Show God's Love
St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia

The Nativity Season: Session 2

Level: Junior (age 7–9)

Sub-theme

The life of St. Nicholas illustrates how we can help others thereby showing God’s love for all. We also can associate the acts of charity with the real St. Nicholas and help students not to confuse him with the more familiar "Santa Claus." Understanding the true nature of St. Nicholas in Myra in Lycia helps us to prepare for to meet the Lord, setting the birth of Christ within the context of God’s family.

Objectives

By the end of this session students should be able to:

• Compare and Contrast the acts of getting vs. giving
• Re-tell the generous acts of St. Nicholas
• List ways we can imitate St. Nicholas and his acts of charity
• Sing the Troparian of St. Nicholas
• Demonstrate an understanding of good works by participating in a charitable project

Materials

• Icon of the Nativity of Christ (use throughout Nativity unit)
• Line icon of St. Nicholas to go on the front of construction paper card (from The Icon Book)
  Download PDF For best results, set Page Scaling to None
  There are two sizes on the PDF, the smaller could be used on the cards, the larger as a coloring sheet
• Life of St. Nicholas
• Construction paper
• Crayons, markers, pencils or pens
• Letter about charitable project
• Copies of the Troparion of St. Nicholas

Resources

• Icons from The Icon Book by John Matusiak, Basil Essey and James McLuckie, Department of Christian Education, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, 1981 out-of-print
• Liturgical hymns
  • The Miracle of Saint Nicholas by Gloria Whelan, Bethlehem Books, 1997

Procedure

• Opening Prayer 

Sung/Recited together (1 minute)

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thy nativity, O Christ our God,
Has shown to the world the light of wisdom.
For by it, those who worshipped the stars
Were taught by a star to adore Thee,
The Sun of Righteousness,
And to know Thee, the Orient from on high.
O Lord, glory to Thee!

• Discussion Starter 

(10 minutes)

Begin by asking the following:

How do you feel when you get a gift?
How do you feel about the person who gave you a gift?
How do you feel if you don’t know who gave you a gift?
How do you feel when you give a gift?

• Activity: Story of Nicholas

Procedure

• Have a gift waiting in the classroom when the children come in.
• Read the life of St. Nicholas. Pause often to emphasize his good deeds, kindness and generosity. Discuss how St. Nicholas, who was very kind and generous, often gave gifts to others and no one knew who gave them. Ask students to "say something" in response to key points in the story, marked ahead of time. Pause often to ask students to make "text-to-self" connections for times in their life when they helped someone or did acts of kindness and generosity.

Saint Nicholas, the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia is famed as a great saint pleasing unto God. He was born in the city of Patara in the region of Lycia (on the south coast of the Asia Minor peninsula), and was the only son of pious parents Theophanes and Nonna, who had vowed to dedicate him to God. Since Nicholas was a small child, he always studied Scripture; during the day, he would not leave church, and by night he prayed and read books, making himself truly a friend of God.

St. Nicholas was known for the many good things he did. One time, there was a man with three daughters who needed money so he could buy food. The saint, learning of the man’s poverty secretly visited him one night and threw a sack of gold through the window. Since there was so much money, the man was able to buy food and give his daughters the money they would need when they grew up. However, St. Nicholas always strove to keep his good acts a secret.

Another time, St. Nicholas was going to go on a long trip on a huge boat. Shortly after he left, he had a feeling that a storm would come and sink the ship, and sure enough, the sky grew dark and cloudy and the ocean waters began to crash against the sides of the boat. Everybody was very scared, but St. Nicholas prayed to God, and the waves stopped beating the boat, and the sun came out from behind the clouds. His prayer was so strong that even one of the sailors who had fallen during the storm and was badly hurt, was made better.

St. Nicholas was a very gentle priest who was very caring to those who needed him. Soon, he was made a bishop of his area, Lycia, and did everything he could to correct those who held wrong beliefs about the church. And while he was a bishop, he continued to help those he could. He worked many other miracles and struggled many long years at his work. Through the prayers of the saint, soldiers were helped, and the city of Myra was rescued from a terrible food shortage.

Having reached old age, St. Nicholas peacefully fell asleep in the Lord. When he died, his body had a very sweet smell, and the myrrh which flowed from his body helped heal sick people. The name of the great saint of God, the hierarch and wonderworker Nicholas, a quick helper for all who call on him, is famed in every corner of the earth, in many lands, and among many peoples. All over the world, there are many churches named after him. There is, perhaps, not a single city without a church named after him.

St. Nicholas, the bishop of Lycia, is the patron of travelers, and we pray to him for help from floods, poverty, or any misfortunes. He has promised to help those who remember his parents, Theophanes and Nonna.

• Sing the Troparian for St. Nicholas. Have copies of the Troparian for children to take home.

Troparian - Tone 4

In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father Nicholas,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

• Activity: Cards for Homebound

Materials needed for a charitable project include an explanatory note for the children to take home. Each child will make a card for a specific homebound person in the parish. Talk about what a homebound person is and what their lives might be like. Have the class also participate in the younger children's charitable project by bringing in coins and helping to collect on Sundays.

Materials

Line drawing icon of St. Nicholas
Notes to take home
Construction Paper
Crayons, markers, pencils or pens
Stickers, etc.

Procedure

Decorate cards with bright colors or use holiday stickers. Have the students write a note to the person for whom they are making the card. Consider having the person become a "prayer partner" during the Nativity Fast, with the child communicating regularly with the homebound person through cards.

• Extra Activity: Shoes

Some cultures leave shoes out for St. Nicholas to fill with treats. This could be done outside the classroom door during class for a wonderful surprise. Or it could be done on the exact day of St. Nicholas’s commemoration, the eve of December 6th. Consider holding a festival for children close to this feast day, when the children could leave shoes out at the beginning of the session on a Saturday morning. During the festival, children could make banners of St. Nicholas to be used for the Festal Liturgy in a children's procession before the Little Entrance.

If the bishop is coming for a visit soon, children could learn to sing the greeting hymn for the bishop (see Orthodox Hymns for Children, Vol. 1, pg. 29).

Wrap-Up 

(1-2 minutes)

• How does it feel if you give a gift and the person does not know who it is from?
• How does it feel to do an act of kindness for a person who cannot come to church?

• Closing Prayer 

Sung/Recited together (1 minute)

Kontakion of the Nativity (Tone 3)

Today the virgin gives birth to the transcendent one,
And the earth offers a cave to the unapproachable one.
Angels, with shepherds, glorify Him.
The wise men journey with the star,
Since for our sake the eternal God was born as a little child!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Teachers' Notes

St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Archbishop of Myra in Lycia

Troparian - Tone 4

In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father Nicholas,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion - Tone 3

You revealed yourself, O saint, in Myra as a priest,
For you fulfilled the Gospel of Christ
By giving up your soul for your people,
And saving the innocent from death.
Therefore you are blessed as one become wise in the grace of God.

Printable Resources

Books

The Icon Book
by John Matusiak, Basil Essey and James McLuckie, Department of Christian Education, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, 1981
out-of-print

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Lesson plans for Pre-K–Kindergarten, Junior, Intermediate, Senior High, and Adult

From the Department of Christian Education, Orthodox Church in America. Copyright © 1999–2006. Used by permission.

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