On account of their supreme calling, it is necessary for future mothers to
receive the appropriate upbringing from the onset of their infant years. A suitable
upbringing for them consists of instruction that targets the mind and heart. Both
these parts together comprise the two centers around which man’s intellectual
and ethical education revolve. If either one of them is neglected, education
becomes imperfect and impaired. Even though the mind and the heart are
members of the same soul, nevertheless, they are in need of different means of
education. The heart, on account of its sensitivity belongs to the metaphysical
realm; the mind, on account of its intellectual capacity belongs to the physical
world. Consequently, each one of them requires to be taught its individual and
particular truths.
The truth specific to the mind is education, while that of the heart is
religion. Therefore, it is necessary for us to provide education and religion to our
daughters, so that they will be capable of transmitting these to their own children
later. Education and religion are two brilliant lighthouses that guide man as he
travels in the ocean of this present stormy life, guard him from shipwreck, and
distance him from every dangerous reef. They are the two eyes of the soul, which
she uses to examine the things that surround her, and which enable her to walk
without stumbling toward blessedness and salvation. They are the two spiritual
organs that perfect man and render him worthy of his sublime descent and his
supreme position in creation. Only mothers educated in this manner are capable
of producing good children, useful citizens, and courageous men.
Hence, we must provide our daughters with both religious and intellectual
instruction, in order to render them worthy of their calling. It is necessary for godly
education and cultivated religion to coexist because these two components
constitute the only secure provisions in life that can help man in a variety of ways.
A one-sided upbringing, being deficient, leads to one of the following two
improper sequela: superstition or indifference for God’s law. Each one is a
natural outcome and a direct result of the type of upbringing.
Intellectual and religious instruction are two different trees planted in the
same field, which require equal care and attention in order for them to grow
equally. Unequal cultivation will result in disproportionate development and,
consequently, one tree will thrive and flourish, while the other one will wither and
atrophy. If we concern ourselves with the mind alone, man’s religious feelings will
inevitably become impoverished. If we give all our attention solely to an
uncultivated form of religion, man’s intellectual powers will shrivel and be
arrested. Ill consequences of the former are irreligiousness and atheism, which
are followed by countless evils; of the latter, superstition. These are the results
when our daughters receive one-sided, partial education and incomplete
upbringing.
—by St. Nektarios—
