Traditions of Orthodox upbringing of children in the family. Orthodox traditions of the Russian family

How long ago has it been in last time did you make dumplings for the whole house? And when did you get together with all your relatives and go... to the cemetery to visit the graves of your departed loved ones? Can you remember the last time all family members sat down in the same room and took turns reading interesting books out loud? Teacher-psychologist of the highest category Tatyana Vorobyova and priest Stefan Domuschi, head of the Department of Doctrinal Disciplines of the Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian.

TRADITION 1. JOINT FAMILY MEAL

Did you know that, according to Domostroy, the youngest was not supposed to start eating or trying this or that dish at the table before the head of the family (or the most noble of the guests) did? And what does the Apostle Paul recommend to the first Christians in his epistles: wait for each other for a joint meal, not pounce on food before everyone arrives, and not eat too much, thinking about what others will get?
It can be rightly noted: now we live in a completely different rhythm than the people of the times of Domostroy. Right. But it’s still not worth writing off the tradition of a shared meal as “irrelevant.” During the general family feast the most important mechanisms of interaction between family members are developed and consolidated. Which?
Firstly, the ability to adapt to everyone close to you. “Sitting at a common table and sharing food with our loved ones, we overcome the selfishness that is natural for fallen man, and learn to share the most important thing: what is the basis of our life,” says priest Stefan Domuschi.

Secondly, the tradition of eating together teaches us to communicate, listen and hear each other not on the fly, meeting in a common corridor, but for at least 20 minutes. A trifle, it would seem, but worth a lot.

Thirdly, there is also an educational moment in a shared meal. Only, as psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova says, contrary to common practice, it assumes “not the teachings of a strict father and the constant beating of a child on the forehead with a spoon, but the fact that at the table the child learns good behavior, learns to care for others.”

But modern life introduces nuances: we come home from work at different times, everyone is in a different state, the wife is on a diet, the husband is not in the mood. What should I do? According to Tatyana Vorobyova, a joint family meal today can be expressed in other, not entirely familiar forms. “There is a so-called “meal with everyone,” explains Tatyana Vladimirovna. “It’s less about the physical presence of all family members at the table, and more about what and how we prepared.” You need to find time to not just feed your family, but to please them, remember what they love, and take care of even the little things.

TRADITION 2. COMMON COOKING, “FAMILY” DISH

Preparing for a meal will help you find a common language and improve relationships between family members no less effectively than sharing lunch or dinner. Many people remember that 20 years ago, the general sculpting of dumplings or baking a cake was perceived as a solemn family ritual, and not boring household chores.

According to priest Stefan Domusci, it is useful to cook together not only well-known dishes, but also something new: “ Old recipe helps to feel the connection between generations, the living memory of those who also prepared this dish many years ago. The new one is to unite everyone in joyful anticipation: will it work out as planned, will it be delicious?”

The main thing, according to psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova, is teamwork, when everyone makes their contribution to the common cause. It is important that, for example, the chores for the arrival of guests do not fall only on the mother and that responsibilities are distributed according to strengths. And for children this is a chance to feel significant and needed.

TRADITION 3. HOME HOLIDAYS

Home celebrations still exist today. So what have we forgotten about this tradition? Very important detail: in the old days, holidays were not limited to feasting; until the mid-twentieth century, home performances were organized, puppet show, games for both children and adults (like “living pictures”, which even members of the imperial family played, or “literary lotto”), publication of a home newspaper.

What should the whole family celebrate? Only New Year, Christmas or birthday?

Even the smallest dates or anniversaries that are significant for each individual family member need to be celebrated, says psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova. On this day my daughter went to school, on this day my son entered college, on this day he came home from the army, and on this day mom and dad met. It is not necessary to celebrate with a feast, the main thing is attention. “Family differs from friends and acquaintances in that relatives remember all the smallest but most important milestones in a person’s life,” explains Tatyana Vladimirovna. “He is significant, his whole life has value.”
Any holiday and its preparation is a live, non-virtual and unhurried communication, which (we have to repeat) is becoming less and less in our age. “The holiday gives everyone the opportunity to test whether they can truly communicate,” says Father Stefan. — It often happens that a husband and wife see each other only a couple of times a day and exchange only news with each other, and therefore, when they have a free evening, it turns out that they have nothing to talk about heart-to-heart as close people. In addition, the priest reminds, Orthodox holidays give believers the opportunity to take communion with the whole family, to feel that the basis of true family unity is not only blood ties, but participation itself in the Body of Christ.”

TRADITION 4. TRIPS TO DISTANT RELATIVES

If you need to denigrate a person, then rest assured, no one will do it better than his relatives, noted William Thackeray in the novel Vanity Fair. But at the same time, the tradition of frequent visits to relatives - near and far, to strengthen family ties, is known in many cultures.

Often a difficult and boring “duty” - is there any point in maintaining such a custom?

The need to adapt to “distant neighbors” and endure the associated inconveniences can be a plus for a Christian, says priest Stefan Domusci. " Modern man communicates more often with friends, work colleagues, with those with whom it is interesting to communicate,” he says. “And in a big family, everyone is different, everyone has their own interests, their own lives.” Thus, communication with distant relatives helps to overcome the consumerist attitude towards people.”

In any case, the priest believes, a truly good relationship true friendship we need to learn: learn to appreciate people for what they are, and not treat them as a source of services and opportunities.

The question is ambiguous, says Tatyana Vorobyova: indeed, from time immemorial, family has been a value, but today such close ties no longer exist - the family should be kept from internal splits! “Sometimes when visiting distant relatives you can encounter envy, hostility, and discussions. Then this trail of unnecessary conversations and clarifications follows you, and this is not useful to anyone,” says the psychologist. “Remembering kinship has never stopped anyone,” she is sure, “however, first of all, you need to establish and maintain relationships in your own family: “my home is my fortress.”

TRADITION 5. LEISURE SHARES WITH CHILDREN

Tents, kayaks, large baskets for mushrooms. Today, even if such attributes of an active family vacation are preserved in homes, they often simply gather dust on the balcony for years. Meanwhile, joint leisure instills in children trust and interest in their parents. “This ultimately decides the question: are children comfortable with mom and dad or not,” says Tatyana Vorobyova.
Living examples, not edifying words, raise a child, and on vacation various situations, pleasant and difficult, more varied than at home. “Everything is visible here,” says Tatyana Vladimirovna. “Fairly or not, we decide certain issues, how we distribute responsibilities, who will take on the heavier backpack, who will go to bed last, making sure that the house is clean and everything is prepared for tomorrow. So spending time together is an important lesson that children will use in their own families.”

Unobtrusive lessons on behavior not at a school desk, but in the form of a live dialogue will be deposited in children's memory and will be fixed much more reliably!

“Recreating together also helps the child learn about the world of wildlife and learn to treat it with care,” says Father Stefan. “In addition, this is an opportunity to talk, talk about important things in private or together.”
Today it is quite fashionable to spend holidays separately and send children to camps. According to the psychologist, the desire to send a child on vacation to a children's camp at the expense of family leisure may be the beginning of family separation: “It is better for the family to spend as much time together as possible. But with a caveat: there is no need to do anything by force.”

TRADITION 6. READING OUT LOUD WITH YOUR FAMILY

“In the evenings, especially in winter, when we were alone, we read together: for the most part, she, and I listened. Here, in addition to the pleasure produced by the reading itself, it was also delivered by the fact that it aroused our thoughts and sometimes served as a reason for the most interesting judgments and conversations between us on the occasion of some thought, some incident encountered in the book.” - poet and literary critic M. A. Dmitriev (1796-1866) describes reading aloud with his wife.
We read aloud with our family, in a friendly circle, parents read to children, children to parents.

Today, perhaps, all that remains is reading aloud to children. But even on this custom, says Tatyana Vorobyova, modernity is leaving its mark.

“Given our busy lives and the intensity of our lives, it is more realistic to read a book and tell a child about it, recommend it, retell its plot, and make them interested. Moreover, it is necessary to recommend a book with emotional significance, that is, with genuine interest.”

The advantages are obvious: a taste for reading and good literature is formed, books raise moral issues that can be discussed. And besides, the psychologist claims, we ourselves must be educated and savvy in order to go one step ahead and recommend what will correspond to the child’s outlook and interests.

If we are talking about two adults - spouses or adult children - then it makes sense to read some kind of spiritual literature together. On one condition: it must be read by those who want to hear. “You have to be careful here,” explains Tatyana Vladimirovna, “you can’t impose anything.”

Children very often reject what we consider it our duty to instill in them. “Recently,” recalls Tatyana Vorobyova, “at my consultation there was a boy who shouted that his mother was forcing him to believe in God. You can't force it.

Give your child the opportunity to become interested, for example, leave a children's Bible in front of his eyes, put a bookmark, and then ask:

- Did you see that I left a page there for you? Did you look?

- I looked.

- Did you see it?

- What should you have seen there?

- And I read that there! Go find it and look.

That is, you can gently nudge a person towards interested reading.”

TRADITION 7. COMPILATION OF A PEDIAL TREE, MEMORY OF THE FAMILY

Genealogy as a science appeared only in the 17th-18th centuries, but knowledge of one’s roots has always been of great importance. To join the modern Order of Malta, you still need to show a good pedigree. What if we don’t need to join the Order of Malta?... Why today know about our ancestors beyond our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers?

“It always seems to a selfish person that there was nothing before him and nothing will happen after him. And drawing up a family tree is a way to understand the continuity of generations, understand one’s place in the world, and feel responsibility to past and future generations,” says Father Stefan.

From a psychological point of view, memory of one’s family, knowledge of one’s ancestors help a person to form himself as a person and improve his own character traits.

“The fact is that infirmities and shortcomings are passed on from generation to generation, but an uneradicated deficiency will not go away, it will grow from generation to generation,” says Tatyana Vorobyova. - Therefore, if we know that someone from our family was, say, hot-tempered, short-tempered, we must understand that this can manifest itself in our children. And we need to work on ourselves to get rid of this ardor and temper.” This is true for both negative and positive traits - there may be something hidden in a person that he is not aware of, and this can also be worked on.

And for a Christian, the memory of one’s family, knowledge of the names of one’s ancestors is, in addition, an opportunity to pray for them: a real thing that we can do for those to whom we owe our lives.

TRADITION 8. REMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD, JOINT CAMPAIGN TO THE CEMETERY

Seven times a year, Orthodox Christians specially find time to attend services, go to the cemetery and remember their deceased relatives - these are parental Saturdays, the days when we especially remember the dead. A tradition that came to life again in the Russian Church in the 1990s.

