In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.
(Gen 1, 1-2).
The biblical doctrine of the creation of the world is briefly called six days. Day means day. In 1823, the Anglican priest George Stanley Faber (1773-1854) advanced the day-epoch theory. This opinion has absolutely no basis. In Hebrew to express words indefinite period of time or era there is a concept olam. Word yom in Hebrew always means day, days but never time period. The rejection of a literal understanding of the day greatly distorts the biblical teaching about the creation of the world. If we take a day as an epoch, then how to determine evening and morning? How to apply the blessing of the seventh day and rest in it to the age? After all, the Lord commanded rest on the seventh day of the week - Saturday, because He Himself rested: and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, for in it he rested from all his works(Gen 2, 3). The Lord created plants on the third day, and the sun, moon and other luminaries on the fourth. If we accept the idea of "day - epoch", it turns out that for a whole epoch, plants grew without sunlight.
The Holy Fathers understood day the first chapter of the book of Genesis literally. Saint Irenaeus of Lyon: "Restoring this day in Himself, the Lord came to suffer on the day before the Sabbath - that is, on the sixth day of creation, on which man was created, through His suffering giving him a new creation, that is (liberation) from death." Saint Ephrem the Syrian: "No one should think that the six-day creation is an allegory." Saint Basil the Great: « And there was evening, and there was morning, one day ... determines the measure of day and night and combines into one daily time, because twenty-four hours fill the duration of one day, if by day we mean also night. Saint John of Damascus: “From the beginning of a day to the beginning of another day is one day, for the Scripture says: and there was evening and there was morning, one day».
How, then, did the alternation of day and night take place before the creation of the luminaries, which appear on the fourth day? St. Basil the Great writes: “Then, not by the movement of the sun, but by the fact that the primitive light, to a measure determined by God, then overflowed, then again contracted, day occurred and night followed” (Shestodnev. Conversation 2).
The Book of Genesis begins with a description of the majestic works of God - the creation of the world in six days. The Lord created the Universe with innumerable luminaries, the earth with its seas and mountains, man and the entire animal and plant world. The biblical revelation about the creation of the world rises above all existing cosmogonies of other religions, just as truth rises above any myth. No religion, no philosophy could not rise to the superior idea of creation out of nothing: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
God is self-sufficient and absolutely complete. For His being He requires nothing and needs nothing. The only reason for the creation of the world was the perfect Love of God. St. John of Damascus writes: “The good and most good God was not content with the contemplation of Himself, but out of excess of goodness, He wanted something to happen that in the future would benefit from His good deeds and be part of His goodness.”
The first to be created were incorporeal spirits - Angels. Although Holy Bible does not contain a story about the creation of the angelic world, there is no doubt that the angels by their nature belong to the created world. This view is based primarily on a clear biblical understanding of God as the almighty Creator who laid the foundation for everything that exists. Everything has a beginning, only God has no beginning. Some holy fathers see an indication of the creation of the invisible world of Angels in the words God created the sky (Gen 1, 1). In confirmation of this idea, St. Philaret (Drozdov) notes that, according to the biblical narrative, the physical heaven was created on the second and fourth days.
primordial the earth was unsettled and empty. Matter, created from nothing, was at first disordered and covered with darkness. Darkness was an inevitable consequence of the absence of light, which was not created as an independent element. Further, the writer Moses writes that The Spirit of God hovered over the water(Gen 1, 2). Here we see an indication of the creative and revitalizing participation in the creation of the third Person of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit. Extremely short and precise definition - everything is from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. The water mentioned in the above verse is the most important element, without which life is impossible. In the Holy Gospel, water is a symbol of the life-giving and saving teaching of Jesus Christ. In the life of the Church, water has special meaning, being the substance of the sacrament of baptism.
First day of creation
And God said: let there be light. And there was light... And God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day(Gen 1:3-5).
By divine command arose light. From further words: and God separated the light from the darkness we see that the Lord did not destroy the darkness, but only established its periodic change with light to restore and preserve the strength of man and every creature. This wisdom of God is sung by the Psalmist: You spread darkness and there is night: during it all the animals of the forest roam; lions roar for prey and ask God for food for themselves. The sun rises, [and] they gather and lie down in their lairs; A man goes out to his work and to his work until evening. How many are your works, O Lord!(Ps 103:20-24). Poetic expression and there was evening and there was morning ends with a description of the creative affairs of each of the six days. The very word day the saints understood literally.
