How can we deepen our faith?
Motherhood is an opportunity for spiritual growth
“Mothers are also called to be teachers – to instruct their children in the Faith, to help form their souls in a way that will incline them towards love of God and the Church. A good mother will read to her children from the lives of the Saints, she will teach them about God’s love and the gift of repentance. But it is not only by her words that she will teach the young souls entrusted to her. Through her everyday actions and deeds she models the Faith to her children. When she stays up late or gets up early in order to prepare food for her children or to clean up after them, she provides a lasting image of sacrificial love.”
Thus, we need to continuously strengthen our love for Christ and the Church, through prayers, our Saints, and the writings of our spiritual fathers and mothers.
FAQs
Why only “Motherhood” and “Monasticism”?
This website is dedicated to the two “Sacramental” paths for women in the Orthodox Church. The Sacrament of Marriage for a young woman who wants to create a family, or the Sacrament of monastic tonsure for the woman who wants to dedicate herself to God and live in chastity.
Pre-Sacramental Discernment:
Whereas, there is a time for “singleness” in each person’s life, this is often recommended as a time of discernment, to feel which path God may be calling each person to follow. However long that period of time is, for each individual, is of a pastoral nature and different for everyone.
“As we have mentioned, both the married and the monastic life demands sacrifice and a dying to self. While the single person may offer himself extensively in the service of others, it is always a willing offering of self and not one imposed by another. The monastic submits himself in obedience to a superior, doing what he is told, when he is told and how he is told, and is not following his own will; the married person submits herself to the needs and desires of her spouse and to their children.
An unmarried friend commented, "those of us who are not married may not like what you said about the position of the single person, but it is very true. Who am I, as a single person, accountable to since I have no abbess or husband? Where is the sacrifice when I do what I want, when I want and for whom I want ? What impositions do I have in this single life?"
For many, it may be time to chose.”
From the monastery newsletter, “the Veil.” Check the library for the full article!
Growing closer to Christ…
Hymns for St. Ælfgifu
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Commemorations
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Prayers for Mothers
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Hi, I’m Presbytera Christine
An Orthodox mother and
practicing iconographer
My husband and I are New England natives and part of the Antiochian Diocese of Worcester and New England, under Bishop John Abdalah. We presently serve an Orthodox mission in the state of Maine.
Some other blogs for Orthodox Moms and families
