As part of Iravaban.net‘s “The Church and the Law” interview series, we spoke with Father Parthev Muradyan, the spiritual shepherd of St. Cross Church in the Arabkir district of the Araratian Patriarchal Diocese, about “The Christian Family in the Modern World: Challenges and Opportunities.”
-There is frequent talk about the crisis of traditional family values. In your opinion, what is the role of the Christian family in modern society?
-The Christian family is the model of an ideal family that transcends time, because it had the same model yesterday, has it today, and will have it tomorrow. The concept of family comes from the creation of humans, from paradise. When humans were created as man and woman, that established the model of family. The commandment continued by saying: grow, multiply, fill the world, and rule over it. Later, we see that the family is blessed by God, because Christ was present at the wedding in Cana, and He blessed the water which turned into wine. In Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, it says that the family is similar to Christ and the church – as Christ is the head of the church, so is the man the head of the family. As the church is Christ’s body and members, so is the wife, the man’s body and members.
-Many aspects of family relationships have changed in the modern world. How does the church respond to these changes while preserving Christian values?
-It’s very appropriate to emphasize preservation, because the church’s greatest mission is to preserve. In all times, the church is conservative. The church preserves family traditions, national traditions, and church traditions. This is why our church is called both a national church and a traditional church, because “tradition” encompasses great value, and the church emphasizes this value. The foundation of a moral society is the family.
-How can parents combine the use of modern technology with Christian upbringing in children’s lives?
-There are two crucial things in a family – first, love, and second, responsibility. When we stand before the altar during the wedding ceremony, the promises of the young man and woman are not coincidental, because they promise two things before the priest, people, and God – to be the master and to be obedient. It is not coincidental that it is repeated three times because in those times, repeating something three times was confirmation of your word.
-You spoke about the importance of the promise men and women make in church, but in Armenian society, there are many families who have not legalized their marriage and do not have the church’s blessing. How does the church view this phenomenon, and what advice does it have for such families?
-It is certainly mandatory and important, because the union of a woman and a man is considered legal when it receives God’s blessing. There is an important message when standing before the altar and receiving blessing – they are no longer considered two, but one body, meaning the unification takes place in church, before the altar. God confirms their union, and from that moment on, the marriage bed is considered holy. Otherwise, the church does not consider the marriage legal. We think we just need to enter the church and get married, but that’s not the case; we face clear responsibility. You clearly understand where you are going, for what purpose, what words you are uttering. And if we refuse all this, it means we don’t want to take on this responsibility. It means we consider all this temporary. It means we are disposed in such a way that a day will come when this union will no longer exist.
-How can a modern family maintain its spiritual life, considering the workload and fast pace of life?
-If we want to avoid attending the Divine Liturgy, we can come up with a thousand reasons, but if we have that responsibility within us, our participation in our liturgies can keep us and our children on the right path. If we have this moral awareness, it means we must definitely apply these two hours in the week. Work and other things lead people to various sins, one of which is laziness, but this won’t happen when we clearly understand that this is good for our child, this is good for our salvation, this is good for strengthening our faith.
-Protection of the homeland has become more important nowadays. How should a Christian family instill patriotism and loyalty to the homeland?
-Every moral norm is acquired by a child from what they see and hear. When a child doesn’t speak, and we think they don’t understand much, they are actually seeing and hearing. How we behave is how the child will be raised. If we want the child to grow up Christian, then we must also go to church with them. We cannot force a child to do something we don’t do ourselves; we cannot force patriotism on a child if we are not patriotic ourselves.
Details in the video.
