Father Alex Karloutsos: His pivotal role in the opening of the Holy Theological School of Halki

Founded in 1844 by Patriarch Germanos IV at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and serving as the main theological educational institution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of ConstantinopleIt was housed in a stone building erected in 1896, after a devastating earthquake in 1894, with a donation from Pavlos Skylitsis Stefanovic and designs by the architect Pericles Photiadis.

The School operated continuously until 1971, when the Turkish government, with a law prohibiting the operation of private higher educational institutions, suspended its operation.

Since then, the issue of its reopening has been the subject of discussions and diplomatic pressure from Greece, the United States, and the European Union.

Father Alex Karloutsos is one of the most influential figures in the Orthodox Church in modern times and a man who has played a decisive role in the highest echelons of American politics and international Orthodoxy.

He has spent time in every Oval Office since the Jimmy Carter era and has been honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Joe Biden.

His connections have always been at a high level: from Henry Kissinger to Blackstone founder Pete Peterson to Joe Biden and others.