The fifth session in the Light of the World Webinar Series was co-hosted by Fr Photius Avant (M.Div. ‘11), author, dedicated religious educator, and rector of St Sava Orthodox Church in Allen, TX, and Khouria Destinie Winn, author of the popular blog Ascetic Life of Motherhood, and wife of Fr David Winn (M.Div. ‘20). The webinar, titled “A Light to Bring Revelation: The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple–How Are We to Present Ourselves and Our Children to the Lord in the Church?” was held on Thursday, February 15, 2024, from 7:00—8:30 p.m. Eastern, via Zoom livestream.
Fr Photius began the presentation by exhorting listeners to “confront the problem of modernity”—the popular modern tendency to relegate our Christian life and practice to going to church on Sunday, rather than striving to live and model our faith in our families each and every day. He encouraged parents to counter the “catechism of the world”, the increasingly counter-Christian ideas taught in schools and pop culture, by embracing their parental vocation to continuously bring “their children into the living experience of following Christ.”
Following Fr Photius’ talk, Khouria Destinie laid out her four guiding principles in raising her children to be Orthodox Christians: bring them to church; lead them in the Faith; establish a Christian home; and encourage piety. Khouria Destinie gave numerous examples of practical ways to engage children in living a life of Faith, emphasizing the importance of following established seasonal liturgical rhythms and making the hymns, feastday traditions, prayers, and saints of the Church real and tangible to children. By weaving the liturgical life of the Church into our homes, we “lay the foundation that sets the course of their entire life,” said Khouria Destinie, and we ensure that the “soil of their hearts is as rich as possible to receive the Truth” throughout their lives.
Seminary President, the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield, moderated the Q&A session following the speakers’ presentations, which included questions from listeners about the role of godparents and how to deal with misbehavior or tantrums during church services. He thanked the speakers for their timely and actionable presentations, saying, “This has really been an enlightening and wonderful evening and time well spent.”
Chief Advancement Officer and webinar orchestrator, Sarah Werner, also thanked the speakers for their valuable insights and encouraged listeners to support current students at St Vladimir’s Seminary by making a donation to the scholarship fund at svots.edu/give.
To watch the recording of the fifth session of the Light of the World Webinar Series, “A Light to Bring Revelation: The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple–How Are We to Present Ourselves and Our Children to the Lord in the Church?”, click the link below.
Watch Webinar Recording
About the Light of the World Webinar Series
This monthly webinar series features speakers from among St Vladimir’s Seminary faculty, alumni, and friends, speaking on a variety of topics while answering a core question:
How are we Christians to be the light of the world?
Drawing inspiration from feedback received through a recent survey, these webinars aim to address a diverse range of themes that address real and pressing issues facing Orthodox faithful in modern society.
These online webinars are open to the public and free of cost. They are recorded and uploaded to the St Vladimir’s Seminary YouTube channel after the live Zoom event for easy access.
