V. Rev. Fr. Anastasios Gounaris

V. Rev. Fr. Anastasios Gounaris is Dean of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City, the national Cathedral of the Orthodox Church in America. He is a member of the Archdiocesan Council, the governing body of the Archdiocese. On February 3, 2013 His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America elevated him to Protopresbyter, the highest rank for married clergy. One of Father’s goals is to make the Cathedral a center of the community for Orthodox Christians and non-Orthodox Christians alike.

Originally from Bedford, Massachusetts, Fr. Anastasios previously served at Holy Trinity parish in Indianapolis having been elevated to the rank of Economos. During his tenure at Holy Trinity, Father was deeply involved in television, ecumenical, and pan-Orthodox ministry. In 1998 he was the catalyst for the parish purchasing 20 acres of land in Carmel, Indiana — a process that catapulted the parish from its former, 19,000-square foot facility to the 41,000-square foot, state-of-the-art, Christ Kamages-designed Byzantine temple with classrooms, offices and fellowship space.

Fr. Anastasios attended the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on a full state scholarship as an electrical engineering major. In 1977 he participated in the Archdiocese’s Ionian Village Spiritual Odyssey program, serving as a counselor and tour guide at the Ionian Village in Greece during the summer of 1979. Shortly after receiving his BS from the University of Massachusetts in 1979, he embarked on his studies at Holy Cross School of Theology, receiving his Masters in Divinity in 1983. That same year, he was ordained to the priesthood at St. Spyridon Church in Washington Heights (NYC). There he served under the late V. Rev. Dr. John Poulos, coordinated thriving teen and young adult ministries, and was responsible for hospital ministry. In 1985, the late Bishop Timothy of Detroit assigned him to the St. Demetrios parish in Saginaw, Michigan.

Fr. Anastasios and his wife, Maria, have two daughters, Eleni Miller, a Pediatric RN currently pursuing her Nurse Practitioner degree in Indiana, and Katrina Gounaris, a graduate speech pathologist, currently working in the New York City school system in the Bronx. They have one granddaughter.