On the Transition Back to School

In North America, it is the time of the year when children head back to school. For some, that means stepping back to the homeschooling routine, while for others, it means going back to the classroom. Either way, it is a change from the break of summer and offers us an opportunity to build healthy family habits for the year ahead.

Take a moment to think about this transition and to consider what changes from last year’s “school norm” would improve your family’s educational experience and life. Then begin to take steps in that direction. In the process, be patient with yourself and with your family. To quote my husband, “Change, even good change, is stressful.” Expecting to encounter some stress and extending grace to ourselves and our children during this season of changes in the family schedule will help us to successfully guide our children through the new-school-year-transition in a more godly way.

We have gathered a few links to blogs and articles that we hope you will find helpful. Each is different from the others, but focuses in some way on the transition back to school. As we make this transition, let us first and foremost pray for our children, for ourselves, for the children’s teachers, and for other students/teachers/parents in our parish, that this year will be blessed! May God grow us all towards Him throughout the course of this school year. And may we make the transition, aware of His presence in our life.

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This blog post can help us to prepare both ourselves and our children for school: https://orthodoxchristianparenting.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/preparing-for-school/

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Our children’s teachers, co-op leaders, skills instructors, coaches, and Sunday Church School teachers will need our support this year! This blog post offers ideas of way that we can support the other adults influencing our children’s life: https://orthodoxchristianparenting.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/on-supporting-our-childrens-teachers/

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Here is an excellent prayer for us to pray daily for our children: https://orthodoxchristianparenting.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/prayerful-sighing/

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Students returning to college are making a huge transition! Whether or not we have a college student in our family, there are ways we can help our fellow Orthodox Christians who are college students to successfully make the transition! Read this article for ideas: http://www.ocf.net/from-high-school-to-college-the-first-forty-days/

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Is one of these Orthodox Christian schools near where you live? Whether or not you choose to send your children there, consider helping the students at the school grow in their faith by offering to volunteer in the school! Check this list for ideas of where there are Orthodox Christian schools: http://www.orthodoxschools.org/schooldirectory.html

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Homeschooling families may want to check out this online Orthodox Christian school option that weaves the Faith into learning, using the Charlotte Mason style: http://www.raphaelschool.org/

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The school year and its stresses (and, many times, the proximity to others that it affords) gives both our children AND us many opportunities to take the high road. Read (or re-read) this blog post on doing just that: https://orthodoxchristianparenting.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/on-taking-the-high-road/

 

On Mark 11:17, “My House Shall Be Called a House of Prayer for All Nations.”

Note: the Antiochian Archdiocese’s Creative Arts Festival 2017’s theme is the inspiration for this blog post. We will take a closer look at the theme, to help them to better prepare for the festival in case they participate. Whether or not they do, what we can gather from this passage of St. Mark’s Gospel is applicable to all of us, not just the children participating in the festival!

Have you ever thought about that time when our Lord went into the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers, and drove out the salesmen? Why did He do that? What can we learn from His actions? How can we apply this passage to our own life?

It all began with the Triumphal Entry, the glorious reception that Jesus was given when He arrived in Jerusalem. Even the fact that He was riding on a lowly donkey did not stop the crowd from singing His praises. But instead of glorying in that acclaim, He went straight to the temple and “looked around at all things.” (Mark 11:11) His means of entry into Jerusalem modeled humility and His choice to go directly to the temple exemplifies the priority that should be given to being in God’s house.

Something else is tucked into this passage that could easily be missed. The passage says that He “looked around at all things” but “as the hour was already late He went out to Bethany with the twelve.” This shows us something else: it models self restraint. After all, as He looked around, our Lord saw all of the greedy money-making happening in what should have been a very holy, completely God-focused place. He knew that it was wrong, and had every right to be furious about it. But instead, He left to be with His disciples, calmly choosing being with people over being frustrated about stuff.

The next day our Lord returned to Jerusalem, and went back to the temple. This time He “drove out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.”  (Mark 11:15-16) He thus demonstrated the importance of keeping what has been set apart for God free from greed and from earthly stuff.

Once the temple was restored to its intended state, it could also return to its intended purpose of worship and godly teaching. And so Christ taught the people, saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” This teaching was appropriate for the people who had gotten so accustomed to seeing (and doing) marketing in the temple that they perhaps didn’t even think about how inappropriate it was. It turns out that this teaching is also appropriate for those of us living 2000+ years later. Concepts that we can take from this passage include: honoring God’s house as a place to pray; welcoming all because God’s house is for everyone, regardless of nationality; and guarding against deceit and greed that can steal us away from right relationship with God.

