According to a wise proverb: “people should not have children to finally give meaning to their lives; rather they should have children to pass on to them the meaning of life that they have already found.”
Parents, especially young parents, often wonder: “what is best for my family and children?” What values and legacy can I leave behind? Will they even want to pass on what they received from me? And is what I am passing “true, eternal and beautiful?” There are also more practical questions: re my children going to succeed in life, studies, work, personal relations and stay away from disaster? It also seems that raising children today is more challenging than ever before.
There is very expensive maker of Swiss watches (see poster below) that has their entire brand communicate on this idea: what are you going to leave behind to your son or daughter? They say “you never actually own that watch, you merely take care of it for the next generation” and their motto is “Begin your own tradition.”
What the Orthodox Church proposes is nothing less than the true, the eternal and the beautiful. True because tested by 2,000 years of history and the world’s highest level of both scholarship and spirituality. We want the faith to pass on to our children to be unassailable; we want our children to be unafraid of arguments and debates.
Eternal because the Orthodox Church has been there since Day 1 – and before. Go to Jerusalem and ask where the Church is; ask “who has been there since Pentecost and earliest days of Christianity?” The locals will point you to the Orthodox Church and its ancient – but ever-living – shrines. Orthodox Christianity is eternal because it connects even to Old Testament times and to the eternal worship seen in the heavenly realms by the prophets and seers of ancient times (Moses; Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1). Orthodox Christianity is eternal because it is stable and changeless. She – like the Lord – is the same yesterday, today and forever.
And the Orthodox Church is beautiful in every way: her icons, her temples, her spiritual figures, her worship, her traditions, etc.
If you want to give the best gift to your children, take a good look at the Orthodox Church. It could be an eternal legacy. We would be glad to answer any questions you may have.
