The Holy Orthodox Church gives us sacraments through which we partake of God’s grace. One of these sacraments, namely marriage, blesses a couple to work together to attain salvation with the help of Christ. A Chistian environment within the family home can do much for the upbringing of children from their beginning. However, there are impediments to participation in married life based on our physical make-up, that is, the divided human brain. I will discuss how our preference for the left hemisphere can undermine the unity and love that is required in marriage. I will also briefly discuss solutions to re-balancing our lives with the use of the right hemisphere and how this might relate to the spiritual life.

Priest Gennady Baksheev
Holy Protection Cathedral (Brunswick)
Fr Gennady holds a PhD in forensic psychology. He currently works in the Victoria public service and is completing a Diploma in Pastoral Theology at the Orthodox Pastoral School (Chicago, ROCOR). He is interested in learning about the purpose and meaning of the created world and what this reveals to us about God’s nature.