Light was created by the Divine word possessing omnipotent creative power: for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it appeared(Ps 32:9). The Holy Fathers see here a mysterious reference to the second Person of the Holy Trinity - the Son of God Jesus Christ, whom the apostle calls Word and at the same time says: Everything came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being that came into being.(Jn 1:3).
When describing the first day, the first placed evening, and then morning. For this reason, among the Jews in biblical times, the day began with the evening. This order was preserved in the worship of the New Testament Church.
Second day of creation
And God created the firmament...<...>and called ... the firmament sky(Gen 1, 7, 8) and placed the sky between the water that was on the earth and the water above the earth.
On the second day God created physical sky. Word firmament the word of the Hebrew original is transmitted, meaning prostration, for the ancient Jews metaphorically compared the firmament with a tent: spread out the heavens like a tent(Ps 103:2).
When describing the second day, it is also said about water, which is not only on earth, but also in the atmosphere.
Third day of creation
And God gathered the water under the sky into one place and opened the dry land. And he called the dry land the earth, and the collection of waters he called the seas. And God commanded the earth to bring forth vegetation, grass, and trees bearing fruit. And the earth was covered with vegetation. The Lord separated the water from the land(see: Gen 1:9-13).
On the third day were created oceans, seas, lakes and rivers, as well as continents and islands. This later delighted the Psalmist: He collected, like heaps, sea waters, laid abysses in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all who live in the world tremble before him, for he spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it appeared(Ps 32:7-9).
On the same day God created all vegetable world. This was fundamentally new: God laid the foundation for an organic life on the ground.
Produce Plant World Creator commanded the earth. St. Basil the Great says: “Then the verb and this first command became, as it were, a natural certain law and remained in the earth for subsequent times, giving it the power to give birth and bear fruit” (St. Basil the Great. Shestodnev. Conversation 5).
The book of Genesis says that the earth brought forth grass, grass, and trees yielding seed. according to their kind. The Holy Fathers attached fundamental importance to this, for it points to the constancy of everything created by God: “What at the first creation arose from the earth, it is observed to this day, through the preservation of the family by the succession of succession” (St. Basil the Great. Shestodnev. Conversation 5). As you can see, the third day was devoted to the dispensation of our planet.
And God saw that it was good (Gen 1:12). The writer expresses in poetic language the idea that God creates wisely and perfectly.
Fourth day of creation
And God said that lights should appear in the firmament of heaven, to sanctify the earth and to separate the day from the night. According to the created luminaries, the calendar and time will now be counted. And the luminaries appeared: the sun, the moon and the stars(See: Gen 1:14-18).
In the description of the fourth day, we see the creation of the luminaries, their purpose and their differences. From the text of the Bible we learn that the light was created on the second day before the luminaries, so that, according to the explanation of St. Basil the Great, unbelievers would not consider the sun to be the only source of light. One God is the Father of lights (see: James 1, 17).
The creation of the luminaries had three purposes: first, to illuminate earth and everything on it; a distinction is made between daytime (sun) and nighttime (moon and stars) luminaries. Secondly, to separate day from night; distinguish four season, arrange time with calendar and keep track of the calendar. Third, serve for the signs of the end times; This is stated in the New Testament: the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken; then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven; and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory(Mt 24:29-30).
Fifth day of creation
On the fifth day, the Lord created the first living creatures living in water and flying in the air. And God said, Let the water bring forth reptiles, living creatures; and let the birds fly over the earth. So the inhabitants of the waters appeared, aquatic animals, insects, reptiles and fish appeared, and birds flew through the air(see: Gen 1:20-21).
At the beginning of the fifth day God turns His creative word to water ( let the water bring forth), while on the third day - to the ground. Word water is taken in this place in a broader sense, denoting not only ordinary water, but also the atmosphere, which the sacred writer also calls water.
On the fifth day, God creates a higher form of life than plants. By God's command, representatives of the water element appeared (fish, whales, reptiles, amphibians and other inhabitants of the waters), as well as birds, insects and all living in the air.
