New York, NY – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, today announced the appointment of Dr. Anton C. Vrame as Director of the Department of Religious Education of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America effective January 1, 2007.
In announcing the appointment, Archbishop Demetrios said: "I have known Dr. Vrame as one of my best students at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. I have observed, since his graduation, his continuous academic teaching, and managerial achievements. I am sure that by the grace of God Dr. Vrame will continue methodically, creatively and fruitfully the excellent work of his predecessors in the Department of Religious Education and that he will bring it to new levels of excellence in teaching and promoting educationally the eternal truths of the Gospel preserved by the Greek Orthodox Church."
Dr. Vrame is a well-known Orthodox specialist in Christian Education. A native of Chicago, where he was active in the life of the Greek Orthodox Church there, he earned degrees from DePaul University and the University of Chicago. After a short time working in Chicago Public Schools he entered Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology earning a Masters of Divinity in 1989. Following graduation, he worked as the Associate Director of the Department of Religious Education for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and was actively involved in the development of the Living Our Orthodox Faith curriculum series. In 1997, Dr. Vrame received a PH.D. in Theology and Education from Boston College. He is the author of The Educating Icon: Teaching Wisdom and Holiness in the Orthodox Way (Holy Cross Press).
From 1996 to 2002, Dr. Vrame was the managing editor of Holy Cross Orthodox Press producing 60 new titles and developing its editorial review policies. He has served as adjunct Assistant professor in Christian Education at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and Lecturer in Religious Education at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. He was the lead author of a grant proposal awarded from the Lilly Endowment to the Office of Vocations and Ministry at Hellenic College and Holy Cross that resulted into a $2 million grant.
For the last four years Dr. Vrame has been the Director of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkley, California where he oversaw the creation of the Masters of Arts in Orthodox Christian Studies, the Annual Institute of PAOI, Inter-Orthodox Press, the Parish Life project, as well as the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. He is Associate Professor of Orthodox Christian Studies at the Graduate Theological Union.
Apart from serving on the Board of Directors of the Religious Education Association, and Vice-President of the Orthodox Theology Society in America, Dr. Vrame represents the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese on the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches.
Contact:Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos