Parenting
It is our firm belief that Pious Family Life and Practice is the key to the continued Growth of the Orthodox Church. The family and traditional family values have been under severe attack for the last 40 to 50 years in the first world resulting in the utter denigration of the family. Divorce is rampant and children are constantly exposed to wickedness from their earliest years etc. Orthodox Christianity upholds Traditional Family Values and Roles. In Orthodox Christianity Children really are still counted as blessings from God. If you have a large family, you do not need to feel embarrassed or afraid of being judged- it is a blessing to have a large family. In Orthodox Christianity, Fathers are still honored and obeyed; mothers are revered, honored and supported for their great work of motherhood. Grandparents are not thought of as burdens, or old, useless people to be put away in an Old Person’s home; no! Rather Grandparents and the Elderly are looked up to, listened to, honored, respected and heard for their great wisdom.
We realize that in the world we live in, men don’t know how to be real men, women don’t know how do be real women, and so many people have no idea how to be godly husbands and wives, let alone, how to raise children to be godly.
The Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church community wants to help those in need of help in these area. We want to help keep traditional Orthodox family life real in the lives of those attending our reader’s services and we want to help support families in their desire to raise up Pious Orthodox Children. May God help all of us as we strive after this goal.
““Let your children be partakers of true Christian training; let them learn of how great avail humility is with God – how much the spirit of pure affection can prevail with Him – how excellent and great His fear is, and how it saves all those who walk in it with a pure mind. For He is a Searcher of the thoughts and desires: His breath is in us; and when He pleases, He will take it away.” ”
“When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their fellow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls, and reveal the image of God within them. This then is the task; to educate both ourselves and our children in Godliness; otherwise what answer will we have before Christ’s judgement seat?”
“First of all, teach your children to work hard, and inspire them with respect for every kind of honorable toil. Let them learn by heart and have always in their minds the words of the Apostle: “If any would not work, neither should he eat” (II Thes. 3:10). ”