On Saturday, September 27, 2025, Archon Regional Commander Perry C. Siatis, Esq., served as one of the guest speakers at this year’s Sunday School Directors and Teachers Workshop for the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago. The event took place at Holy Taxiarhai and Saint Haralambos Greek Orthodox Church in Niles, Illinois. During his presentation, Archon Siatis informed Sunday school teachers and directors from 28 area parishes about the Archon Sprout Program, a program created by the Archon Ecumenical Patriarchate Global Educational Initiative, designed to provide students from pre-k through high school with an introduction to the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in an engaging and creative way.
The Archon Sprout Program launched last year. The Archons worked with two professional educators, Helen Nixon, Ed.D., and Katina Limberakis Tsatalis, M.Ed., pro bono, to develop one-day grade-specific lesson plans for Sunday Schools to use on or near the Feast Day of Saint Andrew in conjunction with National Archon Sunday.
Archon Siatis showed the attendees the Archon Sprout website, www.archons.org/sprout, and walked through all the resources available, including prepared lesson plans for each grade level, a training video, promotional materials, informational articles and materials, and other excellent resources. There was a great deal of enthusiasm in the room for the opportunity to educate students in their parishes more about Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the issues the Ecumenical Patriarchate faces.
The Archons provided educators with sample lesson plans for each grade level, along with recent editions of the Archon newsletter, and a hard copy of the “First Among Equals: The Ecumenical Patriarchate,” a wonderful resource written to provide information about the Ecumenical Patriarch to the younger generation. This publication was co-authored by His Grace Bishop Anthony of Synada, who happened to be the keynote speaker at the event.
His Grace Bishop Anthony of Synada, the current Director of Holy Cross Orthodox Press and Adjust Professor at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, spoke about educating students with icons, which was based on his book, “The Educating Icon, Teaching Wisdom and Holiness in the Orthodox Way,” and provided guidance on lesson planning. He also autographed copies of the “First Among Equals” for the attendees!
We pray that Sunday Schools throughout the Metropolis of Chicago will now have a lesson planned during the 2025-26 year that focuses on the Ecumenical Patriarch.
For more information on the Sprout Program, visit https://archons.org/sprouts/.
