EASTERN PRELACY CONCLUDES SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM ON THE NICENE CREED

On Monday, April 20, the Eastern Prelacy concluded a five-part Zoom Sunday School teacher training program on the Nicene Creed, with 20 teachers and directors in attendance. The program was based on the recently published booklet by the Eastern Prelacy, The Council of Nicaea and the Creed of Nicaea in the Armenian Church, written by Archdeacon Shant Kazanjian, Director of Christian Education.

During his three sessions, Dn. Shant discussed the Creed of Nicaea as originally formulated by the Fathers of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. He then examined the expanded version of the Creed as recited today in the Armenian Church during the Divine Liturgy (Soorp Badarak), highlighting its distinctive features and differences from the versions used in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. In the third session, he highlighted the Creed’s role in the life of the Church: (1) as an official statement or confession of faith, (2) as a test of Orthodoxy, and (3) as a syllabus for instruction in the elements of faith.

While the first three sessions focused on teaching the teachers, the final two sessions focused on teaching elements of the Creed to students at different grade levels, with workshop leaders presenting a range of creative ideas, activities, and instructional strategies.

Marina Tekeyan, a Sunday School teacher at Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Church of Ridgefield, New Jersey, focused on teaching various aspects of the Creed to students in grades 1–6. Nayiri Baljian, Sunday School Director at St. Stephen’s Armenian Church in Watertown, Massachusetts, discussed methods for teaching the Creed to students in grades 7–10.