St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians pushes us to look at this event in an even more personal light. 1 Corinthians 6:19 reads, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?” Reconsidering the account of our Lord’s cleansing of the temple from the perspective of our own body being a temple, set apart for God, offers us even more insights for our Christian life. First and foremost, we need to aim to live humbly as our Lord did, especially when things are going well and others are lauding us. Secondly, God should always be our first stop, whether we are looking for personal guidance or we are prioritizing our schedule (being in church at the Divine Services should be at the top of our list). Thirdly, we need Christ Himself to cleanse our hearts, drive away the greed and selfishness in us, and restore us to the way we were intended to be. Finally, we need Him to teach us: how to guard the holiness of His temple, keeping our bodies from being marred by greed; how to welcome all around us to worship Him as well; and how to keep ourselves pure so that we do not house thoughts and desires that steal our focus away from Him.

May the Lord indeed cleanse us, that we may each become a worthy temple that properly worships Him and welcomes others to do the same.

Here are some ideas of ways to help our children (whether or not they will be participating in the aforementioned Creative Arts Festival) to learn about this passage:

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If your parish will be participating in the Creative Arts Festival, you can find information about it here: http://www.antiochian.org/festivals/cf

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Together as a family, read this easy-to-understand version of the story. If your children would enjoy them, print some of the activity pages or play some of the related online games found at the bottom of the page. http://gardenofpraise.com/bibl39s.htm

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This series of 5 devotional readings can help your family learn more about the temple, Christ cleansing the temple, and being the temple of the Holy Spirit. Note: the readings are not written from an Orthodox perspective, but can still be very helpful discussion-starters. http://children.cccm.com/NTDevotionsPDF/DEVNT261.pdf

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If your children enjoy doing activity pages related to family discussions, you will want to peruse the printables in this pdf about the cleansing of the temple: http://freesundayschoolcurriculum.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/5/0/12503916/lesson_11_jesus_clears_the_temple.pdf

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These commentaries on the Mark passage offer insights into the passage: http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/coffeecup/mark_1115_intro, http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/coffeecup/mark_1117_19, and http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/transforminglives/part_59_mark_1115_19.

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“The first and most important temple for the holy spirit is us.” Listen to this short podcast on keeping our bodies, our temples, clean: http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/isermon/living_as_a_temple

Learning About the Saints: St. Phanourios (Commemorated on August 27/September 9)

This morning when I checked my plans for what I would be writing about for this blog post, I immediately got goosebumps. Months ago I had planned that today I would write about St. Phanourios, but I had forgotten that plan until I was ready to begin. Mind you, St. Phanourios is one of my favorite saints, and I frequently request his prayers for myself and for my family. I am indebted to this saint for his multiple intercessions on our behalf. Time after time, his prayers have worked miracles for us, and we are grateful. But the reason for my goosebumps was because St. Phanourios’ prayers just worked a miracle for our family yesterday, so the timing is impeccable. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you about this wonderful saint!

Very little has been passed down about the life of St. Phanourios. Around 1500, a previously-forgotten chapel was unearthed in a building project in Rhodes. All the icons in the chapel were disfigured or crumbling, but one was still intact. In fact, it almost looked freshly-painted, it was in such good shape. It features a young man named as “St. Phanourios,” holding a candle-topped cross. Surrounding the central icon are a series of twelve smaller icons depicting the saint’s refusal to give up his faith and the tortures that he endured in the process.

Because of the icon’s miraculously fresh appearance in the midst of rubble, as well as the evidence that St. Phanourios maintained the Faith through his tortures all the way to his martyrdom, the Church leaders in Rhodes agreed that he should be revered as a saint. A church was built in his honor on the site of the ruins. People began to venerate the icon, and they became aware that the prayers of St. Phanourios are blessed with miraculous intervention. Because his icon was found after being lost for so long, and because his name is derived from the Greek word  φανερώνω, or phanerono, which means “I reveal,” people began to ask St. Phanourios to pray that they would again find lost items and/or that they would regain their health. Time and time again, he has done so, and many people have been blessed through his prayers. Somewhere along the line, people began to bake a special sweet bread to share in thanksgiving for the saint’s prayers. (Some have said that he wants this bread to be baked, accompanied with prayers for his mother, who died outside of baptism, but that is not the official reason for baking it. Phanouropita should be baked as a request to the saint for help, or in thanksgiving after he has helped, then shared with an account of the miracle God has wrought through the prayers of His servant.)

