Young Men's Quest for Pious Spouses in Orthodoxy

Young men seeking faithful wives should focus on personal growth and actively engage in their church community.

### Encouragement for Young Men Seeking Faithful Partners in the Orthodox Church
* 🙏 After returning from a rewarding preaching trip in Ohio, I engaged with many young men who are committed to **building their lives on the love of God** amidst a secular society.
* 💪 These young men are increasingly joining the Orthodox Church, often expressing concern about the **imbalance of men to women in the faith**, as they seek partners who **share their values**.
* 💔 Despite the challenges, I encourage them not to be discouraged, as the trend differs in non-Orthodox Christianity, where many women are involved, leading to a **feminization of faith**.
* 🛠 I advise these men to focus on **personal growth and service within the church**, as becoming **devoted servants of Christ** will attract a suitable partner in **God's timing**.
* 🔍 I liken this journey to "**treasure hunting**," emphasizing the importance of seeking a spouse who **loves God** and will **support their shared mission in faith**.
* 📖 Young men should **actively engage in their communities**, attend various parishes, and seek out organizations with **devoted believers** to increase their chances of finding a **pious spouse**.
* 🙏 A recent article highlighted that more young men in Generation Z are identifying as **religiously devout** than women, indicating a need for men to **lead and teach their peers**.
* 📚 I recommend the book "The End of Woman" by Carrie Gress as a resource for understanding **contemporary feminism** and encouraging **traditional values among women**.

hey everyone. God bless you. I'm not in the studio right now because I just came home from a preaching trip in Ohio, which was fantastic, a great blessing. I entertained some questions from the scads of young people I was interacting with this weekend. It's a set of questions that I think many priests are getting all across the country, all across the West, frankly. And it comes mostly from young men who I'm very proud of, who are exercising their strength and their determination and their focus to become solid churchmen. They're building their lives, they're abandoning the godlessness of our falling society and of the secular globalized nonsense that they see all around them. And they're building their lives on the love of God and on the fear of the Lord and His holy commandments. They're getting catechized, getting baptized, and brought into the church in very large numbers all over the West. Bravo, bravo. I was listening to St. John's first epistle this morning where he commends

the young men, and he says, I write to you, young men, because you're strong, and you've overcome the evil one, and must continue to overcome the evil one. A common question that I've been receiving for a number of years from these young men—you may be one of them—is born from their discernment that a greater percentage of men are becoming Orthodox Christians in the West than women, and they're concerned because they want to wed. They want to find a fine woman who shares their values upon which they can build a life that is pleasing to God and build a family. And so, the question that came many times again that I want to address before it's gone out of my mind is, What should we do? How can we find a fine woman when the percentages are higher of men than of women who are pouring into the church? Well, first, let me say this: Don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged. The percentages are reversed in non-Orthodox forms of Christianity.

In the West, Protestant Christianity has become a woman's thing. The feminization of Christianity has a long history now in the West, and the numbers are atrocious. Both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have really lost men tremendously by the feminization of their the compromises that they've made with the world, which men who are serious find offensive and discouraging, disheartening. My second encouragement is to focus on yourself, to absolutely focus on yourself. Don't become over-worried, overwhelmed by worry about how you're going to find a wife. It's my thought, and I think it's well-founded, that the more you build yourself, the more you make yourself a solid, honest, sincere, believing servant of Christ. Where you come into the church and you take up your position as a young man in the church, you adopt your ministries, you find ways that you can be of service to the old and the young, to men and women in your church, you are going to be

blessed by God, and if it's your call to be married and not to become a monastic, the Lord God is going in His great Providence to find a woman, and He's going to bring her to you like a magnet. Like a magnet, I'd like to call this reflection, this encouragement, treasure hunting. Look, you young men have already made the decision to search for the Supreme treasure. Remember what our Lord says in Matthew 13 when He's giving His Parables, and He says the kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field that a man finds and goes and sells everything that he has so that he can obtain this treasure. Or it's like a pearl, and the Pearl Merchant's searching for it, right, diving deep, and when he finds it, it's the most precious thing in his life. This has been your life. You've made great strides to obtain The Treasure of treasures, which is the faith of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, to become a member of the body of

Christ to root yourself in a kingdom that has no end, to become a child of God by Grace. You've done this, you've done this, or you're doing this if you're a cuman now. So, you know what it's like to search. Just think of the efforts that you've gone through. So many of you, you've traveled far and wide to visit parishes, to go to monasteries. You've purchased books, you've invested money, you've spent much time reading. You've come to the church and gone through lessons. You've laid a good foundation, and you've begun your life. That's what you did, and no one had to tell you that that was the right thing to do, to find your treasure, to find the church, the Priceless kingdom of God. None of you, I hope, have any regret in doing that, except maybe that you want to be even more zealous and even more devoted. In the same way, seek your second treasure. The second treasure, if you're called to marriage, is to find a woman who loves.

