Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute
The Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute is a member of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California that is associated with the University of Californa. The Institute provides the first accredited graduate program in Orthodox Christian theology in the United States that is not offered by an Orthodox seminary.
The Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute provides a traditional two-year Master of Arts program in Orthodox Christian studies. The progrm consists of fourteen courses with a language requirement and a thesis. In addition to the theological education program, the Institute conducts a progarm of lectures, conferences, and symposia for the general public and constituencies outside the Institute as well as enabling a campus ministry at the University of California campus and the Graduate Theological Union.
The Institute is governed by a Board of Trustees that includes membership from various Orthodox groups in the United States and is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Institute is located in three buildings facing the University of California at Berkeley. The Institute has assembled a library of more than 10,000 volumes concerning Orthodox literature, patristic studies, liturgics, history, architecture, and music.
The Graduate Theological Union is an ecumenical and interfaith consortium of nine seminaries and ten affiliated centers based in Berkeley, California and operates as an independent, not for profit teaching and research institution.