Children are not only the flowers of life, but also extremely receptive individuals. Education for believing parents is a paramount task, since their personality is extremely susceptible to influence until the age of 16-18 and it is better if it is a good influence. Raising children in the Christian faith, in compliance with its fundamental principles, is very difficult, because today the world offers many entertainments that corrupt the soul and lead to sin.
Therefore, the most correct option would be to replace this influence with Christian education. An Orthodox summer camp for children will be a great option for proper leisure with a Christian influence. This is the place where kids can have fun and have fun, but at the same time comprehend God.
What it is
An Orthodox camp for children is a place of rest for the churched and non-believers, similar to ordinary pioneer recreation centers. Depending on the type of recreation center, believing and non-believing teenagers can come there, alone or with their families, and have a good time, but it is important to understand the direction and not be rejected by it.
The main task of such a place of rest is to open a huge world Orthodox faith and teach children relationships built on Christianity. In no case are teachers forced to participate in events or to accept Orthodoxy.
About Orthodoxy for children:
- Conversations with children about the need to wear a pectoral cross
Such places of rest differ by type:
- General regional - kids from any families can take part in such;
- Stationary - based on local churches and parish schools;
- Educational - such have a certain focus, so that teenagers develop in a certain direction (sports, study of the Word, etc.);
- Family type - usually tented recreation centers, in which whole families can take part. Usually in such places a rich program.
Regardless of the type, the main task of such a vacation spot is to educate teenagers through joint activities. Those. participants do something together and learn to interact with each other through it.
In the children's Orthodox camp
How to choose the right camp
To choose the right place to stay, you should:
- know who organizes it, who works in it, the main mission and task. It is very important to get acquainted with the spiritual mentors, counselors and leadership;
- chat with those who have already rested there. And to interrogate both adults and children;
- learn the program and the experience of counselors. Maybe stay there for a day to help the child adjust.
The difference between Orthodox recreation centers and ordinary ones
There are two main differences: external and internal.
- morning and evening prayers;
- participating in temple services and ordinances;
- the study of the Law of God;
- spiritual guidance of priests.
But much more important is the inner content, teaching children relationships that are based on the Christian worldview. A kid on such a vacation finds himself in a society dominated by love and trust. He is respected there and all attempts of humiliation between children are stopped.
In addition, there is an education in moral standards.
Important! Profanity and licentiousness are prohibited and suppressed. Teenagers learn to relax in an atmosphere of morality and morality. It is extremely important to cultivate the right spirit in young men, to teach them to rely on the Lord and to combine spiritual life with leisure and entertainment, to teach them to function in society.
In the children's Orthodox camp
Overview of popular holiday destinations
Orthodox summer camp for children is a great opportunity to provide your children with the right rest. A variety of Orthodox recreation centers are located throughout Russia, so choose suitable option won't be difficult.
To choose the right place, you should consider in detail all possible options, unless, of course, the issue of location is not the main one.
About Orthodox education:
"Symbol"
The tent recreation center is located in the Orel region and exists from an autonomous organization of the same name. Her main mission is the transformation of a teenager spiritually, mentally and physically. Children from 10 years old can come here. First of all, the organization invites low-income families and large families to participate.
On the territory you can find a dining room, a first-aid post and a temple. Throughout the shift, participants can talk with the priest present about topics that concern them.
In a programme:
- participation in team games;
- orientation training on the ground;
- forest survival course;
- familiarization with the nature of the region;
- survival in extreme conditions.
During the summer, the organization conducts 2 shifts of 40 people each: July 10-23 and from July 24 to August 6. Due to the small number of participants, instructors and educators can provide an individual approach to everyone without leaving them unattended.
Advice! Such a rest will help the baby to strengthen physically, learn to survive in open nature, communicate with peers and self-actualize.
"Konevets"
In cottage-type houses it is located on the island of Konovets in the Leningrad region, on the territory of the Konevsky Skete.
Children are accommodated in comfortable houses and participate in divine services: morning and evening prayers, services in the local church, communion.
In a programme:
- sports games: football, volleyball, beach games;
- hiking in the forest;
- orienteering course in the forest;
- boat trips on Ladoga;
- bathing;
- active quests and games on the territory;
- helicopter flights.
"ABC of Orthodoxy"
The recreation center, blessed and supported by the Bishop of Kostroma and Galich Ferapont, is located in the Kostroma region, in an ecologically clean area - the outskirts of the city of Nerekhta. Much attention here is given to acquaintance with church sites and various arts.
Participants expect:
- visiting monasteries and cathedrals in the region;
- sightseeing and excursions to merchant mansions of the 19th century in Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Nerekhta;
- archery sports, sword fighting;
- hiking;
- making gingerbread;
- paintings of clay toys;
- participation in church services;
- educational conversations with priests.
