Reverend Father Stavros Akrotirianakis answered God's call to serve St. John on September 1, 2004.

He was born and raised in Whittier, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. His home parish was St. Sophia Cathedral. He has one brother a year younger than him, who lives in the Los Angeles area, as do his parents.

He graduated from Whittier College with a degree in history, and authored a book entitled Byzantium Comes to Southern California: The Los Angeles Greeks and the Building of St. Sophia Cathedral which was published in 1994.

In 1994, Father Stavros wed Presbytera Lisa, who is a convert to Orthodoxy. Presbytera is Japanese and was raised in Hawaii, where her parents still live. Father is proud to be the first Greek Orthodox priest in the United States to have a Japanese Presbytera.

Father entered Holy Cross Seminary in September of 1994. He served as a chanter at St. Demetrios in Weston, MA while in seminary. He was ordained a deacon in 1997 and served as the Deacon to Metropolitan Methodios of Boston for a year. He was ordained a priest in 1998 and assigned as the Proistamenos of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Enfield, Connecticut. In 2000, he became an assistant in the youth office of His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios in Asheville, NC. For the past four summers he has directed the St. Stephen's Summer Camp program, which he will continue to do.