Published: 2022-12-30

The role of parents, teachers and community shepherds in formation Christian children and youth in the light of selected writings Cappadocian Fathers

Stanisław Strękowski
Studia nad Rodziną
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/snr.2022.59-60.1-2.2

Abstract

Every human formation begins in the family environment, where in the ancient era, both in pagan, Jewish and Christian cultures, the father occupied a privileged position as the head of the family responsible for the functioning of this small community. The formation of Christian youth in antiquity was a great challenge for both parents and the church community and concerned the widely discussed issue of access to classical culture.

In the writings of St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzus in the matter of youth formation, there are visible attempts to use the existing educational institutions for the purpose of building the intellectual foundations on which the edifice of the Christian faith should be built. Religious and moral teaching in the Judaic environment was also conducted by teachers sent by God, who, apart from parents, were Moses, priests, prophets, sages and scribes. The master/teacher-student relationship in ancient cultures mirrors the father-son relationship in family education. In Alexandria, from the time of the first Ptolemies, there was a research center called the Museion, a building dedicated to the Muses managed by a priest appointed by the king of this dynasty. In this center, many scientific disciplines were developed that were not dealt with by philosophers and rhetoricians who ran their own schools. The broadly understood Hellenic culture, whose achievements are used to stimulate spiritual and intellectual development in man, are not to be despised and rejected.

In the Regulae fusius tractatae, Basil the Great indicates some methods that the superior of a fraternity should use. It is obvious that the model of the teacher, both for himself and for his superiors, was Jesus Christ, who himself indicated that the greatest commandment that he leaves to his disciples is love. It is very important to constantly watch over the behavior of young people and immediately correct mistakes so that they do not perpetuate. In the family, such people are parents who raise their children with patience and love. Therefore, the Bishop of Caesarea advises that over the boys, someone older, more experienced than others, and known for his patience, be appointed over the boys, so that he can correct the faults of the young with fatherly kindness and words full of wisdom, so that the correction of the transgression will take place in the young man, and the soul will exercise at the same time. mastering the passions. The same method that St. Basil recommends young people to repeat exercises aimed at mastering carnal passions.

Keywords:

parents, teachers, shepherds, upbringing, Cappadocian Fathers

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Strękowski, S. (2022). The role of parents, teachers and community shepherds in formation Christian children and youth in the light of selected writings Cappadocian Fathers. Studia Nad Rodziną, 26(1-2(59-60), 11–29. https://doi.org/10.21697/snr.2022.59-60.1-2.2

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