Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco & Western American Diocese jointly organize
Pastoral-Psychological
Contributions to Priestly
Ministry in the 21st Century
Fr. Vasileios Thermos, MD, PhD
Fr. Stephen Muse, PhD
REGISTER NOW
Participant Categories:
We now welcome both clergy participants (fully engaged in all aspects) and observers (attending general sessions). We look forward to welcoming you!
Contemporary post-modern society in America is placing new challenges before Orthodox Clergy in addition to those which priests have faced throughout history. This seminar (of 90 minutes each class) will offer brief didactic portions, discussion and case studies exploring three main areas:
1. Vocation and the person of the priest: unconscious motivation to priesthood and their consequences; clergy self-care, balancing church and family life, handling boundaries; recognizing vulnerabilities that can lead to burn-out and finding spiritual renewal through the community. These will be addressed in 4 sessions in an on-site retreat at the beginning of the course.
2. Challenges of parish ministry in contemporary life: includes 6 zoom modules exploring topics of pastoral leadership; pastoral care in post-modern identity politics [gender identity and sexual orientation]; impact of artificial Intelligence and digital media, addictions; psychodynamics of conversion; non-spiritual modes of healing Christians resort to; types of violence and the dynamics of forgiveness; discernment and ministry to persons with psychological problems and spiritual pain.
3. Navigating difficulties of congregational members: includes 5 zoom modules: identifying personality disorders and their impact on faith and religious practice; psychopathology in adults and children/adolescents; adaptive survival patterns of complex post traumatic trauma that affect repentance, confession, and spiritual formation; as well as unrecognized counter-transferential issues in the priest which can challenge boundaries in various ways through intense reactivity and persistent neediness.
Zoom classes will take place on Wednesdays:
• West Coast (USA): 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
• Midwest (USA): 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
• East Coast (USA): 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
- Emergence, development, and evolution of the priestly vocation.
VT - Hazards of VIPS: Boundaries and vulnerabilities relating to vocation, intimacy, power, and spirituality.
SM - Clergy Burnout & Well-being, PT I.
VT - Clergy Burnout & Well-being, Pt II.
SM
Online weekly classes
- Pastoral Leadership in contemporary society.
SM - Postmodern Identity: challenges and opportunities.
VT - Psychodynamics of Conversion: reflections on the who, the what and the why.
VT - Suffering hell for the sake of heaven: pastoral care for spiritual pain, grief , and trauma.
SM - Sexual orientation and its pastoral parameters.
VT - “What if I don’t feel like I am?”: Gender Identity landscape today.
VT - Parish as family system: navigating the ties that bind and loose.
VT & SM - Dysfunctional characterological styles and the spiritual life.
VT & SM - Re-membering ourselves in Christ: understanding the challenges of fragmentation from sin and adaptive survival patterns from trauma in the pastoral setting.
SM - Psychopathology with which our children and adolescents thrive: what should a pastor know?
VT - Violence, repentance, forgiveness, and the path of salvation.
VT & SM
September 17–19, 2025
Location: St George Serbian Church, San Diego, CA
This year’s retreat is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon to Friday early afternoon, allowing clergy to arrive Wednesday morning and depart Friday afternoon. The retreat will begin with fellowship and four core sessions focused on vocation, well-being, and spiritual formation.
