Churching or spiritual education of children. Parents and children. Churching In the matter of churching children, measure and gradualness are important

Churching

in a broad sense, the process of introducing a person to the Christian tradition and church life; in liturgical books - a special rite performed over the baby and his mother 40 days after his birth. The rite of churching appeared after the 4th century, when the baptism of not adults, but children, became common, but the desire to complete the rites of catechesis over those being baptized remained. Churching was performed on babies in order to introduce them to the Church even before Baptism. The rite of churching arose already by the 6th century. In addition, the term “churching” can also be attributed to the mother of the baby, since only on the 40th day after giving birth she was allowed to enter the temple again, i.e. "to become churched" (or "to become forty-one"). Thus, the performance of the rite of churching on the 40th day is connected, on the one hand, with the fact that at this time the due date for the postnatal cleansing of the mother of the child ends, on the other hand, with the remembrance of the gospel event of the Presentation (see Lk. 2, 22 -38), which was conditioned by the Old Testament legislation on ritual purity.

The rite of churching is now performed as the final act of Baptism; this rite also extended to newly baptized adults. After prayers, the priest draws a cross with the baby in front of the entrance to the temple, brings it into the temple, and then through the southern gate into the altar (if the baby is a boy). The boy is carried around the throne with the reading of the song of the righteous Simeon the God-Receiver "Now you let go"; a girl reading the same song is brought to the icons in the iconostasis. Next, you should “put” the baby in front of the Royal Doors, from where the godfather takes him. In practice, the child is immediately handed over to the recipient.

Orthodoxy. Dictionary-reference. 2014 .

See what "Churchification" is in other dictionaries:

CHURCHING- Churching [glory. ; cf. Greek ἐκκλησιάσαι to church], in a broad sense, the process of bringing a person to Christ. traditions and church life; in the liturgical books, a special rite performed over the baby and his mother 40 days after his ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

churching- churching Dictionary of Russian synonyms. churching n., number of synonyms: 1 churching (1) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. Trish ... Synonym dictionary

Churching- (churching) is the process of a person entering the temple as the beginning of his church life. In a broad sense, churching is a long way for a person to master the dogmas of the Orthodox Church and the rules of church life. In fact, this process is deeply ... ... Fundamentals of spiritual culture (encyclopedic dictionary of a teacher)

Churching- the rite of the Orthodox Church, performed on the baby and his mother, on the fortieth day after birth. By this rite, the woman in childbirth, considered unclean until 40 days after birth, is cleansed, and the baby is included in the number of members of the Church; establishing ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Churching- Churched (from the church; churched incorrectly) is a church term that is used in the practice of the Russian Orthodox Church and in circles around the church, as well as in other religious organizations. It has two meanings, one ... ... Wikipedia

Churching- - literally the first entry into the temple, in liturgy is attached to those prayers and actions that are performed and pronounced over the baby when he is first brought into the temple on the 40th day after birth. It is impossible to determine the time of establishment of V. ... Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary

The main preparation for the meeting and communion of the infant with Christ in the sacrament of communion is the Christianity of his parents. Their churching, their following the commandments of the Gospel, their prayer and participation in the sacraments, the same regular communion, finally.

The other day, they brought to communion the one who most often adds a fair amount of gray hair to the priest standing on the pulpit with the Chalice in his hands - a screaming baby.

This baby was one of those who you can’t even call “babies”: about a two-year-old strong butuz, who categorically refused to sit on his father’s arms, and even more so to lie with his head on his right hand in the “like breastfeeding” position. He furiously yelled “I won’t!”, as if he saw in the priest an executioner approaching him with torture instruments, and, bursting with tears, waved his arms and legs so that the confused mother who came to the aid of dad could not hold him back ...

In the end, mom and dad, who confessed for the first time that day, took communion themselves, and did not dare to bring their child to the Chalice again. And I was, frankly, glad about this - from the sight of a child who was tied up, and into whom they forcibly shoved a liar with a drop of Christ's blood through clenched teeth, not only does not there arise a satisfied feeling of a fulfilled duty, but it just happens to be very uncomfortable …

There is such an attitude: “all the best for children”. Communion a child, pour the cherished substance into him in any way and imagine in this the fulfillment of his Christian parental (grandmother's, foster, etc.) duty - and then the grace of God herself will magically do everything necessary and useful for the child ... Such a train of thought seems to me more than doubtful, and the indulgence of miraculous "grace" on someone who is not at all ready for it, brings to mind the plot about Danaë and the golden rain descending on her, not thinking anything in her sleep or spirit.

Over the past decade, marked by an active revival of church life, Sunday schools have appeared in one form or another in most parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church. They make a significant contribution to the churching and religious education of children, not only from church families, but also those whose parents are far from the Church.

Over the past decade, marked by an active revival of church life, Sunday schools have appeared in one form or another in most parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church. They make a significant contribution to the churching and religious education of children, not only from church families, but also those whose parents are far from the Church. At the same time, in the process of comprehending the activities of Sunday schools, it turns out that in the work of many of them there are many problems, both organizational and methodological. This, in particular, was discussed at the recent Christmas Educational Readings. The result of the insufficiently effective work of Sunday schools is often the formal education and superficial churching of their pupils and, as a result, the subsequent departure from the Church of many of them in adolescence and adulthood. Therefore, the task of improving the methodological approaches to the educational activities of Sunday schools and their organizational structure is currently urgent. In this bulletin, we publish materials that address the problems of parish religious education and tell about the useful experience of Sunday schools.

Orthodox education and upbringing of children in the conditions of modern parish life

Father Konstantin, what is the place of Sunday school in the life of the Church?

The place of Sunday schools in church life and their internal structure should be determined by the main task that is set before them. This is churching and church education of children.

Of course, the existing Sunday schools often solve other educational and upbringing tasks, so that the students of these schools, becoming churched, also acquire useful knowledge and skills, which can only be rejoiced at. But without churching, even knowing by heart Sacred history and liturgy can be useless for the salvation of the soul and even harmful. Therefore, the task of churching and church education should be considered as the main one, and all the rest - only in relation to it.

What do you think the Sunday school curriculum should be like?

At first glance, it seems beyond doubt that doctrinal subjects, such as the Orthodox catechism, sacred history, liturgy, and others, should be the basis of the Sunday school. If our children know the commandments of God, navigate the Bible well, understand the meaning of the liturgy and other divine services and sacraments, this will make them church people. But will he?

Firstly, a non-church person's knowledge of the Law of God may not be useful to him. After all, just as it is unpleasant for any person if someone, not loving him, finds out something about him, so it is not pleasing to God for someone to find out about Him with a cold heart. The basic truths of the faith must necessarily be preached to children, but this is not the same as teaching the Law of God. Theology should be comprehended, first of all, not by the mind (although this is desirable if possible), but by the heart. But a heartfelt knowledge of God, spiritual experience is acquired not so much in the classroom, but with the assistance of the grace of God — in life in general: in the family, in the temple community, in divine services, in personal prayer, in communion with the confessor, and, well, in the lessons too.

Secondly, teaching, as a rule, is impossible without some coercion, but when it comes to adult church people (for example, seminary students), we can say: “If you don’t want to study, leave.” In Sunday school, this approach is unacceptable. Coercion in the teaching of doctrinal disciplines can turn many students away from the Church.

Finally, the experience of the Sunday school, which I lead, shows that it is not difficult for churched young men and women to prepare for the examination on the Law of God on their own, even if this discipline was taught poorly in Sunday school (due to the lack of good teachers of the law). From 1994 to 1999, 13 graduates of our Sunday school entered various universities of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In the light of what has been said above, it seems even dangerous to demand that doctrinal subjects must be taught in every Sunday school. Desirable, but not required. And, in any case, it is not necessary that they be its core.

What should be the core of the Sunday school?

What God will send. The answer may seem frivolous, but let's remember that the main task of the Sunday school is the churching of children. That is, we want children to get used to the church community through it. To do this, the Sunday school itself must be an organic part of the parish community, and the leading teachers of the school must be its active members.

But the community is not gathered artificially, it is impossible. It is possible and even sometimes necessary to invite a specialist, for example, a teacher of the Law of God. He may turn out to be a wonderful pious person, a high-class teacher, he may have good relations with the rector, parish staff and parishioners - and all this, however, is not enough for a person to become a member of the community. There is some mystery here. In any case, it is clear that the core of the Sunday School can only be an activity that can be engaged in by people who are already part of the community.

Of course, with great organizational skill, it is possible to “put together” an Orthodox-oriented educational institution with the teaching of the Law of God and any other subjects. But if it is not a living part of the church community, the children will not become churched through it. It is natural for a good Sunday school to begin with one teacher - the rector, and then his spiritual children (as they appear) and people who are invited specifically to work in the Sunday school are connected to the work.

