taken place next door in the hours between 3pm and when FDNY were called and there had been no reports of smoke or fire while that event was taking place.

As of the morning of [[May 2]], 2016, even as the fire department was still pouring water on the remains of St. Sava Cathedral, New York City Councilmember Corey Johnson reported that he already knew of expressed interest by a developer to use the land (and that of the remains of the adjacent Chelsea Flea Market) to build an 850-foot tower.

[[Irinej (Gavrilović) of Serbia|Patriarch Irinej]] of the Serbian Orthodox Church confirmed that he was receiving information from the Serbian Embassy in New York as to information about the fire. The Serbian Embassy in Washington has requested through the United States State Department that all findings of the Fire Department of New York be available for review by the consulate. Patriarch Irinej has also stated that he would like the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to take over the investigation of the fire, since, despite the speculation about candles, no FDNY investigator had come to inspect the site of the blaze in the first eight days. According to reports, the first site investigators may not arrive until at least two weeks after the fire. An update posted to the St. Sava Cathedral webpage dated [[May 24]] indicated that at that time, the onsite investigation was underway<ref name="invupdate">[http://stsavanyc.org/press-release-serbian-orthodox-cathedral-of-saint-sava-executive-board-update/ Press Release: Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava Executive Board Update]</ref>. A later bulletin from the Cathedral indicates that the investigation was completed on [[June 8]], and that the report will be released in the weeks to come<ref name="report">[http://stsavanyc.org/saint-savas-sunday-bulletin-for-june-12-2016/ St. Sava Sunday Bulletin for June 12, 2016]</ref>. However, the ''New York Post'' reported on [[June 3]] that the NYFD spokesperson Frank Gribbon announced that unextinguished candles were the definitive cause of the fire<ref name="nypostdetermination">[http://nypost.com/2016/06/03/tragic-cathedral-fire-sparked-by-easter-candles/ Tragic Cathedral Fire Sparked by Easter Candles] Cohen, Shawn, and Chris Perez; ''New York Post''; June 3, 2016</ref>.

Outgoing Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic toured the St. Sava site in mid-May, and indicated that not only will the Serbian government help St. Sava rebuild, but that Serbia would be asking New York City through diplomatic channels for help as well<ref name="dacic">[http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2016&mm=05&dd=16&nav_id=98010 Dacic tours Serbian church in NYC destroyed in Easter fire] B92.net; May 16, 2016</ref> In the update provided by the Cathedral on its website on [[June 12]], 2016<ref name="report" />, it was stated that since it was previously ascertained via engineering reports that the remaining walls of the church structure are not structurally stable in inclement weather or in wind exceeding 25mph<ref name="june5">[http://stsavanyc.org/serbian-%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%99%D0%BD%D0%B8-%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD-%D1%86%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B2%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B3-%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5-%D1%83-%D1%9A/ St. Sava's Sunday Bulletin, June 5, 2016]</ref>, the New York Department of Buildings has reached the decision that the remainder of what stands of St. Sava Cathedral must come down, either by dismantling or demolishing the building.  St. Sava Cathedral was not the only Orthodox Church to burn on Pascha 2016. In Australia, the [[Church of the Resurrection (Sydney, New South Wales)|Church of the Resurrection]] - a church parish of the [[Macedonian Orthodox Diocese of Australia and New Zealand]] - in the Rockdale area of Sydney, New South Wales was destroyed, and in Melbourne, Victoria, the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia|Greek Orthodox]] [[Holy Church of the Annunciation of our Lady (Melbourne, Victoria)|Holy Church of the Annunciation of our Lady]] sustained heavy fire damage. Furthermore, a massive fire broke out in a hotel next to the main chapel at the [[Valaam Monastery]] in northern Russia. All of the buildings involved are historic structures. ==References==<div><references/></div>