God a woman who will follow your leadership and collaborate with you in the service of our Lord Christ and in devotion a life of Devotion to the kingdom of God seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness above everything else don't worry don't worry take the same efforts the same prayerfulness uh the same intensity learn to fast about matters that you're of great of great concern to you learn to fast about them make this uh need big read the paracesis to the mother of God and ask the Virgin the holy virgin to help you in your quest to find this second treasure which is a a Pious spouse go treasure hunting visit other parishes go to places where Pious Orthodox people are where Pious Christians Gather in in groups that are about service and about serving the kingdom of God there's tons of them sit down and write a list of uh those organizations places groups where you can meet other devoted believers who you could mix with and find your spouse those that you love your parents

your grandparents, your godparents, your brothers and sisters who are older than you in the church. Ask them to pray for you and to keep their eyes out for you and trust the Lord. Go treasure hunting, brothers, with the same prayerful devotion that you went supremely treasure hunting for in finding the church. This is better than being frustrated or throwing your hands up and saying, What are we going to do? No, no, no, no, no. Don't doubt. Don't doubt. The Lord arranges everything for his sons. He arranges everything. Trust the Lord. Take care of your soul, which is the number one thing. Build yourself as a mighty house so that when a woman meets you, she'll know, she'll be able to come and be, she'll find shade under your paternal wings, under your loving husbandly care and affection. Do that, and you'll have an answer to your quest, which is how I can find myself a wonderful wife. May God provide all, may he bless you, and give you the kingdom. Hey, everyone, I hope

you've been enjoying this video. I'm making this short addendum the next day because this morning in the New York Times was an interesting article about exactly what I was speaking about: the preponderance of young men in Generation Z establishing their faith and a much smaller percentage of women self-identifying as religiously devout. This is the first time that there have been more men identifying that way than women in demographic history. That means you're going to have to lead your compatriots, other young women. You're going to have to lead them, you who are young men, and you're going to have to teach them. And I'd like to suggest an excellent book that I read this weekend while I was traveling by Carrie Gress, The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us. It's an excellent overview of the rotten roots of contemporary feminism and a great catechetical source for you and for you to help your loved ones understand how to be a traditional woman. God bless, Patric Nectar.

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Treasure Hunting

PatristicNectarFilms

Young men are increasingly becoming Orthodox Christians in the West, seeking to build their lives on God's love and commandments.

They are concerned about the higher percentage of men than women joining the church and are looking for partners who share their values.

The speaker encourages them not to be discouraged, noting that the percentages are reversed in non-Orthodox forms of Christianity.

The Feminization of Christianity and Finding a Partner

Protestant Christianity in the West has become feminized, resulting in a significant loss of male followers.

The speaker encourages young men to focus on personal growth and service within the church, believing that this will attract a potential partner.

The pursuit of faith and commitment to the church is likened to treasure hunting, with the promise that God will bring the right woman into their lives.

Seeking the Second Treasure: A Pious Spouse

The speaker encourages individuals to seek a pious spouse as a second treasure, emphasizing the importance of finding a partner who loves God and is dedicated to serving the kingdom of God.

They suggest taking the same efforts and intensity used in searching for the kingdom of God, including prayer, fasting, and visiting places where pious Christians gather.

The speaker advises making a list of organizations and groups to meet devoted believers and potentially find a spouse.

The Importance of Prayer and Leadership for Young Men

Young men are encouraged to seek prayer and support from older family members and church leaders while trusting in the Lord's guidance.

Building oneself as a strong and loving figure is essential for attracting a wonderful partner.

The demographic shift of more young men identifying as religiously devout than women presents an opportunity for them to lead and teach their peers, with a recommended book for guidance on traditional womanhood.

The new publication, Against All Heresies, is a translation of St.

Simeon of Thessalonica's work, offering a compact heresiology and a holistic introduction to the church's theology.

The book addresses critical issues, including the Orthodox Church's relationship with Islam and Roman Catholicism.

It is available in hardcover with the original Greek text, paperback in English, as well as audiobook and ebook formats.