Our family will be baking phanouropita very soon because of the most recent miracle God worked for our family through the prayers of St. Phanourios. It’s a long story, so hang onto your hat: Two and a half weeks ago, our son’s computer refused to turn on. Part of his schooling includes online classes, so he uses that computer to connect with his classes and his schoolwork is stored on that computer. He’s also a budding photographer and his most recent work is only on that computer. We really need that computer to work for him, so we prepared to send it to the company from whence it came so that it could be fixed. Unfortunately, this happened on the day before we left for vacation, and we had little on hand to properly package a computer, but wanted to get it off as soon as possible. So we grabbed old packing envelopes and tissue paper, thoroughly wrapped the computer in them, and packed it into a box so that when someone came home a few days later, the shipping company could schedule a pickup and it would be off for repairs before we all got home from vacation. After the pickup, we waited for confirmation that the computer made it to its destination, but we heard nothing. A week later, vacation over, we began to wonder where the computer was, so my husband began to call points along the shipping route to try to track down the package. Through a long and tedious process, we discovered that it had gone missing. We suspected that it had lost its shipping label, and my husband spent hours on the phone, daily, for many days, trying to learn all that he could. And of course we prayed, asking St. Phanourios to help us find the package.

We had many false leads, and there were a few times that we thought it had been found. But every time we’d realize that we had misunderstood or we had received automated confirmations that did not match up to reality. Two weeks after its shipping date, we were becoming convinced that the computer and all of our son’s work which it holds were gone. We continued to pray and ask St. Phanourios to intercede on our behalf, but it was beginning to look like the answer this time would be “no, you do not need to have that computer anymore.”

Yesterday morning my husband spent another hour or more trying to track the computer down: at this point, we were running into the limit of days when they may still be able to access images, etc., of the package. And then, suddenly, I had an odd email show up in my inbox. It was from a company from which I had purchased a humble bag of chai in support of a school choir fundraiser for one of my favorite choir buddies from church. The email told me that a computer had been mailed to their company because one of their mailing envelopes was found in the computer’s packaging, although the package itself had lost its label. Upon further contact, we’ve confirmed that the computer is ours. Glory to God!

I have no idea why the shipping company sent the computer to one of the many addresses stuffed in its packaging instead of looking at all of the packing envelopes, finding the common address on all of the labels (ours), and sending it back here. However, I am thankful that they sent it to an honest company who went to the extra lengths to find our contact information and reconnect us with this much-needed computer! We are grateful to St. Phanourios for his intercessions for our computer, and to God for allowing us to find it once again. We have the recipe for our phanouropita ready and waiting to be baked upon the computer’s return. And in the meantime, we gratefully pray, “Lord, have mercy on the soul of St. Phanourios (and on the soul of his mother), save them, and save us!”

Through the prayers of St. Phanourios, Lord Jesus Christ Our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

To learn more about St. Phanourios, visit these sites:

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See a photo of the actual icon of St. Phanourios that was found in the rubble so long ago, here: http://orthodoxtraditions.blogspot.com/2013/12/st-phanourios-great-martyr-newly.html

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Want to know more about St. Phanourios? Read this account of how he miraculously intervened and saved three stranded priests: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/08/the-veneration-of-saint-phanourios-on.html

(Also on this page, you will find pictures of shrines that have been built to commemorate the saint, as well as the stories behind some of them!)

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Did St. Phanourios ever help you find something? You may want to make a batch of phanouropita and share it, telling about the miracle as you do! Here’s a recipe: http://myocn.net/tradition-thanks-st-phanourios-finds/

Find another recipe for phanouropita in this lovely blog post: http://www.orthodoxmom.com/2010/08/27/st-fanourios-the-martyr-and-miracle-worker/

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Read a non-Orthodox testimonial to St. Phanourios’ help (and yet another recipe) here: http://leitesculinaria.com/51916/writings-greek-phanourious-cake.html

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Find a prayer to Christ, thanking Him for St. Phanourios’ help, and a prayer to bless a phanouropita here: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2009/08/prayers-to-christ-and-st-phanourios.html

