The Children’s Word is a weekly bulletin for Orthodox Christian young people. Copyright 2016 Alexandra Houck.

Email is orthodoxchildrensword (at) gmail.com. Find it each week at myocn.net.

Saint John of Rila, pray for us!

This is the famous Rila Monastery in Bulgaria. “Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for to such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Mark 10:14

Sunday, October 16, 2016 Volume 4, Issue 42

Are you listening?Are you listening?Are you listening?Are you listening? How many times has somebody—a teacher, your mother or father, or even a friend—

told you to LISTEN? Sometimes we DO hear some-

thing, but that doesn’t mean we are really listen-

ing!

In today’s Gospel reading, we hear a story about

somebody who goes out to the field to plant seeds.

Some seeds never sprout at all. Some seeds sprout

at first and then die. But some seeds fall onto good

dirt, and they do sprout. They grow and grow and

give a good crop.

This story shows how we should hear God’s teach-

ings. The Gospel explains that the seeds that are in

the good dirt are the ones who, “hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest

and good heart.” They hold onto it, because the word of God is something

precious!

S0 it’s easy to hear the word, but we also have to listen. That means in

church, or in church school, or when we read our Bibles, or when our par-

ents tell us about Jesus Christ, we listen. We try to take these words about

God and put them into our hearts. We try to live the words, and not just

hear them. We hold them fast in an honest and good heart.

A Ministry of the

Orthodox Christian Network

The story shows how the The story shows how the The story shows how the The story shows how the

Word of God is like seeds.Word of God is like seeds.Word of God is like seeds.Word of God is like seeds.

An icon on a coin!

Here is an icon of Saint John of Rila on

the Bulgarian coin (1 lev). It is worth

about 50 cents.

You can see that Bulgaria really loves

Saint John!

What’s in the icon?

WORD SEARCHWORD SEARCHWORD SEARCHWORD SEARCH

Can you find these words in the jumble? BULGARIA

HEROES

JOHN

LISTEN

MONASTERY

PARABLE

PRAYER

RILA

SOWER

WORD OF GOD

I F A J M V N Y O R D N E V A

V A T I H B M C A T D I M E O

A E G Q R H E R O E S K J H K

A L A K S A E D P B Z O H R H

G G I O B L G V W W U O C Z A

E R W R B D Z L M C N N I V K

N E K A C I E O U P L S K I L

R R R P W N N A U B I T N R R

S A P O R A Q Z L D S R I A C

P T J E S A H O H H T E T V M

V W X T F S Y B Z J E E O J W

B C E V W F F E U L N T T N O

F R D O G F O D R O W C S Z T

Y N H O J O N N W B O A W P U

U Y F U U M O C U V P R Y W G

Do you have a favorite saint? A holy

person who loves God very much? Maybe you

pray to him or her more than to any other. Well,

the people of the country of Bulgaria have a fa-

vorite saint. They name their churches after him,

they put his icon on their money, they pray to

him because he was one of them!

Saint John of Rila was once a simple cowherd,

who lived near what is now Sofia, Bulgaria. John

loved God so much that he wanted to find a way

to grow closer and closer to Him. So he moved to the Rila mountains,

to the wilderness. He wanted to live all alone so he could pray and

fast and love God’s beautiful world. That was Saint John’s plan, but

people began to find out about this holy man, and they wanted to be

close to him too! Soon, more and more people would visit him, asking

for his prayers and his advice.

Once, even King Peter of Bulgaria came to see him. John was so hum-

ble though, that he refused to meet the king. Instead, they bowed to

each other from far away. He gave away most of the gifts the king

gave him, and he told the king that he needed it more—so the king

could help the poor.

For many years, the people of Bulgaria had a hard time as Christians.

But they have always loved Saint John and many people still pray to

him as one of their real heroes!

BULGARIA’S FAVORITE SAINT SAINT JOHN OF RILA

We celebrate the nameday of St. John on Wednesday, October 19th.