Monday
II Cor. 2:4-15; Matt. 23:13-22
Woe unto you..for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men (Matt. 23:13). This can be said to hierarchs who neither teach the people the saving path themselves nor compel the priests to teach them. This can also be said to priests who leave the people in neglect, not taking care to explain to them what is necessary for the salvation of the soul. Due to this, the people remain in blindness. Some remain in the certainty that they are proceeding properly; others, although they notice that things are not going the right way, do not go where they should, because they do not know how and where to go. This causes various silly ideas to spread among the people; this is why schismatics, Molokans, and Khlysts find acceptance among them, and this is how every evil teaching finds convenient access to them. A priest usually thinks that everything is fine in his parish, and rushes into action only when this evil has already spread and exposed itself. But then nothing can be done about it. A priest must consider it the first priority of his conscience to continually instruct the adults in the knowledge of the Christian Faith, and to prepare the young generation from their first conscious years, explaining to them what they can and must know. There is no need to wait for school. This must be done orally, gathering the children in the church and at home on Sunday evenings, or whenever and however it is convenient.
-From St. Theophan the Recluse
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