The Virgin Mary: A Celebration of Our Faith: Introduction

What's Inside:

• Session 1 (Junior // Intermediate // Senior)
• Session 2 (Junior // Intermediate // Senior)
• Session 3 (Intermediate // Senior)
• Session 4 (Junior // Intermediate // Senior)
• Session 5 (Junior // Intermediate // Senior)

• 1Samuel 2:-10
• Icon-Akathist Views comparison chart
• Book of James or Protoevangelism excerpt
• Eve-Mary (The New Eve) Comparison chart
• Genesis 3:1-15
• Luke 1:26-56
• Outline for Presentation
• The Dogmatikon
• Troparion and Kontakion of the Annunciation, Hymn to the Theotokos, Incarnation chart, Hannah's Pride-Mary's Song of Thanksgiving comparison char
• Troparion and Kontakion of the Dormition, Hymn to the Theotokos
• Troparion and Kontakion of the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple - Pslam 45-Troparion, Kontakion conparison chart
• Tropartion and Kontakion of the Nativity of the Theotokos, Hymn to the Theotokos, Praises of the Matins Service of the Nativity of Christ to the Theotokos
• Women's Ministires Meeting Presentation

UNIT OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION

“For behold… all generations will call be blessed.” Luke 1:48

OVERALL OBJECTIVE:

• Understand the importance of the Theotokos as an intercessor in our relationship with Jesus Christ and
• Understand the importance of the Theotokos as a model for us today.

FOCUS:

• Consider that there is not single service in the Orthodox Faith which does not contain one or more references to the Virgin Mary.
• The Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus (431) established the title of the Theotokos as the “Birthgiver of God.”

The veneration of the Virgin Mary is a necessary component of our faith:

• The image of the Virgin Mary, the Virgin Mother, stands [as] the image of infinite humility and purity, yet filled with beauty and strength; the image of love and the victory of love.
• The Virgin Mary, the All-Pure Mother demands nothing and receives everything. She pursues nothing and possesses all. In the image of the Virgin Mary, we find … compassion, tender-heartedness, care, trust, humility. We cal her our Lady and the Queen of heaven and earth, and yet she calls herself “the hand-maid of the Lord.”…
• Christ said, ‘Do not be anxious… Seek first the Kingdom of God’ (see Mt 6:33). Beholding this woman – Virgin Mother, Intercessor – we begin to sense, to know not with our mind, but with our heart, what it means to seek the Kingdom, to find it, and to live by it.
• The Virgin Mary: The Celebration of Faith by Alexander Schmemann, pages 21 – 22. [This source will be cited throughout the curriculum, and the beginning section will be available with the complete packet as an introduction.]

By the end of camp, all children should also commit to memory the Hymn to the Theotokos:

It is truly fitting to bless you, O Theotokos, ever blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, without defilement you gave birth to God the Word. True Theotokos, we magnify you!

Note: The lessons are in the order of the Church calendar for the four feast days, as well as the chronology of the life of Mary.

Using the Festal Troparion from each session is a good idea for an opening prayer ; likewise , close each session with reciting the Kontakion from that Feast.