Pastoral-Psychological
Contributions to Priestly
Ministry in the 21st Century

Fr. Vasileios Thermos, MD, PhD
Fr. Stephen Muse, PhD

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:

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.

During 2001-2013 he was a Visiting Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Psychology of Religion in the Theological Academy of the Orthodox Church of Albania. From 2013 until 2024 he taught Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Psychology in the University Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens; he is now retired.

In 2017–18 his essay The Paradox of Mental Health Care and Spirituality: The Culture of Extreme Individualism as a Mediator was awarded the prize on the “Culture, Care, and Spirituality” contest by the Jean-Marc Fischer Foundation in Switzerland.

He has been a member of scientific committees organizing conferences on the relationship between theology and psychiatry/psychology. He has also given thousands of lectures to seminars, parents groups, clergy assemblies, camps, high schools, radio and TV etc. His areas of interest are: Relationship between psychological sciences and religion; Psychology of religious beliefs and experiences; Dialogue between psychoanalysis and religion; Psychology of clergy and of the ecclesiastical organization; Psychology of culture; Religious development of child and adolescent; Language, psychology, and religion; Post-modernity and religion; Homosexuality and gender identity.

With his wife Asteroula (who is an artist for icons and metal crafts) have two daughters, two grand-sons, and one grand-daughter.

Other books in English:

– Thirst for Love and Truth: Encounters of Orthodox Theology and Psychological Science. Montreal: Alexander press, 2010.

– The Forgotten Mystery: The Ecclesial Consequences of Holy Chrismation. Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, 2016.

– Psychology in the Service of the Church: Theology and Psychology in Cooperation. Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, 2017.

– Sexual orientation and Gender identity: Answers …and People. Athens: En Plo, 2019.

– Nocturnal Flights to Truth (poems with collages). Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, 2022.

– The Dramatic Journey of Faith: Orthodox Religious Conversion in America. Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, 2024.

He has also edited the collective volumes:

– with Stephen Muse, Words into Spirit: Pastoral Perspectives on Confession, St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2019.

– with Evdoxia Delli, Self and Psyche as a Surprise: Orthodox Theology and Psychoanalysis in Dialogue, Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, 2021.

– with Evdoxia Delli, Human Meaning at the Borders of Orthodox Theology and Psychoanalysis, Volos: Metropolis of Demetrias Press, 2024.

Rev. Stephen Muse

Fr. Stephen Muse, PhD, LMFT, LPC is a bi-vocational priest who directs the Clergy-in-Kairos program at Pastoral Institute in Columbus, Georgia, a personalized week-long crisis intervention, stress and wellness intensive retreat for clergy (and spouse) renewal. He holds joint appointments as a clinical Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Mercer University School of Medicine and is faculty with the St. Francis Hospital Psychiatry Residency Program serving on the Clinical Competency Committee.

He directed a pastoral counselor training program and trained and supervised U.S. Army and Air Force Family Life Chaplains in pastoral psychological integration for 21 years. He has worked extensively with combat veterans, persons experiencing spiritual pain and trauma and with clergy, physicians and therapists suffering professional stress and burnout. He has an active practice in pastoral psychotherapy and lectures and leads workshops throughout the U.S. and Internationally in areas related to the intersection of Orthodox Christian theology and psychotherapy. St Tikhon’s Monastery Press described him as “one of the most unique minds in the Orthodox Church today.”

He is Diplomate Board certified in Pastoral Psychotherapy, as a Clinical Chaplain and a CPE Supervisor and is certified in Traumatic Stress [including Complex Post-Traumatic Stress, Level II] as a Clergy and Life coach, and completed certifications in Clinical Hypnotherapy, Equine Assisted Therapy and as a Compassion Fatigue Professional. He is an AAMFT Approved and Certified Professional Counseling Supervisor licensed in Georgia as a Professional Counselor and Marriage and Family Therapist and in Alabama as an LPC.