What are the most preferred core activities can be identified?

First, the children's choir. Figuratively speaking, its efficiency is much higher than that of other activities. To create a small children's choir, one room for rehearsals and one professional choir member who loves children is enough. Of course, the choir, assembled from musically uneducated guys, most likely will not be able to perform at prestigious concerts. But through the choir children are naturally drawn to the liturgy; the choir itself is a unifying cause, requires relatively little money and provides for the preparation and holding of holidays. If the children's choir sings at the liturgy, it is natural for the children to take communion. Of course, one cannot give communion to children against their will or scold them for their unwillingness to receive communion.

Secondly, let's talk about the participation of Sunday school pupils in worship. Older boys may serve at the altar. Of course, not all. Not everyone wants, not everyone is capable of this, not in every temple the altar can accommodate everyone. In our church, altar servers, regardless of age, are required to have reverent behavior during services, strict obedience to elders, and participation in cleaning the altar.

There are Sunday schools, the core of which is the collection of materials about the New Martyrs, social service, pilgrimages to holy places, teaching icon painting, various crafts. Such a core can, of course, be the teaching of the Law of God, if possible.

Continuing the theme of the participation of pupils in worship, I would like to ask what, in your opinion, is the pedagogical potential of church rites?

We all know, of course, that rituals do not save by themselves. It is important what is inside a person, and external piety is valuable only insofar as it is a manifestation of internal piety. On the other hand, it is also known that the external influences the internal. When a person in simplicity, not proud that he allegedly pleases God, kisses an icon or lights a candle, or bows, then his soul adjusts to the actions of the body, and then bodily actions acquire spiritual significance, help a person tune in to prayer.

But in addition to this, church rites also have educational potential. For example, bowing before an icon and kissing it, a person learns that the icon is an object of worship, learns to honor the one depicted on it. When a child kisses the blessing hand of a priest, he learns without explanation that the priest is a significant person. By introducing children to church rites, you can gently but effectively contribute to the rooting in their hearts and minds of many Christian truths.

Here we note that the systematic reading to children of the Holy Scriptures (not the "Children's Bible"!) And the lives of the saints (not fairy tales on hagiographic topics!) Has a very profound effect on children. The Word of God lies in the heart of a person like a seed, and if it is not rejected by an evil heart (the reaction of the mind is not so important), then it will germinate and bear fruit. Outwardly, this may seem imperceptible, but the significance for the spiritual life of a person will be much greater than any truths perceived only by the mind.

One often hears that one of the main problems of Sunday schools is the non-church behavior of their pupils. What do you think is the problem here and what are the ways to solve it?

I think that the reason for such phenomena, common to many church schools, is not necessarily the poor work of teachers and poor home education. Although, of course, there are shortcomings, but even if we were holy and brilliant, the moral difficulties of adolescents in church school would not disappear. Why?

First, modern children spend most of their time in a non-church environment. It must be taken into account that the influence of the surrounding corrupted world is profound and it largely determines the outlook and tastes of not only children who have recently come to school, but also those who have spent several years with us, and even children from church families.

Secondly (and this is the main thing), in addition to the seductive world and the evil spirits operating in it, there is also the mysterious providence of God about a person (including about each of our students), which does not always coincide with our good ones, at first glance, plans.

And thirdly, there is human freedom. He either freely accepts the good will of God for himself, or willfully rejects it and lives as he is allowed to.

Therefore, without disclaiming responsibility for the spiritual destinies of children in our church schools, we must nevertheless come to terms with the fact that the majority of adolescents in their transitional age will upset church educators with their behavior. And the question should be raised not how to completely avoid this, but how we should behave with our pupils, as they are. Tolerating the bad behavior of teenagers is our parental cross. And parents according to the flesh, and parents according to the school.

In a church school, to which children are not attached by anything external (for example, by the opportunity to receive a good education for free in some subject), there will certainly be a large dropout of students. And a church school that does not have a large dropout will face the problem of non-church behavior of church children. One could simply expel all those who act unworthy of the high rank of a student of a church school. But this would mean depriving children of spiritual support just at the very time when they need it most.

Teenagers are not as bad as one might think when confronted with their sometimes very ugly behavior. Not everything, but much in their behavior is determined not by their will, but by age, which, as you know, passes, and worldly temptations. Therefore, we do not hide the truth about spiritual life from the children, considering the lowering of moral requirements a dangerous deceit, and call evil evil, but we do not expel them from Sunday school until the last opportunity.

If we want to help children outgrow their spiritually harmful hobbies, we must try, remaining ourselves, to get into contact with them so that they do not hide their views, their experiences from us. If we keep only a high ascetic tone in communication with children, then the majority of even believing children will be beyond our influence.

But is it worth it for a priest to go to a discotheque in order to be there with children (such experiences are known)? I think not, otherwise children will perceive indulgence for their weakness as a blessing, and these are very different things. You can know about the incommendable behavior of one of the guys and not focus on it for a while, but, when it is convenient and useful, show your real attitude. If the priest himself participates in the usual pastime of modern children (even if for a good purpose), then how will he be able to direct them to the higher?

How to behave in specific situations? When do you need to “tighten the screws”, and when to make an indulgence? When is it hard to put before a boy or a girl, or maybe before a whole class, the question: “Either you change your behavior, or leave,” and when to pretend that you didn’t even notice a very serious misconduct? May God help us in solving these problems.

A teacher can at best be alive and in agreement with the will of the Lord, His instrument, even a co-worker, but there is no method of salvation and cannot be. There are methods of teaching, methods of moral education, but there are no methods of salvation. From this, of course, it does not follow that there is no need to work with children, but it follows that you need to rely only on God, you need to pray to God for children. The very work with children in Sunday school should be an outward manifestation of heartfelt prayer for them. It's the heart. There is little oral and little mental prayer. There must be a heartfelt desire addressed to God for the teenager to embark on the true path of Christ, leading to eternal life. How strong is this desire in us, and is it directed towards God? This question confronts every parish priest and every church teacher. Our children are in a difficult and dangerous position. At the same time, they are mentally weak, but spiritually they are not completely determined. They need to be literally begged for.

Father Konstantin, please tell us about the experience of your Sunday school at the Dormition Church in Krasnogorsk

More than 200 children are currently attending the Sunday school at the Dormition Church in Krasnogorsk. It consists of two parts: an ordinary Sunday school, which is not particularly different from most Sunday schools, where children come 1-2 times a week, and a church music school, whose students receive education in the scope of the choir department of the state children's music school.

The concept of our parish work with children can be summarized as follows. The community at the temple is a large friendly family, consisting of churched people. Children, being on the territory of the temple and communicating with them, gradually enter into their number and become church people. At the same time, it almost does not matter what subjects are in such a Sunday school. It is important to involve children in fellowship, and those who want to become churched will become churched.

We have attracted a large number of children by getting them and their parents interested in free music education. I will not go into details now, but will tell you about what I see as vitality and what is the insufficiency of our concept and how we propose to resolve the problems that have arisen. To do this, I will tell you a little about how our parish and school life began and how it developed.

In 1991, when a Sunday school was born at the Assumption Church in Krasnogorsk, our church community was very small, 10-20 people. When we first went to Optina Pustyn in 1992, we all fit in a 25-seat PAZik, in 1993 45 people went, and since 1994 we no longer fit in one bus. There were many young men and women in the community who quite decently, but with pleasure and interest, communicated with each other, made friends, fell in love. Many people tried to spend as much time as possible in the temple and at the temple, if possible they went to the church to work. There were warm spiritual relationships, while people became quite seriously churched: they prayed, took communion, tried to fight their passions.

It was in such an environment that our Sunday school developed at first. The children loved her very much. School classes were located next to the rooms where the rector's family lived, and there was also a church refectory nearby. All in all, a big family. Sunday School was an integral part of it. Children, getting used to Sunday school, naturally got used to the church community and, of course, began to live a liturgical life together with adults.

In the course of understanding the above, the concept of the Sunday school was born as a kind of family, into which children must be introduced under any pretext, so long as they find themselves in a church environment. Spiritual communication with Orthodox people, participation in church affairs, participation in divine services, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, of course, greatly contributed and continues to contribute to the churching of children.

The vitality of this concept manifested itself in various aspects. I would like to note that out of several dozen children who went through our Sunday school, about twenty became altar servers and choirboys, one was ordained, and several people study at various universities of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In order not to create an overly rosy impression, I will say that several of our graduates, unfortunately, lost interest in church life and stopped taking communion. As far as I can tell, the reason is that they were overwhelmed by carnal passions in their transitional age. Some of them, we hope, will eventually return to the Church, and some may not. But here the point is not in the concept of educational work, but in the tragedy of our earthly life, which is not a place of rest, but a field of spiritual battle.