"Gorniy Posad"
Metropolitan of Ekaterinodar and Kuban Isidor blessed the creation and development of an Orthodox-oriented recreation center in the Krasnodar Territory in the village of Neftyanaya, on the basis of the Holy Intercession Church in the city of Apsheronsk. Spiritual mentor - Archpriest Viktor Bandurko.
The cultural program includes:
- prayers in the morning and evening;
- participation in services at the temple;
- visiting Kuban temples and monasteries, as well as holy springs;
- participation in impromptu crusades;
- watching films;
- communication with spiritual mentors;
- mountain walks and hikes;
- sports competitions at a military training ground;
- the opportunity to join a circle of interests: fine arts, clay modeling, embroidery, beadwork, acrobatics, music, singing, Bible study.
Everyone has the opportunity to develop in the most interesting direction:
- military-patriotic;
- eco-tourism;
- creative and aesthetic;
- develop in the knowledge of God's word.
The warm climate of the Kuban promotes healing.
Orthodox-oriented military-patriotic camp “Ratnaya Zastava”
Created in 2003, it is included in the list of one of the specialized camps. Awarded with government and competitive awards, noted in many authoritative Orthodox media.
The camp program includes a comprehensive Orthodox and patriotic education of children:
- Teaching the Basics of Orthodox Culture;
- Training in shooting from different types of weapons;
- Reconstructions of historical battles;
- Classical and folk dances, song contests;
- Rafting on the river and much more.
"Star of Bethlehem"
On the basis of the Patriarchal Development Center in the Moscow Region (the territory of the health-improving center "Almaz" in the Ruza district), the Star of Bethlehem operates, a recreation center that accepts teenagers 7-15 years old in 2 spring shifts and 5 summer shifts: in late March - early April, and in throughout the summer with breaks between shifts of 7 days.
The main feature are role-playing games(based on the works of Tove Jansson, Clive Lewis and Tolkien), which became the scripts for the recreation program. Each shift is carried out in accordance with a specific program and consists of various competitions and tasks. Teenagers aged thirteen to fifteen must complete the game version of the course before enrolling.
Important! Units are formed quantitatively up to 16 people so that the leaders can provide everyone with due attention. 2 leaders are attached to each detachment.
Spiritual development consists in regular prayers by the whole detachment (before breakfast and before bedtime). There is a priest on the territory and the participants have the opportunity to communicate with him and ask questions at any time. Also, everyone can, if desired, perform the mystery of confession and communion at the end of the rest.
All this is carried out at will and without violence against the person.
Patriarchal Compound
In the village of Zdekhovo, Moscow Region, a camp is also held by the temple Life-Giving Trinity and the local Orthodox school. Schoolchildren and members of local churches are invited to the camp.
The orientation of this camp is more educational, so the main part of the recreation program are courses in the study of the Bible, the Law of God and other cognitive activities.
On the basis of the school, you can take part in the prayer rule and cognitive classes, watch art and documentaries, talk with spiritual guides, take walks to the sights.
Watch a video about the Orthodox children's camp
It is human nature to get tired, it is impossible to do without rest, although it may seem to someone that the description of leisure and reasoning about rest are not the most important topics.
First of all, let us say, following the wisest metropolitan of the 19th century, Philaret of Moscow, that best holiday there is a change of occupation. We see that the Lord, by His grace, gave us the change of seasons so that we always rejoice in wealth. God's peace and he never bored us. Everything around us is changing, and so are we. Passing successively childhood, young, mature and senile ages, we draw from each characteristic of him and do not get tired of life with all its twists and turns.
So, you should not keep the bowstring in one tension. If we do not want it to break, it is necessary to lower it from time to time. The sensible Christian, therefore, will try to diversify the main work of his life with those side activities and new impressions that do not threaten any damage to the soul. His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, for example, ruling the Church under the most difficult conditions of Soviet atheistic persecution, probably experienced inhuman tension from communicating with hostile government officials who constantly demanded an audience with the Patriarch. And this is in addition to frequent services, the abundance of the believing people, who were looking for support and consolation from the weak in body, but cheerful in spirit, the grace-filled elder! Eyewitness accounts have come down to us that the sorrowful and intercessor of the All-Russian re-read shortly before his death the “Notes of a Hunter” by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, the great master of Russian artistic prose and an expert on the Russian soul.
And for the holy and righteous John of Kronstadt, whose working day began earlier than four in the morning and ended late at night, rest was solitude, albeit a short one, in the bosom of nature - whether in a city garden or while walking on a stagecoach. How the face of the righteous was transformed, how it shone with delight, unearthly joy when he contemplated the beauty of the starry sky or the nature of the northern region he loved during his annual trips to his homeland, to the distant Sura of the Arkhangelsk province!
