Rev. Fr. Alkiviadis Calivas

Fr. Alkiviadis Calivas was born in Northern Epirus in December, 1932 and grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City, where he received his primary and secondary education. In June 1956 he graduated from Holy Cross and was married soon after to Erasmia (Mia) Spiridakis. He was ordained to the diaconate on July 22, 1956 by Bishop Athenagoras (Kokkinakis) and to the holy priesthood on August 26, 1956 by Bishop Ezekiel (Tsoukalas).

For the next twenty years he pursued intermittently graduate studies in liturgics while serving two large parishes in New York City (St. Constantine in Brooklyn and St. Spyridon in upper Manhattan) and for two additional years serving at Hosia Xeni while enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Thessaloniki.

He received a B.A. Th. from Holy Cross (1956), an S.T.B. (the equivalent of today's M.Div.) from General Theological Seminary (1960), the Th. M from St. Vladimir's (1970), and a Th. D. from the University of Thessaloniki (1982). In 1978 he received an appointment to the faculty of Holy Cross, where until his retirement in 2003 he taught liturgics and sacramental theology. He also served the school as chaplain and held several key administrative positions, including dean of the School of Theology and president of Hellenic College.

In 2004 the faculty bestowed upon him the title of Professor Emeritus of Liturgics and in 2009 the School conferred upon him its highest honor, the degree of Doctor of Divinity τιμης ενεκεν. He has represented Holy Cross, the Archdiocese, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate on several regional, national, and international ecumenical, bilateral, and pan-Orthodox commissions, consultations, and symposia. He served as the first president of the Presbyters Council of the Archdiocese (1970-1974) and has served for many years on the Archdiocesan Council.

He is a member of several professional societies, including the Orthodox Theological Society of America, where he served as president. He is the author of several books, including “The Liturgy in Dialogue: Exploring and Renewing the Tradition” (2016). From 1978 to the present, he has been at the disposal of the Metropolis of Boston, servicing several of its parishes at different times as needed. In 2004, soon after his retirement, he was assigned interim priest of St. Catherine Church in Braintree, MA and served there until 2008.

Fr. Alkiviadis and his wife Erasmia have three married children: Kathryn with her husband Fr. Thomas Chininis, Constantine Calivas with his wife Evangeline, and Olga with her husband David Newkirk. They have eight grandchildren: Alexis, Nicole, and Christopher Chininis, Andrew, Matthew, and Damon Calivas, and Anastasia and Zachary Newkirk. Fr. Calivas and his wife Erasmia live in Needham, MA.