The Home as our Little Church
Yesterday we had our house blessed. This morning, my children decided to recreate our living room into a little Church (literally) ☦️ which reminded me....
According to Saint John Chrysostom, the home is a little church. It’s where we continue to encounter Christ by seeking Him through prayer and study and where we struggle to acquire the virtues of the Christian life. This practice of cultivating our home into a little church is such a joy and one I am very grateful to continue to cultivate.
For those who know my story, I did not grow up in an Orthodox home. My husband and I both converted to Orthodoxy in our mid-twenties before we had children. In many ways, I feel like I am creating our Little Church without a paradigm. As my children grow, I feel myself growing right along side them. I have not figured it out fully and I am still on the journey, but I wanted to share some ways we work to create our home into a little church.
Some Practical Ways to Make our Home a Little Church:
1️⃣ Pray together - pray together for every meal you share, or on your way to school, and when you wake up and before you go to sleep. Prayer is the basis of our life as Christians! After all the scriptures tell us "where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20). Invite the Lord into your family throughout the day and throughout your every workings.
2️⃣ Read the lives of the saints, the scriptures, and other spiritual readings. This will vary based on the dynamics and developmental ages of the children present, but make a practice to nourish ourselves in spiritual readings.
3️⃣ Encourage piety - if you see some good thing in your child, or spouse, or anyone in your household, encourage it. As a mother, I see a unique opportunity to encourage piety and also ensure everyone in my household has the tools and resources to grow in their relationship with Christ. Practically speaking that can look like: having icons placed in each room as a reminder to pray, have a place set aside for family prayers. Or having Orthodox books available to read together, or age appropriate tools to encourage pious play. Children in particular will do what we encourage, so be sure to encourage the piety you see in your children!
4️⃣ Practice hospitality- one way that we can make our home a little church is to practice hospitality and serve our neighbor throughout the week. Invite a friend over for coffee or a new family from church over for dinner. The more we open our home and doors to others, the more we become an extension of the Church.
What else would you add to this list? There's hundreds of more ways I'm sure. Let's learn from one another!
One of the sweetest ways to help children connect with the lives of the saints is through food, especially when the recipe itself has a connection to the saint’s story. Saint Euphrosynos the Cook was a humble monastic who was granted the ability to dwell in Paradise, where he gave away apples from the garden. These simple “Three Baked Apples from Paradise” are a fun way to bring that story to life for your family as you celebrate the feast day of St. Euphrosynos.
The recipe is intentionally simple enough for children to help make, and with just three apples, it’s perfect for a small family—but it can easily be adjusted to make more servings for a larger family, homeschool group, or parish gathering. As you prepare and enjoy these baked apples together, you can remind your children of St. Euphrosynos, his humility, and the beautiful glimpse of Paradise God allowed him to experience.