Orthodox Counsel
Whether you are clergy, a mental health professional, or laity involved in pastoral care, this course on Orthodox Counsel will help enrich your ability to offer Godly hospitality, witness, truth, and respect to everyone you encounter. Speak the truth in love with an Orthodox Christian model of counseling filled with integrity, acceptance, and joy.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
Refine your understanding of your role and duty in offering Christian counsel
Better recognize how the complexities of the other person and yourself shape your ministry to them
Integrate a prayerful and transformative approach in your interactions
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Course Information
Course Description
4 Recorded video lecture by the professor
4 PowerPoint Slides
Optional Readings
This is a wonderful opportunity to hear from and work with the dynamic faculty of St Vladimir’s Seminary.
About The Instructor
The Right Rev. Dr. John (Abdalah)
His Grace Bishop JOHN is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and is the auxiliary bishop for Worcester and New England of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.
From an early age, he had a desire to serve Christ through the Holy Priesthood and so, after college, he attended St. Vladimir’s Seminary and earned an M.Div. While at seminary he became engaged to Joanne Josephs, whom he married in August 1978. He was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in September and October of that year, respectively. They are the parents of three children, Dn. Gregory (Diana), Joseph (Eleni), and Maria (John Kilfeather). Khouria Joanne reposed on May 27, 2008, after a long battle with ovarian cancer. Fr. John was elevated to the episcopacy in 2011.
Bringing with him pastoral experience and practice, His Grace has taught priestly formation at the Antiochian House of Studies and the graduate program of the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology at Balamand in Lebanon, and he has also worked as a mentor to the seminarians in the House of Studies program. Bishop John co-authored Building an Orthodox Marriage: A Practical Commentary on the Eastern Orthodox Marriage Rite (SVS Press), as well as several introductions to theological books and theological papers. He chairs the Committee on Clergy Matters of the Assembly of Bishops and serves on the Canonical Regional Planning and Theological committees. His Grace also chaired the Assembly of Bishop’s Task Force on Mental Health; is on the Advisory Board of the Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion; and is a member of the Board of Trustees at St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
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Orthodox Counsel
Prayerful, Wonderful, Transformative
Lecture 1: Orthodox Counsel: Prayerful, Wonderful, Transformative
Bishop John will lead participants through a discussion of our identity and duty as Orthodox Christians.
Lecture 2: Prayerful
Delve into the role of God and ourselves in the therapeutic dyad.
Lecture 3: Wonderful
Develop a nuanced understanding of our complexities and the complexities of those we minister to.
Lecture 4: Transformative
Discuss what God is doing in the life of those we counsel.