How and why to implement it together with your family?

Of course, this is a reason to gather everyone together for the Liturgy.

What else? Understand that members of the same family are responsible for each other, that a person is not alone both in life and after death. “Memories of the departed encourage us to be more attentive to the living,” says Father Stefan.

“Death is a difficult moment. And therefore it is important that at this moment the family is together - we unite, do not separate,” explains Tatyana Vorobyova. “However, there should be no violence, no “obligation” here - this should proceed from the needs of each family member and from the capabilities of each.”

TRADITION 9. FAMILY HEIRQUITS

“Throw it away, take it to the country, sell it to an antique shop?” - the question in relation to the things we inherited from our grandparents often stands exactly like this.

However, any such thing on a difficult day can serve as a consolation for us, says psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova. Not to mention photographs, memoirs and diaries - unique things that reveal the subtle facets of a person’s soul that are closed in everyday life. “When you read about your loved one, you learn his thoughts, his sufferings, sorrows, his joys, experiences, he comes to life and becomes much closer and clearer to you! - explains Tatyana Vladimirovna. “And, again, this allows us to understand our own character traits and reveals the reasons for many events in the family.”

It often happens that old postcards and letters shed light on details of the biography of our great-grandfathers that could not be revealed during their lifetime - for personal or political reasons! Antique things, letters are “documents” of a bygone era, which we can thus tell children about much more excitingly and vividly than a history textbook can.

And finally, antiques, especially those given as gifts, with engraving or dedication, are the door to a person’s living personality. “Holding in your hands something that belonged to your great-great-grandfather, re-reading old letters, looking at postcards, photographs - all this gives a feeling of a living connection, supports the memory of those who have been gone for a long time, but thanks to whom you exist,” says Father Stefan.

TRADITION 10. HANDWRITTEN LETTERS, CARDS

Have you noticed how difficult it is today to find a postcard with a blank spread - so that you can write something of your own? In the last century, the spread was always left blank, and the cards themselves were a work of art. The first ones appeared in Russia in 1894 - with an image of a landmark and the inscriptions: “Greetings from (such and such a city)” or “Bow from (such and such a city).” Is there any real benefit to receiving from a loved one not an mms from the city of N, but a real letter or postcard?

If you think about it, any handwritten postcard or letter is an opportunity to express your thoughts and feelings without the usual abbreviations, in beautiful, correct language.

“Real letters, without jargon and abbreviations, without distortions of language, develop the skill of thoughtful, deep and sincere communication,” notes Father Stefan. Moreover, according to the priest, such letters do not necessarily have to be written by hand, they can also be emails - the main thing is that the letter encourages one to take a break from the rush and encourages joint reflection.

Tatyana Vorobyova believes, on the contrary, that it makes sense to write letters by hand - then it is the living voice of another person, with all the personal nuances.

TRADITION 11. KEEPING A PERSONAL DIARY

“Several times I started writing daily notes and always gave up out of laziness,” wrote Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, and in this kind of laziness, many of us “stand in solidarity” with the great poet!..

Personal diaries in Russia have been conducted since the 18th century: they could have a literary form, including the experiences and thoughts of the author, or they could be schematic, like, say, the diary of Emperor Nicholas II, containing short messages about daily activities and even menu items.

In addition, recording what happened is a way to look at your life from the outside, to see not a fragmentary, but a complete picture. Nowadays, when days are busy and fly by like seconds, this is doubly important!

“Keeping a diary is not just about recording what happened during the day, it is an opportunity to reflect on your life,” says Father Stefan. “In addition, by re-reading the diary, you can trace the evolution of your thoughts and feelings.”

Is an electronic diary an option?

Yes, if he is not overly frank, the priest believes. In his opinion, public personal posts on the Internet can be both an invitation to discuss one’s thoughts, and a game for the public that comes from vanity.

In a regular diary you may be ambiguous, but you know what you mean. On the Internet, almost anyone can read your blog, which means that you must learn to clearly formulate your thoughts in order to be understood correctly. People who run blogs are well aware of the heated arguments and even quarrels that discussions of misunderstood things can lead to.

TRADITION 12. WEIRD ACCEPTANCE

“We should be friendly and give due honor according to the rank and dignity of each person. With love and gratitude, with a kind word, honor each of them, talk to everyone and greet them with a kind word, and eat and drink, or put it on the table, or give it from your hands with a kind greeting, and send something to others, but everyone with something... then highlight and please everyone,” he speaks about hospitality, that is, inviting strangers into the house and family, Domostroy.

Today, most of us do not live according to Domostroy. What to do with this tradition?

There are many cases when a priest blesses a family to accept a person, and then this person, who has lived and stayed too long, becomes hated by them - and is tolerated only out of obedience. “Obedience with hatred and irritation is not good for anyone,” says psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova. - Therefore, you need to proceed from your real capabilities, from sober reasoning. Today, hospitality is an extraordinary, unusual thing and takes other forms. If you can’t accommodate a person, help in any way you can: a piece of bread, money, prayer. The main thing is don’t push me away.”

At the same time, the psychologist believes, hospitality can only be useful when all family members agree to it. If everyone agrees to endure some inconvenience, stay in the bedroom not for 15 minutes, but for 2; wash the dishes for the guest; leave early for work, etc. - then this is possible. Otherwise, a moment will come when, say, the son says to his parents: “You let this person in, and it annoys me, it depresses me.” And the tossing and hypocrisy will begin - an attempt to please both the son and the one who was accepted. And any hypocrisy is a lie, which is not useful for the family.

Father Stefan is convinced that spiritual hospitality is an attempt to go beyond the family, beyond corporate interests and simply help a person. How to implement it today? You can try to accept, without refusing, not strangers, but at least distant relatives and acquaintances who are in need and turn to you with such a request.

TRADITION 13. GAMES FOR THE WHOLE YARD

Today, many people yearn for the friendly life that used to reign in the courtyards. “A good experience of friendship in childhood supports a person throughout his life,” says priest Stefan Domusci. Neither parents nor grandparents can ever replace a child's communication with peers. In the yard, a teenager can acquire life skills that he will never learn in a greenhouse at home.

What should you pay attention to when your child goes out to play in the yard?

“What you have laid down at home will definitely manifest itself in social communication,” says Tatyana Vladimirovna. - Here you can immediately see: is the child playing honestly or dishonestly, is it scandalous or not scandalous, is he proud in these games or can he still be patient and give in? What you brought up in him, what you laid in him, is what he will go out into the yard with: is he his own general or is he a conformist and will bend to others? All the boys will smoke poplar leaves, and he will smoke? Or will he say: “No, I won’t smoke”? We need to pay attention to this."

TRADITION 14. WEARING CLOTHES ONE BY EACH OTHER

A fact that seems incredible: in the family of the last Russian emperor, the royal daughters literally wore out their clothes one after another. Researcher Igor Zimin in his book “The Adult World of Imperial Residences” writes: “When ordering each new dress, Alexandra Fedorovna was really always interested in its price and complained about its high cost. This was not penny-pinching, it was a habit absorbed from a poor childhood and reinforced at the English Puritan court of Queen Victoria. The Empress’s closest friend wrote that “raised in a small court, the Empress knew the value of money and therefore was thrifty. Dresses and shoes were passed down from senior grand duchesses to junior ones.”

Today, in many homes, wearing out clothes is a requirement of the time: there is nothing left to do if the family is large and there is no income. But is that the only thing?

“The tradition of wearing clothes will help you learn a reasonable and careful attitude towards things, and through this - towards the entire world around you,” says Father Stefan. - In addition, it develops a sense of responsibility in a person, since he must keep his clothes in in good shape and pass it on to someone else."

From the point of view of psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova, this instills in a person modesty and the habit of caring for others. And the attitude towards such a tradition - a feeling of shame and annoyance or a feeling of kinship, closeness and gratitude - depends entirely on the parents: “It must be presented correctly - as a gift, a gift, and not as a cast-off: “What a caring brother you have, what a great fellow!” Look, he wore his shoes carefully so that you would have them when your day came. Here he is! When we give away a gold watch, it is very significant, and when we give away good shoes that we have taken care of, lined with paper, coated with paper, cleaned - isn’t that a gift? You can say, for example, like this: “Our Andryushka ran in these shoes, and now, son, you will run!” And maybe someone will get them from you - take care of them.” Then there will be no neglect, no disgust, no feeling of inferiority.”

TRADITION 15. WEDDING CUSTOMS

Young people were officially allowed to get to know each other independently, at will, only during the time of Peter I. Before that, everything related to birth new family, was strictly regulated and driven into the framework of dozens of customs. Today a pale likeness of them remains, but the proverb “It’s a sin to be at a wedding without being drunk”, alas, still sits deeply in the minds of many people.

Does it make sense to observe wedding traditions, if so, which ones?

“A Christian should always take seriously what he fills his life with,” says Father Stefan. “There are a lot of wedding traditions, among them there are both pagan and Christian, both decent and very bad... Respecting traditions, it is important to maintain a balance, to remember that marriage is, first of all, a Sacrament, and not a series of performed customs.” .

Perhaps, few people will regret the tradition of rolling the mother-in-law in the mud on the second day of the wedding, a thing of the past. But it would be worth thinking about the revival of such forgotten customs as engagement, betrothal (an agreement that precedes the wedding).

“At the same time, it is hardly worth reviving betrothal as just a beautiful custom - putting on rings and taking a vow of fidelity,” says Father Stefan. — The fact is that betrothal in church law is equivalent to marriage in terms of obligations. Therefore, each time the issue of engagement must be resolved individually. Today there are a lot of difficulties with weddings, and if people are also offered betrothal... The question arises: won’t this be imposing “unbearable burdens” on people?”

Tatyana Vorobyova also advises to treat wedding traditions with caution and without fanaticism: “On this day, the husband and wife take on the heavy cross of responsibility for each other, patience with each other’s weaknesses, fatigue, and sometimes misunderstandings. Therefore, the only indisputable wedding tradition, in my opinion, is parental blessing for marriage. And in this sense, the ancient custom of giving an icon to a young family is usually wedding icons Lord and Mother of God - as a sign of blessing, of course, has a deep meaning.”

According to the psychologist, the main parting message that parents should convey to newlyweds is their parents’ acceptance of them as husband and wife. Children should know that from the moment of their wedding, their parents will not separate them, figure out who is right and who is wrong, but will make every effort to preserve their union. This approach gives the young family confidence in their parents and helps them understand themselves as a single, indivisible whole.

