The Three Hierarchs as teachers and educators.

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleΟἱ Τρεῖς Ἱεράρχες ὡς διδάσκαλοι καὶ παιδαγωγοί
3. Language term Greek, Modern (1453-)
4. lemma author Koutalis, Vangelis
5. lemma category Ecumenism and dialogue > Education - Complementarity
6. Publication date 12-5-2017
7. lemma work Tsagas, Ioannis V. [Author]. The Three Hierarchs as teachers and educators
8. lemma manifestations Η οδός
9. Keywords Saint Gregory of Nazianzus - Saint John Chrysostomos - Primary Education - Secular education - religious education - Saint Basil the Great
10. Url Η οδός, φύλλο 9
11. Citations
    1. <p>Tsagas I. V. [Τσάγκας, Ι. Β.] (2008). Οἱ Τρεῖς Ἱεράρχες ὡς διδάσκαλοι καὶ παιδαγωγοί. <em>Ἡ ὁδός</em>, <em>9</em>, 22-24</p>
12. Lemma body

    1. On the occasion of the feast of the Three Hierarchs, the author gives a very brief account of the lives of these three bishops of the early church, who are venerated as saints and Ecumenical Teachers by the Orthodox Church. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John Chrysostom are characterized as three exemplary teachers and educators, who laid the foundations of a new spiritual civilization and brought forth a new educational ideal. They raised Christian conduct to the rank of an educational model and were the defenders par excellence of the Greek-Orthodox culture.

       All three of them faultlessly combined science and virtue, learning and action, theory and practice. Their pedagogical ideas are well in conformity with modern views on the education of children, developed by the science of pedagogics, since they placed a strong emphasis on the advancement of children towards a philosophical life, without any coercion and through the cultivation of their own capacity for moral judgment. According to the author, the Three Hierarchs did not leave any major aspect of education unexamined. Their writings cover a wide range of educational topics, such as the aim and the means of education, the personality of the educator, the method and the attractiveness of teaching, the perceptual capabilities of children, the proper penalties and rewards and the use of visual aids in teaching.

       In the present-day society, which is marked by the development of technology and the expansion of multiculturalism, the guiding example set by the Three Hierarchs should be followed in order to bring once more into the forefront the Christian ideal of a school of love that could offer education rooted in the Greek-Orthodox tradition, while being open to new ways and forms of teaching.