An Orthodox church is built to be prayed in with the whole person: eyes, ears, nose, voice, hands and knees. Nothing in it is decoration. Here is a short walk through the building and the worship that fills it.
The shape of the church
Most Orthodox churches have three parts. The narthex, or entryway, is where you light a candle and leave the world behind for a while. The nave is where the people stand and pray. The altar, or sanctuary, is at the east end behind the icon screen, and holds the holy table where the Eucharist is celebrated. Churches face east because the sun rises there, and Christ is the rising Sun.
The iconostasis
The screen of icons between nave and altar is not a wall to keep people out but a window to show them what is behind it. Christ is always on the right of the central doors and the Mother of God on the left; our parish’s patronal icon, the Dormition, stands beside them. The Royal Doors in the middle open at the high points of the service, when the Gospel is brought out and when Communion is offered.
Icons
Icons are painted according to a tradition that stretches back to the first centuries. They are not portraits and do not try to be realistic; they show a person transfigured by grace, looking at you from eternity. We kiss them, light candles before them and carry them in procession because the people they show are alive in Christ and present with us. Honoring an icon honors the one it depicts.
Candles and incense
A candle is a small prayer that keeps burning after you have moved on. Incense rises, as the Psalm says, like prayer, and it fills the church with a sweetness that tells the body it is somewhere holy. The priest censes the icons and then the people, because every person is an icon of God too.
Singing
Everything in an Orthodox service is sung or chanted, without instruments, because the human voice is the instrument God made. The choir leads; the whole congregation joins in the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the responses. Do not worry about knowing the tunes. They come with time.
The services
Great Vespers
Saturday evening, the beginning of the Lord’s Day. Psalms, hymns and the lighting of lamps as the sun goes down. Quiet and about forty-five minutes long; a good first service to attend.
The Divine Liturgy
Sunday morning, the Eucharist, the center of the week. The first half is built around Scripture: psalms, the Epistle, the Gospel and the sermon. The second half is built around the bread and wine offered, blessed and received as the Body and Blood of Christ. It ends with the blessing, the cross and blessed bread for everyone.
Feasts and fasts
The Church year moves through twelve great feasts and the seasons around Pascha (Easter), the feast of feasts. Fasting seasons, especially Great Lent, prepare us for them, with extra services such as the Presanctified Liturgy on Lenten Wednesdays. The parish calendar shows what is coming.
The body in prayer
Orthodox Christians stand, bow, kneel, prostrate and make the sign of the cross. The body teaches the soul. None of it is required of a visitor, and all of it is explained on our etiquette page.