By Aphrodite Kotrotsios
When Eva Poneros was teaching Sunday School during the COVID years, she kept running into the same problem: there simply wasn’t enough Orthodox content online that was truly made for very young children, content that felt joyful, age-appropriate, and engaging enough to hold a child’s attention in a world of Cocomelon, YouTube, and tablets.
“I remember thinking, how is there nothing out there that’s faithful and fun for our younger Sunday School kids?” Poneros said in a recent conversation with Hellenic News of America. “There was a huge void.” She shared her thoughts with her mentor, Judge Marina Corodemus and Judge Corodemus created the Sophia character. As an angel sponsor, Judge Corodemus brought the Very Reverend Nektarios Cottros on as an advisor and the Sophia project came to life.
That void became the seed for Orthodoxy for Kids, a Jersey-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and its new animated series, Sophia, short, visually rich episodes designed to introduce children ages 3–8 to Orthodox faith and life in a way that feels familiar, warm, and memorable.
A tool for kids and for the parents raising them
While Sophia was created with young children in mind, Poneros and Communications Director Manny Xidias of BiggerFish Marketing say the series is also intended to support the growing number of young parents who may sometimes return to church when they start families, sometimes after years away, perhaps in mixed-faith households, and frequently without the time or confidence to “teach Orthodoxy” at home.
“A lot of young people marry outside the faith. They come back to church only when they have children,” Poneros explained. “Sophia is not just to keep the youngest children engaged, it’s also to reintroduce young parents to the basics in a gentle way.”
The goal is not advanced theology. It’s foundational formation, helping families understand simple things children naturally ask about: What is a 40-day blessing? What does a priest look like? How do we make the sign of the Cross?
“Kids wonder about everything,” Director Xidias said. “If it’s not engaging, you lose them to Minecraft.”
They experimented early with animation produced overseas, but quickly realized the bar was higher than expected. “It didn’t rise to the level of what this younger, very sophisticated generation would see as entertaining,” Poneros said.
The project took a major step forward through a $75,000 grant from Leadership 100, which helped the nonprofit complete its launch, formalize operations, and create Sophia at the quality level they envisioned.
But high-quality animation comes at a cost, both financial and creative. Finding the right talent proved to be one of the biggest challenges. Poneros said they weren’t simply looking for skill; they wanted someone who understood Orthodoxy and could communicate it sincerely.
“If your heart’s not in it, you’re not promoting it in a sincere, engaging way,” she said.
A “little miracle” behind Sophia’s voice
One of the most meaningful moments for the team came when they found a volunteer voiceover narrator in California. Unexpectedly and without any formal training, her young daughter, only six years old, became the voice of Sophia.
“It’s amazing,” Poneros said. “A little miracle that materialized and moved our project along.”
A Sunday School resource and a daily habit at home
Orthodoxy for Kids is clear that Sophia is meant to supplement—not replace—parish-based religious education.
The vision is for parishes and Sunday Schools to have a simple tool that reinforces what children hear at church: a short “Did you know?” video that helps them connect the Gospel, feast days, prayers, and church life to their everyday routine.
Xidias explained that for teachers, it can become a natural wrap-up: “Let’s watch a Sophia episode.”
For families at home, the hope is even simpler: children watching something faith-centered during the week, something safe, wholesome, and Orthodox, rather than content that has nothing to do with their spiritual formation.
“A two- or three-minute animated lesson where they pray with Sophia and resume their daily life is a beautiful gift to give our children” Poneros said. “We are calling this our “Pray and Go Sophia” call to action.”
Poneros also emphasized that Sophia has resonated strongly with families raising children with disabilities, families who may struggle to attend church consistently and who often feel overlooked in traditional religious education settings.
The series is being developed with inclusion in mind, including depictions of children with disabilities, and a tone that is gentle, welcoming, and accessible.
Since a soft launch around Christmas and recent media coverage, Orthodoxy for Kids says engagement has grown quickly across Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. But visibility alone won’t sustain the project.
What they need now is donor support, because more episodes require funding, and animation remains expensive.
“Our premise is small 3–4 minute lessons,” Xidias said. “We have storyboards ready. We need donations so we can create more episodes and keep the momentum going.”
Poneros put it plainly: “At about $3,600 per minute, we need sponsors.”
And the vision for new lessons is expansive—an ever-growing library that can cover feast days, Lent and Pascha, saints, sacraments, and the everyday “why” questions children ask in church.
“There are endless lessons we can do,” she said. “And they’ll remember these colorful inspiring faithful characters”.
Orthodoxy for Kids is asking the community, parents, grandparents, godparents, parishes, Philoptochos chapters, and Orthodox organizations, to rally behind a simple goal: build a strong library of Orthodox animated children’s content that helps families stay connected to parish life and the joy of living in Christ.
As Board Member Christina Tettonis shared “ Sophia introduces Orthodox faith to our young children through joy and storytelling. Together with our parents and families, Sophia will plant seeds of faith that will flourish in their hearts forever.”
To learn more, watch episodes, and support the mission, visit OrthodoxyForKids.com and follow @OrthodoxyForKids on social media.
Donations directly support the creation of new Sophia episodes and the expansion of free, faith-based digital resources for young Orthodox children and their families.
If Orthodox families want their children to grow up with characters that shape memory and identity, characters that make faith feel familiar, Sophia is aiming to become one of them.
And with the community’s help, this is only the beginning of “Pray and Go Sophia”.
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