From this lesson, students are introduced to some stories from Holy History, which are necessary for understanding prayers and are required by the curriculum of the Law of God in school. Plan. The beginning of the world; clarification of the concept of "created"; the concept of the visible and invisible world. Angels, their spirituality; the ministry of Angels: their depiction on icons; the grounds for depicting them in the form of people with wings; Angels good and evil; the distinction of the Angels according to merit: Archangels, Cherubim, and Seraphim. The Concept of Holiness, the Fall of the Angels. Devil. Coherent presentation of the lesson. Teaching the prayer "Holy, Holy...". Moral conclusion. Z. Do you children already know that at first there was no heaven, no earth, no people, but only who? U. One God. H. Who did the whole world? U. God. H. Of what did He make the world when there was nothing? U. Out of nothing. H. God made the whole world out of nothing. "Made out of nothing" in another way, they say, "created". We will now say that God created the whole world. As the saying goes, "made out of nothing"? U. Created. H. What does it mean to create? Who created the whole world? Everything we see is called what? U. By the visible world. In addition to the visible world, there is also a world that we do not see[1]. This world is called the invisible world. What kind of world is there besides the visible? U. Invisible. H. Do you remember who lives, but you can't see Him? U. God. H. You already know why you can't see God. U. Because He lives without a body - He is a Spirit. In addition to God, there are other incorporeal, invisible spirits, and all of them were created by God first of all in the visible world. These disembodied spirits are called the invisible world or Angels. What are the names of invisible spirits[2]>? Do Angels have a body? Angels live without a body, but God sometimes sends them to people to tell them what is needed, and then angels become like people. Of course, you saw people with wings painted on icons in church - these are Angels. I will show you the icon, and you will tell me where the Angel is painted on it. At the same time, the icon of the Annunciation is shown, on which the disciples easily find the image of the Archangel Gabriel. Angels do not actually have wings, but draw them with wings because they soon do what God tells them to do. Birds fly many times faster than people walk, so the Angels do what God commands them to do much faster than people. That is why angels are drawn with wings. Who do angels become like when God sends them to people? Why does God send them to people? How are angels depicted on icons? Why are Angels drawn with wings? There are many angels, and God created all of them good, good. How did God create all the Angels? God does nothing wrong, so He created all the Angels good. Remember: whoever does only one good thing is called holy. God does only one good thing, so what should He be called? St. Saints. H. In the beginning, all the Angels were holy spirits, but they are not all the same. They have senior Angels - bosses and there are just Angels. The Elder Angels are called Archangels, Cherubim, and Seraphim. One of the older Angels did not want to obey God, became proud and became an evil angel. Who is called a saint? What were all the Angels like at first? Are all Angels equal? What are the Elder Angels called? What did one of the angels do? What did he become? The first evil angel is called the devil. The devil confused many other good Angels with him; they did not obey God and also became evil. These evil angels are called unclean spirits. What is the name of the first evil angel? Who is the devil? What did the devil do to the other angels? What have the other angels become? Why did they become evil? What are they called? After the lesson, students are offered to review the questions set out in this synopsis, and then a coherent presentation of the lesson is made. According to the degree of development of the pupils, this exposition should be divided into two or three parts. God made the whole world out of nothing, or created it. Everything we see is called the visible world. In addition to the visible world, there is also the invisible world. The invisible world is called invisible, disembodied spirits or Angels. God sometimes sends angels to people, and then angels become like people. On icons, Angels are depicted with wings, because Angels soon do what God commands them to do. There are many angels. All of them were created by God before the visible world. At first, all the angels were good; they all obeyed God. Whoever always obeys God, always does everything as God commands, is called holy. All the angels were holy at first: they did only one good thing, because they obeyed God in everything. One angel became proud, ceased to obey God and became evil. The first evil angel confused the other angels with him, and many other angels became evil or unclean spirits. But not all the angels were proud; there are very many holy angels left. Good Angels live with God and always praise Him. A certain holy man saw God and heard the angels praise Him. The angels sang the following prayer: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, fill heaven and earth with Thy glory. They sang the word "holy" three times, and then added that God is glorified by both heaven and earth. Let us also remember this angelic song; You hear it in church during Mass. The memorization of the angelic doxology follows. Let us always glorify God both in words and in our deeds. By works God is glorified by the one who obeys Him in everything. Let us also obey God, because it is better to be good than evil. God Himself is very good and loves good people, but the evil ones are constantly angry and thus torment themselves. Here first a general concept of the invisible world is given, and from this general concept a transition is made to the particular, the Angels. The deduction of the general concept from the particular was made in the communication of the concept of the visible world, and therefore the secondary application of the analytical method in this case is superfluous.^ The translation of the word Angel is not made, since the Russian word messenger is as incomprehensible to the disciples as the Greek word Angel.^

