The Greek Orthodox Church in Canada will receive a new leader following the election of Metropolitan Apostolos of New Jersey as Archbishop of Canada.
The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected Apostolos unanimously on July 22, 2026, after accepting the resignation of Archbishop Sotirios from active service.
According to the announcement from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Apostolos was selected from a list of three candidates presented to the Synod.
He is scheduled to be enthroned in Canada on September 19.
Apostolos succeeds Archbishop Sotirios, who has served as a bishop in Canada since 1974. Sotirios was promoted to Bishop of Toronto in 1979, Metropolitan of Toronto in 1996 and Archbishop of Canada in 2019, when the Metropolis of Toronto was elevated to an archdiocese.
The transition brings to an end more than five decades of episcopal leadership by Sotirios. According to the Archdiocese’s official history, the number of Greek Orthodox churches in Canada grew from 22 at the time of his election as bishop to 76 during his tenure.
Apostolos was born Evangelos Koufallakis on the island of Rhodes. He attended the Ecclesiastical School of Patmos and later studied pastoral and social theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
He was ordained a deacon in 1993 and a priest in 1996. In 2001, he moved to the United States for further studies and later received a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Boston University.
Apostolos subsequently served Greek Orthodox parishes in Massachusetts before being appointed dean of St. Demetrios Cathedral in Astoria, New York, in 2004. He later became director of the Archdiocesan Hellenic Cultural Center in Astoria and, in 2011, chancellor of the Metropolis of San Francisco.
He was elected an auxiliary bishop in 2014 and appointed chief secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in 2018.
In 2021, Apostolos was assigned responsibility for the pastoral and liturgical affairs of the Metropolis of New Jersey. He was elected Metropolitan of New Jersey in July 2023 and enthroned that September.
His election as Archbishop of Canada moves him from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America to the separately administered Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada. Both are under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The official biography published by the Canadian Archdiocese details Apostolos’ education and more than two decades of service in the United States.
In his first message following the election, Apostolos said he plans to meet clergy, parish leaders, educators, volunteers and young people after arriving in Canada. He also listed youth programs, families, education and philanthropic ministries among the areas he intends to address.
Apostolos will formally assume leadership of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada at his September 19 enthronement.
