Graduation in any educational institution- the moment is exciting and solemn, and especially in Sunday school. On May 27, on the basis of the Torbeyevskaya elementary school, a graduation party was held for the 4th year students of the Sunday School at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. In the festively decorated office, the heroes of the occasion gathered, pupils of grades 8-9, who for 4 years studied the "Fundamentals of the Orthodox Faith", guests, junior schoolchildren, teachers.

After the solemn beginning, the head of the diocesan department of religious education and catechesis, as well as the spiritual father of the Sunday school, Abbot Amfilochiy, spoke with warm words and parting wishes. Batiushka presented the graduates with letters of gratitude and letters of thanks for diligent study and active participation in the life of the Sunday School, blessed the students with the holy book of the New Testament. Teachers: V.F. Perfilova, V.P. Glukhova congratulated their students with good wishes.

With special excitement, the graduates presented a prepared speech to all those present, read poems, sang the song "My humble boat", watched the presentation. They expressed their gratitude to Abbot Amfilohiy, parents, teachers.

Grade 6 students congratulated the graduates, wishing them success and peace. With special enthusiasm Tatyana Perfilova sang the song "Rosinochka - Russia", Baykova Marina, Azyaeva Irina presented the song "Mama" with love and tenderness. With delight, everyone together watched the video about the years of studying at Sunday school, presented by the priest. We remembered with excitement the lessons, joint visits to the church, conversations with the priest about God and the lives of the saints, the amazing Orthodox camp, the Orthodox patriotic camp, unforgettable pilgrimage trips to holy places. And there were a lot of them! For which everyone is very grateful to our father, Father Amphilochius.

We finished the graduation party with a festive tea party. A warm conversation with such a beloved priest will be remembered for a long time in our hearts.

Dear father, thank you very much for everything.

Grateful pupils of the 9th grade and teacher Glukhova V.P.

Graduation at Sunday School.

4 years of study passed unnoticed. Sunday school is a place for spiritual education and development. During these years of training, teachers taught us kindness, attention to people, we studied the Old and New Testament, and most importantly, we learned to love God and the Church of Christ. But we not only studied, we had joint holidays, unforgettable trips to the Holy Places. We attended church services, participated in ordinances, took part in all Orthodox holidays and festivals, won prizes in competitions. We felt like one family.

The graduation party is the result of our training, it was held in a festive atmosphere. We have heard many warm words and wishes from Abbot Amfilochiy, teachers, junior comrades. Batiushka presented certificates and letters of thanks, presented the graduates and teachers with the New Testament. We were very pleased and happy. All together recalled the happiest moments, looking at the photos on the big screen.

The graduation party ended with a festive tea party. Such events unite and help to remember all the good things that have been experienced together.

Graduation in our Sunday school became a memory, joy, a hymn of love, kindness, gratitude to the Lord God.

Sunday schools are a stepping stone to God

To go up the stairs to the sky -

Look at yourself repentantly and sternly,

And those who are around cannot be judged for their sins.

Sunday School Graduate Queen Valentine

The last bell rang not only in ordinary schools, but also in the Dobrynyushka Sunday school at the Verkhotursky St. Nicholas Monastery. The children learned a lot of new and interesting things within the walls of this school over the past year. Many events took place: Christmas, Easter, Presentation week, Mother's Day, Victory Day; participation in exhibitions, in the scientific-practical conference "Family - past, present, future", took place a trip to the diocesan theological conference. All holidays and events were held thanks to the efforts of the teaching staff under the leadership of the young school director Dedova Alena.
I would also like to note the pupils of the Sunday School of Bezdenezhnykh Ekaterina and Lyubimova Olga, who adequately represented the Sunday School at the 15th Diocesan Theological Conference and actively participated in the life of the school, not missing events and helping the school principal. Demin Ivan also distinguished himself, who did not lag behind the girls and adequately defended the honor of the school. On the last line, a thanksgiving service to the Lord was served, many children were awarded certificates for their active participation in the life of the school and success in their studies. After tea drinking all children were presented with soft toys.
I would like to express special gratitude to the director of the school Alena Dedova. As an assistant to the Dean for missionary work with youth, she conducts interesting youth activities that all teenagers remember with gratitude. Creative evenings, rope course, campfire evenings attracted a lot of young people and will remain in their memory for a long time. Also, thanks to the efforts of Alena Dedova, such circles as learning to play the guitar, photography, singing (church and folk) and a sports club are organized.
A historic event took place at Sunday School this year. For the first time, in all the years of the existence of Sunday schools in Verkhoturye, the first graduation took place. Unfortunately, only one graduate received a school leaving certificate. This graduate was me - Maslova Maria. With God's help and the kind training of my mentors, Svetlana Maslova and Alena Dedova, I managed to get a certificate of distinction. The exam included questions on such disciplines as the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Catechism, knowledge of prayers, the organization of the temple, fasting and holidays, reading in the Church Slavonic language. The examination committee, chaired by the school's spiritual father, Hieromonk Simeon (Tsarev), congratulated me on the excellent graduation from school and presented me with gifts.
I am grateful to Abbot Lavr for the existence of the school, and to the teaching staff for the contribution made to the development of Sunday School students. I hope that my graduation will not be the last within the walls of this school, and the knowledge gained will help on my life path... I wish all the students of the school to successfully complete it, and I also invite parents to bring their children to our school, because here they teach only goodness.
Maria Maslova.