The Creator creates the first beings of each kind (“according to kind”). He blesses them to be fruitful and multiply.
The sixth day of creation
On the sixth day of creation, God created the animals that live on earth, and man, in His own image and likeness.(See: Genesis 1, 24-31).
Description sixth creative day the prophet Moses begins with the same words as the previous days (third and fifth): yes will produce... God commands the earth to create all animals of the earth (living soul according to its kind). God created everything in a certain sequence increasing perfection.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his face breath of life and man became a living soul (cf. Gen 1:26-28).
The last, as the crown of creation, was created man. It was created in a special way. The Holy Fathers first of all note that his creation was preceded by a Divine Council between all the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity: let's make a man. Man is distinguished from the whole created world and by the way the Lord creates him. Although his bodily composition was taken from the earth, the Lord does not command the earth to produce man (as was the case with other creatures), but Himself creates him directly. The psalmist says, addressing the Creator: Your hands created me and arranged me(Ps 118:73).
God said that it's not good for a person to be alone.
And the Lord God brought upon the man deep sleep; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs, and covered the place with flesh. And the Lord God made a wife out of the rib taken from the man, and brought her to the man(Gen 2:21-22).
The Lord, of course, could create not only one married couple, but several and produce from them the entire human race, but He wanted all the people of the earth to be one in Adam. Even Eve was taken from her husband. The Apostle Paul says: From one blood He made the whole human race to dwell on all the face of the earth.(Acts 17:26). And so we are all relatives.
At the dawn of human history, God established marriage as a permanent life union between a man and a woman. He blessed him and sealed him with the closest bonds: will be one flesh(Gen 2:24).
Having created human body, God blown into his face breath of life and man became a living soul. The most important distinguishing feature man is that his the soul is godlike. God said: Let us make man in Our image [and] in Our likeness(Gen 1:26). About what is the image of God in man, we said earlier. When God created man, He brought to him all the animals and birds, man gave them all names. The naming of names was a sign of man's dominion over all creation.
With the creation of man, the six-day creation of the world ends. God made the world perfect. The hand of the Creator did not bring any evil into him. This doctrine of the original goodness of all creation is a sublime theological truth.
At the end of time will the perfection of the world has been restored. According to the testimony of the seer, the holy Apostle John the Theologian, there will be a new heaven and a new Earth(see: Revelation 21:1).
Seventh day
And God finished on the seventh day His works which He did, and rested on the seventh day from all His works which He did(Gen 2:2).
Having finished the creation of the world, God rested from His works. The writer here uses a metaphor, for God does not need rest. This indicates the secret of true peace that awaits people in eternal life. Before the onset of this blessed time, already in earthly life we see a prototype of this state - the rest of the blessed seventh day, which in the Old Testament was Saturday, and for Christians is a day Sunday.
Lesson_ Creation of the world visible and invisible
Write in notebook:Creation of the invisible world→ on the board
slide 1. Open and read → Bible. Old Testament. Genesis (1:1)In the beginning God created the heaven and the earthWrite in a notebook
Slide 2. Everything we see is created by God.
But even before creating this visible world, the Lord created the world is invisible. Under the sky » we understand here spiritual, invisible world or angels Slide 3.
The word "angel" means "messenger". God sends angels to people to reveal His will to them. Angels are invisible because they have no body. They are incorporeal spirits. But sometimes, when God wants, angels appear to people in the form of a man. slide 4. Angels on icons are depicted with wings as a sign that they are joyfully and quickly fulfilling the will of God. God created a lot of angels, and they were all good: they loved God and obeyed Him.
Slide 5. But one of the angels named Dennitsa became proud and wanted to become like God himself and not obey anyone. Some angels took an example from him and also stopped obeying the Lord. Then the good angels entered into a struggle with the evil ones, defeated them and drove them away. Since then, the angelic world has been divided: good angels have stayed with God, serve Him, praise Him and help people do good.
slide 6. God gives every person a guardian angel. The guardian angel loves us, gives us good thoughts and desires, helps us with his prayer to refrain from evil and rejoices when we do not do it, helps us in good deeds and protects us from troubles.