Fr Stephen graduated from Davidson College with a degree in Philosophy and an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary where he was first introduced to the Philokalia and studied patristics briefly with Fr. Georges Florovsky. He earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Loyola University of Maryland in the field of Counseling Psychology with Pastoral integration focus and did post graduate studies in marriage and family therapy at University of Georgia. He was ordained to the diaconate in 2014 by Met. Gregory of Nyssa and to the priesthood in 2021.

He has authored or edited a number of books for both adults and children, scholarly and fiction, and authored 60+ articles and book reviews for various peer-reviewed professional and trade magazines including national award-winning research in the area of religious integration of therapists and their capacity for clinical empathy. His work has been translated into Russian, Greek, Swedish, Serbian and Romanian. He served as Managing Editor of The Pastoral Forum from 1993 to 2002.

Prior to his entry into the Greek Orthodox Church in 1993, he pastored a Presbyterian congregation for 11 years and helped begin an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Delta, PA. He served on the Assembly of Canonical Bishops Pastoral Praxis Committee, and the OCA task force on Spiritual Abuse. He is a past president of the Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion and serves on their Advisory Board.

Fr. Stephen is the founding church planter of Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Mission Church in Columbus, GA where he currently serves as priest. He and his wife Presvytera Claudia [Ioanna] have four children, a granddaughter, four grandsons and twelve god-children. They live in Columbus, Georgia.

His books include

– God’s Doorknocker, Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, 2023

– Parenting in Repentance: Growing Together in Love, Gratefulness and Joy, Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, 2022 [Greek Edition, En Plo, 2022]

– Words Into Spirit: Ontological, Existential and Psychological Dimensions of Confession, Muse, S., and Thermos, V. (eds.) Waymart, PA: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2020, [Greek edition by En Plo, 2021; Romanian Edition, Doxologia, 2022]

– Isha’s Voice, Sebastian Press, 2019. [Greek edition, 2018, Phosphorus Books]

– Pain, Suffering and Resilience: Orthodox Christian Perspectives, Muse, S., Berg, J., Woroncow, H. (eds.), Sebastian Press, 2018.

– η φωνή της Εύας (Dimitra Psychighiou, illustrator) Phosphorus: Athens, Greece, 2018.

– Treasures in Earthen Vessels: Prayer and the Embodied Life, Waymart, PA: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2017

– Be Your Self – Amim’s Great Discovery (Dimitra Psychighiou, illustrator), (Greek and English editions, 2016).

– Caregivers as Healers & Confessors, Muse, S., Berg, J., Woroncow, H. (eds.), Witchita, Kansas: Eighth Day Institute, 2016

– The Peddler and the Disenchanted Mirror (Greek and English Edition, 2016)

– Ο Πραματέφτης και η Καθρεπτίς της Αδείας Μονονα­ύτης Αλιεία (The Peddler and the Disenchanted Mirror) D. Psychigiou, Illustrator, Athens, Greece: Parrisia Editions, 2016

– Being Bread (2013, 2015)

– When Hearts Become Flame: An Eastern Orthodox Approach to the διά-Λογος of Pastoral Counseling. (2011, 2015) (Greek Edition in 2014)

– Raising Lazarus: Integral Healing in Orthodox Christianity, (2004)

– Beside Still Waters: Restoring the Souls of Shepherds in the Market Place (2000)

Psychology in
the Service of the Church
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The Most Important Question
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Soul and Psyche as a Surprise
Psychoanalysis and Orthodox Theology in Dialogue
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Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity:
Answers and… People
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Parenting in Repentance: Growing
Together in Love, Gratefulness, and Joy
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Pain, Suffering and Resilience
– Orthodox Christian Perspectives
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The Dramatic Journey of Faith:
Orthodox Religious Conversion in America
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The Forgotten Mystery:
The Ecclesial Consequences of Holy Chrismation
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Nocturnal Flights to Truth
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