Lord Have Mercy!

[Natasha]

I kept thinking about this until finally I had to find my book about the life of St. Sergius (St. Sergius & Russian Spirituality). It says that Bartholomew (St. Sergius) "asked them {his parents} to let him leave for the desert, but his father insisted that he stay near them. "We are old and sick and have no one to take care of us. Your brothers have their families to feed. We are happy to have a son who is devoted to God, but your vocation will remain intact if you stay with us until God calls us to Himself. See us to our graves and no one will keep you from following your vocation." Six years later his parents died, and after keeping near their graves for 40 days, he left for the desert.

It is important to honor your parents as well as to follow God's plan.

[Vicki]

....Look around you and see how observant most families are in your GOA parish, then come back and say otherwise. The guidance of one's spiritual father is what needs to be considered, here, and what he advises is the main concern.

"Otherwise".The point is that they are IN CHURCH. And yet YOU still judge the parents. Typical.

..the choice is often, obey God, or obey your parents. and in rank order of the commandments, obeying God comes first.

Not when they are STILL children. Spoken out of true ignorance of the teaching of the Fathers and Church history.

You find me ONE Priest that would tell a 16 y.o boy to not pay any attention to his parents wishes and run away from them and I will show you a Priest who should be defrocked.

If you read the Fathers as carefully as you read my post (WHICH says, FINISH SCHOOL FIRST, AND BE UPFRONT WITH PARENTS) it is no wonder you are still so Protestant in your ideas that you think most monastics are homosexual....

At no point did I advocate a 16 year old leaving home. However, I DID advocate that the teenager obey his Spiritual Father OVER his parents IF they are teaching him incorrectly. And, MOST DO. And since I HAVE been Orthodox all my life, not for less than two years, I will point out that I have had a greater opportunity than you have to notice whether or not most Orthodox parents encourage their teenagers to fast and attend Vespers rather than party on Friday and Saturday nights and be socialized...oh...but your church doesn't hold Vespers, so you wouldn't know how many GOA parents ARE NOT THERE...

Yes, if a priest told a sixteen year old in YOUR district that going to another Church on Saturdays for Vigil/Vespers was required, since he felt he had a vocation, he should, at sixteen, do so. If that means going on his own, because his parents will not, he should obey his Spiritual Father. Plain and simple.

Your own reaction shows well enough how YOU would react if one of YOUR children said they were joining a monastery...."NOT MY CHILD"
And you are not even GREEK! Very funny, Tom!

[Etienne]

Parents of any age and culture may object to a loved son or daughter entering a monastery. I will set down what I recall from memory.

I remember coming across a lovely story of one Russian girl in Jordan who wanted to enter a monastery but her parents were dead set against it. She petitioned King Abdullah, the great grandfather of the present King of Jordan. He listened to her and met with her parents and with great skill and gentleness persuaded them to give their blessing, which they did.

What is interesting here is the mediator, a Muslim sovereign.

It does not answer your question, but perhaps you too might be blessed with a good samaritan, a mediator. Pray...................

[Daniel]

Parents of any age and culture may object to a loved son or daughter entering a monastery. I will set down what I recall from memory.

I remember coming across a lovely story of one Russian girl in Jordan who wanted to enter a monastery but her parents were dead set against it. She petitioned King Abdullah, the great grandfather of the present King of Jordan. He listened to her and met with her parents and with great skill and gentleness persuaded them to give their blessing, which they did.

What is interesting here is the mediator, a Muslim sovereign.

It does not answer your question, but perhaps you too might a good samaritan, a mediator. Pray...................

I had been thinking that maybe the boy's spiritual father could speak with his parents about this.

I just hope and pray that if either of my two daughters come to me and ask for a blessing to go to a monastery that I will give it. I like to that I would (even at 16).

[ORPRcamper]

Do you not read in the Lives' of the Saints that many great Monastics ran away from their parents, while their parents want them to become great social influences in the courts of their lands? While I believe that one should also receive the blessing of one's Spiritual Father before taking on a calling such as Monasticism.

[TomS]

Do you not read in the Lives' of the Saints that many great Monastics ran away from their parents, while their parents want them to become great social influences in the courts of their lands? While I believe that one should also receive the blessing of one's Spiritual Father before taking on a calling such as Monasticism.

That's true, but it was also a different time. Many that we would still consider "children" by todays standards were living and surviving on their own back then. Children grew up alot faster - they had to in order to survive and contribute to the family.

We must be very careful taking examples out of their historical periods.