The guardian angel always prays with us. He is our closest and most faithful friend. You should always pray to your guardian angel. Slide 7. Read the prayer on the slide
slide 8. Another short prayer to the guardian angel:Holy Guardian Angel, pray to God for me!Write down a prayer in notebooks.
Evil angels are away from God and try to oppose Him and sow evil everywhere. They are not called angels, but demons , and the first angel who rebelled against God - devil or satan.
Completion of Assignments in the workbook_ Lesson 1. (see Material d / teacher)
Creation of the visible world
After the creation of heaveninvisible, angelic worldGod created by His Word earth, that is, the visible world.
It must be remembered that God does not create things the way we humans do them. In order to do something, we need to have material, we must try, work, and when we do a thing, we often don’t think about it anymore, we don’t care. But God created everything from nothing, one word His, and all the time remembers all of His creation: loves and takes care of him.
God created the world with His word, but not immediately, but gradually, as they say, in six days of creation. It must be remembered that the six days of creation were not ordinary days, but maybe many thousands of years each, because with God a thousand years are like one day, and one day is like a thousand years.
Completing the tasks in the workbook (Lesson 2, page 1)
slide 10. Genesis 1:2 "The earth was formless and empty"
Slide 11. Genesis 1:3 “And God said, Let there be light. And there was light
Completing the tasks in the workbook (Lesson 2, page 2)
Write in notebook: Paradise - in a beautiful garden Eden is the Kingdom of God.
Adam - red earth (God created man from the earth).
Eve is life (Genesis 3:20)
Everything that God created was very good: there was nothing bad - no misfortune, no sickness, no death. This happy life in paradise is depicted in the church during the service, when at the very beginning of the all-night service, the Royal Doors are open, the priest censes the entire temple, and the chanters sing a psalm, which speaks of how beautifully God created the world.Let's listen (01.19)
In the creation of the world, the Lord showed His glory and His strength, and the angels praise Him all the time. There was once such a case. slide 13. In the city of Tsargrad (Constantinople) there was an earthquake that did not stop for a long time. People left their homes, lived on the streets and in the fields. All in fear and trembling prayed to God. And so, during the prayer, a strong wind suddenly rose. One boy was lifted into the air and then lowered to the ground without harm. He said that during the flight he heard the singing of angels praising God: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal!” The people sang the same prayer, they only added the words: “have mercy on us,” and the earthquake ended.
Since then we have been reading and singing this prayer: slide 14.
Holy God! Holy Strong! Holy Immortal!" Have mercy on us.Write in a notebook
This prayer, which came to us from the angels, we call the Angelic Song of the Most Holy Trinity, or "Trisagion". Listen (01.30)
We call God Holy because there is no sin in Him. We call Him Strong because He is omnipotent. We call Him Immortal because He is eternal.
Truth: God made everything beautiful.
Purpose: To show that God is the Creator of everything. Learn to take care of all of God's creation.
Dogma: God is the Creator.
Christian Ethics: Concern for God's Creation.
Interest:
Who made this item? (table, cupboard, book). What are the people who build houses called? (builders). Various workers build houses: a bricklayer, a locksmith, a carpenter, and others. And what is the name of the One who made flowers, water, stones, animals? (God).
Today we will find out how it all happened.
Bible story:
(All the days of creation appear on the board as numbers from 1 to 6)
There was nothing on earth. She was naked and ugly.
- "Day 3" What kind of flowers did God decorate the earth with? (asters, roses, daisies, etc.) What trees appeared on earth? (tree, birch, poplar).
- "Day 4" The song "Who created?". Relax, sing a song. (Who created: heaven and earth, raging sea, green trees, twinkling stars? Our Lord God.) That's how many animals God created.
- “ Day 5"(The teacher takes the appropriate homemade toy and straightens it in front of the children and fastens it with a stapler (this shows that God also created all living things). What fish do you know? What birds do you know?).
- “Day 6” (Creation of animals. The teacher makes riddles, the children guess who God created on day 6, after the correct answer, the teacher makes a homemade toy in front of the children.
- Squirrel. It's a hollow in a pine tree, it's warm in a hollow, and who lives in a warm hollow in a hollow?
- Hedgehog. The crawler is crawling, the needles are carrying, etc.
