Cradles fascinated by converts

[Jake]

Has there ever been a period during Orthodoxy where cradles were required to take catechesis at a certain age?

there never used to be, but my parish recently started a sunday school for all of the children.  perhapse when I'm not the only teenager, there will be a formal catechism class for teens and young adults.

I am cradle Orthodox and my church has always had a Sunday School up to about age 15.  Then there is a youth group that meets on friday night. After age 18 young people are encourage to join the choir. 
For adults there is a group that meets once a month.
I always thought that was pretty normal across the board but in truth I just assumed all churches were like that.

[KBN1]

Sunday school is taken pretty seriously at my parish as well.

[podkarpatska]

Has there ever been a period during Orthodoxy where cradles were required to take catechesis at a certain age?

there never used to be, but my parish recently started a sunday school for all of the children.  perhapse when I'm not the only teenager, there will be a formal catechism class for teens and young adults.

I am cradle Orthodox and my church has always had a Sunday School up to about age 15.  Then there is a youth group that meets on friday night. After age 18 young people are encourage to join the choir. 
For adults there is a group that meets once a month.
I always thought that was pretty normal across the board but in truth I just assumed all churches were like that.

We always had classes through the 12th grade and had a ceremony honoring those graduates following Liturgy and presented them with a scholarship for those going on to college. Enough for a semester of books, so it always helped.

I agree that it is common for there to be religious education at Orthodox Churches in this country.

[augustin717]

They taught us religion in public school. Not that we cared a lot, but still.
Plus, the music classes often consisted in learning to sing the Trisagion or the Lamentations.

[Alpo]

They taught us religion in public school. Not that we cared a lot, but still.

Even during the Soviet period?

[orthonorm]

They taught us religion in public school. Not that we cared a lot, but still.

Even during the Soviet period?

I believe Austine717 is from Romania. The Church did not suffer nearly the difficulties which Church did in the Soviet Union nor in the Soviet bloc nations.

[augustin717]

I started school a bit before Communism fell and finished it when the savage march of World Capitalism was well under way.
But you are right, compared to the savageries that happened in Russia, in Romania Communists were pretty mild.

[Alpo]

^That's good to hear. And interesting since I've thougt that the Communists were all the same across the Soviet bloc.

[Tikhon.of.Colorado]

^That's good to hear. And interesting since I've thougt that the Communists were all the same across the Soviet bloc.

the leniency of Romanian communism is good to hear, as that country is quite a Christian nation.  a nun I know became a nun in NY, but went to live for 30 years in a monastery in Romania.  she says that when they were going through her luggage at the airport and found her bag consisting only of religous books, the communist guard said "you don't have any books, do you, sister?" and then winked.  she safely went on to the monastery.

[orthonorm]

I started school a bit before Communism fell and finished it when the savage march of World Capitalism was well under way.
But you are right, compared to the savageries that happened in Russia, in Romania Communists were pretty mild.

Don't get me wrong augustine, I wasn't at all attempting to belittle the suffering of the Romanian people under Ceausescu, just that the sufferings of the Church were not as great as elsewhere. The "secular" havoc he and "communism" wrought there is not to be written off.

I hope you took my comments in the spirit they were meant.

I dated a Romanian woman whose family fled to Germany just years before Ceausescu met his demise. My first contact with Orthodoxy outside of "academia" was in Romania in the tiny village in which her Grandparents lived.

Wished I picked up more Romanian from that time of my life. It is truly a beautiful language. To my ears it is second to Farsi in terms of its sound.

Her English was bad, my Romanian was nil, our German was passable, so that is how we got along. Interestingly, I was able to get by OK in certain parts in Romania with German.

Having an intimate relationship with someone in language in which neither of you are fluent is interesting.

[orthonorm]

^That's good to hear. And interesting since I've thougt that the Communists were all the same across the Soviet bloc.

Romania was not part of the Soviet Bloc.

[Alpo]

^That's good to hear. And interesting since I've thougt that the Communists were all the same across the Soviet bloc.

Romania was not part of the Soviet Bloc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Romania

I don't know whether it's politics conformed fully to that of Soviet Union but still it remained as a Communist state in the Eastern Europe until ~90s. For me it seems that it was indeed part of the Soviet bloc.

[orthonorm]

^That's good to hear. And interesting since I've thougt that the Communists were all the same across the Soviet bloc.

Romania was not part of the Soviet Bloc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Romania

I don't know whether it's politics conformed fully to that of Soviet Union but still it remained as a Communist state in the Eastern Europe until ~90s. For me it seems that it was indeed part of the Soviet bloc.

This depends on how you define "Soviet Bloc" over and against "Eastern Bloc" and "Soviet Satellite Nations" and "Communist Bloc". To be sure, Romania enjoyed a greater "freedom" from the influence of the USSR than other communist Eastern European nations. Others can speak to this more in detail who lived through it. But from what I have read and heard, Romania was not nearly as insulated from "Western" culture and influence and was allowed a greater degree of internal freedom from what would be considered strictly "Soviet Bloc" nation. This is one of the reasons for lesser restraints and suppression of the Church in Romania.

Again this is from my experience speaking with Romanians and limited reading.

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