Now about the insufficiency of the considered concept of churching. It began to be felt by us about two years ago, and we realize it more and more.

First, the community has grown quantitatively. In itself, this is, of course, good, but there are no friendly companies of a hundred people. And about as many brothers and sisters began to sit down at the festive table at Christmas or Easter.

Secondly, the youth, of which the original community mainly consisted, married and got married, children went and multiplied. Busy with household chores, people naturally began to spend less time in church, coming only to services.

Thirdly, if for the first three or four years I, as rector and chairman of the Parish Council, could hire almost everyone who was eager to work in the church, now the staff is full, and it is rare to hire new people. On the other hand, the needs of the temple have forced and continue to force employees of suitable qualifications to be hired, but not necessarily their own soul and spirit. Thus, the composition of the community began to coincide less and less with the composition of employees. And if the first years after the opening of the temple, children, coming to Sunday school, came at the same time, as it were, to a large family, now this is no longer the case. I can’t say that it has become bad, non-church, but it has become not at all as comfortable as before.

Fourth, noticeable changes have taken place in the students. In the early years of the existence of the Sunday school, children came or their parents brought them to it for the sake of joining the Church, and we already gave the children a musical education in addition to this (in order to keep them from absenteeism), now there is a significant number of children who were brought to our school just for free education. There is almost no live communication with most parents, we almost never see them either in the church or at school events, and the attitude of parents to school and the Church, of course, affects the relationship of children.

Our concept turned out to be vital if the community is small, consists of completely church people, and there are warm friendly relations between its members. Then it doesn't matter what to do with the children, as long as they just come and they like it. We taught children to sing, sight-read choral parts and play the piano, and along the way, as if by chance, they also joined church life. Now we feel and see that we need to improve the concept of our long-standing school on the go.

How do you see the future of your school in this regard?

In the situation that has developed today, when the number of the parish community is about a hundred people, when its composition and structure do not coincide with the composition and structure of the parish staff, when the majority of the members of the community are family people (there are not so few unmarried young people, but today it is not they who set the main tone in the community) and cannot spend much time in the church (except for participation in the services), when the church service has become the thing that unites everyone, I think, and the Sunday school should not remain only, so to speak, a gateway through which children are drawn into church life, while she herself must live a full-fledged liturgical life.

We intend to complete the current academic year, basically, according to the old curriculum, and from the next academic year we intend to introduce the weekly participation of all school choirs in the liturgy (now they sing once a month at the service), replace the subject "musical literature" with "the history of liturgical singing” and reduce piano lessons to the minimum possible. We will try to maintain the level of singing and, if possible, increase it, but we will no longer adhere to the standard of a secular music school as before. Of course, not all parents and not all students will like this. Someone will leave us, but someone, I think, God will send in their place.

About the concept of the Sunday school "Life-Giving Source"

The Sunday School operating at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "The Life-Giving Spring" in Tsaritsyno was organized with the blessing of the rector of the temple, Archpriest Georgy Breev, in October 1991. During the first period of the school's existence, its activities were mostly of a traditional nature. At that time, about 50 school-age children studied at the school and 12 teachers worked. Adults were not taught in Sunday school at that time.

Beginning in September 1995, the Sunday school "Life-Giving Source" becomes a kind of living laboratory for streamlining educational work and developing the concept of a family Sunday school.

The creative activity of the Sunday School "Life-Giving Source" began with understanding a number of typical pedagogical mistakes associated with religious education and catechesis. The attention of teachers was drawn to the fact that the spiritual knowledge taught at school was very quickly lost by children, and the process of churching, the need for which teachers constantly pointed out to children, was difficult and superficial. Often, during adolescence, children completely lost interest in attending both school and the temple.

It was suggested that in the course of religious education and catechesis, teachers cannot take the right position in relation to students: there is an unjustified identification of the functions of a teacher, educator and the functions of a priest, shepherd. The priest is endowed with the power from God to preach the Gospel, to interpret the Commandments of God, calling to Salvation. The task of educators is not so much a call to Salvation as the formation of spiritual will, i.e. desire to be saved. For this, in turn, it is necessary to reveal to students the essence of the Orthodox faith in such a way that they perceive it not as a set of requirements and prohibitions, but as a system of spiritual values ​​that fill life with meaning and content.

When the need for Salvation is simply declared or sounds like a call, then churching is artificially forced and done superficially. This instills in students not love for God and the Church, but either an ecclesiastical magic that is dangerous for the Orthodox faith, or a sense of the need to fulfill an obligatory religious duty. Obviously, in both cases, the foundations of a person's personal freedom are undermined, therefore, in adolescence, many young men and women begin to openly oppose such calls and demands.

The second significant mistake made in the course of catechesis is that educators often unwittingly distort the evangelical spirit of the spiritual disciplines they teach. The Savior's statement that the world lies in evil as a result of human sins is often presented to students in such a way that it leads them not to the conclusion that they need to transform themselves and the world around them, but to a fearful and cowardly desire to hide from the problems of this world in the Church. In this regard, Salvation itself is interpreted as the need to run and hide behind the walls of the temple from temptations and temptations, and not as the need for a spiritual feat to overcome one's weakness with the help of God, through active Christian love towards neighbors. In this regard, it becomes obvious that it is impossible to build the activities of the Sunday school in such a way that it resembles a kind of spiritual greenhouse that only helps to protect and shelter students from the evil world around them. The school should educate and strengthen in a person faith in the good providence of God and readiness to fulfill the holy duty of a warrior of Christ, establishing peace, goodness and love wherever the Lord directs him.

The third mistake in the activities of Sunday schools is associated with the separation of the spiritual education of children from the natural conditions of their upbringing and development in the family, as well as the desire to abstract from those painful problems that children and adolescents face in families at the present stage of the country's life. The desire to “soar” over the real pressing problems of the family, to show an idealized picture of human life, the lack of readiness to delve into the complex and sometimes tragic circumstances of the life of children in the family, turns Orthodoxy into a “dream of beauty”, deprives students of a sober and humble attitude to objective difficulties life. As a result of such a position, teachers do not strengthen, but, on the contrary, involuntarily weaken the spiritual strength of their students, forming unjustified expectations that life in the family can change by itself. Moreover, by painting a rosy picture of the life of a believer, which does not coincide with the harsh reality, teachers mentally win over children who find it especially difficult to live in families. The illusion of being able to replace the mother and father of an unfortunate child may not last long, but it turns out to be extremely harmful for the parents, the child, and the teacher himself. The family way of life is a very persistent and strong psychological formation. Its influence on the child's soul and the spiritual potential for the development of his personality is very great, so the naive assumption about the rapid overcoming of negative stereotypes of consciousness is hardly justified. Teachers should not forcibly intrude into the life of the family through the consciousness of children, their task is to actively help parents raise their children in a Christian way, delving into their problems, spiritually enlightening and suggesting useful pedagogical techniques.

The fourth source of Sunday school problems is connected with the underestimation of the danger of neophyte enthusiasm and ignoring the achievements of pedagogical and psychological science. The declarative, emotionally exalted manner of presenting spiritual knowledge, associated with the directive to "go church" immediately, without delay, emasculates the deep spiritual content of teaching and does not give students the opportunity to think through and feel the Word of God. Obsessive and pretentious emotionality tires the listeners and makes the speech of the teacher artificial.

From what has been said, it follows that for the effective operation of the Sunday school, it is necessary to develop a special concept that would take into account the difficulties and shortcomings noted above. This concept should reflect: the main goals and objectives of spiritual education and catechesis, the basic methodological approach to the organization of religious education and upbringing, organizational and pedagogical methods and methods of working with students, the expected results of the work.

First of all, it is necessary to isolate the specific function performed by the Sunday school, which is the initial stage of religious education. At the same time, it should be taken into account that a significant part of Sunday school students is still at a crossroads, still striving to acquire the Orthodox faith, hoping that Sunday school teachers will help them in this. The student brings in his mind the experience of worldly everyday life that takes place in the family, and in the current conditions, often already destroyed or on the verge of destruction. Problems, conflicts, contradictions, resentments and disappointments - this is the background against which the teaching of spiritual disciplines has to be built. In the lessons of the Law of God and the Catechism, the student gradually gets acquainted with the peculiarities of church life in the Christian community, entry into which requires the assimilation of fundamentally different relationships: patience, humility, meekness, faith, hope and love. The sermon about Salvation, perceived at first only by the mind, must still be intelligently comprehended and enriched with personal religious and mystical experiences, as well as practical experience of Christian work to transform one's family life. Thus, the Sunday school has its own specific goals and objectives, performing the function of a kind of "crossing bridge" that connects secular and church life. This transition cannot be accomplished in one leap and requires certain efforts and time. On the one hand, Sunday school should help a person spiritually comprehend the experience of life in the world, on the other hand, it should show him the true Source of sanctification and transformation of this life - the Savior Christ - and make Him spiritually close and desired Image. It can be said that the main goal of the Sunday school is to form the desire for Salvation in a modern person living in the conditions of a disintegrating family.