- Ram and Horse. , Rooster, Dog.
That's how many animals God created. But we haven't named them all yet. God was very pleased with what He did—created. Do you like it? (Continuation of the song "Who created it?". Who created: fat hippos, toothy crocodiles, you and me? Our Lord God.)
- "7th day" - day of rest
Repetition biblical history- according to the figures on the figures.
The teacher shows the golden verse with movements:
"In the beginning" - gets up,
“created” - with his hands he “sculpts a bun”,
"God" - with one hand points to the sky,
"sky" - both hands stretched high, high,
“and the earth” - hands are lowered low crouching.
“Gen. 1:1,” he says, sitting down.
Children repeat after the teacher at first slowly, then faster. Then at will, who will say the verse faster.
Application:
ball game. The teacher calls the word and throws the ball to the children, sitting in one line, in order. If what the teacher called was created by God, then the children catch the ball, if not, then they throw it away. For example: table, bear, ram, radish, T-shirt, earth, lamp, moon, plate, etc. Or work with the picture "Created by God or made by man."
A game.- Guys, for whom did God create such beautiful world? (For us). Do you think we can hurt animals or break trees (no). And what should we do? (on the contrary, take care).
The teacher distributes objects or drawings to the children. Children must determine who these objects or drawings refer to: bad children or good ones who care about the environment, and tell what these objects are for:
stick, bowl with bone,
leg crumples flower, watering can,
feeder with bread crumbs,
hand with a broken branch,
birdhouse, etc.
How would you like to act? How does God want us to act? (take care of nature).
modeling
The teacher prepares a large thick green cardboard in advance and invites the children to mold from plasticine (1 piece each), what God created. Then together they settle on the ground-cardboard what the children got. Parents are invited to watch this joint craft.
Homework
Tell your parents what you remember from the lesson and make a bird feeder for the winter with your parents.
Equipment:
(for teacher)
toys - homemade
riddles about animals
numbers 1-6 - "Days of Creation"
objects or drawings for the game to use
pictures of different flowers, trees
(for kids)
plasticine
cardboard for each student
large green cardboard
"Made or Done" picture
song "Who created?"
Who created?
Who created (fluttering birds?) 3 times
Who created the fluttering birds?
Our Lord God!
Who created (twinkling stars?) 3 times
Who created twinkling stars?
Our Lord God!
Who created (the raging sea?) 3 times
Who created the raging sea?
Our Lord God!
Who created the fluttering birds
Twinkling stars, raging sea?
Who created you and me?
God is love (1 John 4:8).
Life in love is a great joy, the highest bliss. And God wanted other beings to receive this joy.
For this He created the world.
First, God created the angels and placed them in the heavenly abodes. Heaven is a spiritual, invisible world. Then He created our earthly world.
The very word "angel" means in Russian "messenger". God sends holy angels into the world to proclaim His will to people.
To do this, the Angels take on a visible, human form. Many times the Angels appeared to people in the form of beautiful youths in snow-white, shining robes, girded with golden belts.
Angels are depicted as beautiful youths - as a sign of their spiritual beauty and winged - as a sign of their stay in the Kingdom of Heaven.
God gives every Christian at baptism a Guardian Angel. Our Heavenly Father commanded His Angels to keep us in all our ways and protect us from all evil (Ps. 90:10-11).
God gave me an angel at baptism.
Let me never see him
I know and believe that day by day
He protects me from enemies!
Guardian Angel is with me day and night
Wherever I am - in a hurry to help me!
I don't know the best doctor in the world,
It's just that I often upset him...
I lie, I'm lazy or I quarrel with someone -
The angel moves away and cries then.
Demons approach me then.
Angel, I'm sorry, without you I'm in trouble!
When you first learned to walk, mom or dad took you by the hand, protecting you from danger. But they cannot always be with us, and dangers lie in wait for us everywhere. We are often alone. Who will help us when they are not around? Our Guardian Angel. He is always and everywhere with us, although we do not see him.
Angele
God, my guardian, pray to God for me. 
Angel is my good guardian
Quiet bright patron,
Always pray to an angel
I'm not afraid of anything with him.
