Apostolos Koufallakis

Koufallakis was born Evangelos on the island of Rhodes in 1969 to Ioannis and Stergia Koufallakis, the second of four children. In 1990, he was accepted into the Ecclesiastical School of Patmos where he studied Orthodox Byzantine Music and Hymnology, and was tonsured a monk in 1993. He was ordained as a deacon in June 20 of that same year, where he served as deacon to the Metropolitan of Rhodes until 1995 when he was accepted into the University of Thessaloniki. On July 28, 1996 he was ordained as a priest, and in 2000 he graduated with a Master of Divinity. ==Life in America==

He first arrived in America in 2001, and was accepted into Boston University the following year, conferring him a Master of Sacred Theology in 2004. From 2004 to 2008 he served as dean of the Cathedral of St. Demetrios in Astoria, New York, and received the Citation of Honor for his “profound devotion to the Greek Orthodox Church and to the Greek American Community” during the Greek Independence day celebrations on March 20, 2008. In March 2009, he was appointed director of the Archdiocesan Hellenic Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. until November 2011 when he was moved to the Chancellor of the Metropolis of San Francisco under Metropolitan Gerasimos. On November 28, 2014 he was elevated to rank of auxiliary bishop and given the title of Bishop of Medeia. He also was appointed as Chief Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in 2018 and Spiritual Advisor of the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society in 2019. Koufallakis was also tasked with planning of the ceremony of the enthronement of Archbishop Elpidophoros which took place on June 22, 2019. He was also appointed member of the Holy Synod of the Phanar that same month. ==References==