[Post #2 on Vigen Guroian's Tending the Heart of Virtue] In the last reflection on Vigen Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue, we talked about the importance of clear moral direction for children through rules, principles, and expectations. Classical educators know, however, that these can only go so far. Sooner or later, children conceive and then attempt transgressions or injustices against others through unfairness or deception. Self-centered purposes come to emerge more and more often....

Yesterday (Jan 30) in the Orthodox Church we celebrated a beautiful Divine Liturgy for the feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs, three scholar-saints from the 4th and early 5th centuries of the Church: St Basil the Great, St Gregory Nazianzus (aka the Theologian), and St John Chrysostom.  These three figures together embody a veritable powerhouse of uncompromising virtue, philosophical acumen, and spiritually edifying eloquence. St Basil was the oldest of the three, attending his classical...

Over the past few months, CSA teachers have been reading a book together: Vigen Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination. This was also the book selected for the parent evenings. The author, Dr Guroian, is an emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Virginia, but this book is not just for scholars. It’s for parents, teachers, and anyone who plays some part in caring for and raising children. This is the first in a series of...

Our theme for the 2019-20 school year here at CSA is “The 2 Books of God: Scripture and Nature.” The first is self-evident; all Christians accept the Holy Scriptures as the inspired word of God. The Nicene Creed teaches that the Holy Spirit “spoke by the Prophets,” i.e. the Old Testament biblical authors, and of course the New Testament contains the Lord’s teaching in the Gospels and the apostolic epistles. But what about Nature? How is nature a “book of God”? The Holy Scriptures bear witness...

On Paideia Part II In Part I of this post, we explored the meaning of paideia in pre-Christian Greco-Roman society. In Part II, we will see how the early Christians responded to the classical ideal of paideia, and how it is still relevant for us today. Before and during the legalization of Christian worship in the Roman Empire, paideia was adopted, transformed, and reaffirmed by early Christian writers like St Clement of Alexandria and St Gregory Nazianzus. In response to certain voices...

WELCOME TO PAIDEIA  Welcome to Paideia, the new blog of Christ the Savior Academy. This blog will offer reflections relating to education, commentary on helpful readings, and occasional excerpts from primary texts in the classical canon. All the posts will be brief, and are intended for ease of reading, enjoyment, and edification. The purpose of the blog is to increase awareness about the meaning, purpose, and impact of classical education from an Orthodox Christian perspective, and to help...