Guardian Angel guards you
He knows your secret thoughts,
Luck is having fun with you
And if you sin, he suffers and cries.
Poems of the monk Barnabas, and Evgeny Sanin.
And here is the coloring page.
I read two stories to them about the Guardian Angel, listened with bated breath, here is one of them:
In 1885, F. I. Sokolov, assistant head of the Moscow Oktyabrsky railway station, reported such a case. He had a familiar railway
an employee - a switchman who served at one of the stations closest to Moscow, Oktyabrskaya railway. Once, while performing his
On duty on the line, he had to endure terrible moments. A courier train was going from Petrograd to Moscow. The switchman came out to him
towards to move the arrow and direct it to a free path. He looks, far ahead, smoke is already visible and the whistle of a locomotive is heard.
Looking back, he sees: his three-year-old son is running along the canvas towards the train and holding something in his hands. It was already too late to throw the arrow and run towards the son to take him away from the canvas. What to do?
Meanwhile, the train was approaching, and in two minutes, if it had not moved the arrow, the train would have to rush along another busy track and crash, which would lead to hundreds of human casualties. Then with all his heart he called out to God: “May Thy holy will be done,” crossed himself, closed his eyes and turned the arrow. A moment - and the train raced already along the canvas, along which his little son had just run. When the train was out of sight and the dust settled a little, the switchman ran to the place where his son was, thinking to find at least
the remains of a corpse, and what he sees: the boy, with his arms folded on his chest, lies prostrate on the ground. The father shouted to him: “My son, are you alive?” - “I am alive, alive,” he answered cheerfully, rose to his feet, continuing to press to his chest
crow. There was no trace of fear in his eyes. The father asked him: “How did you guess to lie down on the ground?” And the boy answered: "Some bright, handsome, kind young man with wings bent over me and bent me to the ground." The switchman realized that when he called to the Lord, God's Angel miraculously saved his child. (Trinity Leaflets from the Spiritual Meadow, p. 84).
Lesson 2. Topic: Creation of the invisible world. Part one. Angels.
Prayer.
Good evening everyone! Hello guys! Let's pray before the start of our lesson. What prayer do you already know? Let's remember: God created this world with His word... Therefore, we will say today: Lord, bless! And also we will sing and say other short prayers so that it would not be difficult and interesting for us to study.
- Organizing time. I thank the children for their work in the last lesson, for their attention, patience and beautiful drawings. I remind you of the basic rules of conduct. I propose to consolidate our acquaintance, namely, to stand up and introduce ourselves once again. (Introducing myself again)
- Repetition of the past.
Last time we talked with you about our world, the world in which we live. Let's remember what our world consists of, let's call what we see in this world ... (sky, sun, moon, stars, clouds, the earth on which we live, the air we breathe - and everything on earth: grass, trees, mountains, rivers, seas, fish, birds, animals, animals, and finally, people ... S. Sloboskoy)
How could such a wonderful, diverse, rich and incomprehensible world appear by itself? From time immemorial (since ancient times, since ancient times) people passed on to their children a very important mysterious message (information, knowledge) - this world was created (created, made) by the good and incomprehensible Lord God. For this world, and especially for man, for you and me, he is the Father!
- Creation of the invisible world.
Today we learn another great secret, something that cannot be seen and known, something that is invisible to our eye, and not only to the eye, but also to all sorts of complex devices and machines ... In addition to our visible world, there is also an invisible world, a spiritual world, an angelic world ... (and not only, unfortunately, angelic…)
If God is Light, then angels are reflections, rays of this Light...
Let's see how the Lord God created the angels. Maybe not everything will be clear to you. And then after watching - ask questions. But watch carefully, because after the movie, I will also ask you questions, and we will see if you watched carefully ... if you missed anything ...
We are watching the film "The Creation of the Sky - the Invisible World" - we start from 1.24 minutes, in total - 7.10 minutes.
/// "The Creation of Heaven - the Invisible World" is a film about angels, a bit complicated (according to the book by S. Slobodsky)... Watch from 1.24 minutes (with the words: "God is love"). Video conversion withFreemake video converter, cutting out some of the most difficult episodes (Dionysius the Areopagite, mention of death, etc.)
