Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God

Plan. The struggle of the devil against people; the difficulty of this struggle for man; the help of good Angels; The name is Guardian Angel. The constant presence of a guardian angel with a person and its absence in the sinner; the need to pray to the Guardian Angel. The reading of the prayer by the teacher of the law. Explanation of prayer with a division into invocation and petitions. Explanation of the invocation and the first two petitions. Application. You, children, already know that the devil with unclean spirits always tries to confuse people to do bad things. He is angry when people live in God's way, and then he tries to annoy people with something: he sends grief and misfortune to people. It is difficult for a person to protect himself from an evil spirit, because a person does not see it. But God loves people and protects them from the devil. God assigns a good Angel to every person. We do not see the good Angel near us, but he sees each of us, and he also sees unclean spirits. A good Angel preserves, or, in other words, preserves every person from unclean spirits and from every misfortune. An angel who protects or protects a person is called a Guardian Angel. This means that each person has his own Guardian Angel. What does the devil do when people do only good deeds? What does he send to people? Why is it difficult for a person to protect himself from an evil spirit? Who protects people from the devil? Why does God protect people? Whom does He assign to each person? Can we see the Angel? Why can't we? What does the Angel assigned to him do for a person? What is it called? The guardian angel is a holy angel. Just as good people are not friends with bad people: with thieves, with drunkards, but like to hang out with good people, so the Guardian Angel rejoices when a person does good deeds. If a person sins, then the Guardian Angel grieves and departs from the person. This means that when we sin, we drive the Guardian Angel away from us and 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, he will pray to God for us again. We can remember the Guardian Angel through prayer. What are our deeds that the Guardian Angel rejoices in? What does he do when a person sins? What happens to us when the Guardian Angel departs from us? When can the Guardian Angel return to us? What will he do then? How can we remember the Guardian Angel? The prayer to the Guardian Angel is read as follows. Stand up, all of you, and listen more attentively. A clear and separate reading of the evening prayer to the Guardian Angel by the teacher of the law follows. In this prayer we call the Angel Christ's, our holy guardian and protector of soul and body. The Angel is called the Angel of Christ because Jesus Christ saved all people from the power of the devil, and the Guardian Angel helps every person to guard against the Devil. You already know why we call the Angel a guardian and a saint, and now we will talk about why the Angel is called the patron saint of the soul and body. Of course, you have seen a hen with chickens. When it gets cold, the chickens will all gather, and the hen will cover them with her wings. If a hawk or kite appears, it will gather the chickens and cover them with wings as well. In any trouble, the hen covers her children and protects them. People always protect their children. Whoever protects us from misfortune, from cold, from hunger, is our patron. The guardian angel protects us from any trouble, which means that he is our patron. The devil tries to harm both the soul and the body, and the guardian angel protects our soul and our body from the devil, which is why we call the guardian angel in prayer the protector of the soul and body. How do we call an angel in prayer? Why do we call him Christ's, the saint, the patron saint of the soul and body? Memorization of the invocation follows in chorus and alone. When we sin, we offend the Guardian Angel with our sins, and therefore we must always ask him to forgive us our sins. We pray in the morning and in the evening. At night we sleep, and during the day we do various things. This means that we sin more during the day, and therefore we especially need the forgiveness of the Guardian Angel in the evening. In the evening, we need to pray to the Guardian Angel to forgive us everything we have sinned during the day. In prayer we say: forgive me everything that I have sinned today. "All" in Slavonic is all, "me" is mi. "What" - elika, "sinned" - sinners. In the Lord's Prayer you learned that "today" in Slavonic is "day", and "today" is "day". "Forgive me all that I have sinned today" in Slavonic it says: Forgive me all, if I have sinned today. Let's repeat these words and memorize them. What is the Slavic word for "all"? "me"? What do all of them mean? mi? What is the Slavic word for "what"? "I have sinned"? "today"? What does the fir tree mean? mi? all? today? who have sinned? When the Guardian Angel departs from us, the devil tries to confuse us into evil, into sin. He lures man with all kinds of cunning or, in Slavonic terms, with all kinds of cunning, because he always goes against us, he is our nasty enemy. A guardian angel can drive away our nasty enemy from us and deliver us from any of his cunning or cunning. Therefore, we ask the Guardian Angel: "Deliver me from every cunning of the enemy who is contrary to me." In Slavonic, these words read as follows: And deliver me from all the wickedness of the enemy that is contrary to me. Memorization of the last words follows. In the prayer to the Guardian Angel, we call him the Angel of Christ, our holy guardian and the protector of our soul and body. We ask Him to forgive us everything that we have sinned today, and to deliver us from all the cunning of the enemy who is contrary to us – the devil. Today we have learned the beginning of prayer, and then we will learn the end of it. Let's repeat the beginning in Slavonic, and then tell us what we call the Guardian Angel and what we ask of him. Let us always remember that the Guardian Angel always lives with us and protects us from any misfortune and sins. When we sin, he departs from us. Do not grieve the Guardian Angel with sins and always try to do only good deeds.