Relations between the church and the world, mediated by the activities of the Sunday school, must correspond to the gospel spirit of the redemptive mission of Christ the Savior, who did not reject the world, but accepted voluntary death on the cross for it, having overcome the wickedness of this world with divine sacrificial Love. The crucifixion of Christ is the appeal and call of mankind to the feat of the fullness of life in God and with God, the feat of unceasing service to others. Guided by these considerations, you understand that the basis for the creation of a Sunday school that educates genuine Orthodox Christians should be based on the idea of ​​spiritual achievement and selflessness, which must be revealed using examples understandable to modern man. Thus, the necessary deepening of the concept of “churching” and the transition to its true meaning, based on the acceptance of the Cross of the Lord, will take place.

The foregoing shows that the organization of a Sunday school presupposes the creation of a special spiritual and cultural environment, i.e. an atmosphere that fosters understanding and thirst for Christian achievement. The desired spiritual environment is formed by the appropriate orientation of the sermons of the priests and the holding of thematic classes by the teachers. In order for lessons in spiritual disciplines to reveal the deep meaning of churching, Sunday school teachers must have personal spiritual experience of overcoming various life difficulties and trials. According to the Russian Orthodox philosopher I.A. Ilyin, "Christ should not be preached, but confessed."

Understanding that Sunday school students, first of all, need spiritual understanding and Christian arrangement of living conditions in the family, it is advisable to accept not only children, but also their parents for training in Sunday school. Teaching spiritual disciplines to parents should contain not only the disclosure of the dogmas of the Orthodox Church, the Commandments of God and the spiritual laws of the universe, but also examples of the manifestation of divine truths in the practical life of people. Particular attention should be paid to cases from everyday life relating to family relationships and the upbringing of children. In this case, parents have the opportunity to discover the mighty spiritual potential of the Orthodox family and the joyful feeling of spiritual belonging of family members to each other.

But in order for people to have the opportunity to gain practical experience of family life built on Christian principles, Sunday school should help them organize new types of communication and interaction with each other. Therefore, during the Sunday school, not only spiritual and educational, but also spiritual and practical activities in a number of areas, in fact, connecting people and restoring their previously destroyed relationships, should unfold. Priority areas should include those that allow us to recreate joint prayer and liturgical communion, common family leisure (circles and creative studios), common experience of holidays, joint sightseeing and pilgrimage trips, common home reading, attendance at literary, poetic and musical evenings, joint work, etc. An essential factor in the regulation and normalization of family relations can be the help of an Orthodox psychologist-consultant, who provides an affordable charitable reception.

In general, the structure of the educational process organized in the family Sunday school can be represented as three concentric circles: the central link is the liturgical communication of parents and children, joint participation in the Church Sacraments; the middle link is their parallel spiritual enlightenment (catechesis); and the external link is practical communication and interaction, organized on Christian principles in a number of vital areas.

Thanks to the family orientation of the Sunday school "Life-Giving Source", the number of students (children and adults) in it for four years of work has reached 450 people. More than 40 teachers work at the school, among which 15 people are leaders of circles and creative studios, which have the opportunity to attend not only children, but also their parents. Every month, Sunday school students have the opportunity to make 2-3 family excursion and pilgrimage trips to the monasteries of Moscow and the holy places of the Moscow region. During the year, the Sunday school organizes 5 school-wide holidays, among which the family holiday "Father's House" is very popular.

Spiritual disciplines are taught in the Sunday school by experienced teachers, most of whom have a spiritual education received at the St. Tikhon Theological Institute or at the catechism courses of the Department of Religious Education and Catechism of the Moscow Patriarchate. During the school year, 6-7 times all Sunday school students attend divine services and jointly participate in the Church Sacraments.

The foregoing convinces of the expediency of further development of the concept of the family Sunday school and the exchange of experience in organizing its work.

I.N. Moshkov- Sunday School Principal
"Life-Giving Spring" in Tsaritsyno,
candidate of psychological sciences

This is a big, complex and responsible business, comparable in importance to the construction of the temple of God, only a living one.

Some feasts of the church year give rise to a conversation on this topic. One of these holidays is the feast of the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple and the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

This topic is vast and multifaceted, it is impossible to say about everything at once. We must first outline some general principles of spiritual education.

Not only pastors of the church are called to the spiritual upbringing of children, but, first of all, parents. Most parents are puzzled by questions: how to make a child get used to and love going to church, how to explain what “shrine” means? How to convey to the child that in the temple you can’t indulge, run, play? How to make sure that the child does not leave the church on the far side? First of all:

Children need a living parental example

Churching is a process of joint spiritual education of parents and children. If one of the parents becomes closer to God, changes internally, then the children feel it. And if parents do not strive to live according to the commandments of God, then it is very difficult to introduce the child to life according to them.

In the matter of churching children, measure and gradualness are important

The most common mistake parents make is trying to impose on the child what he himself must or wants to do. Adults often come to the church when they themselves are just beginning to become churched and it seems to them that their children are experiencing the same thing that they themselves are experiencing. But in the matter of churching a child, one must sacrifice one's spiritual interests for the sake of him, but not everyone is ready for this. Having brought the child to the temple, you need to be with him in the temple for as long as he currently has enough strength and attention.

Parents should collect and study the church tradition about the spiritual education of children

That is, to get acquainted with the experience of spiritual education of famous pastors, holy fathers, elders, parents of many children. So, for example, the Athonite elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain advised mothers:

“Instead of scrupulously and scholastically doing housework - soulless things - it is better for a mother to take care of raising children. Let her tell them about Christ, read them the Lives of the Saints. At the same time, she must be engaged in cleansing her soul - so that she spiritually shines. The spiritual life of a mother will imperceptibly, silently help the souls of her children. Thus, her children will live joyfully, and she herself will be happy, because she will have Christ in herself. If a mother cannot even find time to read Holy God, how will her children be sanctified?

Parental and, first of all, maternal prayer for children

A huge number of examples of the miraculous and transforming power of parental prayer. Do not weaken in prayer, pray for your children, then they will pray for you.

Choose a confessor for your family

How to fast for a child, what prayers to read before communion, how often to take communion - these and many other issues are best resolved with a priest in real, live communication. All children are infinitely different, and what is good for one child may be harmful for another.

Shared Spiritual Reading

Do not forget about spiritual reading. As a general rule, children should read aloud as much as possible. What to read? Here you need an individual approach. It is important to remember that not everything that a mother likes is suitable for a child.

Live communication with the child

Another essential thing in every family is communication. You need to talk to the child. We must try to find images and comparisons that are understandable for the child, so that he, due to his age, understands what is happening. That is, so that the child does not just automatically walk with his mother by the hand to the temple. Of course, it is difficult to explain many things, and sometimes it is simply impossible, but children often gradually learn Christian truths.

The Role of the Modern Sunday School in the Spiritual Education of Children

The main function of the Sunday School is to give the child a spiritual “inoculation”.

Sunday school exists to help parents in the church education of children. In the activities of the Sunday school, a lot depends on the teacher. The Sunday school teacher must be a man of deep faith. After school at home, you need to talk with your child about what was discussed in Sunday school. It is important that the family has a friendly atmosphere, there are no disputes and quarrels. Then the child naturally becomes churched. The main thing is that internal churching should not be replaced only by external.

It is not the amount of knowledge gained that is important, it is necessary to make the child understand that there is a world that lives according to God's laws, where you are loved, no matter what you are.

Through learning, communication, and joint activities in Sunday school, children are prepared for adulthood. They have somewhere to return to, even if they later leave the church.

The most important result of religious education is to give the child the "inoculation of love." A child should know that there is a place on earth where they love him, they will always listen, understand and give good advice.

Participation in the liturgical practice of the Church (fasts, sacraments and rites). How, to what extent should children be involved in this?

Children should participate to the best of their ability in home and church prayer. For them, a living example of praying parents is important. It is very important to involve children in the celebrations so that they feel like participants in the church event, and not observers.

