Home piety and family religiositytranslated

Home piety is a basic dimension of popular religiosity. The home is not just a private living space, but can become a place of prayer, remembrance and spiritual pedagogy. The iconostasis, the candlestick, the prayer before meals, the observance of the feasts, fasting and the remembrance of the dead compose a daily form of experiential theology. Within these practices, faith is often transmitted without systematic teaching, but by example and repetition. Malamatenia Barouta, Doctor of Theology Candidate, AUTH

The family functions as the first place of religious socialization. Children learn the importance of the image, the cross, the prayer and the holiday through the daily action of parents and grandparents. This transmission is not always verbal. Faith is often learned through gestures: from how one lights the candle, how one makes the cross, how one remembers a sleeping person, how one prepares for Holy Week.

Popular piety is therefore a pedagogy of the body and memory.

In modern times, home piety faces new challenges. Everyday life is often…