Questions about the film (without any rigor, more in order to find out the basic truths of the doctrine of angels, if possible avoid the sharpest and most difficult moments):
- Why did God create the visible and invisible world? - God is love
- What did God create first, angels or our earthly world?
- How did God create angels? Good, but still free. A good God always makes everything good, good, good.
- Are all angels equal? What are the elder angels called? - Archangels.
- And how did the dark one appear, evil spirit, the devil? How did evil come about? What is called evil? - The strongest angel began to be proud of himself and think, at first, that he is the best, and then - better than God ...
- Who spoke out against evil, what was the name of this angel?
- How do you think, how can you draw a good angel, but how evil? What were the angels who fell away from God?
- What were the good angels who stayed with God like? – They remained bright and became saints because they never sin?
- What does the word "angel" mean? - Herald, messenger.
- And why invisible angels become human? – Because God sends them to people to help them, give good advice, proclaim to them His good will and protect them from evil.
Angels do not actually have wings, but they are drawn with wings because they soon (quickly) do what God tells them (says). Birds fly many times faster than people walk, so Angels do what God tells them to do much faster than people. And, of course, no earthly obstacles can prevent them from fulfilling the will of God, neither mountains, nor trees, nor seas, nor oceans, nor long distances, nor severe cold or heat ... Therefore, Angels are painted with wings.
- About the guardian angel. You heard that each of us has a special friend, invisible, whom God sends to protect, to protect each of us personally. This is the angel friend that God gave us at the time of baptism. What is the name of such an angel? – An angel that protects or keeps a person is called a guardian angel. So, each person has his own Guardian Angel.
We do not see a good Angel near us, but he sees each of us and invisibly protects. Only he can’t do anything if we do bad deeds, don’t listen to our parents, offend relatives and friends, speak bad words ...
How good people do not make friends with bad ones: with thieves, with drunkards or drug addicts, but love to hang out with good people so the Guardian Angel rejoices when a person does good deeds and tries to help such a person even more. If a person sins, does bad deeds, then the Guardian Angel is upset and leaves the person. This means that when we sin, we drive away the Guardian Angel from ourselves and we ourselves are left without his protection. But the guardian angel is not angry with us, and if we remember him, he will come to us again, again he will pray to God for us. We can remember the Guardian Angel with prayer.
- Prayer to the guardian angel.
Prayer to the Guardian Angel is read like this. Everyone stand up and listen carefully:
I read the text of a short prayer to the guardian angel: (I adapt the prayer)
Angel of God, my holy guardian,
Given to me from God from heaven!
(Diligently) I beg you: you enlighten me today,
And save from all evil, and(ko) good cause(deed) teach(instruct)
And guide me to the path of salvation. Amen.
I explain the prayer: its parts (appeal-greeting, petitions). “From this prayer, several short prayers can be made:
Angel of God, my guardian, save me from all evil.
Angel of God, my guardian, help and save me.
Angel of God, my guardian, teach me a good deed.
And one more, albeit brief, but very “strong” prayer: Angel of God, my guardian, pray to God for me (sinner)!
- I propose to see how the angels are portrayed and listen to how the angels sing(“Glory to God in the highest ...”) For this, we are watching an episode from the “Cartoon about the Nativity of Christ from the series Orthodox stories for children” — from 3 min. 55 sec. – up to 5 min.
Also: " You, of course, in the church saw painted people with wings on the icons - these are painted Angels. Where are angels painted here in our church?” We find icons of angels in the church, note how they are drawn, wings, halos, light colors, and so on.
- We draw an angel.
I suggest watching a video on how to draw an angel. Some older children can be invited to draw an angel from the iconostasis. Video film: “Drawing with children 3-4 years old. How to draw an angel»
- Prayer.
Prayer after teaching: We thank Thee, the Creator, as if Thou hast vouchsafed us Thy grace, in a hedgehog heed to teaching. Bless our bosses, parents and teachers who lead us to the knowledge of the good, and give us strength and strength to continue this teaching.
Thank you guys for your attention and patience. Next time we will talk about the "angelic" part of ourselves, about the invisible world in ourselves, about our soul...
Archpriest Evgeny PROTSENKO
Peter and Paul Parish of the Moscow Patriarchate in Regina. 2015.