WELCOME FR. ROB

A Joyful Welcome to Fr. Rob Spaliatsos, Our New Priest

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Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

It is with tremendous joy that I share news our parish has been working towards, and praying for, these past five years. His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco has assigned the Reverend Father Haralambos (“Rob”) Spaliatsos as Proistamenos (presiding priest) of our beloved Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church, effective September 1, 2026.

 

Fr. Rob comes to us with his wife, Presbytera Sophia, and their five children. Please join me in welcoming the beautiful Spaliatsos family into the life of our community with the warmth and love that has always been a hallmark of our parish.

 

Getting to Know Fr. Rob

Fr. Rob was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. A child with both Greek and Panamanian immigrant heritage, Fr. Rob was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith of his mother. He attended the University of Florida, where he earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Education.

 

He continued his studies at the University of Illinois and there met Sophia Theophilopoulos. His appreciation for Holy Orthodoxy grew alongside his relationship with Sophia. He found his way home to the Orthodox Church and was received by Chrismation in 2002. He and Sophia were married soon after in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.

 

The call to serve came a few years later, and it came to both of them together. In 2008 the family moved to Boston so that Fr. Rob could study at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, where he completed his Master of Divinity. He was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in January 2011 and to the Holy Priesthood in September 2011. Fr. Rob served first as assistant priest at Holy Trinity in Dallas, Texas. In 2013 the family answered a call to a small mission parish in Missoula, Montana, and stayed for nearly a decade.

 

His years at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Missoula tell us a great deal about the priest we are blessed to welcome. Under Fr. Rob’s pastoral leadership the parish grew, deepened its liturgical life, and focused on service throughout the community, launching food drives, a prisoner reentry ministry, and a collaboration that helped build Missoula’s first family housing shelter. In 2021 the community purchased five acres of land for a future church home.

 

From 2023 to 2025, Fr. Rob served the wider Orthodox Church as Missionary Director for the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC). That work, supporting and caring for Orthodox missionaries around the world, was rooted in his own mission experience, including a team he served with in Albania during his seminary years. Fr. Rob also holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Montana and is pursuing clinical licensure. This training complements his pastoral instinct for walking alongside people through grief, transition, and the many seasons of life.

 

Holy Apostles is deeply grateful that Fr. Rob’s love of Christ and of pastoral care has drawn him back to parish service as our new spiritual father.

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The Spaliatsos Family

Presbytera Sophia is a registered nurse who has devoted herself to raising and homeschooling the couple’s five wonderful children and supporting the family’s ministries at every step.

 

Eleni has just completed her first year at the Manhattan School of Music, studying classical vocal performance. She has chanted in church since she was a girl and has studied Byzantine music.

 

Julia is in high school and is drawn to singing, music composition, and the creative arts.

 

Agape is in middle school, plays saxophone in her school’s jazz band, and is a devoted volleyball and lacrosse player.

 

Amalia begins middle school this fall and is a saxophone player as well.

 

Andreas is the youngest Spaliatsos. An adventurer, a builder, and an explorer of the outdoors, he recently learned to ride a unicycle!

 

Welcoming Them Well

The Spaliatsos family is making a significant move to join us, and there is much we can do to make their arrival a joyful one. Watch for details in the coming weeks about specific ways you can help support their move and transition. In the meantime, please consider how you might help them settle in: a meal, a warm introduction, a recommendation for a good hiking trail or a good pediatrician. Small kindnesses can make big impacts.

Above all, please keep Fr. Rob, Presbytera Sophia, Eleni, Julia, Agape, Amalia, and Andreas in your prayers as they prepare for this transition.

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My Retirement

A word about my own place in all of this. After twenty-seven years of serving Holy Apostles, I will be stepping into retirement September 1st, though not all at once, and not away from this community I love. It will be a great gift to be able to walk through this transition assisting Fr. Rob in any way he feels would be helpful. 

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Please know that I am very grateful to all of you for this incredible journey together and I thank you. Thank you for allowing me to be your priest and for making Holy Apostles such a special place. Thank you for the love and support you have shown me. And thank you for all the ways you have taught me, challenged me, encouraged me, and helped me grow in my faith in Christ.

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I love you, I’m grateful for you, and I look forward to walking with you through this transition. I’ll be here with you through this transition, “to infinity and beyond,” as Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story says! So together, we will embrace Fr. Rob, Presbytera Sophia, and their family and trust the future of Holy Apostles into God's loving hands.

 

Glory be to God for the gift of a shepherd, and for the joy of this new chapter in the life of Holy Apostles.

 

With love in Christ,

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+Fr. Tom Tsagalakis

Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church