Divorce & Healing in the Church: Past and Present

What is the course about?

The series of talks tackles the not-much talked about subject of divorce from an Orthodox Christian perspective, describing and reflecting on the past and present of the Church’s ambivalent attitude toward divorce, while also offering pastoral insights both on self-help and ministry to divorcees.

The key points covered in the course are:

• Scriptural passages on Divorce
• The Orthodox understanding of the ”sacramentality” of marriage
• Church canons and civil law on divorce: „grounds” for divorce yesterday and today
• Moving Forward After Divorce: Resentments and Healing
• Challenges and Pitfalls of Ministry to Divorcees

What am I going to get from this course?

• 9 lectures and over 1 hour of content!
• 1 handout and 1 helpful worksheet on Dealing with Resentments
• Better understanding of traditional, faith-based approaches to divorce
• Factual knowledge of scriptural, pastoral and canonical texts about divorce
• Inspirational insights on dealing with Post-Divorce Resentments

What is the target audience?

• Anyone who has gone through or is going through a divorce
• Anyone interested in Ministry to Divorcees

What are the requirements?

The only requirement for taking this course is having an interest,
either personal or otherwise, in the theory and practice of Divorce in
the Orthodox Church. The pastoral, canonical, historical and scriptural
information, laid out in an accessible fashion, will be helpful to
anyone interested in making sense of the Church's current practice. Sr.
Vassa also makes some practical, pastoral suggestions about dealing with
post-divorce resentments, for anyone ministering to themselves or
others after a divorce.