How do we plant the seed of prayer in our children’s heart?
While children are young, in our home there should be some rules that, as soon as our children grow up, should be reduced little by little, in order to give them some freedom.
“The purpose is not that the child partake with the Holy Mysteries, but live in a prayer filled environment. Our home environment should be filled with prayer. Parents need to enliven the love of Christ and Theotokos in their child’s heart.”
“While children are young, in our home there should be some rules that, as soon as our children grow up, should be reduced little by little, in order to give them freedom. We should also give them rewards. Children may be bored living this spiritual way of life, but the most important purpose is that they never become atheists. Atheism is worse than bodily sins” - Father Sophronius of Essex
(Translated from Hierotheos Vlachos, Mitropolit de Nafpaktos și Sfântul Vlasie, Cunosc un om în Hristos: Părintele Sofronie de la Essex, traducere din limba greacă de pr. Șerban Tica, Editura Sophia, București; Editura Cartea Ortodoxă, Alexandria, 2011, pp. 329-330)