Find the akathist to St. Phanourios here: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2009/08/prayers-to-christ-and-st-phanourios.html  

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This beautiful child-sized book tells the story of the finding of the icon of St. Phanourios: http://orthodoxchildrensbooks.com/eng/index.php/Paterikon-for-Kids-11-20/18-Paterikon-for-kids-Saint-Phanourios/flypage-ask.tpl.html. You can also hear Dr. Chrissi Hart’s reading of this book in her “Under the Grapevine” podcast, here: http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/grapevine/saint_phanourios

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Print the icon of and troparion to St. Phanourios found here: https://app.box.com/s/uvph2nn833y8gr1fj7yd

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Host an end-of-summer “Lost and Found” party that can help you teach your children about St. Phanourios. Invite other friends to join you, if you like. Read or tell the story of St. Phanourios. If you have personal examples of miracles that his prayers have caused, share them with everyone. Before (or together, during!)  the party, bake a St. Phanourios cake to share. Play some games like “Sardines,” “Hide and Seek,” have a scavenger hunt, or play a version of hide and seek where you have hidden items around the room ahead of time and the children must find them . For a craft, have the kids each make their own “lost and found” game such as  http://www.catholicinspired.com/2010/11/st-anthony-lost-and-found-game.html, only smaller (as suggested here http://www.kidspot.com.au/cute-diy-find-it-jars/ ). Be sure to pre-print and perhaps even laminate the list of items that will be put into the jar, so that your party guests will have a nice game (the jar and the list) to take home with them. Every time they play with this game, they will be able to remember St. Phanourios and how he helps people find lost things!

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This page points to many resources about St. Phanourios: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/08/saint-phanourios-resource-page.html

Excerpts from “Raising Children Who Will Hold Onto the Faith in Our Secular Age,” an article by Dr. Philip Mamalakis

“Raising Children Who Will Hold Onto the Faith in Our Secular Age” is an excellent article by Dr. Philip Mamalakis that was published in PRAXIS magazine’s Fall/Winter 2016 issue. This article is an invaluable resource to Orthodox Christian parents with children of all ages. It recently came to our attention once again, and we have found it so helpful that we have decided to share a few excerpts with the Orthodox Christian Parenting community.

“Will our kids hold onto the Faith? …It’s easy to be worried or scared for the future of the Church, the future of our country, and our kids’ future… The temptation, as parents, when we’re afraid, is to parent out of fear: to control, to restrict, to intensify our monitoring or warn our children of all the possible dangers. Parenting out of fear is destructive to our kids. If we parent out of fear, we pass along fear to our children, and they will hold onto fear as they go out into the world. What our kids really need is to have the judgement and the skills to navigate the dangers of life, and our goal must be to equip them with those skills and that judgement.

“If our faith is nothing more than going to church, our kids will understandably drop that empty ritual as soon as they leave and replace it with something else on Sunday mornings that is easier… If we want our kids to hold onto our faith when they leave, they have to have it deep in their hearts when it is time to go. It has to be their faith, not just ours. That is the goal of parenting.

“How do we raise kids who walk in the light of Christ? …How do we get them to believe and to follow? Well, the short answer is, ‘We don’t.’ That’s not our role as parents. ‘Our goal as parents is not to transmit faith; that is the work of divine grace, and our task is to foster the work of grace.’ (as Sister Magdalen wrote in Children in the Church Today.) …Our role as parents is to foster the work of grace, to provide the environment around our children so they grow up to internalize God, Christ and His Church, as good, true, and right.

“Creating the environment for our children to grow in faith is, in some ways, like a three-legged stool. For this stool to stand, each leg needs to be in place. Each leg is critically important, but no one leg alone is sufficient. Those three legs are: the life of the parent [how we live]; the parent-child relationship [how we relate to our children]; and the connection between the home and the Church [living as the Church of the home]. Each aspect of parenting is crucially important, but no one aspect alone is sufficient.”

The article goes on to expound on each of the “three legs” of the stool, and is well worth reading in its entirety. To inquire about this article or to subscribe to PRAXIS magazine, visit http://www.goarch.org/archdiocese/departments/religioused/praxis.

