The Orthodox Church exalts the family. The Church itself is often characterized by the Holy Fathers image drawn from the family. In the family, as in the Church, basic values are formed, the soul is shaped and established, and the path of salvation is set forth. The family is that warm place where the leaven of the Faith is nurtured, where we first begin to rise to full life in Christ. It is for this reason that every Bishop, every Priest, every monastic, and all pious laymen remember, in their daily prayers, their mothers and fathers, that their "day may be long on the earth." It is for this reason that, even after their repose, we remember our fathers and mothers and family members, praying for them fervently and, in our prayers, reaching across the chasm of death to be with them even in the afterlife, in the spiritual world.

At the OCA (Orthodox Church in America) the following resolution on the sanctity of marriage took place: "Be it therefore resolved that the Sixteenth All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America strongly commends the efforts of Orthodox bishops, clergy, and laity to bear witness to the sanctity of marriage in the public arena; commits the Orthodox Church in America to continued witness and defense of the authentic marriage of one man and one woman; strongly reaffirms the Orthodox Church's opposition to same sex marriage, and that it does so on theological and moral grounds; and stresses God's will that marriage be a lifelong commitment, monogamous, and heterosexual...

The family, as is well known, comprises the fundamental cell of the organism of society, being the nucleus and foundation of society. Thus also in the militant (on earth) Church of Christ, it is a basic unit of the Church body. Therefore the Christian family in itself is called in the writings of the Apostles a "church": "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus... and the church that is in their house" (Romans 16:3, 5); "Salute...Nymphas and the church which is in his house" (Col. 4:15). From this it is understandable what great attention should be given to the family from the point of view of the Church, so that the family might fulfill its purpose of being a small "church."

"He who has My Commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him...If a man loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come and make our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's Who sent Me" (Saint John 14:21-24).

True Repentance follows humility and is known by its tears. Saint Symeon the New Theologian tells us: "If after we have been baptized we gravitate towards evil and foul actions, we lose sanctification of baptism completely. But through repentance, confession and tears we receive a corresponding remission of our former sins and, in this way, sanctification accompanied by the Grace of God" (Philokalia IV).