Festival of Faith & Oratorical Festival

The Festival of Faith involves church school students in N3 through 6th grade sharing an expression of their faith through creative arts.

• On a Sunday (usually in Feb. or March) after Divine Liturgy, each class presents a brief (2-5 minute) group presentation based on some aspect of their curriculum.

• The program ends with a special coffee hour honoring participants and celebrating the church school students’ expression of faith.

o N3-6th grade classes hang a special project on the walls of the atrium for parents to view.

o The project that is hung in the hall can be something made especially for the Festival of Faith or something done earlier in the year that can be displayed.

o Class will be slightly shortened as a result of the presentations.

Grade Presentation
N3 & N4 Sing “Oh Be Careful”
Kindergarten Recite Psalm 148 and hold up illustrations of the Psalm
1st We are special being Orthodox Christians because
2nd 10 Commandments Play
3rd A Beatitudes Prayer
4th Our Favorite Bible Verses
5th How St Ephraim’s Prayer Can Help Us During Lent
6th Grade: “The Shields of the Apostles”

7th, 8th Presentation based on current year’s junior oratorical topics.

The Oratorical Festival

The Oratorical festival is a program of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese involving competition among junior and senior high students in the areas of speech, essay, poetry, and iconography.

• 7th, 8th and High school teachers are the liaisons for the Oratorical Festival and as such, can encourage participation by students in their classes.

• Teachers are asked to spend at least one week in church school (usually in January or February) reviewing the speech and essay topics with their students, while also encouraging submission of poetry or an icon.

• Teachers can offer assistance to interested students by sharing resources and research materials.

• Directors will provide the topics and guidelines to the teachers for distribution in class. These materials can also be found on-line at www.goarch.org or the Ss. Peter and Paul website.

• Students who plan to submit to the Oratorical festival must do so by the Tuesday prior to the Oratorical Festival.

• Students will present their speeches or other submissions on a Wednesday evening during lent after Pre-Sanctified Liturgy