“The grumbling, murmur of a father or mother, such a “noble curse” on an unborn family - this is the worst thing that can happen! - says Tatyana Vorobyova. “On the contrary, young spouses should feel that their parents perceive them as a single whole. And, let’s say, if there is some kind of disagreement in the family, the mother-in-law will not condemn the daughter-in-law and say: “My son is the best, he is right!”

TRADITION 16. PARENTAL BLESSING

The future Venerable Sergius of Radonezh did not disobey his parents when they did not bless him to go to a monastery until they died. But the Monk Theodosius of Pechersk fled to the monastery against the will of his mother, who turned him back from the path and even beat him...

The latter is rather unusual. “Parental blessing does not sink in water, nor does it burn in fire,” our ancestors noted. “This is the greatest legacy that parents leave to their children. Therefore, children should take care to receive it,” explained the modern Athonite ascetic Paisiy Svyatogorets. However, the Church does not believe that the commandment “honor your father and mother” is associated for a Christian with absolute obedience to parents.

“It’s sad, but for centuries this commandment was perceived in Rus' in such a way that parents were considered almost the masters of their children, and any disobedience was boldly equated with disrespect. In fact, in the New Testament there are words that make this commandment mutual: “And you fathers, do not provoke your children...”, Father Stefan argues, explaining: “The parental desire to do what seems right to them must be balanced by the desire and freedom of the children.” “We must try to listen to each other and do everything not out of selfish desires, but with reason.”
Today, it is more common to choose your own path: for example, simply inform your father and mother about your upcoming marriage. Isn’t the institution of parental blessing dead, at least for marriage?

“The blessing of parents at any time is very important. This is evidence of how significant a father and mother are for their children, says psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova. - Moreover, we are not talking about the authoritarianism of parents, but about their authority - that is, about the trust of children in their parents. And this trust is a consequence of proper upbringing.”

On the part of children, obedience to parents, according to the psychologist, indicates a person’s personal maturity.
However, Tatyana Vladimirovna notes, parents are different, their motives are different: “You can love with blind, humiliating love, for example, when a mother dares to choose a wife for her son based on her own selfish motives. Therefore, parents must remember: children are not our property, they are “loaned” to us, they must be “returned” to the Creator.”

TRADITION 17. FAMILY COUNCIL

“You may have a thousand advisers from outside, but the family must make the decision itself and together,” Tatyana Vorobyova is sure.

Firstly, everyone speaks out here - sincerely, without hypocrisy, the opinions of all family members are taken into account, which means that everyone feels important, everyone has the right to be heard.

Secondly, the skill of developing a common opinion is very important: we speak out, listen, oppose each other - and thus find the only correct solution.

“This approach does not give a reason to then blame each other: “But you decided that!” As, for example, mothers often say: “You raised your children this way!” Excuse me, where were you at that moment?..”

If you come to unanimous opinion If it doesn’t work out, then the final word may remain with the head of the family. “But then,” warns Tatyana Vorobyova, “this word should be so weighty, so well-reasoned or built on such high trust that it will not cause anyone the slightest doubt or dissatisfaction! And it will lead to subordination by trust to the head of the family.”

TRADITION OF THE PATRIARCH

By the way, few people know that on each of his visits to St. Petersburg, His Holiness always leaves time to visit the graves of his parents. Here’s how the Patriarch’s press secretary, Deacon Alexander Volkov, talks about this tradition: “The Patriarch always visits cemeteries in St. Petersburg to remember his parents<…>. Always means absolutely always, every time. And this, of course, leaves a very strong feeling - who the parents were for the Patriarch, how much he loved them, what they did for him in life and how grateful he is to them. And you always wonder how often you yourself visit the graves of your relatives (and if possible, in addition to the graves of his parents, he visits several other burial places of relatives, we just don’t tell you about it). In general, the Patriarch gives a very instructive example of how to treat deceased relatives. And the inscription on the wreath – “to dear parents from a loving son” – is completely informal.”

Traditions and holidays

Traditions are usually associated with holidays. Before the revolution they were tied to church year, and this was perfectly described by I. Shmelev in the book “The Summer of the Lord,” which became a textbook of Christian life for us - those who came to the Church after a long Soviet “pause” of unbelief.

We tried our best to imitate the family structure that had evolved over centuries Tsarist Russia, but often unsuccessfully. Why? Because times have changed a lot. And if in Soviet times holidays were still tied to church holidays - the same New Year - to Christmas, March 8 - to Maslenitsa, May 1 - to Easter - then post-Soviet times began to gravitate towards Western European values. Suddenly it turned out that young people are happily celebrating Halloween and Valentine's Day, which had never been heard of before. Please note that these holidays are in no way tied to Russian, traditional holidays. However, there was obviously an internal need to consolidate them, since they took root on our land.

Traditions and internal needs of the family

And yet, the creation of intra-family traditions depends only on the family itself: on its capabilities, on its direction. Among believers, church traditions inevitably become entrenched. For example, we make sure to bake our own Easter cakes and paint our own eggs for Easter, despite the fact that many mothers my age remark in surprise: “Why? You can still buy it in the supermarket, and very inexpensively!”

To understand that these very actions and efforts to prepare your own special meal are a family tradition, you must try to accomplish this small feat yourself, at least once in your life! My loved ones do not have any questions regarding the appropriateness of such actions - and precisely because from year to year for more than ten years we have been preparing for the main Holiday of the year. And if Christmas traditionally still remains a universal holiday, according to its traditions - worldwide, then Easter and name days are already a purely our, Orthodox tradition. That is why it is interesting in the context of this article.

Church traditions as an established value

By the way, exactly church holidays bring into the life of a believing family many beautiful traditions that have been established for centuries: birch branches on Trinity and fluffy willow on Vaiy Week, a Christmas tree and Easter cakes, birthday pies and apples on Savior. But what a beautiful women’s tradition is to wear blue scarves on the Mother of God holidays, green ones on Trinity, etc.

All this came or passed on from those very prosperous times when family traditions fit perfectly into national policy. It was good for our ancestors to fast when the markets all switched to selling lean products, the taverns did not serve meat, even the theaters stopped operating. By the way, my friend, who visited Greece during Lent, told me that she was unable to visit the theater in Athens under open air, because the performances began only after Easter.

Family tradition strengthens the “unit of society”

I note that even such simple traditions did not appear as a result of the desire to consolidate them in our family, but arose naturally, based on the needs of our particular family, from its daily life, from the repetition of the annual cycle. It is all the more important for everyone to understand that only traditions, only repeated common actions can strengthen a family, bind everyone to each other with common interests and common values.

The Russian family has never been distinguished by individualism, like the Western one. It was always strange for us to see people who lived in a family, each on his own, each with his own, separate and independent life. Our family has never been a free meeting of individuals contemplating each other at a distance; on the contrary, it is a joint common existence, albeit somewhat forced and not always easily tolerated, but living according to general laws.

Family is a reliable rear, it is something that will always support, endure, reassure and help in difficult times. That is why in a moment of joy there is a common and indescribably multiplied by the number of participants joint joy of communication. Family tradition not only strengthens the family, it gives it the necessary impulse to live on, to love each other in sorrow and joy. Children, of course, do not make such vows to their parents, but the relationship of mutual assistance is cemented in joint actions and also become a good tradition.

We are the creators of modern traditions

I’ll just repeat once again: instilling traditions from the outside is a completely useless exercise. Only those that are supported by internal necessity take root, and therefore each family now has to develop its own traditions – personally. Only over time can such traditions acquire a national scale, as was the case with pre-revolutionary church traditions or with the tradition of celebrating Women’s Day, which was beaten by so many copies by church people, but which still remained the only holiday of women of such a general scale.

Nowadays there are practically no such national traditions left. What is celebrated is by inertia and without its former scope. This speaks of a crisis of the state, but also of a crisis of the family as a whole. We must not allow our family to become a random temporary residence for individuals. This situation will gradually but steadily destroy our society from within.

Taking all the best from the past experience of the Russian family and reworking it in relation to specific modern conditions - this is the task facing every family if it wants to remain friendly and strong.

So, it turns out that today we are the creators of new good family traditions. This is both pleasant and responsible. It turns out that it depends on us what our child’s family will celebrate later – Halloween or Easter.

1. INTRODUCTION

Tasks:

Define the concepts of “Family”, “Christian family”, “traditions”;

Introduce parents to the traditions and culture of a Christian family;

To formulate the need to observe Christian traditions in the family.

Form: teacher's report, discussion

Preparatory work: Questioning of children and parents, preparation and design of the class, preparation of the script.

Our contemporary, scientist and priest Gleb Kaleda, in his book dedicated to the Christian family, says that monasticism is useful for those who are rich in love, and a common person learns love in marriage. People modern culture Most often, without thinking about it, they are looking for in marriage not a school of love, but self-affirmation and satisfaction of their passions.

In the Orthodox tradition, family life is understood as the “path to Salvation,” the ascent along which is associated with bearing the “cross” of everyday responsibilities of mutual care, cooperation, understanding and harmony.

According to the Apostle Paul, man is three-part: he has a body, a soul and a spirit. Marriage consecrated by the Church unites all three components of human nature. Modern Orthodox theology defines the essence of marriage and its role in human transformation as follows:

- “A Christian is called, already in this world, to have the experience of a new life, to become a citizen of the Kingdom; and this is possible for him in marriage. Thus, marriage ceases to be just a satisfaction of temporary natural impulses... Marriage is a unique union of two beings in love, two beings who can transcend their own human nature and be united not only “to each other” but also “in Christ.”

- “In marriage there is a transformation of a person, overcoming loneliness and isolation, expansion, replenishment and completion of his personality.”

The spiritual growth of a husband and wife in marriage is helped by conjugal love, which extends to children and warms everyone around them.

The special role of the family - the “domestic Church” in Christian culture - is to fulfill its original function - the spiritual and moral education of children. According to the teachings of the Church, “childbearing” (meaning not only the birth, but also the upbringing of children) is saving for parents. Children are perceived not as an accidental acquisition, but as a gift from God, which parents are called to cherish and “increase,” helping to reveal all the strengths and talents of the child, leading him to a virtuous Christian life.

In raising children, the family cannot be replaced by any other social institution, she plays an exceptional role in promoting the formation of a child’s personality. In family communication, a person learns to overcome his sinful egoism; in the family he learns “what is good and what is bad.”

