The Slavic Vicariate congratulates Fr. Alexander Karlutsos on his elevation to the rank of Grand Protopresbyter

On September 21, during the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God in Hampton, before a crowd of nearly 500, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew announced conferring the title Megas Protoprebyteros of the Holy and Great Church of Christ upon Proistamenos Fr. Alexander Karloutsos and elevating Dormition Church to the status of Cathedral.

The Slavic Vicariate congratulates Fr. Alexander and his parish on these awards!

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Father Alexander Karloutsos was born in Greece in 1945 and moved to the United States with his parents at an early age. In 1966, he graduated with honors from Hellenic College in Brookline, Massachusetts, and in 1969, he received a master’s degree in theology from Holy Cross School of Theology there. In 1970, he was ordained a deacon and priest by Archbishop Eugenios of Crete and Archbishop Iakovos of America, respectively, and served at St. Constantine and Helen Church in Chicago. In 1974, he was appointed director of youth ministry for the Archdiocese and moved to the Archdiocese headquarters in New York City. In 1978, he was appointed Archdiocesan Director of the Office of Church and Society. In 1992, Fr. Alexander was appointed special assistant to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and in 1994, His All-Holiness appointed Fr. Alexander Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Fr. Alexander has served in the American Archdiocese for over 50 years, and in 2019 became its vicar general. In recognition of his advisory work under several presidents, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S. In 2017 he was awarded the Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. Father Alexander and his wife have a large family—three children and nine grandchildren.