Family life : In the Family
The Faithful Ones
Recently, it was my great joy to attend a kind of celebration so rare in our time that it deserves an entire article devoted to it : the 50th anniversary of the loving marriage between two faithful Christians.


Aug 25, 2010, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
Love: an Ever Expanding Circle
In marriage, love must be an ever expanding circle. Our children naturally expand its boundaries, but each partner must expect and understand the full implication of "sharing their love" with each other's family. They should also understand the proper boundaries to this sharing of love, and firmly resolve that their love for each other and the marriage are their first considerations.
Jun 16, 2010, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
On Marriage and Family Life
In the fullest sense of the word the wife gives up everything for her husband. This is an important moment for any man – to take on responsibility for a young, fragile, and tender life that has entrusted itself to him, and to care for it and protect it until death tears his treasure away from him or, conversely, strikes him.


Apr 24, 2010, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
Fathers
The role of fathers in Orthodox women's lives is an integral one. We worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we seek to be well pleasing to God. We know that God and His Holy Will for us is perfect and that He loves us fully. Our experiences with our human fathers however, range from extraordinary to harmful. What effects do flawed human fathers have on us and how does understanding of God evolve as a result?


Mar 8, 2010, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
The Husband is Head of the Wife?
The humiliation of the wife, the humiliation of the husband, the domestic violence, the lack of care to the spouse, neglecting the mutual servitude, and extinguishing the warmth of the common living are all destructive measures against the communal life. Yes the flesh is important, but there is no healthy relation in the flesh if the husband and his wife could not say: “we are two souls in one flesh, if you've seen one you've seen the other.”


Dec 18, 2009, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
When one Spouse is a Convert, and the Other is Non-Orthodox
One of the hardest things was finding a place for myself in the Orthodox Church, then getting married, and trying to cultivate my own religious development while also helping my husband to adjust. He was really put off by all the emphasis on culture, and the unfamiliar rituals. For a long time, he questioned me about it. But over time, we kind of got over this, and we’re now attending together on a more regular basis.
Aug 13, 2009, 01:34

Family life : In the Family
Enriching Your Life in the Orthodox Faith
What we have in our modern times, in non-Orthodox cultures, is an anti-icon of Church. We're encouraged to be isolated, independent, and autonomous. As Orthodox there is an added hardship to going from glory to glory. Usually we live far from the church. Any Church services we can attend are limited to the weekend, some even only one service on a weekend. The central focus of our life, the church is so far away we can't hear the bells. How, in this tension, can we grow from glory to glory? Enrichment.


Jul 31, 2009, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
Reflections on the Spiritual Vocation of the Family
An image of the comfortable family gathered around mother and father at the hearth is not an end in itself. This image is meaningful to the extent it expresses confidence in all those present. To the extent this image is real, it provides a context for the capacity to love life and overcome one's own self-interest and be a servant in the healing of the wounds of life.

Jun 24, 2009, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
Family fulfills circle caring for parents
The blessed gift of responsibility expressed through child raising is often maligned today. Too many see it as an infringement upon their freedom. This sadly occurs because too many have accepted the lie that true fulfillment can be found in oneself. The truth is that we are at our best when we are seeking opportunities to serve others, especially when we are able to see in them the face of God.


May 27, 2009, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
Problems in Marriage
The predominant myth is that romantic love, "true" love, almost always hurts and is based upon the false idea that each partner should derive his/her sense of emotional well-being from the other. Thus, the relationship often becomes very angry, controlling, and blaming. This is the "I-can't-live-without-you-baby" syndrome (variations: "He-needs-me" and "It-hurts so-good"). Such relationships usually involve very unhealthy behaviors--such as addictions of all kinds, immorality, lack of stability, etc.
May 14, 2009, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
The Advent Period in Home Life
What is the meaning of the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord in our family life? How can we live through the preparatory period of Advent as a Christian family? Can this meaning be truly and naturally, unpretentiously, embodied in the experience of a family, a home with children, teenagers, adults and old people?


Dec 17, 2008, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
Expecting?
Today’s American families usually prepare for the birth of a child financially and physically: We put aside money for room additions and begin education accounts. We take out insurance policies. Dad wallpapers the nursery and sets up a crib, while Mom buys Huggies by the case. But what do we do spiritually to prepare to welcome God’s gift?


Dec 13, 2008, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
The Orthodox Family
But if the family is an icon of the Trinity, then it is currently a tarnished icon. One only need look around to see the decay and deterioration of our culture and principally family life. Roughly one in two marriages end in divorce. Absentee fathers, harried overworked mothers, shipped around over programmed kids. Are these causes, or affects? The family is the building block of society, and we see the results of the weakening of the building blocks all around us. Crime, alienation, loneliness, promiscuity, attachment disorder, school violence…. all affects of the breakdown of family.


Dec 5, 2008, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
The Orthodox Christian Marriage
Nowadays, of course, our society considers children more of a nuisance than a blessing, and many couples wait one, two, three, or even more years before they have a child. Indeed, some decide never to have children. And so, although in the Orthodox Church the first purpose of marriage is not merely to have children, the desire of most young marrieds today to wait before having children is considered sinful.
Aug 11, 2008, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
The Orthodox Christian Marriage
Most Christian husbands have little idea of what this kind of love means. In the world, "love" usually refers to physical love or sentimental, romantic love. This has nothing to do with the Christian concept of love. Just recall Christ's words to His followers: Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friend. Love, then, from the Christian standpoint, means sacrifice, and self-denial. A husband must take as much care, concern, thoughtfulness, attention, regard and precautions for his wife as Christ takes for the Church.
Jul 28, 2008, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
Past Cannot Be Recalled
They often say that time heals, pain passes with time. Not quite right. My pain isn’t over, it has changed, as if it sank deep inside. With the lapse of time you begin to take the death of your only child as a tragedy, you understand that a part of you has also died. This part that broke away from you hurts like an amputated arm or leg, though you know that your child’s soul is alive, that it cannot die. But still we miss our son so much. We have no other child to console us, to give our love to.
Jul 18, 2008, 10:00

Family life : In the Family
Young Children in the Orthodox Church
Of course, we Orthodox Christian parents want to bring our children to Christ. We bring them to be baptized, they are present with us at the Divine Services, they receive communion regularly. Isn't that enough? No, we are still holding them back if we are waiting for them to absorb Orthodoxy by osmosis. Their bodies may be in the church, but their minds and spirits are far away.
Apr 20, 2007, 00:58

Family life : In the Family
Royal Martyr Tsarina Alexandra. Selective Writings
In looking for examples of truly radiant ones we find a loving mother, a devoted wife, a struggling Orthodox Christian, and one who truly loved Russia - the Holy Royal Martyr Tsarina Alexandra (Romanov), Russia's last Empress.
May 31, 2005, 23:10