Воспитание

And especially instill in small children so that they know and remember their promise [to serve Christ at Baptism] and are taught piety from an early age. For all life depends on education, and parents who do not raise their children in the fear of the Lord will not escape God’s punishment. God Himself commands parents to make every effort to raise their children well. Read Deuteronomy, ch. 6:6-7: And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart and in your soul, and you may teach your sons with them, and you may speak them to your sons, and you may speak of them when you sit in the house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you get up. Parents, in order for them to take more careful care of the correct upbringing of their children, must remember the Last Judgment of God, remember that not only for themselves, but also for them they will be given an answer and will be greatly questioned if they do not raise them in the fear of the Lord. From a good upbringing good fruits follow: 1. the fruit of a pious life in grown children; 2. parents have joy and comfort in the good behavior of their children; 3. the certain hope of eternal life; 4. good hope is also foreseen in grandchildren, for children, just as they themselves are taught good things, will not fail to teach their children the same; 5. honor and praise to the family; From bad upbringing, the opposite follows: 1. evil and depraved life; 2. parents feel grief and sadness about the evil state of their children; 3. vain and vain efforts to correct their corrupted children, since it is very difficult to root out the rooted evil: can an Ethiopian change his skin and a leopard his spots? So can you do good if you are accustomed to doing evil (Jer. 13:23)? - says the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah; 4. weak hope for their salvation, but rather obvious destruction; 5. the same evil behavior can be expected in grandchildren, because an evil father cannot teach his son goodness; 6. parents are faced with melancholy, boredom, and fear that they may be questioned by God for the poor upbringing of their children, who were not punished, and perhaps were tempted by an evil example; 7. dishonor and reproach to the entire family; 8. obvious and great harm to the fatherland. Poor upbringing results in theft, murder, embezzlement, robberies, fornication, adultery, violence, resentment, quarrels, fights, deception, betrayal, perjury, riots and other countless evils. If children are ungrateful to their parents, from whom they received so many blessings, then this follows from nothing other than poor upbringing, and the parents themselves are to blame for this, because they raised them poorly. So children repay their parents for their negligence and negligence in upbringing with equal disobedience, contempt, slander, and sometimes beating. Not only in this century do careless fathers endure this, but in the future they will be punished even more severely before the Last Judgment of God. Keep your children from temptations like the apple of your eyes or even like your souls. Know that you will give an answer to God for them. He will punish you severely for them. If you don’t teach them French, German, Italian or secular rules, God won’t ask you for it, but if you don’t teach them good morals, you won’t escape God’s judgment and torture. Remember this, I’m simply telling you the truth: if your children are evil, then your grandchildren will be even more evil, and your great-grandchildren will be even more evil. For an evil father will not teach his son good, and so evil will grow until it is eradicated by the judgment of God. And the root and beginning of all this evil is our evil upbringing. We see that the small tree conveniently leans towards any side: wherever it leans, it grows. So is a young and small boy: what he learns, he gets used to, and what he gets used to, he will create at other times. If he learns goodness in his youth, he will be good all his life. If he learns evil, he will be angry all his life. And from a little youth there may be an angel, and there may also be a devil. Whatever upbringing and instruction he has, that’s how it will be. The rest of one’s life depends on upbringing, like a fruit on a seed. Therefore, God’s Word exhorts parents: but bring them up in the teaching and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). And in the parables of Solomon it is written: he who spares his rod hates his son; but whoever loves punishes him diligently (Proverbs 13:25). Many teach their children social etiquette; others teach foreign languages, to speak French, German, Italian, and allocate considerable sums for this; others try to teach merchants and other arts. And hardly anyone teaches children to live like a Christian. And without this, all science is nothing and all wisdom is violence. What is the use for a Christian to speak Italian, French, or German, but live godlessly? What is the use of being skilled in merchants and arts, but not having the fear of God? Such artists and sages are worse than unskilled simpletons. The young heart, as prone to evil, strives for all kinds of evil if it does not refrain from the fear of God and the bridle of punishment. And even more so, those who sharpen their minds with sciences and arts, but do not correct their will, are skilled at everything bad and themselves show examples of this. It is useful and necessary to educate children well and in the fear of God, and remind them of holy Baptism and its circumstances, so that, remembering all this and reasoning, they do not become corrupted and lose the gift given in Baptism. This is the responsibility of their parents. Parents gave birth to them for temporary life, and must, by the grace of God, promote their birth to eternal life. And those parents who do not raise their children in a good manner, but, moreover, seduce them with an evil example, give birth to temporary life, but open the door to eternal death - it is better not to be born like that. Try to have a good upbringing in your youth, which happens in the teaching