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NEW: Introducing a free weekly curriculum to create Orthodox Christian Kids Journals about our  faith! Each week, come back to this website and download the handout to print yourselves. The handouts cover a topic from the Church year including quotes, miracle stories, maps, troparions, icons and Orthodox art. As we discuss the components of the lesson, students are actively listening while they color, cut, and glue a memorable resource to keep for the rest of their lives! Often, students contribute stories they have heard, or if they have that particular Saints' icon at home, or if they have ever venerated a relic, traveled to that country etc. This method proves to be a wonderful tool to create lasting beauty as students develop a greater understanding for the Orthodox Church year in the midst of open dialogue. Join with us and share ! CLICK HERE Here are the files currently available: Journal Curriculum Calendar Journal Intro page handout  Journal Lesson on the Cross...

For our 'Orthodox Kids Journals,' (see this post ) we will be adding the great feast of Christmas by using this handout. Join with us to study the Prophecies! Cut and glue an Orthodox Jesse Tree icon with the Mother of God bearing "the Light that sprang forth from the Tree of Jesse" along with a few coloring graphics and Bible memory quotes. The handouts can be downloaded for free here : and on GoogleDocs here

Here is an Orthodox Christian Worksheet and Lesson on the Nativity that includes a bit of theology we often overlook. Although it might be for older ones, I hope it offers details that the younger ones can comprehend as well. Click here for the PDF Lesson available at the Orthodox Christian Scribd Group. Wishing you and your families a blessed Nativity ~

Try a "Candy Cane Hunt" with your families, friends, or parishes before Christmas this year. You can print out tags to wrap around each cane if you like with a short spiritual poem. We usually have adults hide the candy canes off fences, tree branches, under low bushes and parking lot car mirrors then dismiss the youngest kids first, giving them a head start to gather candy for their brown lunch bags! It's a great way to get out energy after the Divine Liturgy or during the days home from school!

Every holy-day season it seems Hollywood introduces a film to smear the true Christmas story and our holy Orthodox tradition with jokes, animation, wrongful depiction and false ideas of the persons of Jesus Christ, Mary, the Magi, etc. Last year (2017), the movie was called "The Star."  I am convinced that when we "lighten up" and use humor for holy things the end is not entertainment, but a desensitization to holiness and destruction of true faith. It could be otherwise called blasphemy. They have put words into the onscreen mouths of individuals that never spoke them. And what children see.....children believe... Alternatively, what children don't see....children will use their imagination to bridge the gap, for example, between what they see in an icon and the story they hear from the Gospel. Who today is explaining that Joseph was an honorable widow of 80 years and not the young strapping boyfriend to the most pure Virgin Theotokos?  (Buy this book here )...

God is with us (Matthew 1:23) All the Earth worships Thee (Psalm 66:4)   His name shall endure forever (Psalm 72: 17) He is our God, the God of salvation (Psalm 68:20) There shall come a Star out of Jacob (Numbers 24:17) He will save His people from their sins ( Matthew 1:20-21 ) For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given (Isaiah 9:6) He said, “Thou art My Son; on this day have I begotten Thee ” (Psalm 2:7) We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him (Matthew 2:2) You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Luke 2:12) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord ( Luke 2:11) Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel ( Isaiah 7:14) The Angels cried out, Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14)   He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting F...