You can instruct them to do something for the holiday: for example, collect or buy a bouquet for the icon of the Mother of God, paint eggs for Easter, bake a children's cake. During the consecration of willows, apples, honey, religious processions, worship of the Cross or the Shroud, children must be involved. Children want to be important, to feel their involvement in what is happening.

On the day of Forgiveness Sunday, you need to ask for forgiveness from your children. You will not drop your parental authority - on the contrary, raise it in the eyes of the child. Children are often offended by us, because we are unfair to them.

To understand that there are stages in church education, each of which has its own goals, objectives and features.

Visiting the temple with small children requires little time and maximum attention.

An incident from the life of Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh. Once, grandmothers-parishioners complained to Metropolitan Anthony that children interfered with prayer during the service. Vladyka promised to remove all the children if at least someone would raise their hand and say that he had no idle thoughts during the service. But Vladyka also spoke about the fact that you hear God in silence, and it is a sin to break this silence. Therefore, we must strive to seek a compromise, so as not to harm the children, and not to interfere with the parishioners.

A small child needs to be able to explain that this is not a playground. Here you need to behave quietly, so as not to scare away the angels and not interfere with the prayer of other people. To say that in this place you will definitely receive strength from God to grow further, not get sick, love your dad and mom, you will be anointed with oil and given communion - a cure for death that God has given us.

(Read more in the next issue)

The material was prepared by Novozhenina O.B. – guide of the Tsaritsyno museum based on the materials of the pravmir website

CHURCH SCHOOL

(In memory of S.A. Rachinsky).

S.A. Rachinsky wrote little. And not in word, but in deed, his memory is red. In an era of great public excitement and upsurge, in an era of great reforms of the last century, he retired to his rural retreat. And here he put all his will and all his soul into a single and living cause, into the cause of creating a church school, a school of the church spirit, a school under the canopy under the canopy of the Church. It was a creative experience. Soon it was repeated from above and on an all-Russian scale, through the establishment of parochial schools. The turmoil demolished and ruined the church-folk school. The live succession of the case was interrupted. But the idea remained alive and revives with renewed vigor, must come to life now, as a creative task in the forthcoming struggle for the people's soul, for true and Holy Russia. And memory resurrects the lessons of past experience, sometimes direct, sometimes instructive from the opposite.

School business was for Rachinsky a kind of going to the people. His pedagogical thought took shape under the vivid impression of a sharp rupture and separation of society and the people. In the liberation of the peasants, he felt and saw the awakening and call of "the most numerous of the Christian peoples" to a creative life, to spiritual freedom. “The historical moment that we are experiencing,” said Rachinsky in the late 80s, “a great and terrible minute! “Now the mental and moral image of the most numerous, most continuous of the Christian peoples of the universe is beginning to take shape,” he repeated ten years later. The people have awakened and bring with them both great religious wealth and great religious need. It seemed to Rachinsky that the people testified to their final and immutable determination and will to live and be in the Church, and through the Church to grow and develop. This conviction in him was not shaken by his observation of the dark sides of the people's way of life. He believed in "that height, that unconditional moral ideal, which makes the Russian people a predominantly Christian people." And in this faith he repeated Khomyakov and Dostoevsky. "The Russian people," Rachinsky believed, are a deeply religious people, and the first of his practical needs along with meeting the needs of the body, have communion with the Divine". And the people know how to satisfy this need, and to satisfy this need in the Church. “In the midst of the oppressive monotony of gray working life, in the midst of lies and vulgarity emanating from the semi-educated stratum of the rural population, where is the light for the soul of our peasant, where is the response to those aspirations that lie at the bottom of this soul, which constitute its most essential essence? In a church holiday that brings him a half-distorted echo of an ancient marvelous tune; in the fabulous, but warmed by faith, story of a dark wanderer; in a long-delayed, finally successful trip to a distant monastery, where his prayer acquires sounds worthy of it, strengthening its atmosphere, where he saw, alas! only a sign of a truly Christian life, and more and more often now - in long readings, in the light of a torch, in endless winter evenings - of the Holy Scriptures or the Lives of the Saints. And by the force of things, by the force of the people's spirit and inclination, a religious and ecclesiastical stamp is placed on the people's school, on the rural school. "The religious character is always inherent in the Russian rural school," Rachinsky said, "because it is constantly introduced into it by the students themselves." “Our poor rural school, for all its miserable abandonment, has one invaluable treasure. She is a Christian school; Christian because students look for Christ in it ". “They take out of the house and bring into the “school a spiritual thirst”, ... an interest in matters of faith and spirit.” A living and germ of piety is planted in everyone: true reverence for the still unknown shrine, deep respect for the knowledge of divine things, a living sense of the beauty of the external symbols of worship of God, ”and a vague but firm religious and moral ideal. “A monastery, life in God and for God, self-denial – this is what quite sincerely seems to be the ultimate goal of existence, an unattainable bliss for these cheerful, practical boys ... They never saw a monastery. They understand that mysterious, ideal, unearthly monastery, which is drawn before them in the stories of wanderers, in the lives of saints, in their own vague hungers of their souls ”... The school must satiate this mysterious inner thirst, strengthen and fulfill the innate religious character. For the school is not only an educational, but, above all, an educational matter. The rural school cannot be "a simple device for teaching peasant children to read and write, elementary arithmetic, verbal symbols of the dominant religion." “The elementary school should not only be a school of arithmetic and elementary grammar, but, most likely, a school of Christian doctrine and good morals, a school of Christian life.” Such a higher spiritual task must be carried out in it. And so, Rachinsky, with bitterness and anxiety, is convinced that in the elementary school that exists and is organized from above, if any task is carried out, then the task is deeply alien and far from the indigenous people's spirit. Since the sixties, the folk school has been built according to a foreign model, according to an abstract humanistic ideal, away from the Church, even with suspicion of the Church and Her spirit. And this affects and reflects the separation and falling away of the cultural minority of Russian society from the Church, from the primordial beginnings of the religious and historical life of the Russian people. Such a school remains incomprehensible to the people, does not meet its best and holy needs, and if it has a greater or lesser influence on new generations, it is always dangerous - it introduces spiritual and at the same time social decay into the rural environment. It introduces the peasant youth into some new and alien world, plucks them from their living everyday roots, introduces them to some other system and life. It creates and instills contradictions in the people's soul. By its very structure and composition, it shakes religious foundations, leads to doubts. “First of all, the attention of the students is focused on the teacher,” Rachinsky describes ... “A new man, completely different from his father and village neighbors, dressed like a master, well-wishing to the masters, and he speaks like a gentleman. This is all because he is very learned, knows a lot, knows everything. He speaks kindly. For the most part, he is a good-natured person, and the guys soon become attached to him. He also speaks about God, but reluctantly and little. He does not observe fasts (and how to observe them?) This would mean for a good half of the days of the year to refuse to communicate with cleaner people. (Is it not possible to make morning visits?) He goes to Church, but uses every excuse not to go to it ... Little by little it turns out that all this is not his personal oddities, but that, like him, all gentlemen live, all learned people in frock coats, whom you can't tell from their masters. They even, these gentlemen, often laugh among themselves at all this, and at the fasts, and at church services, and most often at the priest and deacon. Apparently, scientists do not need all this. The church, adherence to God is a peasant thing, a matter of gray and dark people ... With this, the boy leaves school. Yes it is. Everything divine, everything ecclesiastical, this is only for us, plowing the land, studying for copper pennies. People scientists, gentlemen, do without all this. What about God's commandments? Do the gentlemen respect them? Do they remember the Sabbath? Do they honor father and mother more than we do? “And these childhood impressions are confirmed and consolidated in later life, under the influence of that lower master's environment that flashed before the children's eyes. Going beyond the family and rural life for a peasant child is always tempting. But this temptation is sharpest and sharpest in the image of a rural teacher who has come from a new school, from teachers' seminaries, from city schools, from the lower grades of the gymnasium. By origin, he is connected with the village, but in spirit he is torn away from it forever. “He will completely disappear from the peasant environment, and, having entered the places, far from his homeland, he directly adjoins the middle stratum of rural society, consisting of the clergy, poor landowners, tavern owners and village kulaks.” He irrevocably passes "in the category of masters (in the peasant sense of the word)." His warehouse and aspirations are alien to folk life. “He acquired some information, fragmentary and meager; he breathed in that air that the educated classes breathe; their mental and moral disposition of life flashed before them in living images incomparably more eloquent, more powerful over thought and spirit than any book teaching. Moreover, he himself became a citizen, although the last one, of this world of education and knowledge, he himself became a spoke - and the last one - in the chariot of mental progress. From now on, his eyes are turned there, according to his extreme understanding, - to the top. From there light, there is knowledge, there is the highest order of life. Of course, he learns about this world by hearsay, from the tenth hand, in a simplified and vulgarized transmission. But he is captivated by this world. And the spirit of this world is in its essence alien and even contrary to the Church, and therefore to the true essence of the people. Thus, the question of a rural school in the understanding of Rachinsky becomes acute and fundamental. “The question of the modern Russian school,” he rightly found, “is not a question of programs and more or less practical supervision. This is a fatal and formidable question. We have to decide the very foundations and foundations of spiritual life and culture, we have to make a choice among opposing definitions and paths. The Russian leaders left the Church, and by this they left the people. The outer edge has been removed in the liberation of the peasants. How to remove a deeper and inner? Should the leaders lead the people behind them, should they return to the people? “Perhaps everything that the programs of our rural schools strive for - both piety, and churchliness, and Christian morality itself - all this has already died with us, as, according to many, all this is dying in Western Europe; all this is only symbols and formulas of an obsolete system of thoughts, doomed to destruction of the order of things. Are we not obligated, frankly and directly, to introduce into the rural school that new life, which has developed so luxuriously and rapidly, so victoriously and boldly among the educated sections of our society? To replace the doctrine of good morals with a doctrine of free morals, the old piety, the worship of the unproven God, with the worship of the natural man, that highest expression of the forces of the world, accessible to our common sense? Do we have the right to hide the truth by which we live from dark people who seek light? “... Rachinsky emphasizes that in such a sharp formulation for the majority, “this question, so natural and thought makes us afraid and sorry. In half-hearted indecision “it is a shame to say no, and even more shameful to say yes” - is it not from a secret uncertainty in new teachings, in a new morality? ... It is time to get out of this indecision and return to eternal foundations. Of course, this requires an "internal feat." “We need to get out,” says Rachinsky, “from that labyrinth of contradictions into which our entire internal history of modern times has led us - the joint expansion of our mental horizon and the narrowing of our spiritual horizons, the joint development of our European culture and serfdom. The outer knot is broken. It's time to resolve the inner... We have lamented enough that cancerous rupture, which is the essence of our inner history of modern times and yet did not interfere with our complete unity in the great moments of this history. It is time for us to remember that we have a common ground under our feet, and firmly consciously stand on it. It's time to realize what has come interaction time, beneficial on both sides, not that instantaneous, random interaction and unity, which is caused by extraordinary events, but the interaction of a constant, daily one. The ground of this interaction of this unity is the Church; its instrument is the school, and predominantly the rural school.” Here, spiritual societies and people can and must meet in a single and joint creative work and construction, in the creation of an integral and unified culture, on eternal foundations, in fidelity to tradition and history, in the fullness of experienced skill and experience. For the people, this will be the revelation of their primordial covenants of aspirations. For society - revival and renewal. The seemingly modest and limited question of a rural school in Rachinsky's mind grew to great proportions. And in this he was perspicacious and right. The question of the rural school, exacerbated by the immeasurable multitude of the "people" in comparison with the minority of the "top" in its last limit, was and is a question of categorical spiritual and cultural self-determination. Rachinsky correctly and subtly set him up: he did not call to return to the people for blood or organic motives; he called to return to the Church, so that there, as a smaller but better brother, to meet the people who have not yet left here and want to grow and live here.