Lesson 27. End of the prayer to the Guardian Angel

Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God

Plan. Repetition of the beginning of the prayer. The wiles of the devil. Intercession for people of the Mother of God and the saints; conditions of this intercession. Memorizing the text of the prayer. Application. H. Let us repeat the beginning of the prayer to the Guardian Angel. How do we call the Guardian Angel in prayer? What do we ask of him? The devil confuses people to sin with all sorts of tricks. If we sin, then God is angry with us. The Mother of God and all the saints pray for us to God in heaven, if we live in God's way, if we are worthy of their mercy. And if we sin, then we become unworthy of their kindness and mercy. The guardian angel is closer to us than all the saints, so we ask him to deliver us from the cunning of the enemy who is contrary to us, the devil, so that we do not anger God with any sin; we ask the Guardian Angel to beseech God for us, sinful servants unworthy of God's mercy[1], and to make us worthy of the mercy of the All-Holy Trinity, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and all the saints by his prayers.

Thus, in the prayer to the Guardian Angel, we call him the Angel of Christ, our guardian, the protector of our soul and body. How are these words read in prayer? We ask him to forgive everything that we have sinned today. How do these words read? We ask him to deliver us from all the cunning of the enemy who is contrary to us, the devil. How do these words read? So that we do not anger God with any sin. How do these words read? We ask the Guardian Angel to pray for us, sinful and unworthy servants. How do we say this in prayer? To show us worthy of all good and mercy of the All-Holy Trinity and the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and all the saints. How do we ask for this in prayer? Now let's read the entire prayer in order. Everything that we say in a prayer to the Guardian Angel, we rightly wish it, and therefore this prayer ends with the word "true" or amen. Remember, children, that the Guardian Angel is our best friend. He protects us from all sorrow and from all misfortune. Try to keep him always with you and don't drive him away from you with bad deeds. Pray to the Guardian Angel, and it will be good for you to live on earth. The word slave is incomprehensible to children, and its explanation can cause confusion in the children's understanding of the All-Good God. Therefore, it is better to leave one word unexplained for the time being than to shake the children's feeling of love for the merciful heavenly Lord.^

