Parable of the Sparrow and Two Sisters

Two little sisters, after listening to the biblical story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise, said to their dad:

"Dad, if Lena and I were in paradise, we would never eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After all, God didn’t allow for it to be touched, isn't that right, dad?

“Correct,” the father smiled and put the children to bed.

The next morning, the father got up before everyone else, caught a sparrow in the yard and put it in a saucepan. Having woken up the girls, he showed them the saucepan, placed it on the windowsill of the open window in the kitchen and said:

A Model Sermon for Children Attending a Presanctified Liturgy

 By Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani

First of all, I want to congratulate you for coming to church today and standing quietly, with reverence, here in the house of God.

I will tell you a few words about the Presanctified Divine Liturgy - this special Liturgy - which is performed only during this period of Great Lent.

The wise Fathers of the Church have instituted the Presanctified Divine Liturgy because at this time we cannot perform the normal, the glorious, the perfect, as we say, Divine Liturgy, and this is because this period is one of mourning, it is a period of fasting, of greater self-control and prayer, it is a period of greater spiritual struggles.

Should a Child Fast?

The question of the title concerns many parents who want to fast during these days, but do not know what to do and more so, if a young child can follow the fast. In the scientific article below you will be informed about whether a child could and should (from a medical standpoint) fast, from what age, and if there is any risk. Lastly you will read about the benefits of fasting for the organism of a child.

By Chrysanthis Lathira, pediatrician

We are in the days of Lent and many Greek families are fasting, that is, they are abstaining from meat and anything derived from animals. When asked if children can fast and if this practice can cause health problems, I say yes, children can follow the fast of their parents, especially during school age, that is, after the 5th or 6th year of their life.

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.