Doing a modest, everyday, practical school work, Rachinsky understood all its secret and decisive meaning. With practical restraint, he was wary of hasty generalizations, premature maximalism. He vigilantly looked and clearly indicated the final goal, the churching of the Russian soul through the churching of the school, but with the same vigilance he understood that it could be realized only in the slow process of creative births. Rachinsky always emphasized what was self-evident for him - that every school is a living and creative work, conciliar cooperation and interaction between teachers and students. And therefore the questions of organization and programs for him received secondary importance. They cannot be resolved in advance, and even the generalization of experience cannot acquire an astringent and universally valid character. The life of the school depends, first of all, and most of all, on its personal participants, on the personality of its leaders and mentors. And this is the whole difficulty of the school question. In general terms, and in advance, it is possible and sufficient to determine only the main tasks and methods. Everything else is left to the will of the creative initiative. And the experience made acquires the meaning of an inspiring example - not for repetition, but for imitation, free and alive. That is why Rachinsky dwells with such attention on the question of the teaching staff in public schools. According to his just definition, "teaching in the Russian school is not a trade, but a vocation, the lowest degree of that vocation, which is necessary to become a good priest." Therefore, the first and main teacher in a rural school should be the priest himself. The school is to be "an organ of the Church." School work should be the fulfillment of the teaching calling of the Church. And this determines the place of the priest in the school. Here he is not only a teacher, but, above all, a shepherd and confessor. In his teaching, his shepherding is carried out in relation to the young part of his flock - his teaching began before school and does not stop after it, it extends beyond its chapels, covers all life. And this gives it a special meaning. In the sacrament of the priesthood, recalls Rachinsky, "among other gifts of the Holy Spirit, the grace of instruction in faith is communicated." And by this, a mysterious sanctification is introduced into the very essence of school work. The priest, as a teacher, has the opportunity to say to each of the students the word that his soul needs, and the power to take and decide with which he is vested gives this word such a power that the word of a secular person can never reach. The rest of the teaching staff should gather around the priest. Rachinsky believed that "school teachers should be produced by the rural school itself." Not only because the special teacher's schools of his time, in his opinion, were unsatisfactory, and he was afraid of their unpopular and blasphemous, alien spirit. But, above all, because only in this way, it seemed to him, the living and vital character of the school business is ensured. “The acquisition of practical teaching skills, a true understanding of the duties of a teacher in relation to students,” says Rachinsky, “is much more successful in a living real school, where students are the goal, not a means, than in experimental schools at teachers' seminaries, where students are more or less assigned to degree teaching aids for teaching pedagogy and didactics. The best school for a novice teacher is not an exercise in giving exemplary lessons, but in entrusting him, under the guidance of an experienced mentor, with consistent, according to his strength, work, fraught with responsibility, at first easy, then gradually becoming more complicated. With such a formulation of teacher training, the school naturally turns into a living organism. It seems to grow out of life. And this is connected with its appointment to be “an organ of the Church, in the broadest sense of the word,” i.e., first of all, the organs of that small, parish Church, the spiritual growth of which it is called to serve. This Church should be reflected in the school, and therefore the school should never be parochial, for “behind the parish after the village remains the significance of the only real, living union in our rural life, and, moreover, a spiritual union. The ecclesiastical nature of the school, in the understanding of Rachinsky, does not at all mean a clerical and, even more so, a “departmental” character. Any school can be a church school. This characteristic of her internal structure is a church school, if it is "a school of piety and good morals." "Entrusted" it should be to the priest. But at the same time, it must be all church elements of the rural population, spiritual and secular, without distinction of states and estates. And a school becomes alive only when an atmosphere is created around it, in which it is possible to plant piety, good morals, and Christian life. Rachinsky was far from optimistic in assessing this real rural "atmosphere", in calculating and analyzing the available forces of school construction and business. He treated both the rural society and the rural clergy rather harshly and strictly. He blamed the clergy for pure indifference to the school pastor, although he found an explanation and excuse for this in the inconsistency of the existing conditions. but from this he only drew the conclusion about the need for universal creative tension and upsurge, and addressed an exciting appeal both to the present pastor, and to the future, and to the whole society. “In matters of spiritual quality,” Rachinsky says, “in matters of immeasurable importance and boundless duration, what is the matter of public education, one must keep in mind not only what is, but also what can and should be. Any creative act needs will, faith is needed, although the grain is as small as a pea - in this case, faith in the invincibility of the Church, as an eternal union of both laity and clergy, as a living body with the Head of Heaven, a firm will to realize this union in all the functions of spiritual life. Phenomena of so-called materialization, illusory in the realm of matter, take place daily in the spiritual life... We are far from the ideal of a true church school due to the diverse infirmities of both the laity and the clergy. Looking at the matter from the outside, it is easy to despair of it. But one has only to put one’s hands humbly and sincerely to this matter, so as never to take them away again - every slightest step on this path is so encouraging, so significant.

