"An educator should experience all the stages of Christian perfection in order to know in his subsequent activity how to behave and be able to notice the inclinations of his pupils, and then to influence them with patience, successfully, strongly, and fruitfully. Such educators should be a class of the purest, chosen by God, and saintly persons." [St. Theophan the Recluse on Responsibilities of an Educator, Turning the Heart to God, XXIII]
In our Sunday School Service, we have three goals that we, as servants, must adhere to in serving our children:
Each Sunday School class follows a teaching structure which consists of a prayer, a hymn lesson and a Sunday School lesson—all driven from curricula posted on the Servants Portal.
Prayer Curriculum
Memorization of church prayers is fundamental for the spiritual growth of every Orthodox Christian. Therefore, the Sunday School Service takes the initiative of teaching the Agpeya prayers from the very early stage to the last stage of Sunday School. Each class (grade level) is provided with a defined Prayer Curriculum. This curriculum remains the same every year for that grade level; it does not change. At the beginning of the Sunday School class, each class is to commence with the prayer until the children memorize the prayer, and then the class should move on to the next prayer on its curriculum.
Hymns Curriculum
Each class has a Hymns Curriculum to follow and teach before the lesson. The curriculum has a defined list of hymns and a timeline for teaching the hymns throughout the year. A full list of the hymns curriculum per class can be found on the Servants Portal. The curriculum include:
