Level: Pre K - 3rd Grade Theme: " and you shall be witnesses to Me " (Acts 1:8) Objectives: Introduce the idea that we are all called to share Christ's love and message, or "witness," to all of our friends, family, and the entire world. Understand that when we accept to be a witness for Christ and help bring people to Christ, we are following in the footsteps of many saints such as St. Kosmas and St. Nina, who worked tirelessly to share Christ with those who did not know Him. Challenge the students to understand that it is part of our faith to share Christ with others, as well as how hard it could be if you cannot understand one another. Identify the ways that Orthodox faithful (such as Alexandria) are able to share Christ with others as an OCMC missionary. Act by collecting funds throughout Great Lent with the Mission Coin Boxes to support the work of the Mission Center so that many more are empowered to witness for Christ throughout the world. Overview: Begin the lesson with the Missions Prayer Read the Scripture verse Acts 1:8 Activity #1 - Telephone Game Activity #2 - Getting to know Alexandria, an Orthodox Missionary Activity #3 - Read the stories of St. Cosmas and St. Nina, and discuss the stories. Assemble the Coin Boxes and send them home with students. Inform that the donations they return will support the work of the Mission Center, which helps many "witness" around the world. Close with a prayer Materials: Prayer for Missions Handouts for Missionary Alexandria and Sts Kosmas and Nina Coin Boxes Note to Teacher: The Orthodox Church has spread around the world due to the dedicated commitment of Orthodox people from all walks of life. Modern day evangelists proclaim our Orthodox faith to friends, family, and total strangers. St. Kosmas Aitolos is known for being a great missionary saint. Both he and St. Nina are known as "Equal to the Apostles" because of their missionary zeal. The simple words of St. Kosmas offer us encouragement to do something small which will help us witness to Christ's lovingkindness:
If it were possible for me to climb up into the sky and to shout with a great voice, to preach to the entire world that only our Christ is the Son and Word of God, true God and life of all, I would have done it. But because I can't do such a big thing, I do this small thing. I walk from place to place and teach my brothers as I can, not as a teacher but as a brother. Prayer: God of truth and love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, hear our prayer for those who do not know You, that they may come to a saving knowledge of the truth and that Your Name may be praised among all peoples of the world. Sustain, inspire and enlighten Your servants who bring them the Gospel. Bring fresh vigor to wavering faith; sustain our faith When it is still fragile. Continually renew missionary zeal in ourselves and in the Church; raise up new missionaries who will follow You to the ends of the world. Make us witnesses to Your goodness, full of love, strength, and faith for Your glory and the salvation of the entire world. Through the prayers of St. Paul, St. Fotini, Sts. Cyril and Methodios, St. Cosmas, St. Innocent St. Nina, St. Raphael, St. Nicholas of Japan and all of the missionary saints, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Verse: Lesson: "..you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8) Introduce the idea of "witness" in this passage. Emphasize that: We (all of us) are told to "witness" and to proclaim the Good News all the time. Christ asks us to participate in bringing new Christians into the Church by sending workers to other parts of the world who will teach others about His Church. These people are called missionaries. The good news of the "word of the Lord" is that we are offered salvation through Christ. We are able to "witness" for Christ by telling our friends and family about Christ, His
love for us, and by showing His love to others through our kindness. We are also able to invite friends and family to come to Church with us. It is our responsibility, as Christians, to see that this witness not only takes place in our own community (i.e. Jerusalem), but also across our country (i.e. all Judea and Samaria) as well as to the end of the earth to all of our brothers and sisters who have yet to hear of Christ and his life-saving message. It is important to understand that each of us comes from different places and different families. Sometimes we understand things differently, like in the telephone game that they will participate in. We have to understand that this is OK, and when we have trouble communicating with words, we are always able to communicate through our actions and kind behavior. Discussion: How can we witness to our friends at school? What can we do to be kind to our friends and family? Should I be inviting my friends to come to church with me? What if we had friends that speak a different language? Activity #1: Telephone Game (This is an opportunity to highlight the lesson objective of Challenge listed in the Objectives section of the first page). Have the students sit in a circle in the floor or around a table. Beginning with a designated person by the teacher's choosing, whisper the phrase "Lord have mercy" into their ear without anyone else hearing the phrase. Without repeating it a second time into their ear, ask that they then whisper the same phrase into the ear of the person next to them, and so on until the phrase has gone all the way around the circle. Listen to what the resulting phrase is when it reaches the last person. It is likely that the phrase has changed or may have changed into something that is not even words. Repeat this cycle, but the second time around use the phrase "Bwana hurumia," (Ba-wanna hoo-roo-mee-a) which translates into Lord have Mercy in Swahili, the language spoken in many parts of East Africa. Discuss the difficulty in sharing a phrase that is not English. What would they be able to do if they could not communicate in English? Activity #2: Activity #3: Read about OCMC Missionary Alexandria to your class. Discuss how she is being a witness in Albania and how she is learning the language to better communicate the Gospel. Read the lives of the two Saints. Reflect on the quote from St. Cosmas found in the Teacher Notes on the next page.
