Lenten Sundays Series: Great and Holy Pascha
This is the ninth in a series of posts that focuses on the Sundays of Great Lent, and Holy Week and Pascha. Each week we have shared ideas of ways to help your Sunday Church School students learn more about that particular Sunday’s focus. (Find the Palm Sunday article and earlier articles here.)
Here’s a meditation on Great and Holy Pascha for you to ponder before you create a lesson for your students:
Great and Holy Pascha is the most important day of our entire church year. We call it the “Feast of Feasts” for this very reason. On this day we celebrate Christ’s victorious triumph over death. This is the reason He came to earth and became incarnate: so that He could trample down death by His death, and save us.
On Holy Saturday, we heard St. Matthew’s account of the women finding the empty tomb during the Vesperal Divine Liturgy. The Paschal Gospel reading acknowledges that we know the events of the day already, having just partaken of them all week. So instead of revisiting these events on Pascha, we turn our ears to the first verses of St. John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God… In Him was life and the life was the light of men…” The passage reminds us that God created the world and has now re-created it through Christ. This Gospel reading points us to the reason for all of the events we have just witnessed, and reminds us of the truth of the hope that we have in Christ.
Much later in the day, when we gather again for Agape Vespers, the Gospel reading assures us of the reality of Christ’s resurrection, when He appears to His disciples and even Thomas cannot deny that Christ, God incarnate, has defeated death and is alive. The words of Christ to His disciples are offered to us as well, in all the languages we are able to muster, for they belong to every human on earth. He says to them, “Peace be with you!” and again, “Peace to you!”
He goes on to send his disciples (and us) out into the world, breathing Life into them when He breathes on them and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit. Just as God breathed into Adam and Eve when He first created the world, He breathes into His disciples as He creates His Church. So, Pascha celebrates Christ’s resurrection and thus, the beginning of the Church. He thus fully tramples down death: His resurrection has trampled physical death, and His Church offers us spiritual life instead of spiritual death.
On Great and Holy Pascha, we begin a 40-day season of celebrating Christ’s victory over death, and the beautiful gift He gives us in the Church. Glory be to Jesus Christ! Glory be forever!
Christ is risen!
Christos Anesti!
Al Maseeh Qam!
Christos Voskrese!
Cristo ha resucitado!
Hristos a Inviat!
Krishti Ungjall!
Here are some resources that may be helpful as you plan a lesson on Pascha for your Sunday Church School class:
***
Very young children will benefit from this colorful lesson about Pascha, using Orthodox Pebbles’ illustrations of four icons as its core: https://orthodoxpebbles.c...
***
Find a lesson about Pascha, geared to younger children, here: http://www.orthodoxabc.co...
***
Potamitis Publishing’s book #13 in their Paterikon for Kids is entitled The Resurrection of Christ and is a child-sized book that helps young children to understand more about what Pascha is all about. One page will even make your students want to sing! Get your copy here: http://orthodoxchildrensb...
***
Issue #71 of the Orthodox children’s magazine “Little Falcons” is all about Pascha. Order it here: http://littlefalcons.net/...
***
Lesson #6, here, is about Pascha. It is available at a variety of levels:
***
Here is another leveled set of lessons about Pascha that may be helpful to you as you prepare to teach a class about this glorious feast:
http://orthodoxsundayscho...
http://orthodoxsundayscho...
***
Find a few suggestions of things to do with your class to help them learn about Pascha here:
***
Learn more about the feast itself, and find some classroom resources here: https://orthodoxchurchsch...
***
This article is written for The Antiochian Department of Christian Education by Kristina Wenger and appears on the AODCE blog Orthodox Christian Sunday Church School Teachers at https://orthodoxchurchschoolteachers.wordpress.com/