- Geronda, some parents force their children to choose
the same profession as they did. Often they do it rather persistently.
- They are wrong. Parents must not push their children
to do what they want them to do, if children do not like it. I knew a young man
who wanted to go to theological academy and become a priest. However, his
mother was against his decision. She insisted that he had to go to medical
university.
The young men learned byzantine singing and began to
sing in the church. He made his own musical instrument and played various
church tones on it. He knew a lot of church chants by heart. He was a rather
talented young man and could even compose troparions and entire services. When
he finished school, he entered the theological faculty. When his mother knew
about that, she suffered a breakdown. Later she came to me and asked to pray
for her: “Father, pray for me to recover soon. May my son do what he likes to
do”. But when she recovered, she began to prevent her son from learning theology
again. Finally, he left theology, he put singing off and just wasted his life.
When I see that young people do not know what
profession to choose, I give them the following piece of advice: just look what
profession or science you like most. You should deal with something for what
you have a natural bent. If they want to devote their life to something they do
not consider their calling, I ask them not to do this. They need to devote
their heart to something they have a bent for. It will be for their benefit. I
mean, I try to help them choose the direction, which they like, and profession,
which is not beyond their capabilities. The main thing is that their activity should be God pleasing.
Someone has a bent for music? Let him be, for example,
a good musician or a church singer. Let him sing and help those people, who listen to his singing, to love our Church and prayer. Someone has a bent
for painting? Let him become an artist or an icon-painter so that he can
receive a blessing to paint icons, which will perform miracles. A knack for
science? Then let him devote his life to science and work with all his
diligence.
Elder
Paisios. Words. Chapter IV
Translated
by The Catalog of Good Deeds
CONVERSATION