When we are finally free from the Covid-19 pandemic, Studion Ministries, in collaboration with paideaclassics.org, would like to organize one-day spiritual retreats/mini-conferences at volunteer host parishes. Our goals would be as follows:
St. Katherine’s Conference is a 1-Day conference serving two purposes:
St. Katherine’s Conference recognizes the great challenge set before us in the United States of transmitting the sacred inheritance of our faith to the next generation. This challenge is presented to every generation and is fundamental to the life of the Church and implicit in the understanding of tradition, i.e., to pass on or deliver. As St. Theophan the Recluse wrote, “Of all holy works, the education of children is the most holy.” Further, we affirm the words of St. Justin Popovich who writes, “Education and training is nothing other than the extension of holiness, the radiance of holiness.” Here, education is both broader and deeper than merely the formation of the mind, although the formation of the mind is not excluded. Education is the formation of the human person through the treasury of our faith by the grace of God to attain the full stature of Christ. The spiritual labor of education is first and foremost given to the parents as a cell of the Church, but also extends into the community of faith - grandparents, extended family, godparents, spiritual father, and so on. This conference seeks to address this broader sense of education with the specific focus to encourage families and the broader faith community in the spiritual nurturing of the next generation.
Within this context, St. Catherine’s Monastery is an icon of this education process outlined above. St. Catherine’s Monastery cannot be reduced to a historical museum that reminds us of the past. St. Catherine’s brings together the historical richness of our faith, the current struggle to realize the life in Christ for Christians today, and an acute awareness of the responsibility to future generations to safeguard and transmit the treasury of the faith. St. Catherine’s historical location, archives of historical material, and holy sites and artifacts are a lived reality that continues the transmission of the holy tradition from one generation to the next.
The prayer for St. Katherine’s Conference is to encourage and enlighten the faithful on the importance of and ways in which the treasury of our spiritual inheritance invites us into the process of growing the next generation to abide within our holy faith.
St. Katherine’s Conference is a 1-Day conference serving two purposes:
- To address the importance as Orthodox Christians of transmitting the sacred inheritance of our faith to the next generation.
- To financially support and build awareness of St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai.
St. Katherine’s Conference recognizes the great challenge set before us in the United States of transmitting the sacred inheritance of our faith to the next generation. This challenge is presented to every generation and is fundamental to the life of the Church and implicit in the understanding of tradition, i.e., to pass on or deliver. As St. Theophan the Recluse wrote, “Of all holy works, the education of children is the most holy.” Further, we affirm the words of St. Justin Popovich who writes, “Education and training is nothing other than the extension of holiness, the radiance of holiness.” Here, education is both broader and deeper than merely the formation of the mind, although the formation of the mind is not excluded. Education is the formation of the human person through the treasury of our faith by the grace of God to attain the full stature of Christ. The spiritual labor of education is first and foremost given to the parents as a cell of the Church, but also extends into the community of faith - grandparents, extended family, godparents, spiritual father, and so on. This conference seeks to address this broader sense of education with the specific focus to encourage families and the broader faith community in the spiritual nurturing of the next generation.
Within this context, St. Catherine’s Monastery is an icon of this education process outlined above. St. Catherine’s Monastery cannot be reduced to a historical museum that reminds us of the past. St. Catherine’s brings together the historical richness of our faith, the current struggle to realize the life in Christ for Christians today, and an acute awareness of the responsibility to future generations to safeguard and transmit the treasury of the faith. St. Catherine’s historical location, archives of historical material, and holy sites and artifacts are a lived reality that continues the transmission of the holy tradition from one generation to the next.
The prayer for St. Katherine’s Conference is to encourage and enlighten the faithful on the importance of and ways in which the treasury of our spiritual inheritance invites us into the process of growing the next generation to abide within our holy faith.