Everybody Knows How to Love God

A few days ago, I was sitting in a classroom at Hellenic College and listening to Catherine Varkas give a lecture on Baptism, the nous, and the spiritual nature/development of children.
     She started by simply quoting the Philokalia, "The spiritual faculty, the nous, of the baptized infant knows God through immediate experience".
    We all sat and tried to absorb that concept, contemplating the many ways it presents itself in our Church and in our work.
    This is a lecture I've heard more than once, as this is the third time I've sat in on the Orthodox Christian Spiritual Formation course, but every time I hear it, I receive it differently, with different impressions, observations, and questions.
     This time, I internalized a spider web of connections between that quote from the Philokalia, Father Meletios Webber's book Bread & Water, Wine & Oil, the letter Montessori dictated on her death bed, and something a 3 year old once said to me.
     Father Webber writes that "fragmentation within the human personality is observed essentially as the division between the mind and the nous".
     Montessori urged teachers on her death bed to "protect in [the child's] development those natural energies implanted in their souls by the guiding hand of God". Protect. Not enlighten. Protect.
     I once left work (a Greek Orthodox Preschool) during my lunch hour to run up the street for confession. Since I was going to church, I changed into a dress, and when I came back, I didn't have time to change again. Of course, the children noticed. One in particular was very curious about it, and the following conversation occurred:
          "Miss Anna," she asked, "why did you change your clothes?"
          "Because I went to church."
          "Why did you go to church?"
          "I went to see Father for confession."
          "What's confession?"
          "Well, I talked to Father, and he told me how I could love other people better and how I
           could love God better".
    Here she stopped and looked at me with a confused look on her face before saying,
          "But everybody knows how to love God. You know how to love God, Miss Anna."
       
     The child isn't fragmented. Not like adults are anyway. Her mind and nous exist in harmony within her. She comes to us this way. She experiences God before she is even old enough to recognize anyone other than her mother, and even her she recognizes only by sensation. She is a child, and yet she inherently loves God so much that she can't fathom that someone wouldn't know how. And that is indeed something that I desire to protect in every child.

I Wish I Could Be There

     Earlier this year, we did a presentation of the Mystical Supper work. We sat down on the rug as a group, and listened while one of the teachers read about the Mystical Supper from the Holy Gospel.
     After she finished, she took out 13 icon figures - 12 disciples and Christ, a table, and small models of a chalice and loaf of bread.
     As she read the Mystical Supper passage again, she moved the icons around the table while the children sat watching intently. There were 15 children, and not a single one made a sound.
    Even after the conclusion of the presentation, everyone sat stilly and silently for a few moments before one child, a 5 year old, stood up and somberly said,
     "I wish I could be there."
   The teacher walked over to our Holy Table work (used to teach nomenclature for all the items we see in church), picked up the model Holy Chalice and said to the child,
      "But you are there! Every Sunday, you get to go to the Mystical Supper."
    I wish I had a pure enough heart to approach Holy Communion with the kind of joy that illumined his entire being upon hearing that.

The first time the teacher reads the Gospel passage, she reads it from the Holy Gospel itself, with a candle lit and making the Sign of the Cross before and after. The second time, when she reads while moving the icon figures, she uses this Scripture Booklet, which contains only the passage that is needed for this work.
That way, when the child does the work, those that can read can read the relevant Scripture to themselves or ask an older child or teacher to read it for them.

Orthodoxy in the Montessori Classroom

          A Montessori environment is concrete. It's experiential. It's full of beautiful things for the children to touch and explore, and so is our church. The children get to kiss icons, light candles, smell fragrant incense, and participate fully in our church using all the faculties of their bodies.
          In the Montessori 3-6 year old classroom, the children frequent activities known as Practical Life activities, which are indeed exactly what they sound like.
         They are based in the practical actions made in life such as pouring water, squeezing sponges, scrubbing tables, tying shoes, dusting, etc. Anyone who has ever observed a Montessori classroom has surely seen children doing these things, and perhaps, if no one had ever explained it to them, were befuddled by the seeming futility of the activities. I'm sure many parents peek through windows of Montessori classrooms and walk away thinking, "they want $15,000 a year to let my three year old run around pouring beans?" Because of this impression many have, I would be remiss not to mention that the actual point of these Practical Life activities isn't to aimlessly occupy them. These materials exist to bring the young child's awareness to his hands, to their ability to move, and his ability to master their movements. They allow him to focus intently on his work and thereby develop concentration. He has to decide whether to cut the flower stems and place them in the vase before or after filling the vase with water - a choice. He has to consider his entire body and a complete sequence of events while trying to complete one seemingly simple task. I could go on and on about Practical Life, as what I've mentioned barely begins to cover the vast importance of the most central area of the 3-6 classroom, but I'm not an expert on the Montessori Method and this is supposed to be about Orthodoxy in the Montessori Classroom, not pitchers and shoes.
          Well, actually, it's about both because Orthodoxy is incorporated into the Montessori environment most simply by means of Practical Life. For us, our Faith is practical life. Our Faith is not simply theoretical and conceptual, it is concrete and experiential. We practice it every day. And our children can experience and practice our Faith in any way we make available to them. One child cleans a window, another an icon. One scrubs a table, another polishes a cross. A child who has learned to scoop, pour and level makes leaven as described in the Gospel of Matthew. Another plants a seed after hearing the Parable of the Scattered Seed. And yet another practices making the Sign of the Cross over and over, meticulously staring at his fingers until they start to come together just right.
          All of these scenes I hope to paint for you as I continue working with the children and am able to share with you what they share with me.

The children polished a silver icon of Panagia until there was not a single trace of tarnish remaining. We took the icon from the work and hung it on the wall, replacing it with some other miscellaneous silver for them to polish instead. They went and took it off the wall, completely disregarding the tarnished cups and pitchers we'd given them. 
They just wanted their Panagia.

One of the twenty or so children in our Sunday School room lighting a candle as she comes in after church.

After having heard the Parable of the Leaven, this 3 year old child works at combining 3 measures of meal and 1 measure of leaven. He'll later set it aside and observe it as it rises.