Main part.

2.1. Methodological development of parent meetings on the topic:

"Traditions and culture of the Christian family"

Progress of the meeting

Teacher's report.

In order to talk about a Christian family, about traditions and culture in a Christian family, it is necessary to define the meaning of the concept of “family”:

Family is a collection of close relatives living together, a small group based on marriage or consanguinity, whose members are connected by a common life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance.

Family is a union of two people (a man and a woman), based on love and mutual understanding. Distinctive feature family is the love that underlies it; family is the visible embodiment of the love of several people for each other. Legal registration does not create a family; for her, the similarity of tastes, ages, professions or the number of people does not matter. The family is based on the mutual love of husband and wife and on the love of parents and children.

Family in the Christian understanding there is a domestic Church, a single organism, whose members live and build their relationships on the basis of the law of love.

The fact that the concept of “family” has both a moral and spiritual nature is confirmed by religious, philosophical and theological studies.

The family begins with marriage, and marriage in the Christian tradition “is a sacrament in which, with a free promise, true love the marital union of the bride and groom is sanctified for the pure birth and upbringing of children and for mutual assistance in salvation.”

According to the words of St. John Chrysostom, marriage has become for Christians a “sacrament of love,” in which spouses, their children and the Lord Himself participate. The accomplishment of this mysterious union of love is possible only in the spirit of the Christian faith, in the feat of voluntary and sacrificial service to each other.

For each of its members, the family is a school of love as a constant readiness to give oneself to others, take care of them, and protect them. Based on the mutual love of spouses, parental love is born, the reciprocal love of children for their parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. Joy and sorrow in a spiritually healthy family become common: all events family life unite, strengthen and deepen the feeling of mutual love.

I.A. Ilyin calls the family “the primary womb of human culture.” In the family, the child masters the basics of material and spiritual culture. In communication with close adults, the child develops actually human forms of behavior: skills of thinking and speech, orientation and activity in the world of objects and human relationships, moral qualities, life values, aspirations, ideals.

In the family, a feeling of living continuity of generations is born, a feeling of involvement in the history of one’s people, the past, present and future of one’s Motherland.

Only a family can raise a family man: according to words of wisdom I.A. Ilyina, a good family gives a person “two sacred prototypes, in a living relationship with which his soul grows and his spirit strengthens:

The prototype of a pure mother, bringing love, mercy and protection;

And the prototype of the good father, who gives nourishment, justice and understanding."

The philosopher calls these parental images the sources of spiritual love and spiritual faith of a person.

From time immemorial, the education of a child’s good character, the development of his ability to live a virtuous life, was determined by the way of life of the mother and father, by the extent to which the parents themselves could show him a good example. Without example and guidance in goodness, a child loses the ability to develop as a person. The holy fathers and shepherds of the Church write about this:

Saint Basil the Great: “If you want to educate others, first educate yourself in God”;

Saint Theophan the Recluse: “The father and mother disappear into the child and, as they say, dote on the soul. And if their spirit is imbued with piety, then it cannot be that it, by its nature, does not have an effect on the soul of the child”;

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, addressing the mother of a little girl: “Know that more than all your instructions in words, your life will be the strongest instruction for your daughter”;

Priest Alexander Elchaninov: “For raising children, the most important thing is that they see their parents living a great inner life.”

This is evidenced in the proverbs by the wisdom of the Orthodox Russian people: “A righteous mother is a stone fence”, “A father teaches his son no evil” and many other examples...

Traditional way of family life and modern problems of spiritual and moral education in the family:

Without being ashamed or afraid of the world, try to give your children a true Christian education, imparting to them Christian concepts in everything, teaching them Christian rules of life, kindling love for the Church of God and all church orders...

Saint Theophan the Recluse

The paternal and maternal lines of behavior in the Russian family were organically combined in a hierarchically structured family structure (established order, structure of life), and had a beneficial effect on the formation of the child’s soul and the strengthening of family ties.

The traditional family way of life helped the child to experience life in its various manifestations and taught him to be involved in this life to the best of his strength and abilities. On the basis of the traditional spiritual and moral foundations of the family, the subsequent social and spiritual viability of the individual was laid. Honoring parents and obeying them was perceived by children as God’s commandment and necessary condition happy growing up. And the mother and father, realizing the peculiarities of their family ministry and their duty to raise children well, understood both the everyday and spiritual significance of wise pedagogical communication in the family.

The modern order of life is completely different; it provokes the destruction of traditional family ties. For both men and women, work, success in the professional field, and the desire for prosperity are becoming increasingly important. Modern parents have neither physical nor mental strength left to raise children. And even believers often do not perceive communication with their spouse and children as something spiritually significant in life.

How did the traditional family structure enable people not to waste their vitality, to increase it, to share it with their weak neighbors?

Help us answer this question a brief description of components of the family structure. The traditional family structure includes five components:

1. Customs (established, habitual forms of behavior),

2. Traditions (passed from generation to generation, a way of transmitting the value-significant content of culture and family life),

3. Relationships: heartfelt feelings and moods,

4. Rules (way of thinking, norms of behavior, customs, habits) of a good and pious life,

5. Routine ( established order during the course of business) day, week, year; in Russian Orthodox culture, this routine was determined by the structure of a Christian’s pious life, the range of church services, and seasonal changes in everyday life and work.

Perhaps, there are some (often unstable and not based on genuine spiritual and moral values) customs, traditions, relationships, rules, routines in the life of a modern family. Conscious filling of these components of the life structure with traditional content will provide effective assistance in the spiritual awakening of modern children living in a vain, fickle and aggressive world.

Restoring the traditional way of life will help return the family to solving the problem of spiritual and moral family education. The meaning of this task is, according to I.A. Ilyin, “so that the child gains access to all spheres of spiritual experience; so that his spiritual eye is opened to everything significant and sacred in life; so that his heart, so tender and receptive, learns to respond to every manifestation of the Divine in the world and in people.”

I.A. Ilyin also designates the means of spiritual education, with the help of which a child can gain access to where “the Spirit of God breathes, calls and reveals itself”:

Nature in all its beauty, grandeur and mysterious purposefulness,

True art, which gives the opportunity to experience a feeling of blessed joy,

Genuine sympathy for all who suffer,

Real love for others

The blessed power of a conscientious act,

The courage of a national hero,

Creative life national genius with his sacrificial responsibility,

– direct prayerful appeal to God, “Who hears, and loves, and helps.”

It is interesting to compare (and make sure of their consonance) the lists of means of spiritual and moral education by I.A. Ilyin and the famous pastor of the Church of the mid-20th century, Archpriest Sergius Chetverikov. Father Sergius reflects on what is conducive to the return of a soul that has lost faith to religious life; he names the following means:

Religious childhood memories

The influence of nature

The influence of fiction,

Meetings with truly religious people,

Visiting centers of religious life (monasteries, elders, holy places),

Reading religious literature.

In the modern situation, awareness of the effectiveness of these means is especially important, since we are not talking about individual souls, but about generations that have lost or never managed to gain faith. Feature modern conditions spiritual and moral education is that parents will have to master its traditions not only pedagogically (in relation to children), but also on a personal level (in relation to themselves). They will have to solve a double problem:

1. become carriers of the spiritual and moral culture and way of life that they strive to instill in children;

2. create and continuously maintain in the family such a cultural, psychological and spiritual atmosphere in which the child’s initial desire for the sublime, holy and good would be formed and consolidated.

The difficulties in solving these problems are

1) modern secularized sociocultural environment,

2) the paucity of public experience in mastering the traditions of Orthodox education,

3) the lack of clear, systematized ideas of parents about the traditions of the domestic family pedagogical culture and the lack of personal spiritual experience,

4) lack of a system of spiritual and moral education of parents, pedagogical and spiritual and moral assistance to the family in raising children,

5) spiritual weakness of today's children and parents.

In a society whose ideal is success and prosperity, any weakness causes irritation and a desire to somehow get rid of the burdensome problem. Therefore, modern parents will face great difficulty through personal experience.

– gain an essential understanding of fatherhood and motherhood,

Master your parenting as a patient and merciful service to God and your neighbors,

Learn to respond to problems that arise in the child’s development and behavior, not with irritation and active rejection, but, on the contrary, with an increase in patience and love. The spiritual poverty of a bitter child’s soul can only be filled with merciful and heartfelt parental love. We all need to learn such living and creative love, which does not accept stereotypes, today.

2.Meeting script

Dear parents! Today we have gathered to talk about family traditions and the culture of the Christian family..
Family is a big word!
Family is a ringing word!
Family is an important word
Everyone will tell you this.
Family is the sun that shines
Family is the stars in the sky
Family is all love.
The love of sons and fathers,
Love of daughters and mothers.
We give you our love!...
A.V. Sidorova

We have reviewed and discussed all your proposals and essays. We really liked the tradition of the family_(the surnames of the parents are called)_____________________________________________:

“We are always together...” With your permission, I will read an excerpt from your essay. This is a very touching story. Please tell us about this tradition.

^ In preparation for the meeting, parents answered questions on the QUESTIONNAIRE, now we have conducted an analysis and will report the results.

Do you think children's holidays in the family are a good tradition? Do our children need them? (listen to the parents’ answers and summarize)

3. ANALYSIS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE.

Yes, a child needs a holiday like air for full development. A holiday for a child is not the same as for us adults. A holiday is an event in a child’s life, and a child counts his days from holiday to holiday, just as we count ours from one year to the next. important event to another. And vice versa, “this childhood would be dull and gray if the holidays were thrown out of it,” wrote K.D. Ushinsky.

4.CREATIVE ACTIVITY

^ Game "Question - answer".

We offer parents a flower - the Seven-flowered Flower. Parents, if desired, tear off a petal, read the question, and we discuss the answer together.In parallel to some questions include a tape recording with children's answers .

1.Can holidays help in developing positive character traits in a child?
^ 2.Is it possible to plant in one festive table with older children? In what cases is it yes or no?
3. Offer a children's fun - a game for celebrating a birthday.
4.What holidays, other than birthdays, do you arrange for your child?

^ 5.You are invited to visit. What rules and in what form will you remind your child?
6.You are expecting guests, your child’s friends. What will you remind him of before the guests arrive?
^ 7. The children who came to visit scattered toys. What should the owners do?
8.Your child was given a toy that he already has. What will he do?
^ 9. What gifts do you give to children?
10.How do you organize children's parties in your family?

