Come and See: Advice to Newcomers

 

First Time at an Orthodox Liturgy? Don’t Worry About a Service Book

Attending your first Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy can be both awe-inspiring and overwhelming. Many newcomers arrive eager to understand everything all at once, often reaching for a service book to “follow along.” But here’s a simple truth: the best way to experience Orthodox worship—especially the first few times—is not through a printed page, but by watching, listening, and participating with your whole being.

Why Orthodox Worship Feels So Different

If you're coming to the Orthodox Church from a Western Christian background, you may notice right away that something is different—there are no pew Bibles, no printed sermons, and no congregation flipping through books during worship. Roman Catholics are often accustomed to following the Mass with a missal, reading the prayers and responses as the service unfolds. Protestants, especially Evangelicals, typically bring their Bibles to church to read along during a sermon-focused service, since much of their worship is structured around preaching rather than liturgy. But Orthodox Christians do neither. Our worship is not centered on text or analysis, but on participation—on immersion. Orthodox liturgy is not something to be followed like a script; it is something to be entered into with the whole person: body, mind, and soul.

Rather than trying to “keep up” with the words on a page, newcomers to Orthodox worship are invited to be present—to watch, to listen, to breathe with the rhythm of the prayers, and to let the beauty of the liturgy begin to shape their heart from the inside out.

Orthodox Worship Is Not a Lecture—It’s a Living Encounter

Orthodox liturgy is not a lecture, nor a scripted ceremony. It is a living, mystical encounter with the risen Christ. As the Apostle Paul reminds us, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33), and His peace is encountered not by decoding every word but by being present in body and soul.

Saint John Chrysostom, the great liturgist of the Church, encouraged this living participation. The Church is not a theatre, where one must sit quiet and listen. It is a place where all must be moved to prayer and thanksgiving.  Worship in the Orthodox Church is not performed for you, but with you. It calls forth your presence, your breath, your posture, your heart.

Rather than analyzing what’s happening, let the rhythm of the service wash over you. Orthodox liturgy is something you come to know through repeated exposure, much like the psalmist who declares, “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

Watch, Listen, and Join In—Even If You Don’t Know What’s Next

Instead of trying to anticipate every prayer, let yourself be drawn into the flow of worship. Watch the priest and deacon as they move through the sanctuary. Observe how seasoned parishioners bow, cross themselves, or turn to face the altar. Listen closely to the choir and clergy: join in when you recognize familiar refrains like “Lord, have mercy” (Kyrie eleison), “Amen,” or “To Thee, O Lord.”

Saint Basil the Great once wrote that the Church’s worship preserves not only the words of Scripture but “the unwritten traditions we have received,” such as “the sign of the cross, the orientation toward the east, the epiclesis of the Holy Spirit”—these are all learned through living with the Church, not merely by studying its texts.

This is not a spectator event—you are not expected to “get it right.” Rather, the liturgy invites your full presence. “Let all mortal flesh keep silence,” says the ancient Cherubic hymn of the Presanctified Liturgy, quoting the prophet Habakkuk (Hab. 2:20), “and in fear and trembling stand.”

The Service Book: A Useful Tool, But Not Essential

Many parishes provide bilingual service books or handouts, and while these can be helpful, they are not a requirement—especially not for newcomers. In fact, the widespread use of printed service books is a relatively recent pastoral adaptation, primarily for seasoned parishioners and their children. It was developed especially in diaspora communities where the liturgical language—Koine Greek or Church Slavonic—was unfamiliar.

But when the Divine Liturgy is already celebrated in your native tongue, a book can often distract more than it helps. Saint Theophan the Recluse advised, “Stand in church, listen and pray—not with your lips alone, but with your mind and heart. Do not concern yourself with many words.” The liturgy will teach you over time what no printed book can offer in one sitting.

Worship With Body, Mind, and Soul

Orthodox worship is deeply kinesthetic—you engage not just with your intellect but with your whole self. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). Making the sign of the cross, bowing, standing reverently, lighting a candle—all of these are ways the body prays.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian taught that prayer involves the entire human person: “Do not say that it is impossible to receive the Spirit of God. Do not say that one can be saved without Him… It is altogether impossible, as it is impossible for a man to live without breath.” The Orthodox liturgy teaches us how to breathe spiritually—through stillness, repetition, posture, and song.

Come and See

The most important thing to remember is that you are welcome. No one expects you to know everything or participate perfectly. Just come, be present, and allow yourself to be drawn into the beauty and rhythm of the liturgy. The Lord Himself said, “Come and see” (John 1:39), and the Orthodox Church echoes that invitation every time her doors open.

Put down the book, lift up your heart, and let the liturgy teach you.

Liturgical Hymnography: The Living Catechism of the Church

In the Orthodox Church, doctrine is not learned merely through classroom instruction or theological texts—it is sung, chanted, and prayed. The hymns of the Divine Liturgy and the entire liturgical cycle are not decorative poetry or emotional filler—they are theological statements, rich in biblical allusion and patristic insight. As Saint Basil the Great said, “What the Scriptures declare in words, the hymns proclaim in song.” The faithful are catechized not just by hearing sermons or reading books, but by standing week after week in the presence of sacred hymnography that teaches the Incarnation, the Trinity, salvation, repentance, and the resurrection of the dead.

The liturgical hymns are, quite literally, the Catechism of the Church—they preserve and transmit the faith through beauty and repetition. Saint John of Damascus, one of the earliest composers of Orthodox hymnography, understood this well. In his Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, he wrote: “We do not change the boundaries set by our holy Fathers; we keep the traditions as we have received them.” His Octoechos and Paschal Canon are not only poetic masterpieces but vessels of doctrinal clarity.

So when you hear the choir singing, or the priest chanting the prayers of the Liturgy, you are not merely listening to “music”—you are being taught the faith. Every “Troparion,” “Kontakion,” and “Theotokion” is a mini-sermon. As the Apostle reminds us, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16).

The Church teaches her children not just through explanation, but through experience—through words that are sung into the soul until they become part of us.

Service Books: Tools for Reflection, Not Roadmaps for Real-Time

This is not to say that service books have no value—on the contrary, they are an excellent resource for learning the structure and theology of the Divine Liturgy. Reading through the prayers before or after the service can deepen your understanding and appreciation of what you experienced. They offer a chance to meditate on the profound petitions, priestly prayers, and hymns that might have passed you by in the moment.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch once wrote, “It is better for a man to be silent and be a Christian, than to talk and not to be one.”  In the same way, it is better to experience the Liturgy first, and then study it after, rather than trying to understand it all at once through the printed word.

Approaching the Liturgy this way helps form a healthy rhythm: participate first, reflect later. Let the sights, sounds, and movements of the worship shape your soul organically. Then, revisit the prayers and Scripture readings during the week. In doing so, the Liturgy will not just be something you attend, but something that slowly becomes a part of who you are.

As with all things in the Orthodox spiritual life, the pattern is incarnational: we learn by being present, by repetition, by immersion—and finally, by reflection.