Lesson 10. The concept of sin. The Fall of the Angels. Soul. Reward beyond the grave

Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God

Plan. The original holiness of the Angels; the concept of sin; Sin is a violation of the law. The fall of the devil and other angels; the impossibility of their communication with light spirits; expulsion from heaven as a consequence of the fall; the life of evil spirits after they were cast down from heaven; their malice, envy and temptation of people. The temporary assumption of the human form by the Angels. The temporary life of the soul in the human body; mortality of the body and immortality of the soul; different state of souls after death. The Last Judgment; future life. Application. H. People who always obey God do only good, good deeds, because God commands them to do only good. And those who do only good are called what? U. Saints. H. All the Angels obeyed God, so what were they all like? U. Saints. H. Now remember: he who does not obey God does evil, or, in other words, sins. And whoever sins is called a sinner. Who is called a sinner? Who is sinning? Do you remember the name of the teaching about how God commands us to live? U. By the law of God. H. Then disobedience to what is called sin? U. To the Law of God. H. The devil and those angels whom he confused did not obey God and became what kind of saints? U. Sinners. They became sinful, evil, and it became impossible for them to live together with the good, holy Angels in heaven. If a bad person came to the hut and began to swear or fight, what would the owners do to him? U. They would have chased him away. The devil went against God, and God drove him out of heaven together with the evil angels for this. What did God do with the devil and the evil angels? It was good for the angels to live in heaven as long as they obeyed God, but when God expelled them, they began to live badly. They are always angry with everyone and envy everyone. They also envy people and incite them to bad deeds. How did the evil angels live while they obeyed God? How did you start living after that? Who are they angry with? Who is envied? What are the things that confuse people to do? After that, a repetition is made in the form of a coherent story, first by the teacher of the law, and with the help of the latter by the students. A coherent story is concluded during the lesson, it is only necessary to release repetition questions. After assimilation by students, a moral application is made. He who does good deeds obeys whom? U. God. H. Whoever sins, obeys whom? U. The Devil. H. What spirit is the devil? U. Evil. H. Can good be expected from the evil? U. No, you can't. H. Therefore, let us fear the devil and let us not sin. Even the name of an unclean spirit does not need to be commemorated. And when do people remember his name? U. When they swear. H. Do not swear in any way, especially with a black word, because by swearing we offend people and act in concert with the devil. There is no need to say bad words at all, because this is a sin. When God sends Angels to people, do the Angels become like whom? U. On people. H. Then people see the body of the angels. In all people we see the body, but in the human body there is a spirit that we do not see. This invisible human spirit is called the soul. What do we see in people? What lives in the human body? What is the name of this invisible spirit? When a person dies, what happens to the body? U. It's rotting. H. Can a spirit die? U. No, he's immortal. H. The soul of man is immortal: it will live, but not all souls live in the same way. The souls of those people who obeyed God, did not offend anyone, did good, live well; but the souls of sinners are tormented. How do the souls of good people live? How do the souls of sinners live? The time will come when the bodies of all people will come to life. Then God will come to earth and judge all people. This judgment of God is called the Last Judgment. Whoever obeyed God, God will then give him a good, happy life, and sinners will be condemned to eternal torment together with the devil. Do people's bodies die forever? What will happen when they come to life? What is God's judgment called? What will God give to holy people? To what will He condemn sinners? With whom will they suffer? Children, love God, obey Him! God's judgment will be for everyone: for the saints it will be joy, and for sinners it will be torment.