The rural school should be a school of piety. And this determines the concentrated place of the Law of God in it. This is not only one of the subjects of teaching, even if it is the main one, it is precisely the living concentration of the school. Rachinsky says little about the teaching of the Law of God, shifting the center of gravity to the pastoral creativity and amateur performance of the parish teacher of the law. But with all his force, he emphasizes that class teaching should be enlivened by the practical participation of schoolchildren without worship as readers and singers. This is also connected with the introduction of the Church Slavonic language and church singing into the main circle of teaching. “The religious, ecclesiastical character imposed on our school by the force of things,” says Rachinsky, “causes its sharp feature - a curriculum that differs from the curricula of all foreign schools.” Intensive teaching of the Church Slavonic language is not only of practical importance. Rachinsky emphasizes its exceptional educational meaning. “The obligatory study of the language of the dead, isolated from the native language by a number of syntactic and grammatical forms, and yet so close to it that its study is available at the first stages of literacy, is such a pedagogical treasure that no rural school in the world possesses. This study, constituting in itself an excellent mental gymnastics, gives life and meaning to the study of the Russian language, gives unshakable strength to the literacy acquired at school. But the Church Slavonic language opens access to the incomparable and irreplaceable treasures of the highest spiritual creativity and inspiration - to the Holy Scriptures, to liturgical books. At the lessons of the Slavic language themselves, children are introduced into the realm of higher revelations of truth, beauty and truth. The teaching of literacy itself acquires a new and lively meaning if one begins with Slavic literacy, "from sound analysis and writing the shortest, most common prayers." "A child who acquires the ability to write in a few days" Lord have mercy and God have mercy, be a sinner to me, becomes interested in the matter incomparably more lively than if you make him write: wasp, mustache, mom, porridge ... " Teaching the Slavic language begins with common prayers and should be brought "to a complete understanding of the language of the Church Slavonic New Testament." To do this, Rachinsky recommends “repeated, attentive reading in the class of all four Gospels, first with the help of a Russian translation, and then one Church Slavonic text, with patient stops at each turn, which can give rise to misunderstanding” ... Thus, Slavic lessons turn into repetition and additional lessons of the Law of God. Along with the reading of the Gospel, it is necessary to read the Psalter, which has long been recognized in the direct practice of rural education. “The Psalter is the only sacred book that has penetrated the people, loved and read by them, and what is directly understandable in it is already enough to shake hearts, to give expression to all sorrows, all the hopes of the believing soul ... The school is obliged to strengthen our people in possession this treasure of edification and poetry, it is possible to reveal a little, before his students, his high spirit, eternal meaning. Psalter and Book of Hours should be in daily school use. With great accuracy and sensitivity, Rachinsky explains the deep educational meaning of "constant reading and re-reading of these books." The Psalter, he says, is the highest monument of lyric poetry of all ages and peoples. Its content is whole and eternal. This is a constant contemplation of the greatness and mercy of God, a heartfelt impulse to moral heights and purity, deep contrition for the imperfections of the human will, an unshakable faith in the possibility of victory over evil with the help of God. All these themes are constantly in turns of speech of inexhaustible beauty, strength and tenderness. The Book of Hours consists of the same Psalms and prayers inspired by the Psalter. This unique power of the Psalter is attested to by the entire history of the Church. “The most prophetic of the prophetic books, it became the ABC of Christianity, and put an indelible and powerful seal on the Christian consciousness and feeling. And at the same time, it remains the crown of prayerful chanting, an inaccessible model, an inexhaustible source that nourishes the poetic creativity of two millennia, "the greatest miracle in the entire history of world literature." And the sensitive spiritual gaze of the people has long discerned this treasure and this miracle, fell in love with it and became related to it. “Did you happen,” asks Rachinsky, “when you were forced to spend the night in a peasant’s hut, having examined all its meager furnishings out of boredom, open that single book, in a binding blackened by time, which lies under a shelf with images? In the vast majority of cases, this book is the Psalter. Its pages are stained, its corners are worn. But not only the dirt of calloused hands left these stains. There are drops of wax, drops of tears slowly falling on these pages during the long night readings for the dear dead. These corners have not been frayed by absent-minded negligence, but by the reverent turning of these pages, perhaps by many generations. And with every reading, for the reader, in proportion to his mental and moral growth, the inner meaning of this or that saying, hitherto incomprehensible to him, flared up with a bright flame, and with each reading, the old book lying under the images became dearer to him ... child heavenly heights, inspires, refreshes and illuminates his soul. And at the same time, it opens for him access and the opportunity "to constantly participate in the performance of the greatest of the artistic actions bequeathed to us by the creativity of centuries - in the performance of our church services." And this is a new great not only artistic, but also moral school. “Teaching at school has not yet begun,” Rachinsky writes one Saturday evening. “Tomorrow the disciples will gather to sing Mass. But a student from the farthest village of our parish (18 versts) is already here. She sings on the right kliros: this is the joy and pride of her life. From the dark depths of the narthex, because of the thick melody of men, she is raised to the height of that mysterious altar into which he cannot enter. They pray for her in a special litany. Those holy and terrible words, from which hearts tremble and knees bend - she announces them to the Church, and little by little, in a strict system of consonances, in reverent attention, straining the entire choir, the deep meaning of these words is revealed before her, inexplicable by any school interpretations. With exceptional insight, Rachinsky describes the celebration of Great Lenten Compline (Mefimonov) in his school, and emphasizes all the shades of this inimitable sacred service with its real, indescribable precious pearl, the Canon of St. Andrew. In great simplicity, boundless depths open up here, and above them inaccessible heights. Singing and reading at this service, of course, is an incomparable lesson not only in piety, but also in spiritual subtlety and culture. Of course, in a short period of ordinary education, a rural school cannot fully reveal all the depths of liturgical wealth. It is impossible to be in time to teach really good church reading, reading with understanding. But it is possible to lay firm and unshakable foundations for this. And this is the key to "elementary but strong literacy." Rachinsky correctly noted that only the Church Slavonic language gives a living opportunity for a fruitful and "constant exercise in literacy" in the conditions of rural life. For it opens access to the necessary, accessible and certainly useful books. “The inexhaustible wealth of our liturgical circle, this treasure of poetry, moral and dogmatic teaching, along with the Holy Scriptures and the lives of the saints, provide constant food for the mind, imagination, moral thirst of our literate peasant, support in him the ability for that serious reading, which alone is useful and desirable. “Whoever mastered at least only the services of Holy Week, he mastered the whole world of high poetry and deep theological thinking” ... “The one who understood this, who felt it, who with his instinct brought to the consciousness of illiterate listeners at least a tenth of this eternal content, - Is it possible to deny him mental, artistic development? Rachinsky asks. “Can it be doubted that everything that is durable and truly valuable in our secular literature will be accessible to him in content and form?” And the same must be said about the church singing of the ancient style. “To those who have plunged into this world of strict grandeur, deep illumination of all movements of the human spirit, all the heights of musical art are accessible to him, Bach and Palestrini, and the brightest inspirations of Mozart, and the most mystical darings of Beethoven and Glinka are understandable to him” ... This is not often carried out, but always possible, for everyone to the extent of innate susceptibility and giftedness. - So the school of Slavic reading and church singing becomes a school of mental, and moral, and ethical education, a school of spiritual culture. In such a school, the child reveals himself in the reality of man, in the image and likeness of God.

