Alexander Atty
The Very Reverend Doctor Alexander Atty (August 7, 1951 – March 23, 2014) was a priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America and former Dean of St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania.
Life
Alexander Atty was born August 7, 1951, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. After completing his secondary education, Alexander enrolled at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. Subsequently, he attended St. Vladimir's Seminary in Crestwood, New York from which he received a Master of Divinity degree in 1979. Then in 2008, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Prior to his ordination into the Holy Orders, Fr. Alexander married his wife Khouria Olga with whom they have had two children, Katherine and Alexander.
Alexander was ordained a priest on December 9, 1979 at St. Nicholas Cathedral, Brooklyn in New York and assigned as priest of St. Michael the Archangel Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He was elevated to the dignity of archpriest in 1988.
In addition to having served as pastor of St. Michael's parish, Fr. Alexander served as Proestos of the Diocese of Toledo of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese and as Dean of the Ohio Valley Deanery of the diocese. Additionally, he served as a trustee of St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania.
As a person well known at St. Tikhon's Seminary when its dean Fr. Michael Dahulich was elected to the episcopate in 2009, Fr. Alexander became a leading candidate to succeed the bishop-elect. On March 12, 2010, the Board of Trustees of St. Tikhon's Seminary approved the recommendation of the seminary's search committee to engage Fr. Alexander as the new dean of the seminary. When the Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America gave its blessing to Fr. Alexander's appointment in March 2010, it was with the concurrence of the Antiochian Archdiocese and with the decision that Fr. Alexander remain attached to the Antiochian Archdiocese while serving as the Dean of the Seminary, an institution of the Orthodox Church in America. Fr. Alexander officially assumed duties as dean of the seminary on July 1, 2010, and was formally installed as Dean and Chief Operating officer on October 30, 2010.
On February 5, 2012, Fr. Atty resigned as Dean and Chief Operating Officer of St. Tikhon's Seminary for reasons of health.[1] On March 23, 2014, Sunday of the Holy Cross, Fr. Alexander fell asleep in the Lord.
Sources
- Archpriest Alexander Atty to Present Public Lenten Retreat
- Archpriest Alexander Atty Installed as Dean of St. Tikhon's Seminary
- Memory Eternal! + Fr. Alexander Atty
