St. Paisios on Family Life

[inconsequential]

I've begun the long journey back from a self imposed spiritual darkness and picked up this book from the Church library to help me become a better husband and father. I am stunned at the wisdom God revealed to this man.

I am still very early in the book but wondered if anyone else has read it or any others in the series? Of particular interest so far was his comments on the conception of the Theotokos and how it was without passion. I think this, more than anything I've read or heard, clarifies the ideal of human sexuality.

Thoughts?

 

[jckstraw72]

i've read Family Life - it is amazingly fantastic, as you're noticing! and yes, that part about his vision of her conception is quite moving and shows us that the spiritual life is so much more than we typically think of it as.

 

[ArmyMatt]

got that book for my wife for Christmas, and could not agree more about human sexuality

 

[MilesVitae]

Why would (and, for that matter, how could) passionless sex be the ideal of human sexuality? The last time I asked about the Orthodox church's seemingly (to me) negative attitude toward sexuality, I was told though it exists only after the fall, in this pre-fallen world the intimacy of sexuality is blessed and good....and yet, I still hear stuff like this suggesting that ideally it should be "without passion...." which leaves me confused....

 

[ArmyMatt]

Why would (and, for that matter, how could) passionless sex be the ideal of human sexuality?

because humans we called to be fruitful and multiply before the Fall.

The last time I asked about the Orthodox church's seemingly (to me) negative attitude toward sexuality, I was told though it exists only after the fall, in this pre-fallen world the intimacy of sexuality is blessed and good....and yet, I still hear stuff like this suggesting that ideally it should be "without passion...." which leaves me confused....

when we say without passion, it means that the humans are in total control of their passions, rather than the passions in control of them. meaning a love that is so deep it is beyond words or actions.

 

[Dorothea]

I've begun the long journey back from a self imposed spiritual darkness and picked up this book from the Church library to help me become a better husband and father. I am stunned at the wisdom God revealed to this man.

I am still very early in the book but wondered if anyone else has read it or any others in the series? Of particular interest so far was his comments on the conception of the Theotokos and how it was without passion. I think this, more than anything I've read or heard, clarifies the ideal of human sexuality.

Thoughts?

My husband has a couple of his books. He wants to collect them all. He's been drawn to St. Paisios from the first time he heard and read about him more than a decade ago. He's his favorite. I'm not sure if we have that one. He's gotten sooo many books for his classes, it's unbelievable.

 

[Joseph Hazen]

This thread has made me want to borrow this book from the library, and I just keep putting it off and putting it off...

 

[~Anastasia~]

Ohhhh ....

I have privileges at the city's library system now, since I got that job yesterday! They have an interlibrary loan. I'm going to have to make sure to ask for a copy of this to read it ...

 

[inconsequential]

Some of the things are simple but so profound. Like when he says that every older person he meets is his grandfather or grandmother, every person around his age, his brother or sister, and every child, his niece or nephew. If we could learn to view people that way it really would have such an effect on how we treated them.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Some of the things are simple but so profound. Like when he says that every older person he meets is his grandfather or grandmother, every person around his age, his brother or sister, and every child, his niece or nephew. If we could learn to view people that way it really would have such an effect on how we treated them.

Oh, I love that!

When I first saw my Nouna in Church, I felt so strongly drawn to her and was thinking of that she reminded me of my great-Grandma. It's not the physical resemblance, really (they are not so alike at all). But my heart was drawn to her. I was so pleased when she came and asked to be my sponsor.

I sometimes meet people and regard them that way. I have noticed instant feelings like that, and I have had one pastor who taught about it before - regarding everyone we meet as family. But how wonderful it would be if we really thought of everyone like that.

Thanks so much for sharing that. I do hope I get to read it soon (I'm never going to catch up on ALL the reading I want to do, lol!)

 

[Dorothea]

Some of the things are simple but so profound. Like when he says that every older person he meets is his grandfather or grandmother, every person around his age, his brother or sister, and every child, his niece or nephew. If we could learn to view people that way it really would have such an effect on how we treated them.

That does sound so simple on the surface, but really is profound when you contemplate it. That would be really good to remember and practice!