Lesson 11. The Creation of Man. The Fall of Men

Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God

Plan. The creation of the visible world in six days. The act of creation of man; the names of the first people. Paradise. The Life of Adam and Eve in Paradise. The first commandment. The envy of the devil. The temptation and fall of the first people with an indication of the event in the painting; The first consequence of sin. Concepts of conscience. The expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise. Conclusion from the story. We know that God created the whole world. What does it mean to create? First God created the invisible world, and then the visible one. What is called the visible world? What do you see here? What do we see in the field? in the forest? in heaven? All this God created in six days. In how many days did God create the visible world? In five days, God created the heavens, the earth, the water, the grass, the trees, the fish, the birds, and on the sixth day, He created man, and then He breathed life and an immortal soul into the human body. On what day did God create man? What did He do first? What did God make the human body out of? What did I blow into it? What kind of soul did God breathe into the human body? First God created man, and then woman. So, how many people did God create? W. Two. The man's name was Adam, and the woman's name was Eve. God planted a good garden for them, which was called paradise. In this garden or paradise Adam and Eve began to live. What was the name of the first man? Woman? What did God plant for the first people? What was the name of this garden? What grows in the garden? U. Apples, berries. H. Different apples and berries are called fruits. In Paradise there were many trees on which all kinds of fruit grew. Adam and Eve ate them and were full. It was good to live in paradise. God told them to work, but the work was not hard. Sometimes God came to people in paradise and talked to them. What was there in paradise? What grew on the trees? What did Adam and Eve eat? How did they live in paradise? What were they doing there? What kind of work did they have? Who came to people in paradise? What was God doing there? Adam and Eve in paradise did not get sick at all and could not die. God gave people everything they needed. For this, people had to love God and had to show their love in deeds. For this purpose, God gave the law; He said to Adam: "Of every tree in the garden you shall eat the fruit, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil alone you shall not eat." What did God give to people in paradise? What were people supposed to do for this? How were they to show their love for God? What did God give people for this? What did He say to Adam? You already know that the devil is always jealous of everyone. The devil became jealous that Adam and Eve lived well in paradise. He climbed into the serpent and asked Eve: "Is it true that God did not command you to eat the fruit of the trees of paradise?" [2] Eve answered, "No, God has not commanded us to eat of the fruit of the tree alone, for if we eat it we shall die." The devil replied to Eve: "No, you will not die, but you yourselves will become gods!" [4] Who was jealous of Adam and Eve? What did the devil do? What did he say to Eve? What did she say? What did the devil say to this? After the story and its repetition, the students are shown a picture of the Fall. What is depicted in this picture? U. Sade. H. Who is standing in the garden? U. Woman. H. Near what is it standing? U. Near a tree. H. Who is coiled around the tree? U. Zmey. H. What does a woman do? U. Tears up an apple. H. This picture is what I have just told you about. The serpent seduced Eve. She plucked the fruit and ate it. Then Adam also ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. They did not obey God; and you already know that whoever does not obey God sins. So what did Adam and Eve do? U. Sin. H. When they sinned, they were ashamed. Do you ever feel ashamed, children? To this question the answer is usually obtained: "When you lie, then you are ashamed." From this answer it is not difficult to deduce the general concept of conscience. Lying is not good, and that's why it's embarrassing when you tell a lie. In general, after any bad deed, a person becomes ashamed. This happens because every person has a conscience. As soon as you do a bad deed, your conscience will begin to torment you. If you do something and you are ashamed, it means that this is a bad thing, you should never do it. Adam and Eve did badly, sinned, and they felt ashamed. Adam and Eve sinned and became what kind of people? U. Sinners. It was impossible for sinful people to live in paradise, and God expelled them from paradise. After that, life became bad for Adam and Eve: they had to do hard work to get their food. How did people live in paradise before they sinned? How did they begin to live after that? This should be followed by a coherent story, divided into two parts: the life of the first people before the Fall and the Fall. As long as people obeyed God and did not sin, they felt good, but as soon as they sinned, a bad life began for them. The same thing happens in the world today: a good person lives better both in wealth and in poverty than a sinful person. Cf. Gen. 2, 16-17.- Ed.^ Cf. Gen. 3, 1.- Ed.^ Cf. Gen. 3, 2-3.- Ed.^ Cf. Gen. 3, 4-5.- Ed.^

