SOYO Education Month: Purity, Virginity, Chastity

Purity, Virginity, Chastity Educational Packet: click image to download.Download PVC Packet (PDF, Hi-Res)
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from NAC Teen SOYO:

Dear Fathers, Parents, Teen Advisors, and Teens:

Greetings in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ!

I pray this message finds everyone in good health. As Vice President of the North American Council of SOYO and on behalf of the NAC Purity, Virginity, Chastity Committee, (also known as PVC), it is with pleasure that I present to you the official Purity, Virginity, Chastity Educational Packet.

Since late July 2008, the Purity, Virginity, Chastity Committee has been working diligently to formulate this packet you hold today. The NAC has collectively agreed that it is extremely necessary to reach out to our SOYO chapters across the Archdiocese and provide them with an interactive packet addressing these important topics.

Our main goal is to educate, remind, and preserve young adults’ beliefs about the Orthodox Church’s position on Purity, Virginity, Chastity and Forgiveness. We have gathered information from a variety of Orthodox resources that include, the Fathers of the Church, articles written by Orthodox Theologians, the Bible, and other sources and present them to you, to help begin and increase discussion on these important issues.

We ask each parish/Teen SOYO chapter to hold discussions on this topic during the month of January, which is SOYO Education Month. Please send us feedback on your experience and what we can do to further help you and the teens of your parish. 

Yours in the Lord,

Jenna Badra
NAC SOYO, Vice President
Diocese of Los Angeles and the West, President

Dear Brother in Christ,

RE: Updated Material for SOYO Ministry - “Purity, Virginity, and Chastity” PVC

In our continuing effort to address the issues of the teen and adult Archdiocese Survey results, SOYO responded by establishing the Teen SOYO initiative called “PVC” to address what they believe to be a critical issue in the lives of their peers. Upon seeing the devastating effects that divorce, drugs, alcohol, and sexual promiscuity have on our families, our teens have committed to work towards better equipping themselves and their peers towards making better choices.

Each January, our teens raise money to educate parish youth workers through the Youth Worker Fund, as well as hold discussions on the Sacred Gift of Life on the Sunday closest to the tragic Roe vs. Wade decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. This year (January 2011) our teens will continue to expand their January Education Month to include discussions on “Purity, Virginity, and Chastity” as a way of preparation for marriage or monasticism.

We ask that you support our teens in this effort. Our teens, boldly and with much love and compassion, have chosen to better equip themselves and their peers to live a righteous way of life. While they, and all of us, understand this as a great daily challenge to which some may or will fail, we are committed to the struggle of staying on or gettng back onto the path of Godliness.

Please work with your teens to better equip them to succeed in this struggle and or recover from past failings, as they go forward in striving to live a righteous way of life. We have posted the materials for “Purity, Virginity, and Chastity” as well as the “Sacred Gift of Life” online at www.teenSOYO.org. Please ensure that this material is made available to your teens and their advisors and that someone equipped for this discussion is present with them to help them cover this material in a loving and compassionate manner.

As a brother I also ask that you consider reading in the Philokalia, Volume 1, beginning pg. 162, by St. Hesychios the Priest entitled “On Watchfulness and Holiness.”

Yours in Christ,