Finally, I recall a story about one of the outstanding Moscow pastor-confessors of the pre-revolutionary period. Tired of long confessions and interviews, he loved to solve mathematical problems, being an admirer of this exact science since childhood.
It is appropriate, speaking about the leisure of a Christian, to talk about the attitude towards our own bodily nature, or, more simply, the body. The body, like the soul, was created by God and serves as an instrument, an instrument through which the rational human soul acts in this world. The redemptive feat of Christ sanctified both the body and the human soul, making them a temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must take reasonable care of the body, which the holy fathers call not an enemy, but a friend of the rational soul. And above all, this applies to God-given health. Sometimes one has to observe in young Christians a completely unreasonable disregard for this gift of the Creator. But having damaged the body with our own negligence, having launched illnesses that at the initial stage could easily be healed or completely prevented, we commit a sin for which the Lord can exact from His unreasonable and unreasonable disciples. No one has the right to arbitrarily shorten his earthly life given to him by God.
By the way, St. Theophan the Recluse recommends doing gymnastics in the morning, of course, not to the detriment of the morning prayer rule. And the one who fell in love with hiking from his youth or makes regular morning runs, does it for the sake of improving his health. athletics, rowing, swimming, does not sin in the least against piety. Only everything is good in moderation. “What is not in moderation is from the evil one,” the ascetics of piety used to say.
If pride has begun to creep up on your physical activities, and physical culture has grown into a pagan cult of the body, if the environment carries you into the world of the so-called big sport, which requires human sacrifice and is a form of idolatry - here, with the advice and blessing of the confessor, you need to show determination and be saved from the temptation of a laudable flight. “Whoever is fond of something, he is tempted by it,” says folk wisdom. Everything is permitted to us, but nothing should possess us. The world is cunning and crafty, it tries to turn even innocent pleasures and useful activities in itself to harm us, as soon as we forget about the gratitude of the Creator and feel a sinful predilection for any of the earthly objects. It should be especially noted that no sports associated with aggression and demonic pride (for example, oriental martial arts) will ever be approved by Christian piety.
“Is it permissible to seek leisure in dancing?” - perhaps readers will ask me. Dancing dances are different, and each occupation is appropriate for its age; I don't have a single kind word for modern dances. In combination with cacophonous music, they seem to have been invented in order to tear off the last veils of modesty from young people and replace reverent attitude towards persons of the opposite sex with insatiable lust and voluptuousness. Being artificially aroused, carnal passions will not calm down until they plunge their captives into the pit of impurity and fornication, from which may the Merciful Lord protect the readers of this article!
Classical dances, which we inherited from the bygone era of the 19th century, required a certain skill, the art of waltzing, grace, and therefore preparation, conscious labor. Such plastic exercises are very useful in childhood and, in part, adolescence, when posture is being formed and many children suffer from clumsiness of movements, angularity, clubfoot and other shortcomings. But after becoming physically fit, it is fitting for Christian youths and girls to wage war against the spirit of corruption and fornication that prevails in the world. Close contact with persons of the opposite sex (which is implied by dance classes) is extremely unhealthy and even dangerous. Being a straw, can you not burn, being next to a red-hot furnace? As for the diverse life situations and the questions generated by them, it is necessary to resolve them with the confessor-priest in the order of a confessional conversation, which not a single, even the best article, can claim, you see, can.
This narrative would be incomplete if we did not say anything at all about the gatherings and meetings of young Christians in the circle of family, friends, or parishioners of their church. Just look around you, how scattered and alienated from each other people are! In the present age of calculation and business, how unaccustomed people are to pure, friendly, disinterested, truly Christian fellowship! The only thing left for many is family feasts, which, as a rule, saturate the body, but not the soul. I won't even talk about unchaste and drunken gatherings. I am convinced that the meetings of Orthodox Christians in secular dwellings are also blessed, if only everything would be done according to the order worthy of the Lord who called us! Let us remember with you, friends, the promise of the Savior: For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Have you noticed what a feeling of spiritual fullness, the joy of mutual communication visits the soul every time when spiritually like-minded people, members of the same parish family, celebrate this or that holiday together. Especially if there is a priest present at it, who knows everyone who has gathered well! Then the goodness of the Lord gladdens the hearts of people, for through such fellowship Christ Himself is glorified. And how good it is for our youth to be together more often! Although, it must be said, all ages are submissive to Divine love.
