Materials - Felt, colorful ribbon, pipe cleaner and hot glue
Read Genesis 37:3-36
-Abba Anthony the Great
My children, desire to purify your hearts from envy and from anger with each other, lest death should
overcome you, and you will be counted among the murderers. For whosoever hates his brother, kills a
soul.
-St. John of Kronstadt
Remember that the Lord is in every Christian. When your neighbor comes to you, always have
great respect for him, because the Lord is in him, and often expresses His will through him. ' It is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Phil. 2:13).
Therefore, do not grudge anything to your brother, but do unto him as unto the Lord; especially
as you do not know in whom the Lord will come and visit you; be impartial to all, be kind to all,
sincere and hospitable. Remember that sometimes God speaks even through unbelievers, or disposes
their hearts towards us, as it happened in Egypt when the Lord gave Joseph favor in the sight of the
keeper of the prison. (Gen. 39:21).
From the Prologue from Ohrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, December 15
And Joseph left his garment in her hand, and fled outdoors (Genesis 39:12).
The innocent and chaste Joseph endured two great and difficult temptations and overcame them: the
temptation of wicked envy on the part of his blood brothers, and the temptation of adulterous passion
from the Egyptian temptress. Jealousy sold him as a slave, and the passion of adultery drove the
innocent one to prison. In both cases he returned good for evil: he gave food to his hungry brothers and
preserved the life, throne and people of frightened Pharaoh. His brothers thought to slay him, but God
saved him; the adulterous woman thought to destroy him, but God saved him. Out of slavery and
imprisonment, God crowned him with glory and unlimited authority. And him whom his evil brothers
could have killed with one stroke and whom Potiphar's powerful wife could have crushed in an instant,
God made the unlimited master over the lives of millions of people and the only nourisher of his
starving brothers. Such is the wondrous mercy of God toward the righteous. Thus does the Lord know
how to save and glorify the innocent and the chaste. In the greatness of the destiny of Joseph, we see
the greatness of God's mercy. There is one eye that never sleeps, my brethren. Let us cling to God and
not fear anyone. Let us be innocent and chaste and not fear evil, or slander, or prison, or ridicule, or
misfortune. On the contrary, let us rejoice when all of this befalls us because of our innocence and
chastity; let us rejoice and await with faith the revelation of God's wonders toward us. Let us, in every
storm, await the thunder of God's justice-and afterward the calm.
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