03/31/15 Saint Cyril

Hello,

Today we celebrate Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem. He went through two great struggles. The first was with the Arian heresy and the second was in the time of Julian the Apostate. During the time of the Arian domination, a wonderful sign took place during Pentecost to strengthen the Christians. The sign of the cross, as bright as the sun, was seen by all stretching over Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives for several days. During the time of Julian the Apostate, another sign took place. Julian himself had arranged for the Jews to reconstruct the Temple of Solomon. Saint Cyril prayed to God to not allow this. Then, a great earthquake came and threw down all of the new construction as well as any stones that were previously there. Therefore, the words of the Lord came true: ‘Not one stone shall remain on another.’ Saint Cyril was a meek, and humble man. After his life doing battle for the Orthodox faith, he entered peacefully into rest and went with the Lord.

Today, after prayers and circle time, we did a little catch-up project. We painted a ladder for the Sunday of Saint John Clamacus, which was two Sundays ago. We also talked a little bit about what the ladder represents.

We also did some work in our Hidden Pictures book and worked on the letters “A” and “B”. Theia has gotten to the point where she is reading her books from memory, so now is a great time to get her to recognize the letters!

In Christ,

D. Kyriake

03/30/15 Saint Patrick of Ireland

Hello there!

Happy 36th day of the Great Fast! 🙂 We are getting closer to Pascha! I apologize for the length of time I have been away. It is the Great Fast after all, and there has been a lot going on.

Today we celebrate two Saints I want to mention. The first is Saint Patrick of Ireland. When Saint Patrick was about sixteen years old, he was captured and taken as a prisoner to Ireland. After six years he was able to escape and return to his homeland in Britain. He then became a monk, and later a bishop. As a bishop he was sent back to Ireland to convert the Irish people to Christ. With God’s help he was able to turn Ireland from a pagan country into a truly Christian country.

The second Saint I want to mention today is Saint Alexios, the man of God. His story is very edifying. He was born into a Christian home. On his wedding night, he took a ship and that was sailing to the town of Edessa in Mesopotamia, where the Holy Napkin was kept. After he venerated the Holy Napkin, Alexios dressed himself in simple clothing and lived for seventeen years as a poor man in that town. He was constantly praying to God in the porch of the church of the Mother of God. When men began to praise him as a holy man, he left and took a ship that was headed to Laodicea, but the ship went off course and took him home. Alexios decided to go to his father’s house and there, unknown, continue his life of self-denial for seventeen more years. His family did not recognize him, but from charity allowed him to live in their courtyard in a little shack. When his end drew near he wrote who he was on a piece of paper and held it in his hand. Then, he passed. When they found him, his face was shining like the sun. Many people were healed by touching his relics.

Today, in addition to our prayers and circle time, Theia worked on a coloring page for Saint Patrick and also worked on a few activity pages in her “My Book of Great Lent” by Pontamitis Publishing.

She also worked on drawing the letter “A” on her white board. That is about all we did today. I will do my best to write another post tomorrow!

In Christ,

D. Kyriake

03/02/15 St. Mariamna (Maria)

Today, on the eighth day of the Great Fast, one of the saints commemorated is Saint Mariamna. She was the sister of the Apostle Philip and became his companion, along with the Apostle Bartholomew. She helped to assist in their apostolic work. All three of them were thrown into prison for preaching in the Phrygian city of Hieropolis. This is where the holy Apostle Philip was martyred, however Mariamna and Bartholomew were set free. After she buried the body of her brother, she preached the Gospel at Lykaonia (Asia Minor). She died there in peace.

Yesterday was the first Sunday of the Great Fast, the Sunday of Orthodoxy. This day we celebrate the victory of the Church over the iconoclasts. This is also the day that we have our evening “Anathema” service. We did an activity to celebrate this Feast Day. We made our own icon banner to keep up in the house throughout this week.

In the center we have the icon for the Sunday of Orthodoxy, and on either side there are icons for each member of the family. You can make yours using any of your most loved icons. We also did some work in our Hidden Pictures book. Theia actually did quite well with these!

Today we did our usual circle time. Theia worked on a few activity pages in her “My Book of Great Lent” by Pontamitis Publishing.

Today we also worked on our fine-motor skills by making some necklaces using straws and string. You simply cut a piece of yarn or string to length and cut some plastic straws in 4. Then you have your child string the necklace! Lots of fun – and you get awesome jewelry out of it!

I hope you all have a great rest of your day. I will be back soon!

In Christ,

D. Kyriake