A historic Serbian Orthodox church in Manhattan that plays an important role in New York’s Serbian community was gutted by flames on Sunday, just hours after parishioners had filled its pews for Easter services.

The New York Fire Department said it received the first report of the blaze at the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava, on West 25th Street between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas in the Flatiron district, shortly before 7 p.m. It grew to a four-alarm fire that took 168 department personnel to tame, fire officials said.

It was not clear if anyone was at the church when the fire started, officials said. The priest had left before the blaze began to go on a bicycle ride after an Easter luncheon that stretched into the late afternoon and capped several busy days of religious celebrations, officials said. A caretaker who arrived after the fire started was treated for smoke inhalation but was not hospitalized, they said.

Frank Gribbon, a department spokesman who was at the scene on Sunday night, said the blaze did not appear to be suspicious. He said the department would investigate the cause, but cautioned that the amount of damage could complicate that effort.