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Question:
My
friend and I were having a conversation about heaven and hell.
The subject about children came up and my friend believes that
children are sinners just as adults are, thus subject to going
to hell. I just cannot perceive the idea of a child going to
such a place as hell, seeing that all children are so pure in
thought and deed. Can you please explain to me where the
Orthodox religion stands on this subject? |
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Answer:
Dr. Alexander Roman
alex@unicorne.org
The Orthodox Church has always allowed
children up to the age of seven to approach Holy Communion without having
to attend the Mystery of Confession first.
Until that time, and I'm sure for some years after, children cannot
seriously be held responsible for their actions (some adults are like that
too!).
After the age of seven, children are required to attend Confession
regularly, although it is hardly the case that they may be guilty of
serious sin. But we don't attend Confession, whether as children or
adults, ONLY because we are guilty of serious sin.
ALL sin alienates us from God and Confession is an excellent spiritual
medicine for our sinful condition that is made even better when we have a
regular Father Confessor to guide us in our spiritual development.
I have attended, unfortunately, funerals of children. And the Church's
services for children are markedly different than they are for adults.
The liturgical texts of the funerals of God's little ones assume they are
with the Lord and so do not ask for God's forgiveness of their sins as
occurs with adults.
The Patristic psychology (and the Fathers were the best students of human
behaviour) emphasizes the important role that parents have in the early
formation of their children.
We must really point to parents, rather than to their children, when
serious problems in their behaviour and development go unchecked.
Conversely, this is also why the Church often glorifies not only the
Saints it does - but their parents as well, as it has with the parents of
St Nicholas.
So great is the holiness of St Nicholas that there is a tradition, not
defined as dogma of course, that Nicholas was already conceived a saint in
the womb of his mother . . .
Good parents will, as a rule, have good children. As for their being
"angels," the proof is always in the pudding!
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