Here are some additional quotes from the article, as well as links to related resources:

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“The home is our primary mission field… the home is the single greatest influence on our personhood! …I really do believe that the greatest influence that we will have on the world is our children… We are forming their hearts and their minds and their souls and these people will grow up to lead the world…” Listen to Dr. Philip Mamalakis’ excellent talk on the subject of raising children who will hold onto the Faith in our secular age here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zO_sptqYVM

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“Successful kids know deep within their hearts that they are loved by God and by us and desire to freely return that love. Our goal is to help our children to see themselves and others as children of God, as icons of Christ, as holy images of God (Genesis 1:26). This is real self esteem.” ~ Dr. Philip Mamalakis, “Raising Children Who Will Hold Onto the Faith in Our Secular Age,” PRAXIS, Fall/Winter 2016, pp. 33-34.

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“The single most powerful ‘parenting tool’ we have is the way we live ourselves. Children learn the most from modeling their parents’ behaviors. …We’re not supposed to be perfect, because that’s impossible. However, when we fail, do we take responsibility for our mistakes…, repent and get back on track? Trying to be a perfect parent will teach perfectionism, which is a disease, but repentant parents model the path of repentance for our kids. Only when our kids see the values and virtues lived out in our lives are they able to internalize these things as real.” ~ Dr. Philip Mamalakis, “Raising Children Who Will Hold Onto the Faith in Our Secular Age,” PRAXIS, Fall/Winter 2016, p. 36

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“Parenting is about loving our children more than correcting them, and our corrections need to reflect our love for them. You can’t love a child too much, but you can love them in the wrong way. Our love needs to reflect God’s love for them. …Our children need to know that we delight in them, that we recognize that they are a gift to us from God, and our delight in them needs to inform how we relate to them when they’re behaving well and when they’re misbehaving. We might not feel delight when we’re tired or overwhelmed, but they are a gift, and we need to relate to them out of that truth, not out of our own frustrations and feelings.” ~ Dr. Philip Mamalakis, “Raising Children Who Will Hold Onto the Faith in Our Secular Age,” PRAXIS, Fall/Winter 2016, p. 37

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“Our children internalize this reality of God and His kingdom when we connect the daily life of the home to the eternal reality of the Church. We do this by attending church regularly and by our regular involvement, as a family, in the communal life of the Church. We bring the external practices of the Church—the prayer, icons, hymns scripture readings, etc.—into our home life. For example, when we pray in the home we communicate to our children that prayer is real. Prayer becomes normal to our children because it is a normal part of the life of the home. Our children will internalize all the realities of the Church as we integrate them into daily life.” ~ Dr. Philip Mamalakis, “Raising Children Who Will Hold Onto the Faith in Our Secular Age,” PRAXIS, Fall/Winter 2016, p. 38

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“It is the parents who co-create, with God, the stepping-stones to faith; who show by their words and actions, as best they can, the journey to theosis. It is their task, more than any other’s, to teach the special kind of communication we call worship. Symbols need explaining; explanations need giving. Our religious language, or the way we communicate our faith by everything we do and say, needs careful thought. Above all, remember that religious education is not something that stops at age sixteen. Growing in faith is a family affair.” Read more in Elizabeth White’s article, “Stepping Stones to Faith: Nurturing Orthodox Christian Virtues in Your Children” at http://www.antiochian.org/node/16620.

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“Each chapter [of this book] ends with a list of practical ideas any parent might try to help cultivate character qualities such as attentiveness and silence. This small jewel could well be called ‘the Holy Fathers applied to parenting’.” Find the book, Walking in Wonder: Nurturing Christian Virtues in Your Children, at: http://store.ancientfaith.com/walking-in-wonder-nurturing-christian-virtues-in-your-children/

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How are you helping your children to grow in their faith and to hang onto the truths of Orthodox Christianity in the face of the secular culture in which you live? This fall we will be writing blog posts containing practical ideas for daily living Orthodoxy in the home. Will you please help us by sharing your ideas? This form can help you think through your family’s schedule to think of ways that you as a family are living the Faith together. If possible, kindly pass on your family’s traditions in as many of the following categories as possible, and then submit your answers so that we can share them with the community.

