Discovering Virtue


Here is a new workbook on "Discovering Virtue" for our Orthodox youth, probably at a pre-teen or teenage level. I offer it with hopes that it will provide a basic framework to discuss the spiritual life and difficult topics like chastity, humility and obedience,along with activities, a craft, and quotes from the desert fathers.

The document can be viewed as a PDF by clicking here at our Orthodox Education Scribd Group

If you have ideas to develop this lesson further, please share them either through this website of by emailing me at eleniemarie@gmail.com

The icon on the cover is one of many beautiful crafts offered at the Monastery of St John Chrysostomos

"You have to struggle to increase your zeal for God. It should become for you a daily way of life. Struggle for perfection. If you can't gain a drachma, gain at least a tenth of a drachma. Virtues are not acquired easily. There is need of struggling. And know: if we acquire virtue quickly, we shall lose it quickly. Whereas if we acquire it with labor, it doesn't go away."

-Blessed Elder, IERONYMOS of Aegina +1966

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teenage Confessions

Image
A dear friend spent all of July again this year hearing the confessions of maybe 300 or so teenagers in America. A tough job? Sure, it must be exhausting, but for him and every other clergy, our good Lord sends strength, accountability, and compassion to offer just the right medicine to these wounded souls. And this is just what he discovered: wounded souls . My clergy-friend and I both agreed, the devil is working overtime on our kids. What they are facing today is worse than we faced. It's more intense, more damaging, and more in their faces than ever. I share with you a few of these findings. For boys aged 11-18, they are simply bombarded with pornography. Our media has made this extremely accessible. But I liked my friends response- he explained that every time a young guy looks and deletes an image he is training himself to do this when the right one comes along, so therefore after a few short years of marriage, he will want to click "delete" and search for the next
Read more

Dwelling Place for Christmas

Image
The Nativity lenten season has begun... will God find an available "dwelling place" to be born? Will there be room at our inn? When He comes, as He did then to the city of Bethlehem, to knock on our doors....will there be room in our homes, in our hearts, and in the sometimes darkness of our lives for Panagia to lay and give birth to the giver of ever-lasting peace? What state will He find our caves in? Ready, asleep, or full to capacity with other things? You see, the cave is not only a physical place of historical importance, but a spiritual metaphor for each one of us. Isn't it also interesting that so many monks/nuns in our Orthodox tradition took up residence in an actual cave, where they decorated it with icons and burning vigil lamps living their lives in complete concentration and stillness. Hence, the "Light was born into darkness." Literally, and symbolically. How, might we ask, could God who is grander in size than any other "fit into" the
Read more

Presentation of Christ Activities - Ipapanti

Image
As you and your families prepare to celebrate the Presentation of Christ on February 2 I share with you the following activities. Page 16 of 39 in this Orthodox coloring book has the icon  to print & color https://www.scribd.com/doc/14024263/Orthodox-Christian-Icon-Coloring-Book Click, Print and Enjoy!
Read more