1. We remind the kids of the Jesus Prayer is:
Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.
We take the blue bag of prayer ropes and hand one out to each child.
We say the prayer together out loud about 7 times or so.
2. If there are any new children we write down their names,
birthday, names day and date of names day.
About this time we pass out the first cracker, of which they will be quite excited about.
3. Then we begin the lesson.
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I missed updating this blog for a while ~ we had a wonderful time in December!
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The telling of St. Katherine's life was a real high light!
They were all so fascinated by the 'fairy tale' nature of her life
and very captivated.
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As I have a bit of training as a storyteller via my
Masters in Library Science that included children's life and storytelling,
the art of storytelling and the needed improvisation in it
cannot be easily translated in this blog.
The best I can say is that if you love the Saint you are teaching on,
the Saint will help you tell the story and the children will come
alive because of the love that is found for and by the Saint.
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I often have laminate icons that I show the children
before we begin the story, which helps draw them in
and have a visualization of it.
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Below are pictures / icons of St. Seraphim that I have found
via 'Google Images.
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I will tell them first of my time in the past at
Holy Dormition Monastery
on St. Seraphim's day (new calendar, Jan 2) and how
it would be so fresh, that day, when I would wake up there
to white snow in winter and would hear all about his life
in the church...how exciting it would be to have
Saint Seraphim's day there as he is such a wonderful
LOVING Saint!
It is only fitting that St. Seraphim's day is within the
12 Days of Christmas!
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The story I tell the children will be based on
the OCA website's rendition of St. Seraphim's life:
Saint Seraphim of Sarov, a great ascetic of the Russian Church, was born on July 19, 1754. His parents, Isidore and Agathia Moshnin, were inhabitants of Kursk. Isidore was a merchant. Toward the end of his life, he began construction of a cathedral in Kursk, but he died before the completion of the work. His little son Prochorus,the future Seraphim, remained in the care of his widowed mother, who raised her son in piety.
After the death of her husband, Agathia Moshnina continued with the construction of the cathedral. Once she took the seven-year-old Prochorus there with her, and he fell from the scaffolding around the seven-storey bell tower. He should have been killed, but the Lord preserved the life of the future luminary of the Church. The terrified mother ran to him and found her son unharmed.
Young Prochorus, endowed with an excellent memory, soon mastered reading and writing. From his childhood he loved to attend church services, and to read both the Holy Scripture and the Lives of the Saints with his fellow students. Most of all, he loved to pray or to read the Holy Gospel in private.
At one point Prochorus fell grievously ill, and his life was in danger. In a dream the boy saw the Mother of God, promising to visit and heal him. Soon past the courtyard of the Moshnin home came a church procession with the Kursk Root Icon of the Sign (November 27). His mother carried Prochorus in her arms, and he kissed the holy icon, after which he speedily recovered.
While still in his youth Prochorus made his plans to devote his life entirely to God and to go to a monastery. His devout mother did not object to this and she blessed him on his monastic path with a copper cross, which he wore on his chest for the rest of his life. Prochorus set off on foot with pilgrims going from Kursk to Kiev to venerate the Saints of the Caves.
Earnest in spirit, he served in the temple each day, incessantly praying even after the service. The Lord granted him visions during the church services: he often saw holy angels serving with the priests. During the Divine Liturgy on Great and Holy Thursday, which was celebrated by the igumen Father Pachomius and by Father Joseph, St Seraphim had another vision. After the Little Entrance with the Gospel, the hierodeacon Seraphim pronounced the words “O Lord, save the God-fearing, and hear us.” Then, he lifted his orarion saying, “And unto ages of ages.” Suddenly, he was blinded by a bright ray of light.
Looking up, St Seraphim beheld the Lord Jesus Christ, coming through the western doors of the temple, surrounded by the Bodiless Powers of Heaven. Reaching the ambo, the Lord blessed all those praying and entered into His Icon to the right of the royal doors. St Seraphim, in spiritual rapture after this miraculous vision, was unable to utter a word, nor to move from the spot. They led him by the hand into the altar, where he just stood for another three hours, his face having changed color from the great grace that shone upon him. After the vision the saint intensified his efforts. He toiled at the monastery by day, and he spent his nights praying in his forest cell.
His solitude was often disturbed by visits from monks and laymen, who sought his advice and blessing. With the blessing of the igumen, Fr Seraphim prohibited women from visiting him, then receiving a sign that the Lord approved of his desire for complete silence, he banned all visitors. Through the prayers of the saint, the pathway to his wilderness cell was blocked by huge branches blown down from ancient pine trees. Now only the birds and the wild beasts visited him, and he dwelt with them as Adam did in Paradise. They came at midnight and waited for him to complete his Rule of prayer. Then he would feed bears, lynxes, foxes, rabbits, and even wolves with bread from his hand. St Seraphim also had a bear which would obey him and run errands for him.
In order to repulse the onslaughts of the Enemy, St Seraphim intensified his toil and began a new ascetical struggle in imitation of St Simeon the Stylite (September 1). Each night he climbed up on an immense rock in the forest, or a smaller one in his cell, resting only for short periods. He stood or knelt, praying with upraised hands, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He prayed this way for 1,000 days and nights.
{praying to the Mother of God}
On November 25, 1825 the Mother of God, accompanied by the two holy hierarchs commemorated on that day (Hieromartyr Clement of Rome, and St Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria), appeared to the Elder in a vision and told him to end his seclusion and to devote himself to others. He received the igumen’s blessing to divide his time between life in the forest, and at the monastery. He did not return to his Far Hermitage, but went to a cell closer to the monastery. This he called his Near Hermitage. At that time, he opened the doors of his cell to pilgrims as well as his fellow-monks.
The Elder saw into the hearts of people, and as a spiritual physician, he healed their infirmities of soul and body through prayer and by his grace-filled words. Those coming to St Seraphim felt his great love and tenderness. No matter what time of the year it was, he would greet everyone with the words, “Christ is Risen, my joy!” He especially loved children. Once, a young girl said to her friends, “Father Seraphim only looks like an old man. He is really a child like us.”
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Craft Idea:
Draw scenes from Saint Seraphim's life.
