“Life in the home is in the Lord; the family is a little church and is to live in the baptismal and eucharistic life of the Church. Duties are reciprocal, everyone having the same standing before the same Master. All authority is for the sake of loving service (all authority is humbling) and all submission is to God (all submission is glorious)…The family is a spiritual unit: if one member is a Christian, the whole family is set apart by God's grace.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Ephesians 3:18-4:1, 1 Corinthians 7:14)
“…marriage and our families and homes are the ‘workshops’ in which we choose to follow Christ and find ourselves and those around us to be vessels in which God abides. The family is sometimes called the domestic church…It doesn’t mean we need to turn our homes into monasteries following monastic customs. It means we learn how to be Christian within our homes and families while still being a neighbor to others, still going to our jobs and schools, earning an income, raising children, maintaining a home, participating in society.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“…let’s sanctify our homes and lives in wonderful ways. Let’s humbly do whatever is necessary to make one room in our home into a Church. If we don’t have an oil lamp burning before the icon of the Most Pure Virgin Theotokos, let’s try to acquire one. If we don’t have a hand censer, charcoal, and incense, let’s decide to order them. And then with a humble, but grateful heart, let’s worship the holy Lord Jesus Christ, the only sinless One. Let’s venerate the icons in our homes, let’s light our vigil light, let’s cense our icons, let’s make our prostrations, and let’s make the words of whatever prayers we offer our own. Let’s mean what we say. Let’s trust in the Lord. Saint Isaac the Syrian once wrote, “The prayer of a humble man is like a word spoken from the mouth into an ear.” Let’s speak to God now as his humbled children, for in this time of trial, He will surely “hearken unto the voice of our cry” (Psalm 5:2) and in turn make our peace as a river and our righteousness as the waves of the sea (Isaiah 48:18).” (Bishop Alexis)
“We need Christ in our homes because it is here where we learn about life and relationships. We learn how to love, how to be patient, and how to forgive. In our homes we learn what to expect from others and what to do when people don’t meet our expectations. We learn what to value in the world and how to live in it. Our homes are where our souls are shaped in the day-to-day activities of life. The light of Christ needs to be in that place as that is happening—illuminating all.” (Dr. Philip Mamalakis)
“Who do you say I am?” Christ asks that of His disciples (Matthew 16:15) and He also asks it of us. The answer to this question determines so much in our lives here and hereafter. It determines how we live the faith in our homes and teach it to our loved ones. The answer to this question is what allows us to navigate safely and spiritually intact through the myriad belief systems existing today, or to become shipwrecked on the shores of so many “truths” that we do not know what to believe. It even determines our health and well-being. Perhaps most importantly, it determines the present and future of the Church because shockingly, many inside the Church do not believe what the Church teaches about Christ. “ (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“The Lord said, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). Note: what must we do for the Father and the Son to come to us and make their home with us? We must love the Lord (above all else) and follow His teaching instead of anything else. Worldly distractions are other loves. Earthly agendas are other pursuits. The aims and ambitions of this world are other desires…It may be that we have gone so far in our spiritual lives that we are ready to hear this gentle invitation of the Lord. He has stood beside us through many trials of this life. He is faithful and He still stands at our side, ready to help us in any need. But now, perhaps, He wants to be more than our benefactor, provider, and protector. He wants to come in to stay, to dwell, and to reign in our hearts. If we have heard Him knocking, let us have the presence of mind to welcome Him.” (Fr. Basil)
“Angry words beget angry words and actions. Hopelessness and suspicion easily spread across a population. Scandal and slander, gossip and dark thoughts towards others, all create a heart that becomes a home for darkness. Such things do not radiate out like a force, but, in our globally-connected world, they are shared all too often and find welcome homes within others. All of us are far more easily prey to such things than we might imagine. As such, we do well to pay attention to our heart and to the things that we nurture there.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“The family and our home are intended to be place of cosmos (order) rather than chaos (evil) – the very places where we experience God’s love and salvation. The home and the family are the places where we can by following God’s commandments practice our dominion over ourselves, over temptation, sin, our passions. We can make the home into a place like Paradise, a little Church or refuge from the world. It also tells us why when in the home and family there is neglect and abuse, it is a total tragedy, especially for the children who then have no refuge on earth.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“The quest to put order in an otherwise disordered and random universe reminds me so much of the Creation story. Of how the Lord, in His Power and His Humility, made room for another world, a world that would fit us. His act of creation was indeed an act of humility. How much energy must be expended to bring light out of darkness? To bring order and symmetry out of chaos? We take it for granted. It takes supernatural strength. The futility of my endeavor also humbles me. I will never with my own energy bring “perfection,” “completion” to this house. It takes the Lord’s strength to do that. I remember back in physics class the second law of thermodynamics stating, “In a closed system, things tend to go from order to disorder.” Left to its own devices, the world would just fall apart, disintegrate, become a bigger and bigger mass of chaos — had it not been for God’s hands, for God’s will to take it out of its mess and make it hospitable for life. It is a monumental task to do the same in a house. It takes the hand of God to bring harmony, peace, and order to a house. Lest we forget, a home is like a church. It must be cleansed, it must be blessed, it must be prayed about.” (Irene Archos)
“Part of preserving the fruits of our healing and the peace of Christ is not being afraid to create our own space and sense of time by which we live. We set boundaries with the world by creating our own pace in our own home. We understand fully what is going on out in the world, but we make the deliberate decision not to allow that chaos into our home.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul)
“Life in the home is in the Lord; the family is a little Church…Let each of you make your home a church." (Orthodox Study Bible, Colossians 3:18-4, St. John Chrysostom)
“You could argue that the Church has four parts to it – the narthex, the nave, the alter, and the home. The liturgy in that sense never ends, as many teach, and that what we do from when we leave Church on Sunday to when we come back is still our life of worship and prayer in Christ. The condition of this time when we are shut in actually gives us the opportunity to do what we should have always been doing in the first place when it comes to our homes. The home should be like a little church. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally love each other, so should the father, mother, and child/children do the same in their home. This is Christianity. It’s not just Church on Sunday’s. It’s all of life. God is always present. We experience Him in and through love, especially love within family.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“It is the duty of all true and committed Christians…to be steadfast to the mind of Christ and His Church. It must begin in the little church in the home the 'domestic church,' then be connected to the local parish and its clergy and then on to the Church universal. (Fr. George Morelli)
“Just as a monk works out his salvation within the confines of a monastery and through the daily interactions with his brotherhood, the married person works out his salvation within the home, the domestic church. Work and prayer are required in both realms. The couple should pray together and with their children, preferably in the morning and evening. Each task should begin with prayer. Even the small tasks, such as taking the children to school, can be begun with a short prayer. Prayer in the home is the spiritual glue that keeps the matrimonial and domestic bonds together.” (Bishop Thomas)
"In the home, in the struggles, is where we are learning patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, sharing, taking turns, helping others, and, essentially, selfless love. It is in the home that we are working out our salvation, being perfected in Christ, and being made holy." (Dr. Philip Mamalakis)
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