RESULT after the GAME “Question and answer”.
Holidays for children are a good family tradition. Riddles, quizzes, educational games– develop the child’s mind. There is a holiday in the house - you need to prepare gifts, decorate the room, wash everything, clean it - this is how work enters the life of a child. And when we sing, draw, read poetry, dance, put on makeup, listen to music - aren’t we raising our children aesthetically?
What holiday would be complete without fun outdoor games, where dexterity and intelligence contribute to healthy growth?

5. RESULT OF THE MEETING
-I would like to summarize the meeting: a family is a team. It may be small, diverse in age, but a team. And the educational richness of collective work is clearly manifested in holiday worries. Family is the basis of everything good and positive, that is, in a child. Respect and love for family traditions is instilled in the family! Love your children, respect their opinions, desires and they will answer you the same! Be friends with children!

^ Reading the poem by A. Lopatina “Be friends with children ».

Don't waste time with your children
Look at the adults in them,
stop quarreling and getting angry,
Try to make friends with them.
Try not to blame them
Learn to listen and understand.
Warm them with your warmth,

Let the house become a fortress for them.
Try with them, search,
Talk about everything in the world
Always guide them invisibly
And help them in all matters.
Learn to trust children -
Every step doesn't need to be checked
Respect their opinion and advice,
Children are wise men, don't forget.
Adults, rely on children
And love them with all your soul
In a way that is impossible to describe.
Then you won’t lose your children!

And I would also like to add about family

^ Family is protection from insults,
For kids it is like a shield.
How strong the armor is
From cold and from fire.
Something bad happened to the baby,
The family will always understand him;
Sometimes he scolds for pranks
But he will forgive you later anyway.
Family is a magical land of love,

She's like a precious paradise
In which faith and dream
It never runs out.
All children on earth need
Families are a magical land,
To love and pity,
So they can fly .
^ Listen, here's my family:
Grandfather, grandmother and brother.
We have order in the house, okay
And cleanliness, why?
We have two mothers in our house
Two dads, two sons,
Sister, daughter-in-law, daughter,
And the youngest is me
What a family we have.

The modern family is strengthened by emotional connections between parents and children. The nature of a child’s emotional well-being or distress is determined by his emotional relationships with adults in the family. Communication with adults is one of the most important factors that influence the development of a child.

Family traditions - Of course, these are holidays that are celebrated by all family members, gala dinners on weekends, when the whole family is gathered and receives a festive service. This could be a tradition of planting a tree or decorating a live Christmas tree for the New Year. It is a tradition to visit exhibitions, theaters, and museums with your child. These are also cooperative games. This is also a congratulation from relatives. These include traditional hikes, walks and picnics in nature. This includes compiling your pedigree and compiling family albums. These include celebrations of children’s birthdays.

3.CONCLUSION

Tradition translated as historically established and passed down from generation to generation forms of activity and behavior, and corresponding customs, rules, values. Namelytraditions act as a factor in regulating people’s life activities, this is the basis of raising children

Raising a child begins with the relationship that reigns in the family between parents. In the minds of children, habits similar to adults, tastes, passions, and preferences are deposited long before the process of realizing what is happening begins. After all, the construction of children’s behavior is going onfollowing the example of copying.

Children are raised not only by their parents as such, but also by the family life that develops. Attach tofamily traditionsYou can use the personal example of the parents themselves.

It is with the family that the introduction to culture begins; the child masters the basics of material and spiritual culture. In a family environment, human forms of behavior are also formed: thinking and speech, orientation in the world of objects and relationships, moral qualities, aspirations, ideals.

It is the family that gives rise to a sense of continuity between generations, and through this, involvement in the history of one’s family, and the development of the ideals of patriotism. The family, providing stability, reveals the abilities and strengths in the family member. And when raising children, no other institution can replace the family; it belongs to itleading role in the development of the child’s personality.

Just a year ago, the topic “Orthodox traditions of the Russian family” would have seemed new to me to a certain extent. Of course, every clergyman, especially every bishop who has some experience in church activities, has ideas about family problems that have been formed in practice. But not everyone can speak about them knowledgeably and professionally. I’m not trying to sound like a professional, but I’ll just say that this topic has become especially close to me over the past year.

This is due to the fact that last fall in the ancient Russian city of Galich and in the regional center itself - Kostroma, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs carried out a large-scale project - the II All-Russian Film Festival of Short Films "Family" was held Russia". IN competitive program The festival featured more than 200 short films presented by authors from 48 cities in 28 regions of Russia and neighboring countries. Both in the preparation process and, of course, at the festival itself, lively discussions were held, various ideas were expressed about the place of the Orthodox family in the modern world, and ways and prospects for the formation of Orthodox family values ​​among the younger generation were discussed. I also had to take part in many discussions. With great attention, festival participants got acquainted with beautiful, and in some cases, highly artistic films, designed to affirm traditional Orthodox family values ​​in society - the joy of fatherhood and motherhood, the moral beauty of a pious marriage and the ideal of a strong large family.

By the grace of God, I have been serving in the priesthood for over twenty years. Over the years I have seen many families - happy and unhappy, pious and not so pious, strong and broken. Probably many will agree with me that nowadays it is impossible to see the ideal Orthodox family, where the relationship between spouses and children is not overshadowed by anything is very rare. Just as true personal holiness is a precious and rare gift of God, so the perfection of family relationships is also a gift of God. And just as personal holiness is achieved through constant spiritual struggle, so family virtue comes to spouses over time and due to their spiritual labors.

The secret of Christian marriage is simple. Christian marriage is based on love. It was not by chance that the ever-memorable wonderful Moscow shepherd Archpriest Gleb Kaleda called the Christian family a true “school of love.” But what kind of love are we talking about here?

Family is a certain fundamental sign of a person, the same as reason and religiosity. Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow said: “God, having created the first people, entrusted to them and their descendants the further production of people into the world, entrusted, as it were, the continuation of His creative action. What a great gift!” This gift, according to the saint, is associated with the gift of natural mutual love, which both parents and children have by nature: “Do a father and mother need a feat in order to love their child? Does a baby need to learn to love his father and mother? But if in this love everything is done by nature, without achievement and almost without the knowledge of man: where is the dignity of virtue? This is simply a natural feeling, which we notice even in dumb people. Lack of love for parents or children is a deeply low vice; special cases when it is elevated by the self-denial and self-sacrifice associated with it.” And yet, the great teacher of the Russian Church believes that “natural” love alone is not enough for life in a family. “A sensitive and loving heart must be elevated from natural to spiritual love so that, immersed in family ties, it does not become completely bogged down in natural love alone. Therefore, placing the source of good in God and His blessing that we have or receive, and the hope of good, which we desire, we must elevate and illuminate the affairs of nature with the spirit of grace."

We all know works of world literature about “first love”. Of course, first love is a strong feeling. The person who falls in love experiences this state for the first time as the most extraordinary event in his (still so short) life. But, alas, we adults know well: the feeling of first love does not last a lifetime. And, if, obeying mutual attraction, a young man and a girl decided to link their destinies in marriage, then it should be replaced by some other, much deeper relationship than the romantic feelings of the first days. If this does not happen, the laws of fallen human nature take their toll. “Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world... And the world and its lusts pass away, but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17). A marriage based solely on earthly feelings is easily destroyed over time.

There is also a flip side to such love: the burning despair that overwhelms the soul if the object of love does not reciprocate. Let us remember that after the publication of Goethe’s notorious novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” a wave of suicides shook Europe.

Here we can also recall that dark love, which “... jumped out in front of us, like a killer jumps out of the ground in an alley, and struck us both, as lightning strikes, as a Finnish knife strikes!”, but reasoning on the topic “ The Master and Margarita" has set people's teeth on edge lately.

But let us now turn to the lives of the saints of the Orthodox Church. Many are familiar with the life of St. Alexy, the man of God. Even in his youth, the ascetic, who lived in Rome, left his parents' house, running away from his beautiful bride, and some time later, he returned and lived in the guise of a beggar at the threshold of his own house, in front of his parents, who missed him but never recognized him.

A modern psychologist might interpret Alexei's flight as a typical emancipatory reaction to a parenting style defined as "indulgent hyperprotection." Imagine what the life would look like as retold by popular Moskovsky Komsomolets journalists: What an outrageous incident! What a scandal! What heartlessness of religious fanaticism towards parents and fiancée! This, they say, is the dark side of Orthodoxy, an eastern contemplative religion, indifferent to the values ​​of civilization.

Meanwhile, in Russian Orthodox families, the life of St. Alexy was perhaps the most favorite reading, to which both adults and children listened. Why? After all, the author of the biography openly preaches the ascetic path, and even in the radical form of foolishness for Christ’s sake. But Saint Alexy was loved and revered in large and friendly Orthodox families for a very simple reason: the members of these families felt well: their family was united and bonded by the same “spirit of grace” that the ancient ascetic carried in his heart, leaving his parental home and his young bride . This gracious spirit makes a marriage strong and indestructible. The Christian family becomes a container of divine love; it accumulates this love, spreads the fragrance of an atmosphere of love around itself, attracting other families. Let us remember that St. Seraphim of Sarov said: “Acquire a peaceful spirit and thousands of people around you will be saved.” It would be fair to complement the thought of the great saint: “Acquire a peaceful spirit in your family and thousands of families will be saved next to yours.”

First of all, the family becomes a source of love for children. The family atmosphere greatly influences the formation of a child’s mental image and determines the development of children’s feelings and children’s thinking. This general atmosphere can be called the “family mentality.” Children who grew up in an atmosphere of love carry it within themselves and further, creating their own families, fill the earth with this love. Love is the only creative force. So, the family was created as a source of love and creative power for all humanity. There is no love - and any methodology of the educational process is doomed to failure.

The state is rightly accused of insufficient attention to the problems of motherhood and childhood. Despite the recent increase, the mother's benefit remains meager. As conscious citizens of society, we can only welcome the introduction of maternity certificates, as well as initiatives of local authorities aimed at supporting the birth rate in the regions. In this regard, I cannot help but mention with the warmest feeling the program approved by the Governor of the Belgorod Region, Evgeny Savchenko. It is possible and necessary to invest money in the social sphere. But money alone will not solve the problem. Money will not bring love. Money can relieve social tension and make life easier, but it is impossible to create a happy family. I think each of you is familiar with Orthodox families raising two, three, and sometimes four children in the extremely cramped conditions of the Moscow studio apartment. And there are countless examples of tragic family conflicts in elite ruble mansions. Such a quality as the willingness to sacrifice oneself every day for the happiness of a loved one is not adopted in the process of becoming acquainted with the basics of family psychology, but comes as a gift of God’s grace. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify her...” (Eph.: 25).

