St. Ignatius of Antioch skit

in

Authors: Basil Issac, Riya Issac

This skit was created for a regional Sunday School conference held in Detroit. The kids were give 45 mins to learn about St. Ignatius and to learn this skit.  Then they were to perform it later that evening.  (You can watch the performance from the regional here.)

Title: Who is the Greatest?

Characters

  • Jesus
  • Disciples (multiple)
  • Narrator
  • Trajan
  • Ignatius
  • Letter Readers (upto 5)
  • Spectators

Plot Themes

  • Sacrifice
  • Obedience
  • Faithfulness

 

Script
 
(As the twelve disciples were walking with (behind) Jesus, they talked among themselves.)
Disciples: “I’m the greatest. No, I am. No, I am.”
 
(Jesus turns around to the disciples and asks:)
Jesus: “What were you arguing about on the road?”
 
(The disciples look down and round to one another.)
 
Narrator: “The disciples didn’t answer because they were embarrassed.”
 
Jesus then sat down and motioned the twelve disciples to come near Him.
At the same time, there is a few children playing beside them.
Jesus: Come, come...
 
Jesus: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
 
Jesus then took a small child and had him stand among them. Taking the small child in his arms, Jesus said to the disciples:
Jesus: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
 
Everyone is off stage.
Enter Saint Ignatius, Emperor Trajan, and a few soldiers.
Emperor Trajan is sitting on a throne with a sword and a soldier on each side.
Saint Ignatius is in front of the Emperor and him are a few soliders.
Narrator: “Our church believes that the young child Jesus took in His arms was Saint Ignatius of Antioch. He spent many years as a disciple to Apostle John. Years later, he became the bishop of Antioch. During the reign of Emperor Trajan, Christians in Syria were forced to choose between death or unite with the pagans in the worship of the gods. But Saint Ignatius continued to pray and have faith in God. When Emperor Trajan heard this, he called Ignatius:
Trajan: Who are you, who dare disobey my orders?
Ignatius: I am Theophorus, he who bears Christ within him.
Trajan: What? Are you saying that we don’t have within ourselves the gods (emphasis on ‘gods’) who help us against our enemies?
Ignatius: You are mistaken when you call gods (emphasis on ‘gods’) those who are no better than devils. There is only one God, who created heaven and earth and all that in them.
Trajan: Do you mean Him who was crucified under Pontius Pilate?
Ignatius: Yes, the same, who by His death forgave our sins.
Trajan: Do you then, bear Christ within you?
Ignatius: Yes, for it is written, 'I will dwell in them and will walk with them.’
Trajan: Well then, we’ll just see about that. Soldiers, take this man to Rome for I condemn him to death. He shall serve as entertainment to my fellow Romans and dinner to the beasts. (Laughs cruelly).
 
(The soldiers chain Saint Ignatius and take him from Antioch to Rome.)
Narrator: So the Roman soldiers took Saint Ignatius from Antioch to Rome. During his journey, Saint Ignatius wrote 7 letters; 5 to the churches in Asia minor, 1 to the church in Rome, and 1 to the bishop of Smyrna.
 
During this time, Saint Ignatius walks with the soldiers. He writes letters and gives it to a person from each city. As they receive the letters, they read a portion of the letter out loud.
 
Ephesians Letter: “Live in unity that you many always enjoy communion with God.”
 
Magnesians Letter: “Be aware of false teachings.”
 
Trallians Letter: “Remain faithful to God.”
 
Philadelphians Letter: “But to me the charters are Jesus Christ, the inviolable charter is his cross, and death, and resurrection, and the faith which is through him.”
 
Smyrneans Letter: “Obey your superiors.”
 
Narrator: Along the roads, his fellow Christians greeted him with words of comfort. (Have a few people come and comfort him.) When Saint Ignatius finally reached Rome, he was thrown into the Colosseum to fight the beasts.(Spectators form a semi circle with Saint Ignatius in the middle with beasts.)
 
Spectators: Fight, fight!    No!!  Yeah, kill him!
 
(The beasts begin to attack Saint Ignatius. Spectators are still screaming.)
Ignatius: Let me be food for the wild beasts, through whom I can reach God. I am God's wheat, and I am being ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I might prove to be pure bread. (He then falls to the ground and dies.)
 
Narrator: In his letters, Saint Ignatius urged Christians to remain faithful to God and to obey their superiors. He also warned Christians against false teachings. He also preached that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine and that Jesus did in fact suffer on the cross.