10 - God Cares For Pope Athanasius

References
The Story of the Copts, by Iris Habib el Masri.

Notes for Servants
- Our childrenreceive the Holy Spirit and are transformed into a new nature through the Sacraments
of Baptism and Mairon, so we must sanctify ourselves and behave in a holy way before them
because they make us their models and copy every thing we say or do.
- Pray for your class that God may bless them and let them grow in grace.
- Be faithful in preparing your lesson, in following up your childrenand praythat theymaygrow like
St.Athanasius.

Objectives

General: God's care for us.

Specific:
The children will be able to
A. learn to have faith and confidence in Christ.
B. call God first in any trouble they may face.
C. tell how they can use this example in their lives.

Bible Verse

"The Lord thy God is with thee"
( Joshua 1:9 )

Teaching Aids
Picture for Saint Athanasius.

Instruction
(1) Review last week lesson.
(2) Who remembers the verse?
(3) Remind the children about the church occasions for the coming week.
(4) We call Athanasius the defender of the faith because he was a great Pope and he proof to
the whole world that our faith is the true faith.

Story Time
He was the only son, his father he died while Athanasius was a little boy and his mother raised him.
When he was in the school age, his mother put him in Christian school which was close to the Pope's
residence in Alexandria and right beside the sea shore.
Athanasius was a very good child, he learned that, as Jesus teaches us, he must be very nice, quiet
and obedient. One day at lunch time, the children were playing in the water and Athanasius was with them.
they decided to do a churchact. They chose Athanasius to be a bishop, and he started to perform the right
of baptism on some of them.
At that time the Pope (Pope Alexandros) was watching them from his balcony. He was so happy
that the children knew their religion and its practices.
The pope called them, and asked them: “what did you do?”
We were playing your holiness, they answered.
What game did you play? he asked.
Athanasius felt ashamed, he thought that he have done something wrong.
I was baptizing some of the children, he answered.
The Pope encourage them for their knowledge and told them they must learn more about their
religion. The Pope loved Athanasius and told him "The Lord thy God is with thee". Pope Alexandros
called Athanasius' mother and told her that he would like to raise him up and to ordain him a deacon and
she agreed.
Athanasius studied the Bible and the church liturgies and rights, he grew in the grace of God and
became a very good preacher.
When the time for Pope Alexanderos came to go to heaven, he recommended to the church Athanasius
to be the next pope.

( Athanasius became the 20th pope of Alexandria. )

Discussion
1 - Follow up the story by talking about it with the children.
2 - Continue the discussion while they do the activity.

Learning Activities
Activity Sheet.