Most of the films presented at the aforementioned “Family of Russia” film festival tell about real strong Orthodox families in which a genuine spirit of love reigns. There are more and more such families. But in general, the institution of marriage and family is experiencing an acute crisis. It is a mistake to believe that this crisis began during perestroika. The Russian family was destroyed by communist ideology. Let us remember that the classics of Marxism believed: the family, based on private property, the right of inheritance and home education of children, should be abolished by the victorious proletariat. You can read about this in the “Communist Manifesto” of Marx and Engels;

In the first years of Soviet power, they tried to take away the opportunity to raise children from parents (primarily the father). Leon Trotsky perceived the family as the main obstacle to the revolution. It was he (certainly, not without Lenin’s approval) who in 1918 became the author of the revolutionary decree on the “socialization of women.” By “socialization” the Bolsheviks understood the rape of female students and high school students by revolutionary sailors and Red Army soldiers, as well as in the basements of the Cheka. This cynical decree quickly penetrated into the very depths Soviet life. Of course, mass rape of women ended in unnecessary pregnancies. Therefore, instructions and rules for conducting abortions were urgently developed so that tracks could be quickly covered. Soviet Russia became the first country to globe, which legitimized mass kill of their unborn citizens. Abortion became the norm of Soviet life. Oddly enough, our country still uses these revolutionary abortion instructions to this day. To this day, the number of abortions in our country remains unheard of for any civilized country.

In the minds of the classics of Soviet political education (such as A. Kollontai and A. Lunacharsky), a man and a woman in a family were supposed to be, first of all, bound by bonds of love and camaraderie, as well as a sense of collective responsibility. The educational function of the family was delegated to society. The family, as an independent agent in raising children, could not fit into a totalitarian system. The entire policy of the Soviet government was aimed at reducing the educational role of the father to zero, and shifting all responsibility for education to society. But society could not cope with the task, and, gradually, as modern psychologists convincingly show (for example, V.N. Druzhinin), the entire burden of responsibility for the family and children fell on the shoulders of the mother. The ease of divorce procedures rested on the woman additional responsibilities education. The role of women increased even more due to the mass death of men during the period of mass repressions and the Great Patriotic War. In the Resolutions of the Central Election Commission and the Council of People's Commissars, in fine arts, in cinema and architecture, in mass propaganda campaigns, the role of women was exalted in every possible way. 0 men were silent.

All this led to the deformation of the entire system of family relations. After all, the Orthodox teaching about the family is quite definite: “The husband’s dominance over his wife is natural. The husband is older than the wife by creation. He appears as something basic, and the wife as something subsequent... But as soon as the wife seeks and actually achieves primacy over her husband, she will immediately bring disorder in one’s own life and in the whole house,” wrote Archpriest Evgeniy Popov, a prominent expert in the field of Orthodox family psychology, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the 60s and 70s, the crisis of the Soviet family continued. The fact is that during this period there was a strengthening of the economic and ideological independence of the family from the totalitarian state, and the socio-political role of men increased. St. Petersburg psychologist V. Semenov conducted interesting research. He reviewed art publications in the most popular magazine of those years, Yunost, for the period from 1955 to 1984. A total of 123 novels and stories with 236 conflict situations were analyzed. The number of insoluble family conflicts increased from the 50s-60s to the 70s-80s by 6 (!) times. There is clear evidence of family disintegration and marital breakdown.

Over the past decade and a half, in Russian society, already free from totalitarian ideology, the institution of family and marriage has changed continuously and so rapidly that it is sometimes quite difficult to grasp the trends of these changes. The very concepts of “marriage” and “family” seem familiar and understandable to us only at first glance. In fact, according to various social groups and, in particular, in the ideas of modern youth they have a meaning that we often are not even aware of.

Horrifying statistics are known regarding the decline in the birth rate, the increase in the number of divorces and officially registered marriages, the increase in out-of-wedlock births, the increase in the number of single-parent and so-called problem families, and the increase in domestic crimes.

Here are observations that describe one of the contradictory trends: Today, the traditional family model and officially registered marriage are being replaced by new forms of marriage: trial marriage, marriage not for life. Family structure has changed everywhere. One of the main distinctive qualities of marriage and family relations in recent decades has become the so-called nuclearization of the family. (from Latin nucleos - core). Unlike the patriarchal family, where living together for three or four generations was considered the norm, today the nuclear family, consisting of one core: parents and children, has become such a norm. On the one hand, the nuclear family implies a simpler structure of relationships. But, on the other hand, in such a family the everyday and psychological burden falling on the spouses sharply increases: numerous responsibilities for maintaining household, raising children, organizing leisure time, etc. are carried out only by husband and wife, which entails their interdependence and connectedness. And as a psychological consequence - an increase in the personal responsibility of each family member, a variety of family roles, often not traditional for men and women. What happens next? A man, as you know, is not very keen to share household responsibilities with a woman. For example, men show relatively little activity in a very labor-intensive task - raising their children. They are even less willing to participate in household work. Thus, the workload for women increases over the years, and for men it decreases. The greater the workload gap between husband and wife, the less satisfied the spouses are with the marriage. A man’s reluctance to take on part of his daily worries leads to the formation of a conflict situation and to a woman’s growing dissatisfaction with her marriage. The family is rapidly heading towards divorce.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy has repeatedly pointed out that “... the center of all educational work should be the church parish. Boys and girls should be given the opportunity for interesting and useful activities, social service at the church.” Years have shown that in those parishes where rectors offer a meaningful program of extra-liturgical activities; and also where intense spiritual life takes place, that is, near monasteries, Orthodox communities are formed, including dozens of strong young families.

One of the most successful examples here was the St. Petersburg Orthodox youth club "Chaika", created in 1996 and uniting young people, parishioners of the Church of St. John's Monastery on the Petrograd side. "We came together for the sake of mutual help, communication, organizing joint leisure, serving the Church and our neighbors. We are mainly young people from 17 to 30 years old. We are grateful to God for giving us the opportunity to get together and make friends and to gain spiritual unity in a common life in Christ. The desire for unity and mutual understanding is one of our goals, we would like to convey a piece of our joint joy to all of you,” they say about themselves in “Chaika”.

It is unthinkable to talk about the revival of the Orthodox family without preparing young people for marriage. The latter should consist of cultivating all those virtues without which it is difficult to imagine a prosperous family: mutual understanding, goodwill, attentiveness, participation, willingness to help, and, if necessary, to sacrifice oneself. In order for young people to be able to harmoniously build their relationships in a future marriage, they need to know the features of the psychology of communication, interpersonal relationships in a modern family. Young people need to be told about all this patiently and clearly.

All these personal qualities are formed during school years. And, above all, it is necessary to instill in young people the idea of ​​the value of family as such at an early age. Along with the school system of preparing young people for marriage, it is necessary to continue the educational work begun with student youth within the framework of university courses: “Psychology of Family and Marriage”, “Social Psychology”, “Family in psychological consultation". And in parallel with this, the values ​​of family and marriage should be promoted by the media.

It is very difficult to replace the gaps in family upbringing of children with school upbringing and upbringing in a church parish during non-school time. In parish life we ​​are faced with the following phenomenon: it is easier to raise a whole family than individual offspring. For many years, family-type summer camps have successfully proven themselves in the activities of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs. These camps are run by the Brotherhood of Orthodox Pathfinders during school holidays. Children and parents are invited to participate. Here, both children and their mothers and fathers are churched and raised in Christian virtues.

A people who have no concept of family has no future. He is simply doomed to extinction. Entertainment culture and the consumerist worldview imposed by the media are doing their job. Those substances that made it strong and courageous, capable of sacrificial deeds, are washed away from the character of the nation.

Children and youth need protection not so much from terrorist attacks, but from aggressive preaching of immorality and a lifestyle destructive to the soul and body. A stereotype is imposed: to live means to enjoy, “Take everything from life.” The Orthodox Church strongly states its strong disagreement with the image of a young man living by the standards imposed by modern pop culture. There is no sadder spectacle for the Christian heart than the spiritual cloning of young people with the same expression in their eyes, drinking the same Coca-Cola, dancing to the same musical rhythms, speaking the same and feeling the same.

Unfortunately, we have already lost many children and teenagers! Today's task is not to lose a new generation for the country. This means that from childhood they need to instill high ideals, including family life. His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' ALEXI II spoke at the All-Church Congress of Orthodox Youth in May 2001: “The time has come to unite the efforts of those who feel acute concern for the younger generation. If we do not immediately take up the painstaking work of mentors and teachers of youth, we We'll lose the country."

