Source: Canadian Orthodox Monastery of All Saints of North America
I recall being told by one elderly monastic, an Athonite, that “we monks are the spoiled children of Christ. It is the married people who have the greatest struggle. Much greater than our struggle. Here, we are housed and fed, and the abbot is the only one who has to worry and stress. For the married man, he must work hard to provide the housing and food, and the concern for his children, and work through the stress that arises between husband and wife, and all at the same time, struggle for his spiritual life. We monks have it easy.”
……To my mind, this old monk was the saint, and the ones who castigated marriage were just egoistic and self-serving, vain and prideful. The married woman or man who serves their family well and raises decent, honest, believing children is the real hero of the faith, the real saint, the one who deserves the greater crown of glory. That is my understanding of our life in Christ. (Vladika Lazar Puhalo)