Every work here is listed in full in the Bibliography. Texts marked NPNF or ANF are public domain and free online, so the cheapest shelf here is also the oldest.
First look
Short, plain, and written with the newcomer in mind.
- Frederica Mathewes-Green, Welcome to the Orthodox Church (Paraclete, 2015). For the visitor who wants a parish and a Sunday Liturgy in story form; pair it with Your First Divine Liturgy.
- Anthony M. Coniaris, Introducing the Orthodox Church: Its Faith and Life (Light & Life). For the inquirer who wants belief and practice in one parish-friendly volume.
- Michael Shanbour, Know the Faith (Ancient Faith, 2016). For the inquirer with questions about salvation, Scripture, icons and the saints.
- Thomas Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, Worship (free at oca.org). For the reader who wants one short article on the service they just saw.
- Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent. For anyone facing a first Lent and wondering what it's for (Fasting).
- Saint Justin Martyr, First Apology 65–67 (ANF 1). Three short chapters, the oldest description of a Christian Sunday, for anyone who doubts the Liturgy is that old.
- The Didache (ANF 7). For the reader who wants the earliest church order in one sitting; chapters 9–10 hold its prayers over the cup and bread (Can I Take Communion?).
- Andrew Stephen Damick, "No, the Paschal date difference is not about Passover" (Ancient Faith blogs, 2022). For anyone told the two Easters differ because of Passover (Why Is Orthodox Easter on a Different Date?).
- Jamey Bennett, "The Mysteries" and "After the Chrism Dries," Simply Orthodox. For the newcomer who wants the sacraments, and then the first year, in this guide's voice (The First Year After Reception).
- Sergei Rachmaninoff, All-Night Vigil, Op. 37. Not reading: for anyone who wants to hear the Vigil before attending one (Why Orthodox Music Sounds Like That).
- The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, "Parishes" directory (assemblyofbishops.org). For the reader ready to visit (How to Find a Parish); Alexei Krindatch's Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Monasteries does the same for monasteries (Monks and Nuns).
Going deeper
For the reader who has been to a few services, or is a catechumen, and wants the reasons.
- Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church (Penguin, 3rd ed., 2015). For the reader who wants history, teaching and worship in one volume; the long version of A Short History.
- Lawrence Farley, Let Us Attend (Conciliar, 2007). For the reader who wants to follow the Liturgy step by step, as the Service Map does.
- Emmanuel Hatzidakis, The Heavenly Banquet. For the reader who wants a priest's commentary on the Liturgy, part by part.
- Saint Nicholas Cabasilas, A Commentary on the Divine Liturgy. For the reader ready for the fourteenth-century classic on what the Liturgy does.
- Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World. For the reader who knows what happens in the services and wants to know why it matters for the rest of life.
- Alexander Schmemann, O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? For the reader facing a death, or a funeral, who wants the Church's way of seeing it (Memory Eternal).
- Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Procatechesis, Catechetical Lectures and Mystagogical Catecheses (NPNF2 7). For catechumens and the newly received: fourth-century instruction for people in your position (The Path In).
- Saint Athanasius, On the Incarnation (NPNF2 4). For anyone asking why God became man (Salvation as Healing).
- Saint Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit (NPNF2 8). For the reader of Scripture and Tradition; chapter 27 is the passage on unwritten tradition.
- Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (NPNF1 10). For anyone who wants to hear what a homily can be; read any one.
- Demetrios Mavropoulos, Passing Through the Church: Catechism Lessons for Adults. For the reader who wants the building explained from courtyard to altar (The Room).
- Saint Germanus of Constantinople, On the Divine Liturgy, trans. Paul Meyendorff. For the reader who wants to know what each part of the Liturgy was taken to mean.
- Nikolai Gogol, Meditations on the Divine Liturgy. For the reader who wants a devotional companion from the great Russian novelist.
- Archimandrite Vasileios, Hymn of Entry. For the reader who wants a monk's reflection on how the Liturgy shapes a life.
- Isabel Florence Hapgood, Service Book (1906). For the reader who wants the services themselves in English, free online; start with "The Feasts and Fasts of the Church," pp. xiii–xix.
- Egeria, The Pilgrimage of Etheria, trans. McClure and Feltoe (1919). For anyone curious how fourth-century Jerusalem kept Holy Week (Holy Week and Pascha).
- Saint John Cassian, Conferences (NPNF2 11). For the reader building a rule of prayer; Conference X is on continual prayer (Prayer at Home).
- George Dion Dragas, "The Manner of Reception of Roman Catholic Converts into the Orthodox Church" (1998). For the convert who wants the whole history of How Converts Are Received.
- Russian Orthodox Church, "On the Participation of the Faithful in the Eucharist" (2015), and OCA Holy Synod, "On Confession and Communion" (1972). For the reader preparing for Communion who wants two churches' own guidance (The Communion Fast).
Serious study
Scholarly, technical, or primary sources read whole. Worth it; not where to start.
- Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware, trans., The Lenten Triodion. For the reader who wants the services of Lent and Holy Week themselves.
- Job Getcha, The Euchologion Unveiled. For the reader who wants the history behind the service books, service by service.
- Robert F. Taft, The Great Entrance and "How Liturgies Grow." For the reader ready for technical liturgical history (The Great Entrance).
- Hans-Joachim Schulz, The Byzantine Liturgy. For the reader tracing how the Liturgy's shape and its interpretations grew together.
- Alexander Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology. For the reader who wants to know how the cycles of services took shape.
- Daniel Galadza, Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem. For the reader following how Jerusalem's worship gave way to Constantinople's.
- Henry Chadwick, East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church (2003). For the reader who wants a historian's account of how East and West drifted apart (Orthodox and Catholic).
- F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture. For the reader asking how the Bible's contents were settled (the Nicaea myth).
- Henry R. Percival, ed., The Seven Ecumenical Councils (NPNF2 14). For the reader who wants the creeds, definitions and canons in the councils' own words.
- The Rudder (Pedalion), trans. D. Cummings. For the reader who wants the canons with their Orthodox commentary.
- Apostolic Constitutions (ANF 7). For the reader tracing early church order; Books II and VIII hold most of what this guide cites.
- Saint John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (NPNF2 9). For the reader who wants the eighth century's summary of the Fathers.
- Saint Maximus the Confessor, Mystagogy. For the reader ready for a demanding seventh-century reading of the church and the Liturgy.
- Saint Symeon of Thessalonica, Explanation of the Divine Temple. For the reader who wants the late Byzantine reading of the church and its rites.
- J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines. For the reader who wants the standard history of early Christian teaching.
- Paul Ladouceur, "Review Article: Orthodox Theologies of the Afterlife" (2018). For the reader following the live Orthodox arguments about the soul after death (What Happens After Death?).