CONTOS, LEONIDAS C

CONTOS, LEONIDAS C., priest, theologian (1920–1995). Graduated from Holy Cross Theological School, Brookline, Massachusetts (1943), he served as pastor of the Church of the Archangels, Stamford, Connecticut, from 1944 to 1951. In 1950 he received a B.A. from the University of Bridgeport. From 1951 to 1965 he served as dean of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles, during which period he received a D.Phil. from Oxford University (1963). From 1965 to 1966 he served as director of communications and ecumenical relations for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America (q.v.), headquartered in New York City. From 1966 to 1972 he was president of Hellenic College and Holy Cross Theological School. From 1972 to 1973 he was Senior Editor for the Saturday Review. From 1979 to 1988 he served as pastor of the Church of the Holy Cross, Belmont, California, then Vicar General of the Diocese of San Francisco, 1989–92. He was a cofounder and president of the Patriarch Athenogoras Orthodox Institute (q.v.) at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California, and Alexander G. Spanos Professor of Orthodox Studies. He has written on Gregory Palamas (q.v.) and ecumenical relations. Most recently he completed a private publishing project of liturgical translations, the first of which is the Septuagint Psalter (1994), as well as The Holy Week Services (1994). Fr. Contos displayed good skills for simultaneous translation from Greek to English, and was liked especially for his congeniality and eloquence.