St. Basil and the Holy Spirit
OBJECTIVE
This module aims to educate the students on the lives and stories of the Church Fathers to help them develop fundamental knowledge of Church history. Also, the students should be able to identify how these Fathers developed a strong relationship with God, which aided them in trials and tribulations when defending the Orthodox Faith.
The purpose of this lesson is to teach the students the importance of patristics within our church and how our church has overcome its adversaries throughout the years. This lesson will demonstrate the importance of being eager to learn about the Coptic Orthodox Faith and how we can attain knowledge through prayer and the Grace of God just like St. Basil was filled with the Holy Spirit and was able to stand against heresy and perform miracles.
INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 5 Minutes
Please review the previous week's lesson. (5 minutes)
Let's say you're taking an exam on a Zoom call and your connection gets weak. Would you move closer or further away from the Wi-Fi box? Closer, right? What would happen to your exam score if you couldn't take the exam? Would you pass or fail? You would fail, so you would want to make sure you're close to the wifi router so that your connection is stable.
Explain that the wifi router represents our relationship with God. The closer we are to Him the more likely we will be able to withstand any test. The farther we are from Him, the weaker the connection gets and we are more likely to fail the test.
Ask the kids what they think we need to do to have a strong relationship with God and make that connection. Then ask them what kinds of things make our connection weak.
In today's lesson, we are going to learn about how St. Basil defended the Christian faith against heresy and how God blessed him with the Holy Spirit so that he could lead his people faithfully.
HOLY SCRIPTURE - 05 Minutes
Memory Verse
"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them" (Mark 11:24)
CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 15 Minutes
St. Basil was born into a Christian family in 329 A.D. Growing up he was extremely smart and studied very hard in school. St. Basil loved God and wanted to be closer to Him so he left everything and went to Egypt to visit the monasteries.
When he went back home he found a beautiful place and isolated himself so he could dedicate all his time to prayer and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. St. Basil was then ordained as a priest and then became a Metropolitan (a bishop overseeing a large area) As a knowledgeable and gifted man, he wrote many books and letters. His talent and gifts were known, granting him the title of St. Basil the Great. He was close friends with St. Gregory the Theologian, who wrote the Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory. (different from St. Gregory the Wonderworker).
St. Basil played an important role in defending the faith during the Council of Constantinople, where the Church declared the Holy Spirit equal to the Father and the Son in the Trinity. The Holy Spirit worked through St. Basil and the other Bishops so that they all agreed at that time. However, not everyone liked St. Basil. The Emperor at the time was named Emperor Valens and he was not happy that St.Basil was defending Christianity and wanted to exile him (explain what exile means). Emperor Valens wrote an order that would kick St.Basil out, but by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, every time he would take his pen to sign the order it would break. This happened three times before the Emperor decided to allow St.Basil to stay and continue leading his people. Saint Basil was a very Holy man, he did many miracles and wrote the Liturgy of St. Basil. He departed in 379 A.D. after leading and guiding his people.
DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 10 Minutes
Review the lesson by asking the students these questions:
- Where did St. Basil go to visit the monasteries?
- Answer: Egypt
- What was St Basil ordained as?
- Answer: Metropolitan
- What did St. Basil defend?
- Answer: The Coptic Orthodox Faith
- What was the Emperor's name?
- Answer: Emperor Valens
- What did Emperor Valens want to do to St.Basil and what happened when he tried to do it?
- Answer: He wanted to exile him but every time he tried to sign the order his pen broke
- What did Saint Basil write?
- Answer: The Liturgy of St.Basil
Ask the children what they learned from the story of St.Basil and why they think it's important to have a strong relationship with God. Then ask them what St.Basil did to create that strong connection. What should we do?
LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes
St.Basil's story shows us the importance of learning about our faith to live a life of prayer. Just like St.Basil continuously prayed, God allowed the Holy Spirit to work through him and he was able to defend the Faith and do miracles. We should set a time for prayer and, when we pray to God, we should pray that he grants us wisdom, patience, and knowledge to be able to defend our faith against those who doubt us and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Ask the students if they dedicate time to prayer and encourage them to have a prayer routine when they wake up and before they go to sleep.
ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes
Telephone
Have the students sit in a circle. Whisper something into one of the ears of the student's ear and tell them to whisper it to the person next to them. The next person will do the same and so on. After you reach the last person, have them say what they heard out loud.
Next, stand next to one student and whisper something in their ear, and have that one student relay what you said out loud.
The purpose of this game is to demonstrate how when we pray our thoughts are clearer rather than when we base our knowledge on others. When we build a relationship with God we will be able to hear Him through the Holy Spirit.
SERVANT RESOURCES
St. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit
PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK
Set a scheduled time to pray as a family to encourage the kids to get into the routine of praying.