ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Teaching
our children to pray ceaselessly
It
would be a blessed practice for the parents (the mother, for example)
to gather their children under (or in front of) the ikonostasis (icon
screen) and invite them to jointly practice the Jesus Prayer for 5
minutes.
“This
is how we begin”,
said gracefully Elder and contemporary Saint Paisios of the Holy
Mountain, “to
pull the belts of the machine, to start the machine of our nous.”
Especially a child, who’s soul is pure and, compared to us, has not
so many passions or thoughts (logismoi), rejoices and easily
understands what the noetic prayer is. After that, children like it
and want to practice it constantly.
Children are not as darkened as
adults are, so after the first attempts, very soon those 5 minutes
become 10, 15 and so on…
When
we (the mother) begin our day this way, and try to continue the Jesus
Prayer also during breakfast, and do it again for another 5 minutes
before having lunch with our children, and again for another 5
minutes in the evening, before going to bed, we gradually immerse
into this state (and procedure) of ceaseless memory of God,
progressively…
However,
we will have to advise our children to put an effort to remember
Christ all through the rest of the day as well. Because, if we build
for 5 minutes and then demolish during the next 3-5 hours, we are
obviously doing nothing significant.
f. Savvas Agioreitis
To be continued...
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