Saint Philothea, pray for us!
“Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for to such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Mark 10:14
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Volume 5, Issue 8
A Ministry of the
Orthodox Christian Network
Christ is in our midst!
When you see your friends, what do
you say? “Hey, what’s up?” “How’s it going?” We always have something to say, don’t we? At church, you
might hear people greet each other in a different way.
“Christ is in our midst!” Christ is with us! And you can answer, “He is and ever shall be!” He always will be with us!
We know that our Lord, Jesus Christ, is with us always:
when things are going well and when they’re not, when
we’re in church and when we’re somewhere else, when
we’re with our Christian friends and family and when we’re not. But today, in
the Gospel reading, we hear about how Christ is with us in a different way too.
We hear how God wants us to think about our Lord anytime we see another person!
The Gospel says, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave
me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” and more. And for those people, God says, “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” He invites these people to
be with Him in heaven! Then the people wonder when they gave Jesus food or
drink or clothes, or when they visited Him. But He answers that as you did it to
“the least of these,” you did it to Him. So when we help another person, we are
really helping Christ too!
The Children’s Word is a weekly bulletin for Orthodox Christian young people. Copyright 2017 Alexandra Houck.
Email is orthodoxchildrensword (at) gmail.com. Find it each week at myocn.net.
Let’s always remember, “Christ is in our midst!” He is with us! Let’s do our best
to give Him food and drink and clothes, and love—every time we help another
person!
WORD SEARGCRHI H
Can you find these
words in the jumble?
ATHENS
FAITH
HELPING
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JUDGMENT
LEAST OF THESE
MARTYR
PHILOTHEA
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What’s in the icon?
Here is another icon of Saint Philothea of Athens.
Can you see her teaching the young
Christian girls? They look like they
are in a secret place.
Saint Philothea was one brave
woman!
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SAINT PHILOTHEA OF ATHENS
What is the bravest thing you ever
did? Rock-climbed up a 50-foot climbing wall?
Stood up for a friend when your classmates were making fun of her? Held a poisonous snake?
Today we celebrate the feastday of one of the bravest
women you will ever find. St. Philothea of Athens
lived more than 1,500 years ago in Athens, Greece.
Her family was very rich, and her parents left St.
Philothea lots of money when they died. She could have spent it all on
fancy clothes, exciting shows, or interesting trips. But instead, St. Philothea
decided to build hospitals, help orphans, and feed and clothe poor people.
She even built a convent for young, Christian women.
All those things were very brave things to do. But St. Philothea didn’t stop
there. In St. Philothea’s time, the Ottomans were making things hard for
Christians. Young Christian girls sometimes were even stolen from their
families and sold as slaves! Many of the girls even became Muslim.
So St. Philothea hid lots of these Christian girls in her convent where they
were safe. She did this for many years, but sooner or later, the officials
found out about her secret.
One night, a group of these men came to St. Philothea’s convent, tied her to
a pillar, and beat her. She died not long after that.
St. Philothea is a great example to young women and men, showing us how
important it is to be brave in our faith. If you go to the big cathedral in Athens, you can pray in front of her relics (her body).
We celebrate the nameday of Saint Philothea today, February 19th.