Activity #4: Follow-Up: Have your class assemble the OCMC Coin Boxes and discuss how these funds will be used to support the ministries of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center to spread the Gospel around the world. Send the boxes home with the students and ask them to fill them and then return the boxes at the appropriate time. Extra coin boxes are available by e-mailing a request to coinbox@ocmc.org or calling 904-829-5132 or 1-877-GO-FORTH (463-6784). Collect Coin Box money on the predetermined date. Remind the class of their role in spreading the fullness of Orthodoxy and the Gospel of Christ around the world. Assign the students the task of finding ways that they can "witness for Jesus Christ" throughout the week in both their talk and their actions.
Alexandria Ritsi, Missionary in Albania Alexandria grew up in Chicago and attended Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church. She lived in Chicago all of her young life and was very active in her Church community and youth groups. Growing up, Alexandria knew she wanted to serve the Church and be a teacher. She went to Hellenic College in Boston; while a student there she learned about being a missionary and knew this is what God was calling her to do. Alexandria met her husband, Stephanos, at Hellenic College in 2008. They were very active in teaching Sunday School and leading retreats about how the Orthodox Church is growing around the world. Together, Alexandria and Stephanos traveled to Kenya, in Africa, on missions teams in 2010 and 2011 to teach the people living in remote, desert villages about Jesus Christ. After these trips to Kenya, they were sure that they both wanted to be long-term missionaries for the Orthodox Church. After training and preparing, Alexandria and Stephanos arrived in the European country of Albania in April of 2013 to serve as missionaries. Since arriving in Albania, Alexandria has been learning about the Albanian culture and has been learning to speak the Albanian language. She works at an Orthodox elementary school and teaches 6th and 8th grades. Likewise, she teaches a women's Bible Study and is a photographer for many events taking place in the Church. On January 22, 2014, her husband Stephanos was ordained a Deacon. So now, Alexandria is known as Diakonissa Alexandria.
St. Cosmas & St. Nina St. Cosmas of Aitolia Cosmas was a very short man. He was born and raised in a place called Aitolia. When Kosmas was 20, he left home to study theology and medicine. Then he became a monk and priest and stayed in a monastery for 17 years, to learn more about Christ. When Kosmas read the Bible he noticed many passages that tell us that we have to teach and preach about Jesus. He asked permission to leave the monastery. For 19 years he spent most of his time traveling by foot, donkey, or ship, often followed by hundreds and even thousands of people, teaching them about Jesus Christ. Father Kosmas - like the Apostle Paul - made journeys throughout the world to tell people about Jesus Christ. Father Kosmas was preaching in some places where people were not even allowed to become Christian. After preaching and encouraging people for 19 years, Father Kosmas was killed for his faith by the people who made the laws against Christians. His love for Jesus Christ and for all people and his zeal for spreading the Christian faith earned him the title "Equal to the Apostles." St. Nina, Enlightener of Georgia Nina was born in the small town of Colastri. Her father was a Roman general. Nina learned about Christ and Orthodoxy from her family. When she was a young woman, she wanted to go to Rome to preach about Jesus Christ. On her way she taught in many villages about Christianity and many people became Christian. She traveled to Iberia (today the country of Georgia on the border of Europe and Asia) where the people did not know about Jesus Christ. The Queen of Iberia was very ill. Nina prayed to God and the Queen was healed. The Queen was so glad that God had healed her that she became a Christian. The King was not happy about this. He punished the people who became Christian and even wanted to kill them. One day when he was hunting he was hurt. He prayed to the God he had learned about through Nina and was healed. Soon he too wanted to be baptized and became the first Christian King of Iberia. He asked that priests and a Bishop be sent to Iberia to teach all of the people about Jesus Christ. He built churches and monasteries. As a result of the work of Nina, the entire country became Orthodox.