Song: Jesus Prayer

In response to your requests, below are the audio files to learn the Jesus Prayer as a song with your teens and children. There are a few versions below: Two are slow, in English or Greek, and the third is a faster version to a slightly different melody that is especially great for road trips.You'd be surprised how the time passes quickly with everyone involved in prayer! Use this song to specifically pray for the poor, the hungry, the orphans, all monks and nuns, anyone by first name, etc... Although, if you are familiar with the theology behind the Jesus Prayer, you know that by praying this for yourself, you are essentially including all mankind and asking for God's great and abundant mercy to save us!

The first is in English, and sung in rounds from the CD "Panaghia With Us All: Songs and Hymns with the Children of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church" recorded with Father Monk Christodoulos.

The second recording is simply the same melody in Greek: "Kyrie Isou Xriste, Yie tou Theou, Eleison Me"

And the third version...asking different members present to shout out the next name to pray for...

Activities to Get You Started

One reason for beginning this site is to create a public forum for Orthodox resources, that are free and theologically sound in their teaching. Many materials and ideas never make it to be published, however, they can be used and adapted according to your needs NOW - not tomorrow, or next year. So, without delay, here are two activities in various age levels -


Pre-K to 5th: Show & Tell
Using a handout complete with pictures of objects from the Altar, ask your local priest to invite the kids for an afternoon of hands-on learning. Have each child pick an item to touch, smell, and see close-up while discussing its name and function. Children can approach the Royal Gates to find the item from the handout, and wait on the Solea together to pass it around. At the end, conduct a quiz all together to see who can remember the names of the items!

Click Here for the Altar Game Handout


6th to 12th Grade: Tune In

Select ten songs to burn on a CD that range in genre to include the following: rap, techno, classical, jazz, a Church hymn...and one song to simply be "silence." Using the handout, ask teens to listen to each song as it is played and write down the way it makes them feel using the list of emotions from the handout. Openly discuss how music effects us and our soul - do we become sad, angry, pumped-up, flirty, peaceful... which songs do we feel closest to God, loving to our neighbors, or most influenced by? Which songs do we know the words to as opposed to others?

Click Here for the Tune In Pop Music Activity Handout