The educational and methodological set "Vertograd" includes Teacher's Notes, Workbooks and Collections of tests in the following subjects:

1. TEMPLE STUDIES (Initial concepts about God, about prayer, about the temple)
2. ORTHODOX ICONOSTASIS (Twelve Feasts. Faces of Saints. Detailed analysis of the device of the iconostasis using a paper model).
3. OLD TESTAMENT
4. NEW TESTAMENT
5. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
6. ORTHODOX WORSHIP (All-night vigil, Liturgy)
7. ORTHODOX CATHISIS
8. CHURCH-SLAVIC LANGUAGE

The set was developed on the basis of the classic textbook of Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky, supplemented with modern theological and natural science knowledge, and enriched with information on Orthodox culture. Educational material distributed taking into account the age characteristics of students. The teacher's notes contain: short description course, synopses of lessons in accordance with the calendar-thematic plan and a list of references. Workbooks include: summary lesson topics and practical task- writing keywords, abstracts, coloring drawings, applique, paper modeling.
Designed for Sunday schools, Orthodox grammar schools, secondary schools.

The educational and methodological kit, developed on the basis of the Sunday school "Vertograd" at the Archangel Michael Church in Pushchino, was presented by the compiler as a final qualifying work at the Higher Theological Courses at the MPAA and was recommended for publication.
Head of the final qualifying work -, candidate pedagogical sciences, dean Faculty of Education PSTGU, Director of the Institute of Expertise educational programs and state-confessional relations.

Church Slavonic language. Namewords. Workbook.Svirepova O.V., Zakharova L.A., Methodical development for the 4th grade of Sunday School, for children 10-11 years old. Pushchino, 2010

The lessons are based on the book by N.P. Sablina “Slavic initial letter. Poetic history of the alphabet with the basics of Church Slavonic literacy ”. The author herself characterized her book as a collection of “popular science stories about the Letter in the Spirit: about the honorable external beauty of each letter, or its image; about the spiritual and mystical essence of the alphabet and the symbolism of alphabetic names ”.

The compilers tried to fulfill the manual in the same vein. Every leaf workbook dedicated to one letter, the story of its name, origin. Also on the sheet dedicated to the letter, there are words beginning with it under titles, names and their meanings, a short dictionary of frequently encountered words, an icon of the Virgin, whose name begins with this letter, an icon of a saint, riddles. Half of the sheet is taken up by writing. The sheet is decorated with ornaments and all sorts of options for initial letters, but there is also a place for the student himself to draw a beautiful letter.

(for 2 parts, Separate lessons, answers to more complex tests)

The school year ended in Sunday school. On May 13, exams were held in 3 senior groups. The examination cards contained questions from all the doctrinal disciplines studied by the children:

Group 3 (7-8 years old) - Holidays of the Russian Orthodox Church. Annual circle, Sacred history Of the Old Testament, the sacred history of the New Testament, Lives of the Saints of the Ecumenical Church, Church Slavonic language.

4 group (9-10 years old)- New Testament. Sunday Gospels. Interpretation, Sacred history of the Old Testament, Moral theology, History of the Russian Church in the lives of the Saints, General church history in the lives of the Saints, Church Slavonic language, Church reading skills and the basics of worship;

5 group (11-13 years old)- Catechism and Dogmatic Theology, New Testament. Apostolic Epistles. Interpretations, Moral theology, Old Testament, Liturgy, Church Slavonic language, Church reading skills and the basics of worship.

The examination commission included: Archimandrite Dionysius, Hieromonk Philaret, Priest Leonid, Anton Ruslanovich Zolotukhin (head teacher), Elena Viktorovna Strunina (assistant head teacher), Nikita Viktorovich Stratulat (candidate of theological sciences), Lyubov Anatolyevna Gvozdeva.

The final certification was successfully passed by 18 pupils of the Sunday school.

After completing the exam, a prayer service was served in the house church of the metropolitan chambers at the end of the school year.

Then, in the lecture hall of the Metropolitan Chambers, a parent meeting was held, at which Archimandrite Dionysius congratulated everyone on the end of the school year and summed up the results of the joint work of students, teachers and parents. The head teacher of the Sunday school announced the results of the exams. At the end of the academic year, pupils of the Sunday school were presented with certificates of progress.

For diligence, good manners, conscientiousness and creative aspirations, the best students were awarded certificates, certificates of merit and mementos.

Also, for their active participation in the life of the school, the parents of the pupils were awarded certificates and mementos.

The parents of the students expressed their gratitude to Archimandrite Dionysius for his many years of close attention to the problems of raising children and youth, for the love and kindness of the entire teaching staff and hope for further joint efforts in raising children.

At the end of the parent meeting, a pedagogical council was held, at which the work of the teaching staff was positively assessed and a wish was expressed to maintain stability in the work of the Sunday school in the next academic year.