A Message to Orthodox Youth for Great Lent from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Inviting Orthodox young people to participate in the spiritual struggles of Great Lent, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew addressed the following words to them:

"Fasting and asceticism are not externally imposed heteronomous disciplines, but a voluntary respect for ecclesiastical practice, an obedience to the Tradition of the Church, which is not a dead letter, but a living and life-creating presence, a timeless expression of the unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity of the Church.

The Three Hierarchs and the Upbringing of Children

By Monk Moses the Athonite

According to the most-wise Basil the Great, the first seven years of a person's life is particularly important for the subsequent course their upbringing receives. According to the divine Chrysostom, the upbringing of children should not be exhausted in learning through an education and the arts but in the adornment of the virtuous soul with godliness. He insists that this will be achieved as long as the soul is flexible and can be appropriately shaped and inspired.

St. Ignatius the God-Bearer, the Child That Christ Presented as a Model for All

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to himself, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, such is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:1-4)

According to an ancient tradition, Saint Ignatius, the second Bishop of Antioch, was the child whom Christ took and presented to the apostles as the example of the one who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. From that day the child, who was most beloved by the Savior and favored with the divine embrace, was also marked as the one upon whom lions would feast in Rome. He did this because he loved Christ above all since he was a child.

The Sick Princess: A Medieval Fairytale from Cyprus (Illustrated By and For Children)

Children Should Be Raised To Be Faithful To the End No Matter What: The Example of the Mother of St. Clement of Ancyra

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

In our day, you usually hear these words from parents: "We want to secure the life of our child." That is why they work very hard to amass wealth, often unjustly, to educate their child in the calling [vocation] which brings the greatest physical security and material benefit. This is done by so-called Christians! They do this because their concept of a real life and the real security of life is erroneous. See, how a true Christian mother prepares her son for a real life. At the time of her death, Blessed Euphrosyne spoke to her son Clement of Ancyra (Jan. 23):