Wednesday, September 17
- 1:00–3:00 PM– Arrival, Gathering & Socializing
Coffee and refreshments served; an opportunity to reconnect and get to know one another
- 3:00 PM– Opening Remarks
Welcome and introduction by Metropolitan Gerasimos and Bishop Maxim; practical information shared
- 4:00 PM– Vasileios Thermos: Emergence, Development, and Evolution of the Priestly Vocation
Followed by a discussion
- 6:00 PM– Dinner
Menu:
- 1pm-3pm Arriving/Socializing/Registration
Pastries
Coffee
Tea
Juice - 6pm Dinner
Salmon with asparagus
Potatoes
Salad
Fruit
Thursday, September 18
- 7:30 AM– Orthros (Morning Prayer)
- 8:00 AM– Breakfast
- 9:00 AM– Stephen Muse: Hazards of VIPS: Boundaries and Vulnerabilities in Vocation, Intimacy, Power, and Spirituality”
Followed by a discussion
- 11:00 AM– Group Discussions (Two discussion rooms will be available)
- 45 min in small groups
- 45 min plenary session
- 12:30 PM– Lunch
- 4:00 PM– Vasileios Thermos: Clergy Burnout & Well-being, Part I
- 6:00 PM– Dinner
Menu:
- 8am Breakfast
Coffee, tea, juice
Cheese pita
Muffins, cheese, eggs, sausage
Fruit - 12:30pm Lunch
Chicken with bacon
Mashed potatoes
Salad
Fruit - 6pm Dinner
Tri-tip steak
Mixed veggies and potatoes
Salad, Fruit
Cookies, Cake
Friday, September 19
- 7:30 AM– Orthros
- 8:00 AM– Breakfast
- 9:00 AM– Stephen Muse: Clergy Burnout & Well-being, Part II
- 11:00 AM– Group Discussions
- 45 min in small groups
- 45 min plenary session
- 12:30 PM– Lunch
Farewell greetings and closing reflections during the meal
Menu:
- 8am Breakfast
Coffee, tea, juice
Muffins, Bagel
Cereal
Fruit
- 12:30pm Lunch
Fish stew
Rice
Salad
Fruit
Cookies, Cake
Evenings will be free for rest, companionship, and walks in the surrounding area.
CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION
Participant Categories:
We now welcome both clergy participants (fully engaged in all aspects) and observers (attending general sessions). We look forward to welcoming you!
The course begins on September 17 with a three-day in-person retreat (17-18-19) at St. George Serbian Church in San Diego, CA. Weekly online lessons will continue throughout September, October, and November, concluding before Christmas.
- Early registration (before July 1): $600
- Registration in July and August: $700
- Full price (from August onwards): $800
Our psychology course offers an engaging learning experience with all materials included. The price covers your study books and a certificate upon completion, ensuring all necessary expenses are taken care of.
Pay with PayPal: info@sebastianpress.org
REGISTRATION LINK
If you require any assistance with registration please call Rada Bojovic 224.388.2650 or email rbojovic@sebastianpress.org
Mission Bay Inn
0.4 mile from St. George SOC
2575 Clairemont Dr, San Diego, CA 92117
619-275-5700
If you require any assistance with registration please call Rada Bojovic 224.388.2650 or email rbojovic@sebastianpress.org
Rev. Vasileios Thermos
Rev. Vasileios Thermos, M.D., Ph.D., was born in 1957 at Lefkada, Greece. He studied at the Medical School of Athens University and after he graduated he studied at the Theological School of the same University. He was specialized in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry which he practiced until recently in Athens; he retired in 2024. In 1986 and 1987 he was ordained and served at the diocese of Viotia. He has been engaged into training programs for clergy in Greece, Cyprus, USA.
In 1996–97 he was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School; he took classes also in Harvard School of Arts and Humanities, Boston College, Boston University, Andover Newton Theological School. In 1997 he received his PhD in Pastoral Psychology from the Theological School of Athens University. In 2014 he worked for 3 months as a Visiting Research Scholar at the Institute of Medical Humanities of the Medical School of Texas University on a project about homosexuality and contemporary gender theories. He has also conducted a research on clergy health and burnout.
He has written numerous books and articles in Greek; some of them have been translated into English, French, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish. He is the editor of a journal in Greek (Psyches dromoi: Ways of the Soul), published every 6 months, on the relationships between theology/religion and psychiatry/psychology (first issue in May 2011).
In 2004 a master thesis on his total work appeared by Peter Kazaku at the Theological School of Balamand University, Lebanon. This thesis was updated and enriched, thus forming the book «Orthodoxy and Psychoanalysis: Dirge or Polychronion to the Centuries-old Tradition?», which was published in 2013 by Peter Lang publications in the series ‘European University Studies’, volume 938. Also in 2020 another master thesis appeared in the School of Theology of the University of Vienna, by Gabriella Moutsatsos: Ansätze der Οrthodoxen Pastoralpsychologie der Gegenwart: Simeon Kragiopoulos und Vasileios Thermos.