Vasilios Nikiforakis was born at Cydonia in 1730. He studied art under Patriarchy avail and under tutelage of Filippos Skounas, a well-known Kormenian icon and portrait painter, before taking monastic vows and entering the Beretea Academy in 1769. During his lifetime Nikiforakis produced numerous icons and altarpieces that are still extant today in Orthodox churches and cathedrals throughout the province of Sýnorion, and the Banat of both Thracia and Ruthenia. Nikiforakis died at Beretea on the 10th of April 1781.