Fr. Stephen Muse, PhD
Fr. Stephen is a bi-vocational priest with an active independent practice in Pastoral Psychotherapy, Life Coaching, and Clinical Supervision.
In 2011 Met. Alexios of Atlanta ordained him sub-deacon. In 2014 he was ordained to the diaconate by Met. Gregory of Nyssa and to the priesthood in 2021. 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 currently serves on their Advisory Board. He and his wife Presvytera Claudia have four children, four grandchildren and twelve Godchildren.
Fr. Stephen is a graduate of Davidson College with a degree in Philosophy and earned his M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary where he first encountered Orthodoxy and studied patristics briefly with Fr. Georges Florovsky and selected writings of the Philokalia. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Loyola University of Maryland in Pastoral Counseling Psychology and did post graduate studies in Marriage and Family Therapy at University of Georgia.
From 2021- 2025 he held joint appointments as clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Mercer University School of Medicine and served during 2023-2024 with the St. Francis Hospital Psychiatry Residency Program on their Site Accreditation team and Clinical Competency Committee.
He has been PT or adjunct faculty in the graduate departments of Antiochian House of Studies, Columbus State University, McAfee School of Theology; Columbia Theological Seminary; Garret Evangelical Seminary; and The Union Institute, teaching classes, supervising dissertations and serving as a mentor and ministry coach. He has led workshops and retreats throughout the U.S. and internationally, offering lectures at St. Tikhons, St. Vladimir’s, Kottayam Seminary in Kerala, INDIA, Holy Cross School of Theology, and the Army Pentagon.
Before his entrance into the Orthodox Church in 1993 he pastored a Presbyterian Congregation in Pennsylvania for 11 years and helped begin an out-patient psychiatric clinic in Delta, Pennsylvania.
Fr. Stephen directed the Pastoral Counselor Training program at the Pastoral Institute, Inc. in Columbus, GA for 21 years and trained and supervised U.S. Army and Air Force Family Life Chaplains in pastoral psychological integration. He served as Managing Editor of The Pastoral Forum from 1993 to 2002 and from 1999-2024 directed the nationally recognized Clergy-in-Kairos program, a personalized week-long out-patient intensive for clergy (and spouse) renewal. He has worked extensively with combat veterans and healing professionals struggling with professional stress, grief and spiritual pain.
He has held certifications in both Professional and Pastoral Psychotherapy, Traumatic Stress [including Complex Post-Traumatic Stress, Level II], Personality Disorder Treatment, Clinical Hypnotherapy, Equine Assisted Therapy, EMDR, and as a Clinical Chaplain, CPE Supervisor, Compassion Fatigue Professional, Clergy & Life coach and TeleMental health provider. He is currently an AAMFT Approved and Certified Professional Counseling Supervisor, licensed in Georgia as an LMFT and as an LPC in Georgia and Alabama.
Fr. Stephen is author/editor of a number of books for both adults and children, scholarly and fiction. He has published numerous articles and book reviews for various peer-reviewed professional and trade magazines and received the national COMISS award for his research in religious integration of therapists and their capacity for clinical empathy. His books and papers have been translated into Russian, Greek, Swedish, Serbian and Romanian.
Books include:
(2024) ΕΙΣΠΝΈΟΥΜΕ ΘΕΌ, εμπνέουμε αγάπη, Ο ΘΗΣΑΥΥΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΝΣΩΜΑΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΕΥΚΗΣ, Athens, GR, EnPlo Editions
(2023) The Most Important Question, S. Muse, Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press
(2023) God’s Doorknocker, S. Muse, Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, Jelena Jeftic’ Illustrator; Greek Edition, Το Ρόπτρο του Θεού
Athens: Greece, EnPlo Editions, 2024
(2022) Το θαύμα της γονeικotetns, Athens, GR: En Plo Editions
(2022) Parenting In Repentance: Growing Together in Love, Gratefulness, and Joy, Muse, S., Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press.
(2021) Cuvinte in Duhul: Perspective pastorale despre Taina Spovedaniei, (Words Into Spirit: Pastoral Perspectives on Confession) Vasileios Thermos and Stephen Muse, Eds, [Valentin-Radu Trandafir, trans.] Iasi, Romania: DOXOLOGIA, 2021.
(2021) Το Φως που Ελευθερώνει, Οντολογικές, Υπαρξιακές και Ψυχολογικές Διαστάσεις της Εξομολόγησης (The Light That
Liberates: Ontological, Existential and Psychological Dimensions of Confession) S. Muse, V. Thermos, eds., Athens, GR: EnPlo Editions
(2019) Words Into Spirit: Pastoral Perspectives on Confession, Thermos, V. and Muse, S. (eds.) Waymart, PA: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press.
(2019) Isha’s Voice, D. Psychigiou, Illustrator, Sebastian Press: Alhambra, CA.
(2018) Pain, Suffering & Resiliency: Orthodox Christian Perspectives, Muse, S., Berg, J, Woroncow, H. (eds.), Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press.
(2018) Η φωνή της Εύας (Eva’s Voice), D. Psychigiou, Illustrator, Phosphorus, Athens, Greece.
(2017) Treasure in Earthen Vessels: Prayer and the Embodied Life. Waymart, PA: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press.
(2017) Vα είσαι ο ευατός sou, D. Psychigiou, Illustrator, EnPlo Editions: Athens Greece.
(2017) Be Yourself! Amim’s Great Discovery, Waymart, PA: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press.
(2016) Caregivers as Confessors and Healers. Muse, S., Berg, J., Woroncow, H. (eds.), Witchita, Kansas: Eighth Day Institute .
(2016) Ο Πραματέφτης και η Καθρεπτίς της Αδείας Μονοναύτης Αλιεία (The Peddler and the Disenchanted Mirror) D. Psychigiou, Illustrator, Athens, Greece: Parrisia Editions
(2014) Οταν Οι Καρδιες Φλεγονται (When Hearts Become Flame, Greek Edition) Athens, Greece: Editions Grigoris.
(2013) Being Bread. Orthodox Research Institute: New Hampshire, (2015) Waymart, PA: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press.
(2011) When Hearts Become Flame: an Eastern Orthodox Approach to the διά-Λογος of Pastoral Counseling; Orthodox Research Institute: New Hampshire. (revised edition, 2015) Waymart, PA: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press.
(2004) Raising Lazarus: Integral Healing in Orthodox Christianity, (ed) Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press.
(2000) Beside Still Waters: Resources for Shepherds in the Market Place. Smyth &
Helwys, Inc. Georgia.
(1992) The Effect of Religious Integration on Therapist Capacity for Empathy Among Christian Candidates From Several Masters Programs Michigan: University Microfilms International.
