[quote author=the_least link=topic=8216.msg105146#msg105146 date=1249342553] the separation in the church is just to limit distractions
St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ Through the prayer of faith we can obtain from the All-merciful and All-bestowing God all spiritual and indispensable earthly blessings besides, if only the prayer is fervent and the desire to obtain these blessings sincere. And what prayers the Church puts into our mouths! Such, that by means of them we can easily incline the Lord to be merciful to us and to bestow upon us every good gift. The enemy, knowing God's goodness and the power of prayer, endeavors by every means to deter us from it, or during the prayer tries to distract our minds, to hinder us by various passions and attachments to earthly things, or by hurry, disturbance, etc.
Yes, I am for dividing men and women in the mass. That's precisely the reason why. It IS a distraction.
However, what I would prefer is that married couples can pray at the BACK of the Church quietly. I mean, if you have kids, you really need to help out together.
the majority of our churches are very old fashioned when it comes to these things and the way they deal with them is also affected by the original culture in egypt and islamic views (they do it without realisation) it is very annoying when you get a group of coptic parents who decide to separate boys from girls because it's "immoral" as they put it. some people i heard about- not in egypt, because at least in egypt they have the cultural excuse- tell a young girl not to hold a little boy's hand as they cross the road for a church activity because it is 3aib as they say it. gosh! some things just make you wanna scream
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lol
the separation in the church is just to limit distractions
St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
Through the prayer of faith we can obtain from the All-merciful and All-bestowing God all spiritual and indispensable earthly blessings besides, if only the prayer is fervent and the desire to obtain these blessings sincere. And what prayers the Church puts into our mouths! Such, that by means of them we can easily incline the Lord to be merciful to us and to bestow upon us every good gift. The enemy, knowing God's goodness and the power of prayer, endeavors by every means to deter us from it, or during the prayer tries to distract our minds, to hinder us by various passions and attachments to earthly things, or by hurry, disturbance, etc.
Yes, I am for dividing men and women in the mass. That's precisely the reason why. It IS a distraction.
However, what I would prefer is that married couples can pray at the BACK of the Church quietly. I mean, if you have kids, you really need to help out together.
the majority of our churches are very old fashioned when it comes to these things and the way they deal with them is also affected by the original culture in egypt and islamic views (they do it without realisation)
it is very annoying when you get a group of coptic parents who decide to separate boys from girls because it's "immoral" as they put it. some people i heard about- not in egypt, because at least in egypt they have the cultural excuse- tell a young girl not to hold a little boy's hand as they cross the road for a church activity because it is 3aib as they say it. gosh! some things just make you wanna scream