Exhibit 31.1
                                  CERTIFICATION


               I, Carroll E. Amos, Chief Executive Officer of Greater Atlantic
Financial Corp., certify that:

1.             I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Greater
               Atlantic Financial Corp.;

2.             Based on my knowledge, this annual report does not contain any
               untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material
               fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
               circumstances under which such statements were made, not
               misleading with respect to the period covered by this annual
               report;

3.             Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
               financial information included in this annual report, fairly
               present in all material respects the financial condition, results
               of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for,
               the periods presented in this annual report;

4.             The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are
               responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls
               and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15 (e) and
               15d-15 (e) for the registrant and have:

               (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
               such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
               known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
               the period in which this report is being prepared;

               (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
               controls and procedures and presented in this report our
               conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
               and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this based
               on such; and

               (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
               internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
               the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's
               fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
               materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
               affect, the registrant's internal control over financial
               reporting; and;

5.             The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,
               based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
               financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit
               committee of registrant's board of directors (or persons
               performing the equivalent functions):

               a)       All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in
                        the design or operation of internal control over
                        financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
                        adversely affect the registrant's ability to record,
                        process, summarize and report financial information; and

               b)       Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                        management or other employees who have a significant
                        role in the registrant's internal control over financial
                        reporting.

Date:  January 12, 2009                              /s/ Carroll E. Amos
                                                     -------------------
                                                     Carroll E. Amos
                                                     Chief Executive Officer