Walking In: The Divine Liturgy, Stop by Stop

BEFORE YOU GO IN

1. 1The Courtyard and the StepsThe service has already started when you arrive, the building faces east toward the dawn, and the people crossing themselves in the parking lot are greeting a consecrated place.
2. 3The NarthexThe narthex is the entrance room where you light a candle, kiss the icon, and slow down before going in, and it has always been the place for people on their way in.
3. 4The RoomThe inside of an Orthodox church runs from the narthex through the nave to the solea, the icon screen, and the altar, and the whole room points east.
4. 5The Iconostasis and Its DoorsThe iconostasis is the icon screen between the nave and the altar, arranged in a standard order, with three doors that the clergy use and that Communion comes out through.
5. 6Standing, Sitting, Pews, and KneelingThe Orthodox pray standing, sit when they need to, and by an old canon don't kneel on Sundays, though parishes keep that rule unevenly.
6. 7Who's WhoThe people serving at a Liturgy are the priest, the deacon, sometimes a bishop, subdeacons, readers, altar servers, and the chanters or choir, and each has a recognizable outfit and a form of address.
7. 8Vestments at a GlanceEach rank of clergy wears a set of vestments descended from late-Roman and Byzantine dress, put on with a verse of Scripture for each piece, so that the man at the altar stands there as Christ's servant rather than as himself.

MATINS (ORTHROS)

1. 9Matins Is Already HappeningIf a service is already going when you arrive on Sunday morning, it's Matins, the morning service that leads into the Divine Liturgy, and walking in during it is what everyone does.

THE WORD LITURGY OF THE CATECHUMENS

1. 10'"Blessed Is the Kingdom"'The Divine Liturgy begins when the priest blesses the Kingdom of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the people answer "Amen."
2. 11The Great LitanyThe Great Litany is the Church's common prayer for the whole world, sung as a list of petitions with the people answering "Lord, have mercy."
3. 12The Antiphons and the BeatitudesAfter the Great Litany the people sing three psalms or hymns with refrains, divided by short litanies; in Slavic parishes the third is the Beatitudes, while most Greek and Antiochian parishes sing a festal hymn instead.
4. 13The Small EntranceAt the Small Entrance the Gospel book is carried out among the people and back into the altar, a procession that was once the clergy and people entering the church together and the old beginning of the Liturgy.
5. 14The TrisagionThe Trisagion, "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us," is the angels' hymn sung by the congregation before the readings, while the priest goes up to the bishop's seat behind the altar.
6. 15The Prokeimenon and the EpistleA reader chants a psalm verse called the prokeimenon and then a passage from the apostles' letters or Acts, set by the calendar and the same in every Orthodox church that Sunday.
7. 16The GospelThe Gospel is carried out, announced, and chanted by the deacon or priest facing the people while everyone stands, because the Church receives it as Christ speaking.
8. 17The HomilyThe homily is the priest's sermon on the day's Gospel, given in plain language right after the readings, its ancient place, or in some parishes near the end of the service.
9. 18The Litany of the CatechumensBefore the Eucharist the Church prays for those preparing for baptism and then dismisses them, a dismissal nobody leaves for anymore, said every Sunday in Slavic, Antiochian, and OCA parishes and usually omitted in Greek ones.

THE EUCHARIST LITURGY OF THE FAITHFUL

1. 19The Cherubic HymnThe Cherubic Hymn is the slow song that opens the Liturgy of the Faithful and frames the Great Entrance, asking everyone in the room to stand in for the angels and set the week's cares down.
2. 20The Great EntranceThe Great Entrance is the procession that carries the prepared bread and wine, not yet consecrated, from the side table to the altar, and the hinge between the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist.
3. 21The Litany of Supplication and the Kiss of PeaceAfter the Great Entrance the Church asks for a good day and a good death, then exchanges the kiss of peace, because a shared faith can only be confessed by people who have made peace with one another.
4. 22The CreedRight after the kiss of peace the whole Church says the Nicene Creed, in its original form without the Western "and the Son," while the priest fans the gifts with the veil.
5. 23The AnaphoraThe Anaphora is the great prayer of thanksgiving in which the Church remembers everything God has done, offers the bread and wine back to Him, and asks the Holy Spirit to make them the Body and Blood of Christ.
6. 24'"It Is Truly Meet"'Right after the consecration the Church sings to the Mother of God and then remembers the saints, the departed, the living, and the bishop by name, because the whole Church stands at the one altar.
7. 25The Lord's Prayer and "Holy Things Are for the Holy"Before Communion the whole room says the Our Father, bows, and hears "Holy things are for the holy," while behind the curtain the priest breaks the Lamb and adds hot water to the chalice.
8. 26CommunionBaptized and chrismated Orthodox Christians who have prepared receive the Body and Blood of Christ together from a spoon; visitors stay in their places and are welcome to the blessed bread afterward.

AFTER THE DISMISSAL

1. 27The Prayer Behind the Ambo and the DismissalAfter Communion the Church gives thanks, the priest comes out among the people to pray, and the dismissal sends everyone out with the saints of the day, though nobody leaves yet.
2. 28The Cross and the BreadAfter the dismissal everyone kisses the hand cross and takes a piece of blessed bread, the antidoron, left over from the loaves the priest prepared before the Liturgy; it isn't Communion, and visitors may take it.
3. 29Memorials, Blessings, and AnnouncementsSome Sundays a short memorial for the dead, with a plate of sweet boiled wheat, or a blessing for the living follows the dismissal, and then the announcements send everyone to coffee hour.
4. 30Coffee HourAfter the Liturgy most parishes eat together in the hall, an American custom with an old family resemblance to the love feast, and visitors are invited.
5. 31What Just Happened to YouYour first Liturgy is usually the walk to Emmaus rather than the recognition; the morning was the Church asking for the Kingdom and being given a taste of it, and the rest of this guide picks up the questions it raised.