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The theme of legend and religious traditions in modern Russia contains a problem. This problem has a strong impact on the development of relations between various branches of the Church of Christ. But the problem lies not within tradition or tradition, but between Holy Tradition (tradition) and Holy Scripture. It sounds like this: what is the authority for a Christian - only Holy Scripture or the entire church tradition, i.e. Holy Tradition. The topic is relevant for the development of relations between Orthodox and Protestants in Russia, but it arose a very long time ago, practically it was incorporated into Russian Christianity when it appeared in Rus', since Christianity came, accompanied by a written source in the Russian language. The written source was the Cyril and Methodius translation of the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Psalms, the book of Proverbs, and the experienced practice of spiritual life was the tradition of Byzantium. The Russians, who adopted a new religion by decision of Prince Vladimir, had to master both the system of spiritual culture of Byzantium and the way of thinking of Christianity. The image of thoughts is best recorded in texts. The Russian princes had no intention of being vassals of Byzantium; for this reason, they themselves read the original source and encouraged Russian theological thought. Noteworthy in this regard is the statement of Metropolitan Hilarion in his “Sermon on Law and Grace”: “Faith is from God, not from the Greeks!” He starts his thinking from the ideas of a written text, which is natural when mastering a new spiritual culture. But, of course, in general, Russian spirituality has followed the path of mastering the Byzantine model. The further complex development of Russian spirituality led to the establishment, first of all, of ritual belief, which was natural for the “spiritual” in its own way. inner essence Rus'. When Christianity, spiritual in its essence, came to the spiritual soil of Rus', Rus' accepted in Christianity what it was ready for - its spiritual side. The process of “growing up” into the spirit of Christ’s Gospel began, but continued in a way that was natural for the culture of Russian society - through the gradual experience of communication with God along the paths of one’s own spiritual choice, and unevenly. If under Tatar yoke the south-eastern part of Rus' was based on the ascetic contemplation of monks, then in the north-west, where there were no Tatars, but natural development based on the assimilation of book teaching continued, criticism arose of the structure of Russian religious life, and in such areas as the denial of the church hierarchy , ritual belief, money-grubbing. These ideas could be obtained in a simple and natural way - through reading the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Thus, the movement of bookish Orthodox Christians of the 14th century (“Strigolniki”) was destroyed physically, but continued to influence the spirit of Orthodox Christians in Northwestern Rus', since ideas can only be overcome by higher spirituality, and not by prohibition. For this reason, in the 15th century they “resurrected” in the movement of “Judaizers” during the annexation of Novgorod to the Moscow state of Ivan the Third. The basis was the same “bookishness” of the faith of the Novgorodians and Pskovians, passed down from century to century. Surprisingly, the main line of criticism from the official church against these “heretics” was that they were using the Old Testament. Indeed, they knew it, since translations in Old Church Slavonic form already existed. Archbishop Gennady decided the issue on the merits! He began collecting biblical translations from all over Russia, which were later published in the Gennady Bible1. And a deeper study of it began within the framework of the official church, although, of course, the forced nature of these actions, the tradition of a different way of church life caused a passive attitude towards the Bible among a large number of priests. However, for the Russian people it was important that texts from the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles were included in the circle of church reading2. A little later, a clash between the positions of official Orthodoxy and “book” Christianity took place in Moscow, now right at the court of Ivan the Third. The leader of this pseudo-heresy was the clerk-diplomat Fyodor Kuritsyn (a record of whose clan was included in the Velvet Book of the Higher Clan of Russia). From the mouth of Fyodor came criticism of Tradition, but based on Scripture. Joseph Volotsky at the council of 1504 achieved the rejection of the position of heretics. It is important to note that the evangelical movement in Russia followed its own path, but a path parallel to the conciliar movement in Western Europe. Both in the West and in Russia, initiatives to reform the Church from within were unsuccessful. But at this point it is important to show that the evangelical movement's approach to the authority of Scripture as opposed to Sacred Tradition, for Russia is a natural and original one. The evangelical tradition is called evangelical because it found a very important idea for revitalizing Christian life, an idea that several centuries later formed the basis of the Reformation, namely, a return to the model of the 1st century, to the word of Christ and the apostles through the text of the Holy Scriptures. The history of the evangelical movement in Russia later (two centuries after the Strigolniks) included the influence of Protestantism itself (Lutheranism, Reformation and even Anglicanism). But the main issue in the theological discussion between Evangelical and Orthodox Christianity in our country continued to be the opposition to adherence either to the total church practice (Tradition, Tradition), or exclusively to the Holy Scriptures. As can be seen from the examples given, the opposition between Tradition and Scripture is of a general Christian nature. It was born as an attempt to solve the problem of the adequacy of the practice of the Church of Christ with the teachings of its Founder, Jesus Christ. The issue remains relevant in the 21st century, as it has not been resolved. The opposition between the Orthodox and Evangelical approaches continues, causing serious damage to the fulfillment of the will of God in our country. 2. Current state of the problem The root of the problem lies in the fact that paradigms that have developed historically have their basis in movements human hearts (in the language of science - passions), that is, in the historical aspirations of feelings. This idea was first expressed by Eugen Rosenstock-Hüssy3. Passions are sometimes caused by unique combinations of factors that influenced the worldview of people in a particular era. One of the discussed paradigms, the Orthodox (in essence, “Old Christian”, having its beginning in apostolic times, but revealed in full, starting from the end of the 1st century), was based on the idea of ​​​​life with God, with Christ, in the Holy Spirit, emanating from assimilation of the Gospel as an idea, and not a letter (“And now I commend you, brothers, to God and to the Word of His grace, who is able to edify you more and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified” - Acts 20:32). For her, the New Testament Scriptures of the apostles and disciples of Christ were only brief, partial and often ad hoc records of the basic values ​​of the new life in Christ. The essence of the movement of hearts in this direction can be framed as follows: “Life, not a letter.” But for Christians of the first centuries, recordings were also important (they re-read them), which became part of the tradition of treating them - the recordings recorded the common opinion of listeners about their spiritual experience; they could be the arbiter of the controversy. This was the feeling of life in those distant times, and, of course, it corresponded to it. The other, the evangelical (often “Protestant”, as many perceive it), paradigm emerged during times of criticism of historical church practice. Practice, as a result of people’s creativity, has gone so far from written sources, which, of course, limitedly recorded reality, but preserved relatively unchanged the ideas and values ​​of the New Testament and the apostolic time, that the question involuntarily arose: what is practiced by modern Christians of the XIV-XVI centuries (or later), is it Christianity at all? And the written Word said: there was a departure from the original spirit and letter of the Gospel. The bearers of these beliefs were people who knew how to read and think based on what they read. The movement of their hearts was fidelity to the original gospel. Of course, this is also a passion, although it adequately corresponded to the time, but, in turn, has boundaries of life scope. So, two paradigms collided: the paradigm of the fullness of life in God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, which embraced the entire Christian existence, and the paradigm of fidelity to God’s Word as opposed to human customs. Opponents saw each other's weak points and pointed them out publicly. Old Church theologians spoke of the limitations of relying only on Scripture as the main weakness of the evangelical position; Evangelical theologians talk about the fundamental defect of man in the assimilation and fulfillment of God's will, which inevitably leads to distortions and even a turn towards “humanity” as a result of the historical development of Tradition. The modernity of the 21st century testifies to the intensified conflict of global ideological systems (atheism, theism, pantheism) and various faiths that grew up within these systems, but have become very strong and are trying to win in order to dominate even on a global scale. Christianity, attracted by the ruling elite of the world to justify its activities, was largely reduced to the interests of the ruling elite, revealing in this form of its existence significant flaws in its worldview, which led to direct contradiction to the will of God. But according to the conditions of God's Revelation, Christians are strong only when they are faithful to the truth that comes from the Lord Himself. Thus, the internal church reason for the need to explore the nature of the crisis in the practice of the Church of Christ is complemented by an external one. Critics of Christianity succeed when they “hit” the real weaknesses of the Church, which has consolidated in its practice, custom, and tradition that which was close to the hearts of people in ancient times, but is now blatantly discordant with the Gospel. The Scripture-Tradition problem is very important, its solution either destroys or strengthens the foundation of the modern Christian worldview. It must be examined so that the solution found, like the decision of the Council of Jerusalem of the 1st century (Acts 15), satisfies the aspirations of Christians, calms their conscience in the Lord, corresponds to the will of God and thereby ensures the victory of the Kingdom of God (naturally, not in the physical, but in spiritual sense of the victory of truth over lies). 3. Scientific and theological approaches The concepts of Tradition and Tradition are deeply developed in Orthodox theology (due to the need to protect the theological position of the Orthodox Church) and in sociological science/sciences that explore all areas of the transmission of human experience to new generations. The basis for the theological attraction of scientific data is the position that everything discovered by people is intended for them on behalf of God Himself. This is His General Revelation. Christian theology takes God's special revelation as methodological basis to approach the discoveries made by people regarding God's general revelation. The data of General Revelation is absorbed by Christians into the holistic picture they create of the world intended by God for human knowledge. Knowledge is followed by the process of ruling the earth (Gen. 1:26: “And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them rule... over all the earth..."), which is natural as a transition of the theory into practice. Involving scientific data with Christian theology allows us to have some kind of mediator so that a way out can be found in the acute opposition of the traditions of theological thought of the Old Church and Evangelical movements. Let us note that the term “Old Church” seems more useful for discussion than the term “Orthodox,” since the term “Orthodox” contains a large amount of evaluativeness, which in theological research is not only not useful, but also harmful. In this article there is no need to present the old church, evangelical and scientific definitions of tradition and tradition. Many articles and books have been written on this issue. But there is a need to propose some other approach that would allow us to respect the achievements of Orthodox thought regarding Tradition and, at the same time, would open a way out of the vicious circle of reasoning only in the paradigm of Orthodoxy (or Old Churchism). It seems that the evangelical discovery and the independent approach of science can be fruitfully combined with the achievements of Orthodox theologians. 4. Proposals for a new approach to the analysis of Christian legends and traditions 4.1. About Revelation and Discovery So, all the evidence of the opposing sides comes from the practice of applying two paradigmatic attitudes: 1. life, not the letter; 2. fidelity to Scripture. Their rapprochement turned out to be impossible in practice. The reason is the incorrect methodological approach. The parties use artifacts of established theological cultures that fundamentally “do not hear” each other. In fact, this is not about searching for the truth of God, but about establishing dominance of one of the already formed positions. But the Lord said through the mouth of the Apostle Paul that we must “know what the good, acceptable and perfect will of God is” (Rom. 12:2). It is she, the will of God, who should become “ common denominator"in dialogue. How does this or that culture of church practice relate to the will of God? It seems necessary to clarify the concept of “the will of God.” The Will of God is the Revelation of God (General and Special), but passed through the perception of man - the Discovery. Revelation to people cannot be expressed in any other way than through their perception. This perception gives rise to a Discovery about Revelation by imposing a "frame" of human hypothesis on the perceived phenomenon (in this case Revelation). All the weaknesses of human nature are revealed in this act. God's Revelation is always distorted in human Revelation. But the historical process of human development takes place in such a way that the Discovery, being applied in practice, receives approbation, in which the Discovery relative to the Revelation is clarified. Human discovery is always dynamic, exponential. God also expands Revelation, but in a special way, when He Himself wants it. There are two logics of human knowledge of God's will: 1. Revelation for a long, albeit limited period, constant. Under these conditions, Discovery only clarifies its perception (for example, the Law of Moses as a Discovery that conveyed Revelation, long time(i.e. before the coming of Jesus Christ) was only known and experienced with the help of Discovery); 2. Revelation is expanding, and Discovery must take into account both this circumstance and the imperfection of human nature, which cognizes Revelation (a person needs to overcome two difficulties at the same time; an example is the time of the New Testament for Israel, when there is a sharp leap in God's Revelation, and it had to be mastered through cognition and experience in the form of Discovery). The Church of Christ in the post-apostolic period again found itself in a situation of constant Revelation of God. She can clarify its understanding and practice its application, but there has been no new Revelation since the time of the last apostle. Thus, we can speak, comparing the ideas of Israel and the Church as a whole, as differences having the basis of a revolutionary expansion of Revelation (produced by Jesus Christ), and differences within the ideas of the Church - as having the nature of clarifying the Revelation regarding the constant Revelation given by the Messiah. 