Warm-up
Split a piece of paper into 8 pieces (doesn’t have to be perfect – divide 3 times and tear along the creases.) Have the student write one word or phrase per slip of paper about any thought that comes to mind regarding “Diptychs”. Take ~5 minutes or so doing this. Have the students read off a few of them… no need to go in detail over them – that will be done later.
Lesson Time
Before class printout and cut-up this doc. There are 32 slips of papers with various facts about each of the Diptychs. Make one set per group of students.
Split the class into groups and give them a set of the papers that were cut up before. Ask them to:
- Organize the 32 slips of papers into one of the 6 Diptychs
- In addition, take the students papers from the warm-up, and organize them.
- If they don’t belong to any specific Diptych they can organize those in some other way.
- Give them 10 minutes to complete this in groups
Afterwards go through each Diptych and have the groups alternate reading one slip per group. As you go through each – use the time as discussion about that particular Diptych.
Possible discussion points:
Diptych 1
- Ask them if the Diptych can vary between churches
- answer: [msosa_restrictprompt] All Sunday School teachers, administrators, and clergy within the diocese can register!
- Ask them when was the last time they prayed for their clergy (rhetorical)? Point to the example here… the church specifically sets aside time in the Qurbono to remember to pray for those governing the church.
Diptych 2
- Who are we praying for?
- People who’ve asked us to pray for them.
- People going through hard times.
- All faithful Christians.
- What are we praying for?
- God would visit them.
- God would deliver them.
- God would help them continue in virtue.
Diptych 3
- Rhetorical question: When was the last time you prayed for you governmental leaders? Once again the Church gives the example and sets aside time for this in the Qurbono.
- We pray that they are virtuous.
Diptych 4
- These are saints during the apostolic period.
- There is a shift here… from living to departed.
- There is a shift here… from praying for… to requesting prayers from.
- The inclusion of St. Thomas is unique to the churches from Malankara
- Ask them where is Malankara and what does is mean “churches from Malankara”. [msosa_restrictprompt] All Sunday School teachers, administrators, and clergy within the diocese can register!
Diptych 5
- These saints are included because they did something to protect or preserve the faith. To make sure it can be handed down to us genuinely.
- There are different types of clergy: Patriarchs, Bishops, Deacons.
- There are non-Syriac fathers also – ie. Coptic, etc.
- There is some ambiguity of some of the names
- If you look in the appendix you’ll see some names have 2 people described.
- Like Diptych 4 – we request prayers from them.
Diptych 6
- Remember all faithful departed
- When attending Qurbono it is not just the living – but all.
- Symbolism of the aisle
Wrap-up
Either play Quizziz live in class or assign as homework:
[msosa_restrictprompt] All Sunday School teachers, administrators, and clergy within the diocese can register!
Extras
Possible slides to use gdoc: