Daniel (Brum)

Archbishop Daniel of Chicago (secular name David Anthony Brum; born November 16, 1954) is the hierarch of the Orthodox Church in America, archbishop of the Diocese of Chicago and the Midwest.

Early life and education Daniel Brum was born David Anthony Brum in Fresno, California, on November 16, 1954, to Orville and Marjory Brum, the eldest son in a Roman Catholic family. He was raised in Riverdale, a Portuguese-American area, and graduated high school in 1973. He began reading the Church Fathers in the 1970s and tried to integrate his private study into his regular study.

Brum enrolled in St Patrick's College Seminary, Menlo Park, where he discovered the history of Orthodoxy and attended services at St Nicholas Church, Saratoga. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in humanities (specialising in history, philosophy and English literature) before entering Saint Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in humanities in 1977 and a Masters of Divinity in 1981 before being ordained a Roman Catholic priest that same year. He served in a variety of capacities, including in the Portuguese-American community (and editor of the Portuguese-language page of the diocesan newspaper) and as diocesan Director of Vocations. On April 7, 2014, he was tonsured by Archbishop Benjamin (Peterson) at the Monastery of St John of Shanghai, receiving the name Daniel.

On October 21, 2014, he was canonically elected Bishop of Santa Rosa, to serve as Auxiliary Bishop to Archbishop Benjamin (Peterson) of San Francisco. He was elevated to Archimandrite on October 23, 2014, by Bishop Mark (Maymon). The following year, on January 24, 2015, at Holy Trinity Cathedral, San Francisco, Brum was consecrated Bishop of Santa Rosa by: Metropolitan Tikhon (Mollard); Archbishop Benjamin (Peterson) of San Francisco and the West; Bishop John (Roshchin) of Naro-Fominsk; Archbishop Nathaniel (Popp) of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate, Archbishop Melchisedek (Pleska) of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania; Bishop Michael (Dahulich) of New York and New Jersey; Bishop David (Mahaffey) of Sitka and Alaska; Bishop Paul (Gassios) of Chicago and the Midwest.

Archbishop of the Midwest

On July 18, 2022, Holy Synod of OCA elected him as the bishop of the Diocese of Chicago and the Midwest. A three-day celebration took place in Chicago from September 30 through October 2, celebrating the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the enthronement of the twelfth hierarch of Chicago and the Diocese of the Midwest, Bishop Daniel. On November 11, 2022, he was unanimously elevated to the dignity of Archbishop by the OCA Holy Synod.