and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). For all other life depends on upbringing, like a fresh clay vessel: what it is first saturated with, it will emit such a smell for the rest of its life. Everyone is born evil, for everyone is conceived in iniquities and born in sins (see Ps. 50:7). Therefore, in order to become good, correction and training are required: just as a fierce and untrained horse is trained in order to be fit for riding. Although passions exist in a young heart, they have not yet intensified, and therefore if they are first curbed by punishment and fear, they will be pacified and tamed: one must expect good hope in a young man who has been brought up in this way. A young tree, whichever side it bends to, will stand until the end, so will a young heart: what it learns, it will hold on to until death. Bring them up in the teaching and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). The Holy Spirit speaks this word through the Apostle to parents and exhorts them to raise their children as Christians should. All Christians in holy Baptism were renewed to a new, holy and Christian life and promised to serve God with faith and truth and thus please Him. But so that those who are baptized do not become corrupted and fall into a disastrous state, and so that the true proverb does not happen to them: a dog returns to its vomit, and a washed pig goes to wallow in the mud (2 Pet. 2:22), they must necessarily prevent this disastrous state by raising their children well. For with pain and sighing we see that many children are corrupted in their youth. This happens to them due to parental neglect. Many parents teach their children arts that serve temporary life, others try to teach foreign languages ​​and spend a lot of money on this, but they do not care about Christian teaching and do not try to teach their children to live like a Christian. Such parents give birth to their children for a temporary life, but close the doors to eternal life... The gardener ties a young tree, just planted, to a stake planted and firmly planted in the ground so that it is not torn out of the ground by wind and storm, and he cuts off unusable twigs and shoots on the tree so that they do not damage or dry out the tree. Do the same with your small and young children. Tie their hearts to the fear of God, so that they do not waver from the wiles of Satan and abandon piety, and cut off the passions that grow in them, so that they do not grow and take possession of them, and so do not kill the inner new man born in holy Baptism. For we see that when children grow, sinful passions appear and grow with them, like unprofitable shoots on a tree. Therefore, so that these lawless shoots do not grow, damage and destroy a person who has been washed by holy Baptism, sanctified and justified, it is imperative to cut them off by the instruction and teaching of the Lord. Cut off, beloved, such shoots from your children and bring them up in the teaching and admonition of the Lord. As soon as they begin to understand at least a little and know good and evil, you too begin your work and teach them. 1. Remind them more often of Holy Baptism and that they then promised God to live decently and be constant, to serve Him faithfully and truthfully and to shun all evil and sin. 2. Repeat to them often that we are all born and reborn in Baptism not for this temporary life, not for the sake of acquiring honor, glory and wealth in this world (which our death itself shows, otherwise we would remain in this world forever), but we are born and reborn for eternal life. Our entire life in this world, from birth to death, is the path along which we go to our promised fatherland and eternal life. Remind them of this often, so that they do not become addicted to the vanity of this world and learn to set their minds on things above and not on earthly things (Col. 3:2). 3. Explain to them who the Christian God is and what He requires of us, that He hates evil and loves good, He executes a person for evil, and rewards for good. And although we do not see Him, He sees us and is invisibly present with us everywhere, and sees every deed of ours, and hears every word. We must fear Him and do what pleases Him. 4. Enlighten their inner eyes about who Christ is, in whom we believe, and why He came into the world, lived, suffered and died. The reason for this was our sins and our eternal salvation, so that we, having gotten rid of our sins, would receive eternal salvation. 5. Teach them the law of God and tell them what this law requires of us, that is, that we love God and every person. Everything contrary to this law is vice and sin, and everything consistent and similar is virtue. We promised God to keep the Law of God, and thus to avoid all sin, and to live virtuously at Holy Baptism. Whoever lives differently does not keep these vows and is a liar before God, and if he does not truly repent and correct himself, then at the judgment of Christ he will appear liar. 6. Present to them the last things: death, the judgment of Christ, eternal life and eternal torment, so that the fear of God will instill in them and they will beware of all evil. Pour all this and more like milk into their young hearts so that they grow in piety. They call you parents - be true parents. You gave birth to them according to the flesh, so give birth to them according to the spirit. You gave birth to temporary life - revive them to eternal life. Beloved Christians! You and your children will appear at the judgment of Christ and you will give an answer for them to the righteous Judge. He will not ask you whether you taught your children the arts, whether they taught you to speak French, German, or Italian, but he will ask whether you taught them to live like a Christian. Young children are more attentive to their parents’ actions than to their instructions. Therefore, if you want your children to be pious and kind, be pious and kind yourself, and be an example for them, and so bring them up in the teaching and admonition of the Lord. Then both your children and you will receive eternal salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.