St. Brigid's Day

St. Brigid's Feast Day is February 1.  We were busy that day so we celebrated late.  St. Brigid is one of my favorite Saints.  She was born in the mid-5th century in Ireland.  She founded many convents across Ireland during her lifetime and is a much beloved Saint in Ireland.  You can read more about her life and ways to celebrate her Feast Day HERE.

I read this lovely book about St. Brigid to my children (unfortunately it appears this book is currently out of print, but there is an e-book version available).  I absolutely love the beautiful illustrations by Zachary Lynch (who also wrote and illustrated another favorite book of mine about St. Patrick).

After reading the book about St. Brigid's life we made paper versions of the cross St. Brigid was said to have made from rushes.  We used the instructions found HERE.  We used strips of paper from a magazine, but we should have made our strips a little longer.  They still came out lovely.  We also ate oat pancakes (in lieu of oat cakes).  Traditional recipes for St. Brigid's Day can be found HERE.  We save our colcannon for St. Patrick's Day!

Kontakion of Saint Brigid
The holy virgin Brigid full of divine wisdom,
went with joy along the way of evangelical childhood,
and with the grace of God
attained in this way the summit of virtue.
Wherefore she now bestows blessings
upon those who come to her with faith.
O holy virgin, intercede with Christ our God
that He may have mercy on our souls.

St. Gregory Palamas

St. Gregory Palamas is commemorated this coming Sunday (the second Sunday in Lent) in the Orthodox Church.  He is remembered on this Sunday because the condemnation of his enemies and the vindication of his teachings by the Church in the 14th century was acclaimed as a second triumph of Orthodoxy.

St. Gregory was born in 1296 in Constantinople to pious Christian parents. He eventually entered the monastic life.  Through solitude and inner stillness he was able to enter into a state of constant prayer.  He wrote various treatises on asceticism and prayer and defended the methods used by hesychasts.
Read more about St. Gregory Palamas HERE.

St. Gregory taught that unceasing mental prayer is the duty of all Christians and the prayer known as the "Jesus Prayer" is often used for this purpose in the Orthodox Tradition.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

To prepare for this Sunday I read a lesson to my kids about St. Gregory Palamas from the Orthodox curriculum, The Children's Garden of the Theotokos (Anaphora Press).  It teaches children about the use of prayer ropes with the Jesus Prayer.  Instead of making the page outlined in the lesson, I used a craft found on the Crafty Contemplative blog.  Click HERE for the craft.  We did ours slightly different (for instance we used 3-dimensional stickers for the crosses) and added an icon of St. Gregory that I printed.  I made my own with the kids and said one Jesus Prayer as I glued on each of the circles that represent the knots on a prayer rope.  You can read more about prayer ropes HERE.

The kids seemed to really enjoy making their own version of a prayer rope on paper and we hung them on the wall to remind us of this prayer throughout Lent.

(Click to see larger)

St. Euphrosynos

One of my favorite Saints - St. Euphrosynos the Cook whose feast day is celebrated on September 11.

This year I read the story of St. Euphrosynos from the Children's Garden of the Theotokos curriculum.  I really love this version of his story as well as this beautiful curriculum.  Another story you could read to children is the book The Boy, A Kitchen And His Cave.  More information about St. Euphrosynos can also be found at orthodoxwiki or the OCA website.

Children find the story of St. Euphrosynos especially interesting and full of wonder.  It's a great way to help them learn about humility, patience and striving for continuous prayer as they learn how a simple cook attained such spiritual heights and closeness to God that he was allowed to walk in Paradise.

As I read the story from the Children's Garden of the Theotokos I used some props to help tell the story.  I used very simple wood peg figures that I made for St. Euphrosynos and the Abbot of his monastery, red glass beads to represent the apples and a few other items I had on hand to represent St. Euphrosynos' work in the monastery kitchen (a barrel), the trees in Paradise and the chapel.  These seem to help my kids pay attention and remember the story better.

After the story we made an apple sun catcher to hang in a window.  I adapted this craft from another one I saw for the Fruits of the Spirit.  That craft involved a garland of smaller apples with one Fruit of the Spirit written on each apple.  I chose to simplify and just have each child make one larger apple.  I used clear contact paper, a black Sharpie marker and red tissue paper.  Just a few simple supplies needed - my favorite kind of craft!

I drew freehand an apple, 6 - 8 inches wide, on a piece of contact paper.  Then I peeled the back off and let each child place pieces of torn tissue paper onto the sticky side inside the outline of the apple.  You could cut the tissue paper into small pieces instead of tearing them.  This was a simple project even for my youngest child.  When they were done I placed another piece of contact paper on top to seal in the paper and then let each child cut out his or her apple.  Make sure to leave a little edge of contact paper around the tissue paper to keep it sealed together.

Then we talked a little about the Fruit of the Spirit and other virtues that St. Euphrosynos attained and I asked each child which they would like to ask God to help them work on in their own lives.  My kids chose generosity, patience and self-control.  I thought I might have to help my 4 year old a bit with choosing something for his apple, but he quickly chose self-control.  I wrote each virtue that the children chose on their apples and then we hung them in the window.

They came out very beautiful and will hopefully be a good reminder for the children of character qualities they would like to work on.

Here are some other great craft ideas for remembering St. Euphrosynos.

I had hoped to make a yummy apple treat that day to help us celebrate, but I ran out of time so we had to settle for plain apple slices (which were pretty yummy by themselves!).  The sweetness of the apples reminds us of the sweetness of Paradise and of God's great mercy.

Troparion for St. Euphrosynos the Cook
You lived in great humility, in labors of asceticism and in purity of soul, O righteous Euphrosynos. By a mystical vision you demonstrated the Heavenly joy which you had found. Therefore make us worthy to be partakers of your intercessions.