Reminder: survey forms received by Sept. 1, 2016 will be entered into a drawing for a copy of the book Blueprints for the Little Church: Creating an Orthodox Home by Elissa Bjeletich and Caleb Shoemaker. (A total of three copies will be given away.)
Thank you in advance for helping the Orthodox Christian Parenting community in this way!
http://www.antiochian.org/sites/default/files/living_orthodoxy_daily_in_the_home_survey.pdf

 

On the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (August 15 or 28)

The final feast of the Church year is the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. At this feast, we celebrate the “falling asleep” (dormition) of the Theotokos. The disciples were miraculously brought together with the Theotokos in Jerusalem, and they were with her when she fell asleep in the Lord. Only Thomas was not present for her falling asleep and her burial. When he arrived a few days later and they opened her tomb so that he could see her body for one last time, they discovered that it was no longer there! Our Lord had taken her body to Heaven, giving all of us hope of eternal life!

How do we explain this miracle to our children when we can barely wrap our own minds around it? Well, because it is a miracle, we can not explain it. However, perhaps we can offer a slightly similar concept. We can invite the children to think of their favorite toy (especially effective for this would be a particularly-favored “lovey” if there is one such toy in the family). Have them imagine parting with that favorite, and only receiving part of it back again. For example, “We all know how much Sophie loves Mr. Bun. He goes everywhere with her! Remember that time that she left Mr. Bun at the restaurant while we were on vacation and we had to drive all the way back to get him? Would Sophie like it if, when we went back, we only brought part of Mr. Bun with us and just left the rest of him there in the restaurant? No! Well, it’s a tiny bit like that, here. Our Lord really loved His mother, the Theotokos. Of course, she was not a toy, but she was favored by God because she lived such a holy life. When she departed this earthly life to go to Heaven, Our Lord took all of her – even her body – to Heaven, too! Now even her earthly body is with Him in Heaven!” Granted, there are many weaknesses in this comparison, but it is a starting place for discussion. We should continue, “The Dormition is a good reminder for us to live holy lives and love God as the Theotokos did! We also want to live in Heaven with Him when we depart this life!”

Here are links to resources that will help your family learn more about the Feast of the Dormition:

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Find a printable countdown coloring page to use during the Dormition Fast here: http://manymercies.blogspot.com/2015/07/dormition-fast-calendar-printable-and.html

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Consider assembling a countdown with candles to be burned daily during the Dormition Fast as shown here: http://craftyincoffeeland.blogspot.com/2013/08/dormition-fast.html?m=0. If you are so inclined, decorate them with symbols of the Theotokos as demonstrated here: http://www.sttheophanacademy.com/2011/07/sobering-time.html.

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This countdown craft includes a daily reading focusing on a different type of the Theotokos as described in scripture: https://craftycontemplative.com/2010/07/28/dormition-calendar-craft/

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Read about the Feast of the Dormition, learn more about the festal icon, and find the hymns of the feast in this blog post: http://www.goarch.org/special/listen_learn_share/dormition/index_html. Read more about the feast here https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/dormition-of-the-theotokos. Listen to this podcast on the theology of the feast, as explained by Fr. Thomas Hopko of blessed memory, here:http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/hopko/dormition_of_the_theotokos

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“If we follow her example, our souls can become like hers and find everlasting rest in Christ’s hands.” (p. 59) Read more in the fascinating segment about the Feast of the Dormition in this book: http://store.ancientfaith.com/heaven-meets-earth

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Find printable resources that help children learn the names of the Theotokos, as well as a printable activity page related to the Dormition here: http://orthodoxeducation.blogspot.com/2009/08/dormition-word-search.html

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Print a copy of this popup centerpiece. Feature it on your dining room table or in your prayer corner as you celebrate the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos: http://www.antiochian.org/sites/default/files/assets/asset_manager/abbe11671878e0c8d20d278ea0ae08af.pdf

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If your parish celebrates the dormition with the blessing of flowers, consider doing what this mom suggests so that the children have a hand in preparing your bouquet(s): http://churchyearforchildren.blogspot.com/search/label/Dormition%20of%20the%20Theotokos

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This beautiful book tells the story of the Dormition of the Theotokos: http://orthodoxchildrensbooks.com/eng/index.php/Paterikon-for-Kids-21-23-NEW/23-Paterikon-for-Kids-The-Dormition-of-the-Theotokos/flypage-ask.tpl.html. Listen to Dr. Chrissi Hart’s reading of the book here: www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/grapevine/readings_from_under_the_grapevine_-_program_110

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Some children will be fascinated by this miracle that happens annually (with very few exceptions) at the time of the Dormition of the Theotokos, on the Greek island of Cephalonia! It involves snakes and the icon of the Theotokos, and started when nuns prayed and asked the Theotokos to deliver them from pirates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Za9-uX4b8