4.2. About Discovery and culture Discovery is always a step of faith, but faith in the general psychological sense of the word. Nature human thinking requires the establishment of axioms, foundations, which are simply observations, which are preferred after some mental work and which are not subsequently changed. The discovery regarding Revelation forms Dogma (ancient Greek dogma - opinion, teaching, decision)4. This action is similar to the action of a judge choosing the most appropriate decision for the situation. It is a decision of faith in a general psychological sense. Faith accepts something as truth (i.e., an adequate reflection of reality), but the difference between faith and superstition is that true faith has sufficient grounds, while superstition does not. The concept of Dogma is narrower than the concept of Discovery, since it fixes the decision of specific people in a specific situation. The discovery appears in the form of Dogma. For human practice, thinkers develop many Dogmas. Dogmas appear in various ways, for example, through the reflections of the most gifted people, which are accepted by the community as being fully consistent with the practice of the community. Dogmas are often more movements of the heart (passions) than arguments of the mind, but they begin to work as unchangeable foundations. A practice repeated many times - a custom - can become a dogma. In turn, the decisions of a judge or public leader, etc., become Tenets. In large centralized systems, Tenets are coordinated. Dogmas are the pillars of culture, its framework. The actions of people in a community are cultural creativity (individuals or subcommunities). Many factors of historical reality influence people, and they, guided by customs, decisions of judges, rulers, tenets of faith and other factors of this series, live, making many decisions secondary to the framework of culture. Naturally, when problematic situations arise within a culture, there is an appeal to authorities at the dogmatic level (in in a broad sense this word, which refers not only to religious life, but to the entire practice of the community). However, correlating arguments from different cultures with different dogmatic foundations and, especially, different experiences cannot be productive. This is precisely the process that occurs in the discussion between Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants. The matter is further complicated by the fact that all of these religious cultures are guided by God's will, Revelation, but at the same time are unable to recognize the right of Christians from other cultures to hear God in their original way, as well as to act in accordance with the Discoveries made. 4.3. The dynamics of the life of church cultures and their changes Church cultures in most cases are tied to broader human cultures and are part of them. It cannot be otherwise, since relationships with God are a property of man as a being. For this reason, it is necessary to take into account the influence on a person of all factors of life reality, which are then reflected in religious practice itself. Naturally, the cultures of countries (or groups of countries) in which Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism developed predominantly were each significantly influenced by these forms of Christianity. But the sad fact is that the emerging churches value their cultural identity more than the general spiritual basis of the Gospel. What matters is how they are formed cultural forms Christianity. They, as connected with the culture of the country, are necessarily influenced by all factors influencing the development of peoples - economic, geographical, political, social. Every time historical situations provide not only different sets of factors and their contributions to culture historical moment, but also a spiritual reaction to them (new passions). Established national cultures “feel” the new situation in accordance with the spiritual paradigm underlying the spiritual genotype of the people and only correct the idea of ​​life on its basis (correct the Discovery). However, it is also possible for new cultures to emerge, which most often are sprouts, shoots from old ones, but adopting a new paradigm of the time. A gap arises, new grounds for Discovery, new Dogmas, new cultural creativity. In humanity, there are cultures that go back thousands of years (for example, Chinese, Indian, Jewish), and there are cultures that are not just derived from them, but are revolutionary in opposition to them. Revolutions were carried out under the influence of changes in geography, such as economic activity , ideological updates. In Christianity, all these events affected national church cultures. If in imperial-type cultures, old and modern, the state itself was interested in the unity of worldview and social culture, then Christian cultures also sought to unify doctrine and church practice. When, within the framework of political alliances, there was interaction between already established Christian cultures (for example, Orthodoxy and Catholicism, expressed in the resulting form of Uniatism; or Catholicism and Protestantism in the USA), then Discoveries and Dogmas regarding God's will and Revelation began to include new influences from other Discoveries and Dogmatov. Let us recall that the subject of this article is not so much the study of unique historical practices-cultures, but the question “What are the possibilities for fruitful coexistence and interaction of various church practices, traditions, and legends?” A historical fact of our time is the rapidly increasing diversity of ideological reactions to life. All together, to one degree or another, they strive to give the right response to the global situation. Under these conditions, Christians cannot feel more at ease within the framework of their personal, family, community, denominational, confessional, church (mega-confessional) worldview. Challenges to Christianity are challenges to alternative worldview systems, which in other cases generally reject the existence of God, and in others remove the task of responsibility before Him. The struggle of ideological paradigms accompanies the struggle of cultural communities for dominance. And for opponents, what is important is not so much the victory of truth as political self-affirmation. But Christianity recognizes itself as faithful to God's purpose for humanity in its history, rushing into the future, into the Kingdom of God. This is not only fidelity to God, it is fidelity to the project of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:18-20), it is fidelity to the preparation of the Bride Church for the heavenly marriage of the Lamb of Christ. In other words, the Church cannot simply follow the struggle of national or global elites; it must, recognizing God’s will, salt human society, directing it to the implementation of God’s command to Adam, the owner of the earth. Humanity must give an account to God for the stewardship of the earth in the time God has provided, and the Church is the leader in this process, for it is composed of people reconciled to God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and committed to fulfilling God's purpose. Unity of Dissimilars is the Principle for Solution modern problem Churches. 5. Modern Russian spiritual Christian culture within itself and in the culture of society (what are the challenges, how to seek God's revelation for modern Christian culture) Modern Christian culture includes three main Christian churches - Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. The dominant national branch, formed from the Byzantine impulse, is the Russian Orthodox Church. Its tradition is most directly connected with the life of the Russian state, the Russian people. The tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church has absorbed not only the Byzantine approach to God's Revelation, but also the Old Church approach. At the same time, the Slavic origin itself, associated with the Cyril and Methodius Bible, and then the activities of the Moscow State and the Russian Empire had a great influence. This example of Christian culture experienced its crises. Perhaps the most severe crisis was the communist period, as there was a massive departure of Russians from Christianity and religion in general. Adequacy new reality post-Soviet times, adequacy in accordance with God's will is a great challenge of the time. It can be assumed that traditional recipes from previous centuries can only provide partial help. But the search must, first of all, be initiated by the Russian Orthodox Church itself, since otherwise even good help from other Christian churches will be perceived by it as an attempt to dominate. The Catholic tradition in Russia (especially after the destruction of the Soviet Union) is more about the presence of individual representatives of Catholicism on the territory of another religion than the functioning of real Russian Catholicism. After the departure of the Baltic states, Ukraine and Belarus, there is no active participation of Catholicism in the Russian Federation. But, naturally, Russian Catholics must develop the paradigm of national Russian catholic church, since otherwise it is difficult to expect not even growth, but simply the existence of the Catholic model of Christianity in Russia. The Protestant tradition in our country could be in the position of the Catholic one, but its nature is more complex than the Catholic one. As mentioned above, Catholicism is a development of the same old Christian paradigm as Orthodoxy, and evangelicalism is an alternative to this paradigm. Protestantism entered the evangelical tradition two centuries after its emergence in Rus'. In the evangelical tradition there is an answer to the burning challenge that is addressed to the Old Christian churches - a protest against the Church’s departure from the Gospel. The point is not the authority of tradition (Evangelical Christians have their own established and already outdated traditions), the point is that the human practice of Discovery, the process of dogmatization and culture must be constantly verified by Revelation. A Holy Bible The closest of all written sources that the Church uses is to God's revelation (especially revelation of the New Testament type). In the Old Testament, the voice of the prophets was constantly heard so that there could be an assessment of the conformity of Israel's life with the Law of Moses. There is a principle of some deficiency in the authority of human practice, and this deficiency is overcome by the intervention of God's word, once fixed in an unchangeable form as a standard. Thus, Protestantism continues to be used to answer the essential question of the Church as an integral organism, “Is it faithful to the Revelation of Jesus Christ?” appeal to the Holy Scriptures. But, as noted above, the Russian Christian church cannot be satisfied only with the peaceful coexistence of its various mega-confessional forms. God included the members of the Church into society, and His will for human society was not canceled. Adam was called to be in charge of the whole earth; Russian Christians must be responsible for fulfilling God's command to Adam on Russian territory. The challenges of our time are that there cannot be a more mono-church country. There cannot be mono-religion. The Church of Christ is in a competitive relationship with other religions and worldviews. For this reason basic settings its church paradigm must include as an object the entire Russian people(from atheist and postmodernist to shamanist, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew). The Church must show how man, created in the image of God, fulfills the will of the Lord on earth, that will that the entire population of Russia unconsciously or consciously fulfills. Fulfilling the will of God in contact with God is always more productive than through the efforts of the human person alone. The Church must, in getting to know God, set an example of God's attitude towards man (free to do good and evil). In the person of Christians, it must show that it is not the predatory attitude of the man-god towards the reality given to him by God, but the masterful, zealous, caring attitude of a being to whom God has entrusted responsibility for part of the world He created. Methods of domination (state, ideological) have outlived their usefulness. People of the postmodern era want recognition of their right to choose their own path, and any other - only because of free conviction, and not violence. For this reason, it is necessary to preserve and develop everything that works in already established traditions, and to create a new answer based primarily on Revelation. Promise God's blessing everyone who wants to do the will of God is His support (“And this is the boldness we have towards Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He listens to us. And when we know that He listens to us in everything we ask, “We also know that we receive what we ask from Him” - 1 John 5:15). The call of the Lausanne Conference of 1974 is fair - “The whole Church brings the whole Gospel to the whole world”5 - which can become a solution for the modern Russian Church. 1 The Gennadian Bible includes Cyril and Methodius translations of the Pentateuch, the book of Kings, Job, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Gospels, the Apostle, Judges, Joshua, Ruth and the Psalter. Some of the books could not be found (Chronicles, the books of Ezra, Maccabees, Tobit, Judith), and they were translated from the Latin Vulgate by the Croatian monk Benjamin. 2 The Orthodox liturgy contains 98 quotations from the Old Testament and 114 from the New Testament. 3 Rosenstock-Hussy O. Great Revolutions. Autobiography western man. BBI St. Apostle Andrew. M., 2002. P. 3.2 4 Dogma in Orthodox theology has a specific meaning. 5 Lausanne Manifesto. Lausanne. 1974. Alexander Fedichkin