Tabula rasa is a theory of knowledge and psychology that compare the mind to a blank writing tablet which “responds to ideas and convert them to knowledge.” Akin to a white paper full of awareness, it receives ideas from senses and responds to experiences.
The law of primacy implies that the home is the first and most important place where children learn. Great imitators the children are. They act what they see. And live what they learn. Parents, grandparents, all members in the home will influence the behavior of the children.
“Verba movent, exempla trahunt [words move gently, but examples drag forcefully]” is a Latin maxim. “Exemplum tronat [examples thunder],” too.
To Saint Macrina, the Elder, is attributed the saintly life of her nine children and grandchildren. Called Confessor of Faith, she taught her family members how to live faith. And six of them became saints.
Exemplars of faith
Macrina was born in Cappadocia, Eastern Turkey, about 270. The family was pagan until Gregory Thaumaturgus, who became Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, the Wonder Worker, was assigned as bishop of the city of Neoceasarea, Pontus, now Tokat, Turkey.
She became an ardent student of Gregory and trained her nine children on Christian Values. The stories she learned, she repeated to them. She loved Gregory and kept his relics in the family estate in Annesi, her entire lifetime.
During the persecution of Emperors Galerius and Diocletian, her husband was martyred. The family escaped and lived in Pontus forest for seven years.
Her two sons, who later became Saint Basil the Elder and Saint Gregory, attested that God provided for their needs. For meat, stags appeared in their quarters, which was solely attributed to God’s intervention. After the persecution, they returned to Neocaesarea in Pontus but the Roman authorities seized all their properties so they had to beg and endured mockeries and insults with humility.
Family of saints
Basil became a lawyer and teacher of rhetoric. He married Emmelia, a beautiful and devout Catholic who also became a saint. The family was known for their generosity throughout Pontus, Cappadocia.
Church writers noted that the children of Basil and Emmelia were greatly influenced by Macrina’s piety. Saint Basil, the Great of Caesarea, wrote: “The concept of God, which, in childhood, I received from my blessed mother and grandmother unfolded more completely…. I did not exchange the teaching for another but confirmed those principles which they handed over to me.” The grandchildren remembered and lived the seeds of piety and Christian perfection their grandmother taught them.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa became bishop of the city of Neocaesaria in Pontius (Amayra and Tokat, Turkey). Saint Gregory and his brother, Saint Basil, defended the Orthodox Christianity against the Arian heresy. To them was attributed the approval of the final version of the Creed in the Council of Constantinople in 381.
Saint Peter, the youngest brother, likewise, supported his brothers in the Ecumenical Council of 381. He was elevated as bishop of Sebaste in Armenia.
Saint Macrina, the Younger, transformed the family estate into a monastery.
The feast day of Saint Macrina is January 14.
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Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education-National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.