Age and the number of years lived mean little where the unity of faith and the common desire to serve God by the fulfillment of His commandments shine. Russian orthodox heart amazingly deep. It sometimes finds an outlet for its bright feelings in a folk song that unites everyone into a single choir, and sometimes in secret prayer, which, without interfering in the least with an atmosphere of friendship and trust, brings down the grace of peace and quiet on the audience. Indeed, at a certain hour one wants to be silent together, because not everything is given to us to express in words.
ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT FOR ORTHODOX CHILDREN Children's entertainment is part of natural development child. They need carefree fun, enjoying their freedom from duties, "letting off steam." They also need a social life, not only as entertainment and recreation, but also as an experience of communication with our neighbors and with the world in which we live according to the Providence of God. For Orthodox parents, the goal should be that the entertainment and social life of their children would be on the benefit of their development as Christians, as individuals who will be able to carry their faith throughout their lives in this world. As Orthodox, we cannot live completely apart from the rest of the world, and at the same time it is obvious that much of what is accepted in world, is completely unacceptable for a Christian. It is very difficult to avoid extremes, and, of course, much depends on the age of the child. It is this aspect of parenting that requires delicacy and time - but we should not think about entertainment and public life our children as something inconsistent with our aspirations, because our first priority is their spiritual development. On the contrary, if we want to raise free and mature individuals who love God and are able to cope with life and environment that contribute very little to this love, then it is precisely this aspiration of ours that will force us to pay due attention to children's entertainment and amusements. Our neglect of this aspect of their lives can lead them to either become mired in the worldly whirlpool and go with the flow, or feel hurt and rebel. but preferred to spend time in prayer and reading spiritual books. And it happens that, looking at our children, we are upset by their comparative "secularization." However, in our day, in our conditions, it would be almost impossible for children to live if they were exactly the same as those rare cases described in the Synaxarium; (since it is certain that not all saints had very unusual childhood years). The world is changing so rapidly that it is difficult to expect from them even the same life as, say, we had thirty years ago. You can’t force them to conform to an unrealistic model so that we don’t have to answer for their rebellion, or, worse, for their mental breakdown. At the same time, it’s not good if they, although they go to Church, judge everything other "worldly". It is necessary to surround their interests, which they share with their peers, with parental prayer, care, advice and protection. This is vital spiritually; we are obligated to seek salvation in this world as it is. If we do not want our children to participate in harmful amusements, time and effort will have to be made to provide them with non-harmful amusements. This is what St. John Chrysostom teaches. Instead of taking the child to unsightly sights, he says, take him somewhere else and give him the opportunity to have fun and relax in a different way. It is up to parents to show children (not in words, but in deeds - in life itself) how you can enjoy life, being Orthodox. It is unacceptable for children to feel somehow disadvantaged by the fact that their parents are staunch Christians; and that alone is bad enough if they hold a grudge against their parents - but they can be offended both by Christ and the Church. John Chrysostom, speaking of a Christian child, gives the following advice to his father: "Give him many gifts so that he can bear the reproach that will come upon him for his abstinence." It is obvious that the Holy Father does not advise spoiling your children. However, it would help them a lot if, instead of always saying “I didn’t do it because my mother didn’t allow it”, they could also sometimes say: “We went here and there instead.” Many children from Orthodox families can only say at school on Monday: “We just watched TV and went to church.” Let our children have something that would sometimes make them the object of natural childish envy. This is not at all based on some psychological theories about the need to encourage self-esteem and satisfaction of one's "I", no. But we are talking about weapons that we can give our children to help them keep their Christianity in this world and not be destroyed. It is up to each one to decide for himself how to apply the advice of St. John Chrysostom to his own situation. As members of the Church, we must communicate freely with one another. It is good to participate in parish clubs and children's camps from parishes. At the same time, our children's fellowship will extend beyond the circle of the church, and as they age, become more and more independent in the choice of friends; and this is not something negative, but a vital necessity. It is not to be expected that today we will raise children in a morally sterile atmosphere. We can try to direct our children to decent entertainment in good company, but we cannot completely eliminate all negative experiences, especially as children grow older, and this would not be to their advantage. children. You can discuss everything with the children and try to awaken in them their own feeling prudence, so that at least they learn what causes spiritual and physical harm, and learn to reduce the danger to themselves. It is necessary to spend time doing things with the children. And - most importantly - we must pray that the Lord protect them from evil, and inspire them with love for Christ, so that they themselves carry in their hearts, as it were, an indicator showing good and evil. Only this will be a long-term protection and will remain with them when they become independent and adults. © Sister Magdalena is a nun of the Orthodox Holy Baptist Monastery, founded in England by a disciple of St. Siluan of Athos, Schema-Archimandrite Sophronius. For many years he has been hosting young pilgrims and their parents visiting the monastery, holding talks in the surrounding schools. Author of the book Thoughts on Children in the Orthodox Church Today. "Orthodox Children's Games", 2016
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