St. Gregory Palamas, pray for us!

Today is the 2nd Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas. “Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for to such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Mark 10:14 A Ministry of the Sunday, March 27, 2016 Volume 4, Issue 13 Orthodox Christian Network A true friend

What’s the best thing you ever did for a friend?

Today, we hear a Gospel reading about four men who did the best thing any of us could do—they helped their friend come closer to Je- sus Christ. In the story, a man who was para- lyzed wanted to see Christ, so he The sick man wanted to be healed! could be healed. The problem was that he couldn’t see Christ because there were so many people surrounding Him. Everybody knew that Jesus had the power to heal! So this man’s friends made a hole in the roof, and they lowered their friend through it. When Christ saw the faith of the four friends, He forgave the paralyzed man of his sins, and later He healed him. The man could walk again! Even though we probably won’t ever be in that situation, we can still do what the friends did for their sick friend. They helped him see Jesus Christ. We can help our own friends see Christ too. But how? We can try to act like Him. By being kind to others. By being helpful. By not fighting. By being humble. By not gossiping. By showing love to everybody around The Children’s Word is a weekly bulletin for Orthodox Christian young people. Copyright 2016 Alexandra Houck. us. Then, when our friends see us, they will be seeing Christ in us, too!

WORD SEARCH A WONDER-WORKING ICON The Portaitissa Icon of the Theotokos S O H T A T N U O M N G B E Z Can you find F Q J G R J W Z I I A B R Y Q Do you have icons in your these words in W R E M R D P C J D I N O I C house? In your family’s car? In T H S C E E O Y S R T K I C F the jumble? Last Sunday, remember, Q K T V I N G S K M S P F U C your room? CHRISTIAN H P T O S T E O V R I F O O R we walked around our church, proudly FRIENDS E E S M U L Y V R F R U M H J holding up our icons. We use these icons to GREGORY A Y P K C T U L F Y H H D A W remember Christ and His saints. But God HEALED L T A A R V Y A A A C E I Y I sometimes uses icons in other special ways E J R S L K Q P F R I E N D S ICONS too. Tomorrow we’ll remember an amazing MIRACLES D I X Y L Z L J E D A I U Y V icon called the Portaitissa Icon. MOUNTATHOS M L I B O E O H J N J P P R J W C I D T I D L U P L K N T Z PARALYTIC More than a thousand years ago, icono- ROOF U K E C T X V B M E W S L S G M O N U I W D F G M K U Z I Z clasts tried to destroy icons all over the Christian world. A Christian lady kept an icon in her house. Once, these icon-hating men The Portaitissa Icon came into her house and stabbed this icon with a spear. Real blood poured out of it!

What’s in the icon? Then, of course, she knew it was a very special icon. With this mira- cle, God wanted to show how important icons are to our faith. The lady asked the soldiers to wait until the morning to take it. When they Here’s another icon of the sick left, she put it in the sea, and it floated away. It floated to Mount man being healed by Jesus. Athos, a place in Greece that is filled with monasteries and churches. Can you find the men lowering This amazing icon has been at a monastery on Mount Athos ever their friend through the roof? since then. Tomorrow we celebrate this miracle that God worked through this amazing icon.

We remember this special icon on Thursday, March 31st.