What to hand out to parents to help their child prepare:

The final exam will be part oral and part written. 

The children will be asked to do the following:

Oral recitation:

1. Say the Lord’s prayer (we will do this together at the beginning of class, but all are expected to know it)

Written exam (Some of this will be fill in the blank and multiple choice, but the following should be known):

2. Know the creed and be able to recite it (is listed below in study packet)
3. To the best of your ability, explain the Holy Trinity (that the Holy Trinity is God the Father together with His eternal Son and His Holy Spirit, and that the Three, although they have different roles, act together and are not divided).  This need be only one or two sentences, but should be accurate.
4. Explain what the Orthodox Church is and what is means to you (for the first part, it is the continued existence of the One Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ, and is here to help people and bring them to God so that they can be united with God by grace as His children.  The Church brings the truth of God to the world, so that all who will come and listen “shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free”, as our Lord Jesus promised).
5. List the seven sacraments and do a few word explanation for each one 
6. List the Feast of Feasts (Pascha/Easter, aka the Great Feast), the weekly feast of the Resurrection (The Lord’s Day—i.e. every Sunday)  and 4 of the 12 “major feasts”
7. To answer the question:  “What is the importance of Confession”:  (The answer involves Acknowledgement, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation.  A correct answer will go something like this:  When we have done wrong we need to acknowledge it openly to the person we have wronged and to God.  We do this through the Church according to our Lord’s command “Go tell it to the Church”.  Scripture:  “if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”.  Jesus gave to the Church leaders the appointment to pronounce forgiveness of sins or to withhold it when we are not sorry and willing to make things right and to correct ourselves.  We come to confession being sorry for our sins and sorry for any way that we may have separated ourselves from God our the Church by doing so and seeking forgiveness).  It is important that the children know that all in the Church, including priests and bishops, take confession and submit themselves to the Church.

Sample Final Exam

1.  All say Lord’s prayer    20 points

2.  All recite creed              15 points (bonus of 10 points if no paper needed)

3.  As a member of the Orthodox Church, I am an:       (2 points)

a. Orthodox Christian

b. Orthodox rabbi

c.  abbot

d.  awesome baseball player

3.  We are to live our lives in accordance with:    (5 points)

a. The ten commandments

b.  To love God with all of our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves

c.  To love our enemies

d.  To love one another as God has loved us. 

e.  To do what we think is best for us in our own opinion rather than looking towards Christ’s teachings

f.  a,b,c, and d. 

g.  All of the Above. 

4.  The Holy Trinity is:                    (5 points)

a. Three different Gods, three different persons

b. One God the Father together with His eternal Son, and His eternal Holy Spirit, Three

God-Persons made up of the one God-nature

c. One God and One Divine Person with three different ways of revealing himself

5.  The Orthodox Church is:                   (5points)

1. A divine and human assembly of God’s people as the Body of Christ
2. A club to which members belong 
3. A place to go on Sunday

6.  Explain what the Church means to you:   (3 points)

7.  A sacrament is:    (5 points)

a.  Important actions by which God shares His love with us and special grace and through which we share in the life of the Church.

b.  Just a bunch of things that we are required to do in order to be members of the Church

c.  Outward signs with no real meaning

8.  The seven Sacraments are (circle seven—3 points each)

1. Holy Communion
2. Holy Baptism
3. Cutting the Church lawn
4. Baking in the kitchen for dinner after Church
5. Holy Chrismation (the anointment with oil after baptism—the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, making us kings and priests with Christ)
6. Holy Repentance (Holy Confession, Holy Penance)
7. Helping clean the inside of the church building
8. Holy Unction (Holy Oil, Healing Oil)
9. Reading books about philosophy
10. Lighting candles
11. Holy Marriage (Holy Matrimony)
12. Holy Orders (Ordination)

Which Sacrament is greater than all the others?  (5 points)

a.  Holy Unction, because it heals

b.  Holy Communion, because we receive all of Christ in both body and spirit, and because is completes all other Sacraments

c.  Lighting candles, because it is fun

What is the Greatest of all Feasts Days (Celebrations) in the Church?  (5 points)

1. New Years Day, because it starts out the year
2. Halloween, because its fun
3. Pascha (Easter), because the Lord Jesus restored human nature within Himself, enabling us to be one with God by grace
4. Christmas, because Jesus was born then and we get presents.
5. The fourth of July, because we get to see fire works and eat ice cream

Circle four or more of the following that belong to the twelve Great feasts of the Church—1 point each (there are six altogether, and you will receive a bonus point if you circle 5 or 6 correct answers).

1.  Annunciation (when the Angel Gabriel appeared unto Mary and she conceived by the Holy Spirit) 

2.  Birth (Nativity) of our Lord according to the flesh (Christmas)

3.  St. Gregory Palamas Sunday  When we remember this great Saint

4. Theophany—or Epiphany, is when the Lord was Baptized by St. John in the Jordan river, and the Holy Trinity was revealed in that the Holy Spirit descended on the Lord and the voice of God the Father was made known when He said “this is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” 

5.  Memorial Day—the day when we remember those who died in war

6.  Veterans Day—the day when we recognize those who fight for our freedom

7. Palm Sunday—the Entrance into Jerusalem (Sunday before Pascha)

8. The Ascension of our Lord (40 days following Pascha)

9. Presidents Day—The day when we remember the Presidents of the United States

10.  Saint Nicholas Day—when we remember St. Nicholas

11. Pentecost (Trinity Sunday—50 days after Pascha)