Lesson 28. Prayer after lunch and dinner

Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God

Plan. The belonging of everything in the world to God; the need for prayer before and after meals. The reason for thanksgiving Jesus Christ and the explanation of the first sentence of the afternoon prayer. Explanation of the second sentence. The need to remember the soul and eternal life. Memorizing a prayer. moral application. You know that everything in the world is God's, so every work must begin with prayer. You know that you need to read the Lord's Prayer before eating. If someone feeds us, we thank that person. But first of all, we need to thank God for food, because everything in the world is God's. Whose is everything in the world? Therefore, how should you start any business? What prayer should be read before eating? What do we do when someone feeds us? Who should be thanked first? The Lord Jesus Christ taught us the Lord's Prayer. We read this prayer before meals, so after meals we thank Christ our God. The prayer after meals begins like this: We thank Thee, O Christ our God... Stand and repeat these words. Whom do we thank in this prayer? Why do we thank Jesus Christ? We thank God after eating for feeding us. Food in prayer is called earthly goods, and therefore instead of the words "Thou hast fed us with food" it is said: Thou hast satisfied us with Thy earthly blessings. What do we thank God for after eating? What is food called in prayer? As the prayer says, "Fed us with food"? As long as we live on earth, we need food, and when we die, we will not eat, but our souls will still live. Not all the souls of people will live in the same way: whoever lived on earth holy, will live well after death, in the Kingdom of Heaven, and whoever has sinned will suffer. We need food for the present life, but we must never forget about the future life of the soul. Cattle, when they are full, have nothing to think about: they have no immortal soul, they have only one life on earth, and man has a soul that will never die and will live without end. After eating, a person feels good, but he should never forget that food is needed only for the body and that the soul is more important than the body. Therefore, after eating, we thank God for the food and ask Him not to deprive us of the Heavenly Kingdom. In prayer we say: ... do not deprive us of Thy Heavenly Kingdom. As long as we live, what do we need? Will we need food after death? Our body will die, and what about our soul? How will we live after death? How will sinful people live? How are they righteous? Where do the righteous live after death? What is more important - the soul or the body? Why is the soul more important? What do we need to ask of God for the soul? How do we ask for this in prayer after eating? Let us now memorize the entire prayer after eating. In this prayer we thank Jesus Christ for feeding us and ask Him to give us the kingdom of heaven. You should never forget about it. What is the use if we are full and alive here, and then fall into eternal torment?

Lesson 29. Explanation of the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord

Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God

Plan. Name of the holiday; sacrifice for the firstborn according to the Old Testament law; the unity of the temple among the Jews; the journey of the Mother of God to Jerusalem; Righteous Simeon; his meeting of the Saviour and his words; Anna the prophetess and her prophecies. The lesson is divided into three parts: the first two are a story and repetition questions, the last is a moral application. In N days we will have the feast of the Meeting of the Lord. This is how it is called in Slavonic, and in Russian it can be called "Meeting of the Lord". This feast was established in memory of the meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ when He lived on earth. Now I will tell you about who and where met Jesus Christ. In which city was Jesus Christ born? In what land? Among the Jews, on the 40th day, after the birth of the first boy, the mother was supposed to come to the temple with the child. Now we buy and light candles in church, and among the Jews it was customary to burn a calf, or a ram, or doves as a sacrifice to God. The Mother of God brought two doves. What holiday will we have soon? How can you call the Meeting of the Lord in Russian? What law did the Jews have when the first boy was born? What did they bring to church with a child then? Why were they brought? What did the Virgin Mary bring together with Jesus Christ? We now have churches in every village, but the Jews had only one temple - in the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, the Virgin Mary came from Bethlehem to Jerusalem on the 40th day after the birth of Christ. At that time there lived an old man of holy life - Simeon. God told him that he would not die until he saw Jesus Christ with his own eyes. On the day when the Virgin Mary brought Jesus Christ to the temple, God commanded Simeon to come there. In the temple, Simeon met Jesus Christ, took Him in his arms and said: "Now, Lord, the time has come for me to die, because I have seen the Savior"[1]. In addition to Simeon, Jesus Christ was met in the temple by a righteous old woman Anna. She said that the Infant is Jesus Christ, the Saviour[2]. Did the Jews have many temples? Where was this church? Where did the Virgin Mary come from to Jerusalem? Who lived in Jerusalem at that time? What did God say to him? Who told Simeon to come to the temple when the Virgin Mary came there with Jesus Christ? What did he do when he met Jesus Christ? What did he say? Why did he say that? Who else met Jesus Christ in the temple? What did she say? Now I will show you a picture, and you will point out where the Virgin Mary is, where is the righteous Simeon, where is the righteous Anna? And can you not guess who this old man (Joseph) is? What is he holding in his hand? What is in the basket? Now think about why the holiday is called the Meeting of the Lord? Righteous Simeon was glad that he had met the Savior and rejoiced that the time had come for him to die. Whoever lives holy, has nothing to fear from death: it is good for him to live on earth, and it will be good after death. Whoever wants good for himself lives holy, according to God's law. Cf. Luke. 2, 29-31.- Ed.^ See: Luke. 2, 32.- Ed.^

Lesson 30. Discourse before the Retreat on Fasting, Communion and Confession

Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God