The faithful from Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Honolulu, HI witnessed the ordination of Gabriel Yepez to the Holy Diaconate by His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco, on Sunday, January 7, 2024. Also participating in the service were His Grace Bishop Ioannis of Phocaea, Metropolis Chancellor; Rev. Father Alexander Leong, proistamenos from Saints Constantine and Helen Cathedral; Rev. Archdeacon Justin Bosl from Resurrection Greek Orthodox Church in Castro Valley, CA; and Rev. Deacon Evangelos Karapoulios from the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Long Beach, CA.
Deacon Gabriel embraced the Orthodox faith through baptism in 2003 at the Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in Bedford, MA. He is married to his wife Andrea Lynn Yepez and he is the father of six children, four daughters and two sons.
Deacon Gabriel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Rutgers University (NJ); a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University (TX); a Master of Arts in Physics from Brandeis University (MA); and a Ph.D. in Physics from the College of William and Mary (VA). His career has included service as an active-duty officer in the United States Air Force and federal civil servant in the Department of the Air Force, combined, for over 30 years. He was assigned to the Air Force Research Laboratory in Bedford, MA, and later to a detachment of the Air Force Research Laboratory in Kihei, HI. He also served as an Affiliate Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, and helped establish an educational partnership between the Air Force and the University of Hawaii. As an educational outreach mission, he also served as a Senior Lecturer at UH Maui College, STEM Department. He retired from the Department of the Air Force in 2016.
Deacon Gabriel has served the Maui mission as Parish Council President, chanter, altar assistant, reader, homeschool teacher, and as a diaconal candidate. In 2022, he completed the Diaconate program through Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA. He is currently a student at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (Brookline, MA) in the online Master of Theological Studies program, recently enrolled in the Spring semester of 2024.
AXIOS Deacon Gabriel!