Long considered one of the most influential clergymen in the history of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, Rev. Alexander Karloutsos– known to Presidents and faithful simply as “Fr. Alex”– has submitted a request to retire.
According to a letter dated March 25, 2021, Fr. Alex requested retirement from Archbishop Elpidophoros effective May 3, 2021.
Karloutsos, who also serves as a priest at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Kimisis Tis Theotokou in the Hamptons, on Long Island, has served in various functions at the Archdiocese.
He has simultaneously served as spiritual advisor to numerous organizations, including the Archons, the FAITH Endowment and other Archdiocese-affiliated initiatives.
There has been speculation– which Fr. Alex has refuted repeatedly– that he would assume a position or even an Ambassadorship in the new Biden Administration. He and his family have a longstanding close and personal relationship with President Joe Biden.
Karloutsos was also the chief fundraiser for the massive St. Nicholas National Shrine project, masterfully managing his relationships with prominent businessmen and women in the United States to leverage their support towards the Church, raising more than $80 million for the Shrine’s completion.
The letter sent by Karloutsos to Archbishop Elpidophoros is here.
In the letter, he asks for permission to stay active in the functions of the Church. “As I stated to you directly and to His All Holiness (Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew), I will retire, but not retreat.”
Karloutsos goes on to ask permission to continue working on the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Endowment Fund, as well as serving as spiritual advisor to the Archons and the “Friends of St. Nicholas.”
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1 comment
B”H
The announcement of my dear friend’s imminent retirement, but not retreat, from the ministry he has brought worthy professional conspicuous attention for decades —- arriving in the midst of the Jewish Passover —- shakes me in a very personal way.
For decades, he has been my most welcoming collaborator in matters of import to Greek, and Greek-American relations; with particular attention to a still fraught condition in Greco-Jewish concerns! In recent years, he has been a rare Greek cleric who understood the twin doctrinal, and political dimensions coming to a head; and having the potential for a truly beneficial rearrangement of the physical-social-emotional divide in the communities.
First, the painful, unacceptable, willful pain that continues to be afflicted on Jews in the insistence, as befits an unbending Orthodoxy, that Jews are blameworthy for the crucifixion.
And, second, that Greece stands singularly as the only European-Christian nation to have voted in the UNGA against the birth of a Jewish State, 11/29/1947.
Our native land must recant that hateful ballot, and issue an apology to Israel, and the Jewish People. Fr. Alex, a name my own grandson sports (though Asher is his Hebrew name), has assured me repeatedly that a longed-for change is coming.
My anxiety is that such progress may be postponed beyond our own two lifetimes, as we are both septuagenarians.
Perhaps, his swan song, initiatives that are sure to eternally honor him in the annals of contemporary Church and Greek state history, will be for Fr. Alex to bring such lingering, and divisive issues to an end!
Meanwhile, I wish to associate myself with the throng extending kudos to him and his supportive Presbytera Xanthi.
May they continue to enjoy health, happiness, and be always of good cheer. Amen.
With fraternal affection,
Prof Asher J Matathias
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