Leadership

The Most Blessed Tikhon

Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada

His Beatitude was born in 1966. In 1989, he was received into the Orthodox Church from Episcopalianism and began studies at St Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA. One year later, he entered the monastic community at St Tikhon’s Monastery as a novice. He was awarded the MDiv degree from St Tikhon’s Seminary in 1993. In 2002, he was named Deputy Abbot of St Tikhon’s Monastery. Two years after his election to the episcopacy by the Holy Synod of Bishops in 2003, he was installed as Bishop of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania. From 2005 to 2012, he also served as Rector of St Tikhon’s Seminary. In 2012, he was elevated to the dignity of Archbishop and elected Primate of the Orthodox Church in America at the 17th All-American Council. Full biography available here.

The Right Reverend Vasily

Bishop of San Francisco and the West

Born Vitaly Permiakov in Riga, Latvia, in 1977, Bishop Vasily was baptized into the Orthodox Church at age 14, deepening his faith through reading and becoming acquainted with Archimandrite Victor (Mamontov). After graduating from the Pushkin Lyceum and the Latvian Academy of Culture in Riga, he moved to the United States in late 1999 to pursue theological studies, earned an M.Div. from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) in 2004, and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2012, specializing in liturgical studies, including a junior fellowship at Dumbarton Oaks. He then served on the faculty of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary from 2011 to 2020, teaching a range of theological courses and co-editing liturgical books, before returning to his alma mater, SVOTS, as an Assistant Professor of Liturgical Theology and serving as ecclesiarch. Following ordination to the diaconate (2021) and the priesthood (2024), he was tonsured a monk with the name Vasily in January 2025 and elevated to Archimandrite later that year. Highly respected for his liturgical expertise and pastoral care, Archimandrite Vasily was elected Bishop of San Francisco and the West by the Holy Synod of Bishops in July 2025 and consecrated and installed as bishop in August 2025. Full biography available here.

Reverend Damian Kulp

Parish Rector

Fr. Damian was born to faithful parents and raised in the midwest. He was baptized at St. John Russian Orthodox Church in Wisconsin by his grandfather, Fr. Thomas Kulp. As a boy, he first attended a Greek, then later an Antiochian Orthodox Church where he learned to love singing and serving in the altar. He then moved and attended an OCA parish in Oregon where he was tonsured a reader while attending Oregon State University and was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. It was there that he met and married his wife, Pani Kew. Upon completion of the CS program, he worked for the state of Oregon and moved again to work remote in Japan. After returning to the US, he was accepted to St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary where he was ordained to the Holy Subdiaconate, Diaconate, and then Priesthood. Upon completion of the academic program, he was awarded a Master of Divinity and subsequently assigned to St. Christina in 2024. Fr. Damian and Pani Kew have two boys.

Very Reverend George Masters

Attached Clergy

Fr. George was born of Greek immigrant parents and raised in Santa Monica, California. He was baptized at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles. His family moved to the San Francisco Bay area while still a teen. Upon completing high school and college, Fr. George entered the newly emerging computer industry as a software engineer. He met his wife Georgette at a Greek Orthodox Young Adult League conference in San Jose. Upon wedding, they moved to Boston where Fr. George was already enrolled at Holy Cross Seminary where he brought the first computers to the school and served as its first information technology specialist. Fr. George received his Masters of Divinity in 1986 from Holy Cross. During his time at Holy Cross he attended Holy Trinity Cathedral in Boston, where he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on Pentecost of 1987. Fr. George moved to Santa Maria, California. While in Santa Maria, he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood in August of 1987. Fr George is also a mathematics educator in the State of California.

Parish Council