“Curriculum in religious education must encompass more than the schooling context if it is to fulfill its aim of integrating persons into the life of the Church. Three contexts have been indentified as centers of focus for intentional religious education: the church (worship), the school (formal teaching), and the family/community (praxis). It is the interrelationship and integration of education in these three contexts thats leads to wholeness.”

– Constance Tarasar, A Process Model for the Design of Curriculum for Orthodox Christian Religious Education

Kolyva Recipe for Saturday of Souls

Kolyva is a wheat dish – an ancient, symbolic custom based on two scriptures: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” (John 12:24) & “But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? and With what body do they come?’ Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain – perhapswheat or some other grain. But God give is a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.” (1 Corinthians 15:35-38) It can be spelled many different ways – kollyva, koliva, coliva – and the recipes vary greatly depending upon your culture. There is also a miracle involving St. Theodore and kolyva.

The recipe provided here is for a small bowl of a Greek version intended for Saturday of Souls. You would make a much larger portion for a memorial in which you share the kolyva with the entire parish. Kolyva is brought to the church when a loved one has passed away – oftentimes, 40 days, 6 months, and 1 year after they have fallen asleep (other times as well) – and you’ve contacted your parish priest first. Typically the memorial service is done after liturgy on a Sunday, but can be done at other times as well.

Our Journey to Pascha Calendar

You can save the calendar and print it at your local FedEx Printing or Staples for less than $2. Some people will also laminate the calendar so they can use it from year to year with a dry erase marker.

• Use the calendar as a resource for discussing the Sundays of Great Lent with your kids
• Mark on the calendar when your family plans to attend services during Lent and place the calendar on your refrigerator – 1. Not all parishes have the exact same services 2) This calendar is meant to be interactive and personalized for each family, with each year doing a little bit more than last year.
• For younger kids – about 2nd grade and younger: Countdown to Pascha! At the end of each day have your kids put one sticker or X over that day. Kids learn the concept of “next” before they learn the concept of time. Discuss what is happening “next” with your kids.

Reading the Bible to Our Kids

Saint John Chrysostom gives us detailed instructions for teaching our kids in An Address on Vainglory & the Right Way for Parents to Bring Up Their Children:

1. Tell our children a story from the Bible
2. Then retell the same story to your child, until they know the story well
3. Ask your child to narrate the story back to you
4. “This is not all. Go, leading him by the hand in church and pay heed particularly when this tale is read aloud. Thou wilt see him rejoice and leap with pleasure because he knows what the other children do not know, as he anticipates the story, recognizes it, and derives great gain from it. And hereafter the episode is fixed in his memory.”