This document discusses John Chrysostom's views on parenthood and children from an Orthodox Christian perspective. It provides biographical details on Chrysostom and the author Vigen Guroian. Chrysostom believed the Christian family is an "ecclesial entity" where parents and children rehearse for heaven. He emphasized the socialization of children into the church community. Chrysostom also believed that parental love and responsibility for children's Christian formation are essential, as outlined in Ephesians.

1. The Ecclesial Family: John
Chrysostom on Parenthood and
Children
By
Vigen Guroian

2. About John Chrysostom
• Father among the saints
• Archbishop of Constantinople
• Notable Christian bishop
• Preacher from the fourth and fifth centuries in Syria
and Constantinople
• Famous for eloquence in public speaking
• After his death he was named “Chrysostom” which
means “Golden-Mouthed”
• He recognized by Catholic Church which considers
him a saint and doctor of the church
• Born in Antioch
• He was ordained a Presbyter in 386 by
Bishop Flavian I of Antioch

3. About Vigen Guroian
• An Orthodox Christian theologian and teacher
• A member of the faculty of a number of colleges
and universities
• an author of a number of books, many on
morality and ethics based on Orthodox
Christian teachings
• He has served on many editorial boards
• An Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at
the University of Virginia at Charlottesville
• Graduated with Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970
• Doctor of Philosophy degree in Theology 1978

4. Ontological Individualism

7. The Christian Faith
• In Christian Education habits are reflected in
the strict divisions of instruction by age group
and the dominance of developmental models
of child psychology that over emphasize
autonomy and cognitive capabilities.
• The latter has led to a neglect of effective
socialization of Children into the Community
of Believers using the church’s own resources
of narrative and sacramental theology

8. For St. John Chrysostom
• He emphasized the solidarity of human
community, the need for socialization of the
young into the church, and the powerful unitive
and communicative love that the parent – child
nexus infuses into human society.
• Chrysostom proposes that the Christian Family is
itself an ecclesial (or churchly) entity wherein
adults and children rehearse for membership in
the kingdom of heaven

9. The Context of John Chrysostom’s
Ministry
• He applied what he had learned of the monastic
discipline to the secular realm and insisted that
even the highest Christian virtues embodied in
the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5 – 7) are binding upon ail Christians
and not reserved solely for monks.
• He was especially troubled, even outraged, by the
eagerness of some Christian parents to propel
their children into the secular professions, while
neglecting their spiritual and moral formation.
• Thus, he felt especially moved to speak about the
role and responsibilities of parents

10. Communal Christianity and the
Ecclesial Family
• John Chrysostom’s understanding of
Parenthood was biblically inspired and deeply
grounded in the Trinitarian and Christological
teaching of the Church
• Human parenthood and childhood mirror the
life of the Divine Persons of the Trinity
• Likewise, the Godly family is an image of the
Church

11. The image of God, Original Sin, and
the Divine Model of Parenthood
• According to Chrysostom, the character of the
ecclesial family is decided largely to the
relationship of husband and the wife as father
and mother to their children.
• Ephesians 6:1-4
“1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is
right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first
commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with
you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
“4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring
them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

13. Baptism
• Chrysostom’s ideas about sin and the image of
God are also reflected in his understanding of
Baptism
• Chrysostom understands original sin not in
terms of inherited or personal guilt, but in
terms of an inherited mortality that causes
human beings to sin
• Infants may belong to a corporate human
nature

14. Salvation, Parenting and Children
“We can’t be saved through
individual righteousness”
-John Chrysostom
Ephesians 6:1 – 4
•The implications for
parenthood are striking
•Chrysostom’s view Love,
however, is free of
sentimentalism and
romanticism
•Chrysostom’s view the Love
of God is correlative with the
fear of God, the respect and
honor due to God because
God is Holy

15. John Chrysostom
• He believed that the relative weakness and
dependency of children set certain conditions
for the salvation of both them and their
parents
• The value of children is so great in God’s
estimate and their weakness equally evident,
parental neglect ranks among the gravest evils
and injustices

16. Parental Responsibility for the
Christian Formation of Children

17. Parental Responsibility for the
Christian Formation of Children
• Chrysostom did not believe that the image of God
is destroyed or that has been so radically
distorted by sin that we are forbidden to think
about how it might be humanly repaired or
refurbished
• Chrysostom exhort parents unremittingly to take
up their responsibility to influence and shape the
lives of their children by example and through
common worship, discipline, and religious
education

18. La Conclusión

19. Conclusion
• Education of Character by John Chrysostom
• He employs to exhort parents to seize responsibility for
the religious and moral education of their Children
have to do with Leaving an “impression” on the soul or
person of a child
• Vigen Guroian said that parents are fellow workers
with Christ (1 Cor. 3:9) in the garden of childhood
• Chrysostom addresses the education of boys – but we
may apply his advice to our daughters also
• First, train his soul and then take thought for his
reputation

20. References
• Bunge, Marcia J. The Child in Christian
Thought. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2001
• Ginott, Haim G. Ginott, Alice and Goddard, H.
Wallace Between Parent and child. New York:
Three Rivers Press of Random House, Inc.,
2003