Five Simple Ways to Teach Your Children about the Saints

When I was younger, we would sit during the Synaxarium readings bored out of our minds. (Never mind that 80% of the time it was in Arabic--and the other 20% in halted English.) The lives of the saints seemed all the same — born, tortured, martyred, the end—and SO far removed from our 21st century lives in the U.S.

My husband—born and raised in Egypt—had a very different relationship with the saints than I did. They were old familiar friends, part of the extended family of the church. People you could count on.

That idea of the saints being part of our family once came up on a visit to Egypt in my college years. I asked my father, "Why do we visit all these churches and the relics of all these different saints?"

Just as we go to Egypt and visit all the different aunts and uncles, dad explained, we also go visit our Tante Saint Marina and Uncle Mari Mina.

It's a beautiful thing for children to see the saints as their family, as their mentors, and their role models. But how can we introduce our children to the saints?

Here are few tips for talking to your kids about the saints.

Read the Synaxarium with Them

Whether they can hear the Synaxarium in a language they understand on Sunday or not, take time each Saturday night to read about the next day's saints together.

Don't feel obliged to read about every saint or to read every word if some days have many long saint stories. The idea is to give them a name and a bit of story to hold on to, so when the Synaxar is read, you can say, "See? It's the saint we talked about already!"

The term for this in education circles is "frontloading." If you've given your child some of the vocabulary and basic plot line of the saint's story in advance, by the time the Synaxar is read, their brains are prepped to receive the information.

Do you remember when we used to watch Saturday morning cartoons? Between each show was a preview for the shows to follow, like a mini-trailer. This gave us an idea of what's to come and made us more eager to wait for that show to come on.

In the same way, reading the Synaxarium with your children the night before gives them a trailer or highlights reel of the next day's story. Even if there are multiple saints and you read only one, they'll be focused and watchful, waiting to hear that name that they learned yesterday.

Tip: If you have a long drive to church in the morning (and kids who don't get motion sick), you can open the Coptic reader app (for iOS or Android) to the right page and pass it back to the kids. They can take turns reading paragraphs until the whole story is read.

Decorate Your Home with Icons or Saint Pictures

When I was a very little girl back in Egypt, our home was guarded by an imposing poster of a frowning Pope Kyrillos VI. I knew that any thief who dared enter our home would be terrified to come face-to-face with that visage. Pope Kyrillos's prayers protected our home and that gave me a lot of comfort.

Where in your house can you put up icons or posters of the saints? Is there an icon corner or wall in your home? Are there pictures of saints in your children's rooms?

That was one of my motivations in creating Our Heavenly Friends and More Heavenly Friends. I wanted to be able to put a whole collage (a cloud!) of saints in my children's bedrooms.

But I'm also mindful of what goes in my living room. What images of the saints do my children encounter every single day? I know that these faces (and the knowledge of their prayers and intercessions) will influence my children's thoughts and perceptions about their faith.

Tip: If you DO have an icon wall, next time you're in a church bookstore, ask your children to CHOOSE which saint should be added next to your icon wall. Give them a sense of personal connection that way.

Include Saintly Intercession in Your Prayers

In my grandmother's house, we all knew that when we lost something we called Abba Nofer. When I married Abouna, his mother taught us we could also call on Anba Wanas. There is a patron saint for everything.

Sometimes we are tempted to dismiss this practice of asking for the saints' prayers in small matters as superstition. But how beautiful it is to keep the names of loved ones on our lips.

Certainly, we want to teach our children that saints aren't there to do magic tricks for us, but we do want them to feel comfortable to include the saints' prayers in everyday situations. God's love for His saints is mysterious and wonderful.

When we practice praying with our children, we should help them learn to conclude their prayers "through the intercessions of Saint Mary," and the patron saint of their church, and their own patron saints and beloved saintly friends. This will remind them that we are members of the Body of Christ with these saints, that while we strive here on earth, the Church Victorious cheers us on.

Celebrate Their Patron Saint

Why not celebrate the feast day of your child's patron saint? While this tradition is well known in Eastern Orthodoxy, we don't hear much about it in the Coptic Church.

The closest I can think of it is how some women who name a son "Michael" bake angel cakes (fiteer malaak) in honor of Archangel Michael each month.

At the minimum, put the date on the calendar and make a fuss about it. You can give your child a special treat in honor of the saint. If there is one, sing a doxology or tamgeed for that saint. If there isn't a hymn already written, you can chant Axios or Axia ("Worthy") to the saint.

You can create simple activities around the saint, like "name five things you know about this saint" or "draw a picture of this saint."

One blog post I read even suggested throwing a party with friends. We all need to be more social, build our positive relationships, and influence each other to grow in our faith. How wonderful it would be to do this while honoring a saint we love!

Use Saint Books to Launch Conversations (like Our Heavenly Friends!)

There are a few beautiful books about the saints that we can use to teach our children to emulate their lives.

If you have older children, pick up a graphic novel like A Forest in the Desert* about the life of St. John the Short or The Cross and the Stag* about St. Eustathius and his family. These books make the lives of the saints tangible and thrilling.

If you're children are young, consider my kit for teaching saints Our Heavenly Friends and its sequel More Heavenly Friends (just released).

Each kit includes a book with the lives of nine saints. These simplified stories keep the content child-appropriate while also teaching a value, virtue, or character trait the saint embodies that we need to learn and keep in our lives.

Each kit comes with a poster to go in your children's bedroom and nine stickers—one for each saint—in a sweet and appealing illustration style.

Wait—nix that —each kit comes with TWO posters and TWO sets of nine saint stickers. As a mother of two, I know it can be a hassle to have to buy two of everything. In this case, you don't have to worry about kids in separate bedrooms—they each get a poster with saints, and you get one book to read to them (or to share between them).

Be Consistent

Whatever method you choose, begin to incorporate the saints into your children's lives as soon as possible. Model for them that relationship with the saints that you desire for them. Remind them regularly that we are not striving alone, but have friends praying for us and for our salvation.

*affiliate links