sade065

A Very Popular Activity Using the handout below, consider introducing your young people to many of the items from the altar that they rarely get to see. Start with pictures if you'd like and ask your local priest to invite the kids for a close-up encounter! Can they find those items on the page? He can remove them and bring them to the Solea, or kids can stand at the royal doors and point to objects they'd like to see. Here are a few items to identify and DISCUSS! (If you need more on the meaning of an item, its location in Scripture, or its name in Greek, please e-mail me as I have a great reference book of these things!) The Altar itself as Paradise and the Holy of Holies Tabernacle Antimension cloth to serve Liturgy on Identify the Place of oblation Prothesis Lance - Knife, double-edged spear which the soldier pierced Christ with on the cross Star - placed over the Disk, as star which stood over Bethlehem at birth of Christ Paten or Disk manger for Christ Spoon - as ...

What to do with icon catalogs and paper icons? Here's a quick craft to decorate with your Orthodox kids and religious education classes while offering a small lesson. Print out the black and white drawing of the iconostasis or icon screen,  and glue icons to match your local parish. Look and discuss where special icons are. Help each child to properly place them in order, Christ always being to the right of the royal doors, and the Mother of God with Christ to the left. Your parish may even have the Annunciation scene depicted on the royal doors, or the Mystical Supper above. St John the Baptist has a fixed position next to Christ. The Patron Saint of the Church is next to the Mother of God. This can also be an opportunity to discuss how for us Orthodox Christians, the altar is Paradise, the holy of holies, where the greatest miracle on Earth happens - our offering of bread and wine becomes the Holy Body and Blood of Christ our God. It is our tabernacle with manna, our food from h...

There is a sign above the entrance of a Monastery on Mount Athos that reads: "If you die before you die, than when you die, you will not die" Not only is it clever but it reminds us all that the Kingdom of God, which is within us, is meant to be experienced here in this world. Elder Porphyrios also taught this to his spiritual children saying, "Struggle to become immortal from now, by dying here on the earth to your bad self. In this way, you won't be sad, but you'll be very glad, living together with Christ."