The Sunday School Board of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George

To contact the Sunday School Board, please email SundaySchool@StGeorge.org

• Director

Foteini Paparoupa Pazartzis

• Assistant Director (Junior Division Pre-K-2nd)

Melanie Sparks-Liacouras

• Assistant Director (Lower Grade Division 3rd-6th)

Joanne Scilaris

• Assistant Director of Registrations and Attendance

Antigone Delaney

• Sunday School Advisor

Athena Kranias

Grade Level Activities, Presentations, and Gifts Throughout the Ecclesiastical Year

PreK3, PreK4, & Kindergarten:
Receive Books (December)

1st Grade:
Receives Bible Readers (October)
Presents The Lord’s Prayer (April)

2nd Grade:
Receives Gifts (November)
Presents The Ten Commandments (March)

3rd Grade:
Receives icons (November)
Narrates the Christmas Pageant (December)
Myrrophores

4th Grade:
Receives Bibles (October)
Myrrophores

5th Grade:
Makes Prosforo (January)
Presentation of Incense (January)

6th Grade:
Makes Artoklasia and Presents the Artos in the Main Church (November)

7th-12th Grade:

All Grades:
Picture Sunday
Choir Singer
Altar Member
Vasilopita Sunday
Food Drives
OCMC Coin Boxes
Kolyva Making
Saturday of Lazarus Lenten Youth Retreat
Sunday of Orthodoxy

What is Sunday School:

Proverbs 2:10 states, “For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.” This passage eloquently informs us that that learning about the Orthodox Christian faith is an integral part to our salvation. We have all been called to be catechumens, or students of the Lord’s Wisdom and Truth, but we have not all been called at the same time. Those who were baptized as adults studied Catechism, or Orthodox Christian education, before their baptism, but those of us who were baptized as infants study Catechism after our baptism. What exactly is Catechism? Why is it important both before and after Orthodox baptism? The word catechism is derived from the Greek verb κατηχεῖν, which means to echo down (κάτω meaning down and ἠχώ meaning to echo). So if Catechism is Orthodox Christian education, who is the one who echoes down the teaching to us? It is Christ who is the true Catechist, who echoes down the teaching to us as He “is everywhere present and fills all things…” (as the prayer to the Holy Spirit teaches us). But Christ usually catechizes not directly to us but through other catechists, other teachers of Orthodox Christian education, to bring us to Himself.

The identities of these other catechists is revealed in the writings of Apostle Paul, the mouthpiece of the Lord. St. Paul writes in his first Epistle to the Corinthians: “Now you are the Body of Christ [which is the Church], and members individually. And God has appointed these in the Church: first Apostles [namely Bishops with Priests and Deacons], second prophets, third teachers…” (1 Cor. 12:27-28).

We see here that St. Paul identifies teachers as having a separate role from Bishops with Priests and Deacons, who also have a role to teach. These catechists are the Sunday School teachers, who often do not receive credit for the hard work that they do, giving selflessly and tirelessly to teach our youth each Sunday about the Christian faith. We see here the important role that Sunday School teachers have: to lead the student to our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ and encourage the student to become a Saint in Christ.

We ought to thank them every day for this gift of catechism that they give us, opening the doorway to Christ, the true Catechist, Who Himself is the Doorway to Salvation (John 10:9). But it is not just the Sunday School teachers who have this role of being catechists.

Because Orthodox Christian education must start – and be encouraged – at home, parents and godparents have a critical role to play in the formation of our young men and women. As it says in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, “the prayers of parents make firm the foundation of houses…” For this reason, we encourage parents to take an interest in, and pray about, what their children are learning in Sunday School, so that we can all together as a Church Family live in Jesus Christ and be taught directly by the God-Man who is the true Catechist. For it is the desire of our Lord Jesus Christ for everyone “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth…” who is Himself (1 Timothy 2:4 and John 14:6).

Please look for a Sunday School Catechism Welcome Booklet that your child will be bringing home with them on the first day of classes (Sept. 9). This will include a summary of all that your children will be learning through the entire academic year, in question and answer form. We encourage every parent to review the questions and answers, and to discuss those subjects with your children.

Sunday school is all the way from Pre-K 3 to 12^th Grade.

(The above article “What is Sunday School” is taken from the September 2018 issue of The Herald, the official publication of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George). 

Who We Are:

It started with a dream.   One Saturday morning in October 1965, religious education and cultural classes began for children aged nursery to 12 years.  Those committed to the spiritual values of Greek Orthodoxy as well as the rich customs and traditions wanted to perpetuate these to their children.

We grew and prospered as One Church, One Future.  Today our Sunday School has an enrollment of approximately 400 students, 13 classes – nursery through the high school discussion group – and over 40 dedicated volunteer teachers and staff working together harmoniously to perpetuate the sacred Traditions of Orthodoxy.

By expressing our love for Christ and His Church, we live our faith.  Through prayer, worship, praise and thanksgiving to Christ our God and by the grace of the Holy Spirit we instill knowledge, spiritual values and heritage to the children of St. George.

Sunday School Mission Statement:

By expressing our love for Christ and His Church we live our faith. Through prayer, worship, praise and thanksgiving to Christ our God, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we instill knowledge, spiritual values and heritage to the children of Saint George.

What We Do:  Student Presentations In Church And Chapel

In addition to classroom instruction, our church environment includes:

• Sunday School liturgies emphasizing student participation
• Sunday School Choir and Jr. Altar boys
• The Christmas Pageant
• The St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival Elementary Division: Grades 3-6
• The St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival Jr./Sr. Competition: Grades 7-12
• First Grade recites Lord’s Prayer
• Third Graders receive the Portaitissa Icon
• Fourth Graders receive their Bible
• Fifth Graders receive Incense and learn to make Prosforo
• Sixth Graders make Artos for the h Grade Artoklasia
• Sunday of Orthodoxy: Procession of icons with all students
• 2nd & 3rd Grade Epitaphio Flower Girls (Myrophorres) serving on Good Friday and the Resurrection Service

Orthodox Christian Education, Youth and Family Links

Greek Orthodox Church of North America (www.goarch.org)

Metropolis of New Jersey – Department of Youth Ministries (https://www.nj.goarch.org/youth)

Center for Family Care – Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (https://www.goarch.org/departments/family)

Orthodox Christian Education Commission (www.orthodoxchristianed.com)