Rachinsky determined the educational volume of the primary rural school with its four-year course rather sparingly. He limited it to Russian literacy and integer arithmetic. He did not allow the possibility of lasting assimilation of too much information and therefore shifted the focus to education and the acquisition of practical skills and abilities. In his opinion, the attention of the teacher should be directed to such skills, and not to the message of a certain “encyclopedia of real knowledge”. At the Russian language lessons over four winters, schoolchildren can or should be taught and accustomed to: 1) speak without erroneous local turns and sayings; 2) read from full understanding accessible in terms of content, prose and poems of the "Pushkin period" and 3) write without errors against literacy and spelling everyday letters and papers needed in peasant life. In fact, this volume is not so small. Rachinsky gives an approximate list of works for reading. To the works of Pushkin and Gogol, he adds from the Russian Family Chronicle, the Prince of Silver, the historical novels of Lazhechnikov, Zagoskin, conditionally, the stories of Pechersky; from world literature Gomra, Shakespeare's historical dramas, Paradise Lost. He excludes and excludes the entire Gogol period for good reasons. Firstly, because of the too complex stylistic structure, "making it difficult to quickly understand and read smoothly." And, mainly, and secondly, because “only eternal works penetrate the masses,” and the entire “Gogol period of Russian literature remains and will forever remain inaccessible to the Russian people.” For, "it is nothing more than a vivid reflection of the transitional state of the Russian, from a part of European society, a reflection of such internal processes of his consciousness, which has neither social nor national significance." He, Rachinsky thought, would soon become obsolete and “outlive us only War and Peace ". Tolstoy, he found, "still has to write a book that will penetrate into the very depths of the people and remain, and he will write this book." To introduce rural children into a strange and alien world, Rachinsky considered unnecessary and even dangerous. But the healthy intuition of children itself makes a choice, and what should they do “if it is easier for them to penetrate with Homer to the Greek Olympus than with Gogol into the life of St. “His work, which is an almighty talisman, immediately pushing the tight limits of time and space around every literate person, in which until then his thought revolved” ... - Rachinsky limits the teaching of arithmetic to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhole numbers, and considers it unnecessary to gradually move from the first ten to hundreds etc. He draws attention to the fact that rural children, with their “extraordinary susceptibility to quantitative contemplation”, already have on their face, although only in representation, “an infinite perspective of numbers grouped according to a system known to them by kopecks, kopecks and rubles. When teaching calculus, one must set a specific and practical task - to develop a quick and correct mental calculation. Rachinsky considers further expansion of the program expedient only with an increase in the teaching staff, believing that, otherwise, imaginary knowledge is obtained instead of real knowledge. But he does not go further than the arithmetic of fractional numbers and elementary physics at all. Teaching national history seems to him extremely difficult. Live study of nature in winter is not possible. On the other hand, it is possible and necessary to develop technical knowledge and skills, to set up special craft and agricultural schools. But through these reasonings of Rachinsky one more general and defining thought shines through: the rural school is the final school. And she cooks and should cook in life in rural life. Here Rachinsky meets with the difficult question of what to do in those cases when material and spiritual opportunities open up for individual students to continue their education. “Secondary educational institutions” confuse him, as “hotbeds not of enlightenment, but of bureaucracy” ... The final, irrevocable break with the peasant environment, inevitable with such a step, is rarely rewarded with the acquisition of a scientific education, ”especially if education is interrupted before the end of the full gymnasium course . Rachinsky is looking for "other ways than being placed in our greenhouses to expel officials." But what is interesting here is not his practical assumptions, but the necessity of the question itself in the church-folk setting of the rural school. The entire Russian school above the elementary level has a different style, is saturated with a different spirit, and not the folk and not the church. Here again there is a sharp rupture and split between society and the people, the upper classes and the masses. With him, any further educational ascent means a separation from everyday life, from the environment, from the family, a transition to the world of “masters”. The only way, to a certain extent, protecting from a rupture, opens through a spiritual school. But even here Rachinsky, not without reason, hesitates, given the type of theological schools that prevailed in the past. He does not put the question in a general and clear form, but the question is prepared by the whole course of his reflections. The rural school, as the only school for rural children, should be both final and preparatory, and therefore should be the lowest level in the ascending system of schools, but at the same time system of a single type and spirit. Progress on these steps, of course, depends on personal talent and on external conditions. But the possibility of such advancement must be open. In other words, the realization of the schools of the highest levels of the church spirit, under the shadow of the Church, is placed in the queue, like elementary schools that open the treasury of the Church and live like Her organs. Rachinsky did not speak, but he hardly thought about it. But this is tantamount to a radical reorganization of the entire school business. In his time, this was untimely and impossible.

In Rachinsky's pedagogical reflections, much is outdated. The decaying processes that he was so afraid of changed the entire people's environment, overthrew that everyday integrity and firmness, that lightness of the people's spirit, from which he proceeded in his thoughts. After the turmoil, the rural environment became completely different. And at the same time, Rachinsky's main idea remains in full force. Perhaps it is now, and only now, that it is becoming completely understandable. During the restoration and revival of Russia, the school must be internally unified and integral, from the inside it is determined by a single idea and more than an idea. If at the time of Rachinsky it was fair to say that “only as an organ of the Church” the school is able to cope with the “moral essence of the Russian person”, already embedded in the Russian child, with all the complexity of the powerful, but also dangerous inclinations that are inborn in the Russian soul, then how much more just it is now, when this soul is agitated to the bottom, and shocked, and sent away, and passed through the whirlpools of evil and shamelessness. It is possible to straighten the spiritual dislocation only in the intense creativity of the whole church. Only within the Church, in Her bowels, can a whirlwind soul be healed. And what is more, in reality, the church school is already irresistibly emerging, in random and iridescent forms. For the Church does not stop, but intensifies her feat of teaching. And the teaching of the Church, by the force of things, goes beyond the limits of moral spiritual care, for believing self-determination has now become impossible without a firm and clear solution of worldview issues. This teaching inevitably involves the entire structure of the church, both pastors and laity. This is not the time to determine how far this process now goes. There is no way to take this into account. And don't get carried away with optimistic hopes. One thing is certain, this process is beginning or will begin, because it cannot fail to begin - of course, not immediately and not everywhere. This teaching has a molecular character, it flares up in places, and this is its strength, and the guarantee of strength. Church schools will spring up, even under better conditions, hardly from above, according to a premeditated and uniform plan. It will be a manifestation of the creative initiative of small, but close-knit, densified cells or groups—perhaps parishes, perhaps brotherhoods, perhaps a new, still unknown type of organization. It will be construction from below, and only in it will there be support for possible construction from above. It may also happen that the divergence of the state school and the church-folk school in spirit and in purpose will again be repeated: two impulses that do not meet and do not meet, but even opposing. All the more so, this can be feared because it will remain for a long time and the legacy of the Soviet school system, now made by the drainage of godless and unfaithful propaganda, cannot be completely eliminated by violence alone. In any case, a church school can never be a state school. But the state, as such, can and will build it, just as it is not possible for the state to build the entire spiritual culture, which is only being built in the state by the living and free forces of the national genius of the spirit. The school is church and in the past, since it existed, it was not state. It's too early to think too far ahead. But one thing must be made clear in advance. Church and school construction cannot and should not be limited to the initial stage. It must unfold into an integral and complete system of continuously ascending steps. This opens up a whole series of completely new creative tasks. The main difficulty is not in creating a church-type elementary school, for which there are examples and experiences in the past. the higher level is much more difficult and mysterious. For it, it will be necessary to look for prototypes in a too distant and alienated past, perhaps in the catechumens schools of hoary Christian antiquity, which grew from time to time and in places into genuine schools of wisdom and wisdom. In any case, it is not the schools of the immediate and native past that will set an example here. And above all, because they were essentially non-church, they were not "an organ of the Church." The law of God was in them an ordinary subject of teaching, often even a side subject, connected with the rest of the circle of subjects by a too loose and formally external connection, drowning among them, so that its exclusion from the program would have no effect, no matter what. And what is more, too often he seemed to be superfluous in the school system, and often there was a painful contradiction between the Law of God and that idea, which is hidden or open, according to the very task, was carried out in general teaching. The ideal of Homer and the Greek tragedians, the ideal of the Roman poets and historians, deviated too far from the ecclesiastical ideal. Such a school was not and could not be "the threshold of the Church." The situation was little better in spiritual schools, long-suffering in their history. There is no suitable model even in the confessional school of the West. For a church school is not a confessional school. The Church is not a confession, but immeasurably more. How to make the "Law of God" and Christian creeds the living focus of school life and school creativity is not a matter of programs or organization. To some extent, Rachinsky's experience provides guidance in this matter. The church-school network should start from below with some semblance of his rural school. But the disclosure of the liturgical and historical wealth of the Church must be more complete and profound. Many school disciplines, historical, first of all, can find a basis and support in it. The picture of the Church in her historical destinies should be revealed much more widely in school creativity. The biblical treasury must be exhausted much deeper. And in this, the awakening worldview will be determined and hardened, so the Christian will begin to grow in the schoolchild, a living, albeit a young member of the Church, participating and recognizing himself as such and affirming this in his will. This is the main task - the creation and strengthening of the church style and character in the student. The issue of programs and their merging into a living and unified whole, with all its complexity and difficulty, still remains in second place. Of course, church-school construction is possible only in the living connection of the general construction of church culture. The path to churching - the Christian school - is possible only in the order of churching, in already churched life. This is an imaginary circle. It only means that only the Church can create a church school. And it must be added that the concept of education in its essence is wider than its everyday meaning. Education is not only the influence of the elders on the younger. Education is any contagious interaction of persons or words that influence one-sidedly or mutually on each other. In this sense, all cultural life is a kind of conciliar education, and in it the education of the younger is only a living element. The intensity of cultural life, creative and gathering, is an indispensable condition for the vitality of the school. This is even more pronounced in the work of the church school, the church in deeds, and not in name. The path to the religious education of the Russian people, the Russian church school will be realized only in holy Russia, even if only within the boundaries of a single parish. What is sown by a weak human hand grows the Almighty God. author Cowell Frank

SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS Before the decline of the Republic, the education of many Roman children was entrusted to schoolmasters. In one of the school exercises, the day of a Roman schoolboy is described in this way: “I wake up before dawn, and, sitting on the edge of the bed, put on shoes and supports,