St. Mark and Christianity in Egypt

OBJECTIVE

Children will learn of God's plan to send St. Mark to Egypt to convert the whole land into Christians. This ended idol worshiping in Egypt, which was inherited from the ancient Pharaohs, and changed the Egyptians to true Christians.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 10 Minutes

Please review the previous week's lesson. (5 minutes)

The previous lesson discussed the life of St. Paul and the spread of Christianity after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Check with the children about the life application/task were given about accepting everything last week even the things from people they don't like. Please give them time to answer and talk about their experience.

Also please review last week's verse.

Have you played or filled a maze before? Some of them are easy but others are hard. It's all about the choices you make whether you go in one direction or change to another one. Sometimes when you go in one direction, you find yourself at a dead-end, but then you go back and change your path and choose another one until you find the correct way that leads you to the end of the maze.

This is exactly what happened to one of our major preachers of Christianity, Let's learn how St. Mark brought Christianity to the land of Egypt and began the Coptic Church.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

Memory Verse
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10)

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 25 Minutes

St. Mark was born in a wealthy Jewish family at the time when Christ was on earth. St. Mark was younger than Jesus Christ by about 10 or 15 years. His parents, Aristopolos and Mary, knew of Jesus and his many miracles and believed that He was the Son of God. They had a nice home in the hills of Jerusalem and opened their doors to Jesus and His disciples to gather in there. This is the place where Jesus held the Last Supper and where they saw Jesus after His Resurrection.
After Jesus' death, St. Mark was with the disciples. Like the other disciples, St. Mark didn't know what to do after Jesus dies on the cross (this was before the Resurrection three days later). He felt lost and unsure if he was ever going to see Christ again. He felt like being in a maze and not knowing what to do. However, after Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples, they were very happy. But since he was one of the 70 appointed disciples, he wanted very much to know what to do next. St. Mark was one of the apostles who received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (remember our lesson last week). After he received the Holy Spirit, he later joined St. Paul with his uncle Barnabas. St. Mark was guided by the Holy Spirit and knew that he was to preach to the world about Jesus.
St. Mark traveled by ship to Alexandria. Once he was there, his sandal strap broke. Immediately, he saw a shoe repairman named Anianus. St. Mark stopped there and gave him his shoe to fix. Anianus accidentally cut his hand and said "Oh the one God," which was a phrase used by educated Jews. St. Mark asked him if he knew about the one true God? St. Mark touched his hand, healed it, and began telling him about the true one God and how He sent his only Son to Earth to be Crucified, and Resurrected to save us from our sins and gave us eternal life.
Anianius invited St. Mark to his home to stay with him. Ananias and his whole family were baptized, and they were the first fruits of the Coptic Church of the See of St. Mark. (Ananias was the first Bishop of our church ordained by St. Mark himself.)
Anianius the first bishop for Alexandria began preaching and created the first church in Egypt and St. Mark was the first Patriarch or Pope.
St. Mark traveled throughout Alexandria, preaching about the Kingdom of God, and challenging the beliefs of those who were praying to statues and worshipping them as gods. St. Mark wanted to go back and check on the other places where he previously preached outside of Egypt. He appointed Anianius a Patriarch (Pope) and he became the second Pope for all Christians in Egypt.
Later after about 6 years, St. Mark returned to Alexandria, and where he was martyred by the non-believers.

There is much to learn from St. Mark, his faith and zeal for Our Lord Jesus Christ, even to death, is something we ought to strive for. His legacy remains until this day, with his current successor, Pope Tawadros II the 118th pope since St. Mark the Evangelist. May the blessings of St. Mark be with us all.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 10 Minutes

Ask questions about the lesson. Then, have each child go around and share one thing that they learned from St. Mark.

At the beginning of the story we talked about how St Mark would bear witness, what do you think allowed him to transition into preaching?

LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes

As St. Mark was driven by the Holy Spirit when he was at a crossroad or a dead-end of his path we too need to sit down by ourselves every day this week and look back at our actions. Were we going in the right direction and following the Holy Spirit, or did we hit a dead-end like a maze? (made a wrong choice, knew we were sinning but did it anyway, was mean to our family or lied, etc) If it was a dead-end, what would be a different way to act to put yourself in the right direction? Try again this week and see if you are acting correctly and listening to what God wants us to do.

ACTIVITY - 5 Minutes

Envelope Church Activity

Materials:

Construction paper
Envelopes
Wooden popsicle sticks
Markers
Glue

Have the children glue down an envelope onto a piece of construction paper (glue ONLY the front side of the envelope so that you can still open and close the flap). Decorate the envelope as if it is the church (e.g. add a cross on the top, front doors, icons, etc.). Next, have the children draw faces and clothes on the popsicle sticks; this will represent the people (they can make one for St. Mark, Anianus, or any other people). Open the envelope and glue the popsicle sticks inside the flap, so that it looks like the people are in church. When the children are done, have them write down the memory verse at the top of their construction paper. Click on the link to see a picture of the craft.

SERVANT RESOURCES

Adventures of Professor Brainiac | The Early Coptic Church

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Option 1

Read with your child from the Gospel of St. Mark to learn about the specific events that he witnessed from Christ and about his teachings.

Option 2

Check with the children if they were able to sit down at the end of the day and see if they were supposed to do something during the day differently in order to be more correct. Help them to decide on what is correct.