Lesson 12. The Promise of the Savior and the Fulfillment of That Promise

Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God

Plan. The expulsion of the first people from paradise; the temptations of the devil; the powerlessness of people in the fight against it; the promise of the Saviour; the reproduction of people, their sinfulness; admonishing them through the Angels; law. The birth of the Savior; its purpose; the name Jesus; the name of the Mother of God; Jesus Christ is God the Son; His life, teaching, and works on earth; Christians. Coherent presentation, conclusions. H. When people sinned, God expelled them from paradise. It became difficult and bad for Adam and Eve to live, but the devil still confused them to commit sins. The more a person sins, the worse his life is. But people had already fallen under the power of the devil and could not overcome him themselves. God took pity on Adam and Eve and, when He expelled them from paradise, told them that He Himself would come to earth as a man and defeat the devil. What did the devil do when God expelled people from paradise? How do sinful people live? Why couldn't people overcome the devil on their own? What did God say to people? Many years have passed since the creation of the world, and many people have been born on earth. People began to sin more and more, and the devil confused them to sin. God sent angels to people, gave His law, and people all sinned. When many years had passed since the creation of the world, God Himself was born on earth from the Most Holy Virgin Mary. He lived on earth as a man and saved people from the devil and from sins, and therefore He is called the Savior. How did people live on earth? What did the devil do? What did God do for people? From whom was God born? How did He live on earth? What was He born for? What is He called, then? Of course, you know that in winter there is the feast of Christmas. It is we who celebrate the birth of God on earth. All people have their own name: for example, your name is Peter, your name is Ivan, so God, when He was born on earth and became man, was given the name Jesus, and then the name Christ was added. So, the name of our Saviour? Who was he? U. God. Z. And what else have you become? U. Human. Jesus Christ became man, but He also remained God. He became both God and man. What holiday is there in winter, when you go to praise? Whose birth are we celebrating then? What name was given to God on earth? The word "Jesus" is not Russian, but Jewish. God was born and lived in the Jewish land, and therefore He was given the name Hebrew. "Jesus" in Russian means Savior. What word is Jesus? Why was God given a Hebrew name on earth? What does Jesus mean in English? From whom was Jesus Christ born on earth? D. From the Virgin Mary. H. Who was he? U. God. H. So, who did the Virgin Mary give birth to? U. God. The Virgin Mary gave birth to God, and therefore She is called the Mother of God or, in other words, the Mother of God. What is the name of the Virgin Mary? Why is She called the Mother of God? We now know that God Himself came to earth to save people from sin and from the devil. God exists alone, but in how many Persons? U. In three. H. Name the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. God the Son came to earth to save people from sin and the devil. So, which is the Person of the Holy Trinity? How many years did Jesus Christos live on earth? At first He was a small child, then He began to grow up and lived as a simple man until the age of 30. When he was 30 years old, He began to teach people how to live in God's way. Jesus Christ raised the dead with one word of His own; He will tell the dead to rise, and the dead will rise again. Likewise, in one word, He did other things: He would say that the deaf should hear, that the blind should see, that the sick should become well, and that everything should be done according to His word. Can any man do such things in a word? Such works can be done by God. Jesus Christ told people to believe in Him, that He is God. But not all people believed in Jesus Christ. Those who believe in Christ are called Christians.

In what land did Jesus Christ live? The Jewish leaders did not believe in Jesus Christ and envied Him. Many people followed Him, many believed in Him, and the Jewish leaders wanted to destroy Jesus Christ. And what they did, I will tell you about it another time. Here the second part of the lesson is repeated, and then both together. A coherent presentation can be presented in the following form. The first people, Adam and Eve, did not live long in paradise. They did not fulfill God's commandment and sinned. For this, God expelled them from paradise. From Adam and Eve, other people began to be born. A lot of time passed, and many people were born on earth. All people sinned: the devil persuaded them to sin, but people could not overcome the devil. When many years had passed since the creation of the world, God the Son, Jesus Christ, was born in the Jewish land from the Virgin Mary. He lived on earth, taught the people how to live according to God or according to the law of God; He made the sick healthy and raised the dead. Jesus Christ said that He was God and that He came to save people from sins and from the devil. Some people believed in Jesus Christ, and the Jewish leaders began to envy Him. We have said that those people who believe in Christ are called Christians. That is why we are called Christians. By our faith we glorify Christ and glorify Him rightly or, in other words, rightly, and therefore we are called Orthodox Christians. If someone asks you what faith you have, what will you answer? - We are Orthodox Christians and therefore we must do what Jesus Christ taught people. He taught us to love God more than anything else in the world and to love all people as we love ourselves. For God we should spare nothing, but for people we should try as for ourselves. If we do not live peacefully with people and do not help them, then it means that we do not love God and do not obey Jesus Christ Himself. Whoever does not obey Christ is called a Christian in vain.

Lesson 13. Teaching the prayers "Lord, have mercy" and "Holy God..."

Methodical Instructions and Lesson Notes on the Law of God

Plan. Repetition of information about the life of the first people in paradise, about the consequences of the Fall; the need for prayer for mercy. Repetition of previously learned prayers; their difference from prayers for mercy. The meaning of the prayer "Lord, have mercy". Teaching the prayer "Holy God..."; its name is the Trisagion; an indication to whom and for what we pray in it; memorizing it. Application. H. You, children, already know that in paradise the first people saw God and talked with Him. At first they were sinless, but when they ate the forbidden fruit, they became sinful. Life became bad for them, and the devil began to constantly confuse them for their sins. People themselves could not overcome the devil, they could not do anything good without God. For the first sin, God punished people, punished them for other sins, when people forgot God's law. Then people began to ask God not to punish them for their sins, so that He would have mercy on them. What are our words to God called? U. Prayer. H. So people began to pray to God for what? D. That He would not punish them for their sins. H. People prayed to God in paradise as well: there they talked with God, but in paradise they did not ask for mercy, because they did not sin there.