In the words of Saint Silouan--and this is the first quote on your handouts if you want to follow along-he wrote:

"I began to beseech God for forgiveness and He granted me not only forgiveness but also the Holy Spirit, and in the Holy Spirit, I knew God. The Lord remembered not my sins, and He gave me to love people, and my soul longs for the whole world to be saved and dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven."

What great evil results from empty and idle conversations and gossip! Sometimes one heedlessly spoken word causes a whole storm of unpleasantness and fills the heart of the one referred to with indignation and hatred. So even a word that was not ill-intentioned, one we counted as nothing, can strike a mortal sin, just as a small spark often turns into a great fire burning whole villages. "How great a matter a little fire kindleth", says the holy Apostle James.

"But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment" (St. Matthew 12:36).

Just as an army trains soldiers to battle the enemy for the sake of the homeland, so the true family, the Orthodox Christian family, endows its children with the spiritual armor by which they can overcome temptations, battle sin, live exemplary and moral lives, gain union here on earth with God, fulfill the divine potential within man, and pass into the next life with the spiritual power to pray for family members left behind. A True Orthodox Christian family teaches love (agape) to its members-that intuitive, spontaneous love natural to blood relations, and encourages them to go out into the world sharing this love with others and perfecting it to whatever degree possible.

The Orthodox Church exalts the family. The Church itself is often characterized by the Holy Fathers in images 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 "days 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. So special is the family that we remember those in error and heresy and sin even more dearly than those upright and unwavering in the Faith. This is the wonder of the family.

Our good name is very important for us in life. A "good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," says the wise Solomon (Proverbs 22:1). A good name brings us the respect and trust of others, and we have great need of it in life because no one wants to have dealings with a dishonest person. Therefore we cannot look indifferently on the opinions of others about us. The dishonest person can expect neither heartfelt compassion nor help from others. If we are entrusted with any kind of leadership role, it is almost impossible to control subordinates while lacking the respect of others.