Nikolaos Skoufas was a Greek revolutionary and a founding member of the Society of Friends along with Emmanuel Xanthos and Athanasios Tsakalov.

In 1813, Skoufas was in Russia, where he settled in Odessa, practicing his old profession without much success. In this way, he had the opportunity to become acquainted with Athanasios Tsakalov and Emmanuel Xanthos, later co-founders of the Society of Friends, which was founded in 1814, at Skoufas’ suggestion.

Skoufas had been damaged in the ideas he would put forward to the Society by Konstantinos Rados, a merchant in Russia, born in Tsepelovo, Ioannina. Rados had studied at the University of Pisa, where he was introduced to carbonitism, and had tried to found a Greek revolutionary society in Moscow in 1812, counting Skoufas among its first members. He undertook the propagation and indoctrination of members from the crowd of expatriates in Russia. Some of the members he initiated were Georgios Sekeris, Antonios Komizopoulos, Nikolaos Galatis and Panagiotis Anagnostopoulos. Initially, his efforts in Moscow and Petersburg did not succeed, but then he found a response in Odessa in early 1816.

In Odessa, Nikolaos Skoufas collaborated with Anthimos Gazis, who eventually assumed a very decisive role in the spread of the Society of Friends, entrusting him with the initiation of thieves and charioteers of Central Greece. He undertook to spread the idea of the Society of Friends in the Peloponnese, passing through Constantinople for this very purpose.

In 1818, at Skoufas’ urging, the headquarters of the Society of Friends was moved to Constantinople. There Skoufas initiated Panagiotis Sekeris (brother of the already initiated George Sekeris) who played a decisive role in financing the work of the Society. However, his poor health did not allow him to complete his mission. He died on 31 July 1818 in the Great Stream of Constantinople and was buried in the local church of the Taxiarches.

His name has been given to the municipality of his hometown, Kompoti Arta, and to a street in the centre of Athens, in Kolonaki.