Guide for Those Considering the Orthodox Church

Part 2: Praxis

At this point, you should already be going to church regularly (at least every Sunday, preferably multiple times a week) and if your parish offers it, enrolled in the catechumen class, or have an ongoing mentorship with the priest. When you have this basis, you can start doing the very basics. These are:

  1. Prayer
  2. Reading
  3. Fasting

First, Talk with your Spiritual Father!

That would be your parish priest most likely, unless there happens to multiple priests or a monk nearby with some extra time on his hands. All of these practices I am about to describe and things you need to talk with your spiritual father about! This is a necessary part of Orthodoxy, and you are going to need to get used it. Feel free to mention these things listed below as a potential suggestions for your priest to take and modify as he sees fit. I imagine most of these the priest would be fine with, but that is why we ask first! Everyone’s spiritual state is different after all.

Prayer

“Pray without ceasing.” - St. Paul the Apostle (First Letter to the Church in Thessaly / 1st Thessalonians 5:17)

Maybe you saw this verse in St. Paul’s letter and simply thought it was metaphorical. After all, how can you just pray all the time? Don’t you have to eat or sleep? Well, the Orthodox church takes it very literally. This is not done easily (truthfully few people really acheieve a completely uninterrupted state of unceasing prayer), but that’s not an excuse not to try and emulate a fraction of it.

Of course, small steps first. You can’t just hop in from no/infrequent prayer to acheiving saintly “Prayer of the Heart”, as it were. A great place to start for everyone are Morning and Evening prayers as prescribed by a spiritual father, or specifically from a prayer book.

There are so many prayer books; too much to go over here, but I recommend you get the smallest pocket prayer book from your local bookstore, or the one your Archdiocese recommends/publishes. In any case, here are some examples of pocket prayer books that are good to start with:

You should also get into the habit of learning “The Jesus Prayer” and possibly investing in a prayer rope and some icons, but getting in the habit of prayer comes first, regardless of your circumstance.

Reading

“This is the cause of all evils, the not knowing the Scriptures. We go into battle without arms, and how are we to come off safe?” - St. John Chrysostom (Homily IX On Colossians)

There are many benefits to reading, but it’s not simply the pursuit of knowledge that makes reading worthwhile. In Orthodoxy, the amount of pages read is not important, rather what is important is how much you internalize what you read, which happens patiently.

The Holy Bible

St. John Chrysostom says a lot about Holy Scriptures, but another quote of his is as follows:

“It is not possible, I say not possible, ever to exhaust the mind of the Scriptures. It is a well which has no bottom.” - St. John Chrysostom (Homily XIX On Acts)

Since it is not possible to exhaust the mind of Scriptures, do not be hasty to try and go about the Protestant method of “reading your bible in one year” or some other plan like that. Do not plan to read the Bible in a year, or two years; plan to read it for life.

Certainly though, please read through all of it if you aren’t already familiar with some of the books. The priority is generally New Testament over Old Testament, and the Gospels over the Epistles (again, please read them all when it’s possible). The church has prescribed lectionary readings for each day of the year, and I suggest (especially starting out) that you follow that rule, as it’s very manageable and will not lead to burn out. Here is how you can read these readings:

  1. Free | Orthodox Calendar: Minimalist website not only giving you daily lectionary readings, but also some brief hagiagraphy (lives of the Saints) as well.
  2. $54.95 | St. Ignatius Orthodox Press Lectionary Bible: A comprehensive lectionary Bible using the Eastern Orthodox Bible (EOB) translation.

Lives of the Saints

“…I spoke recently to an Orthodox priest who had converted to Orthodoxy from Protestantism. He told me that, when he was received into the Church, the officiating priest told him: “You will never be truly Orthodox without reading the Lives of the Saints.” Later, when he himself became a priest, he found that the most pious people in the churches are those who read the Lives of the Saints, and that those who make the most progress in the spiritual life are those who read the Saints’ Lives…” - St. Justin Popovich

I listened to a ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) bishop once say “how are we supposed to become saints if we don’t know about them?” Thus, it’s necessary to study their lives and see how Christ used their specific stations in life and for us take inspiration from that.

Now, I will give a fair warning. These stories are not fun; they are not meant to be fun. Most of the Saints are martyrs, because martyrs participate in Christ’s suffering more viscerally than any other people. These stories are going to most likely frighten you at first, and give you a nice dose of reality. Not all of us are called to be killed or maimed for our faith (yet), but it should give you pause about the severity of what all of the church means and what it’s really all about; loving Christ to death.

So much of the church tradition and the purpose of church is revealed through these stories. Just a little bit every day is a wealth of information and inspiration, and hopefully a good shock to your system to make you aspire towards better spiritual things in the mundanity of life.

There are couple ways to read the Lives of the Saints (or “Hagiography”):

  1. Free | Orthodox Calendar: Minimalist website not only giving you daily lectionary readings, but also some brief hagiagraphy (lives of the Saints) as well.
  2. Free | Patristic Nectar: You have to sign up for their app, which is full of good audio anyways. Go to the “Synaxarion” and they will have audio recordings of the lives of the saints.
  3. $21 | Lives of the Saints Calendar (Orthodox Calendar Company): Very simple book for getting into the lives of the saints, and affordable.
  4. $135 | The Prologue of Ohrid (by St. Nikolai Velimirovich): Abridged lives of the saints as well as daily hymns, reflections, contemplation, and a homily from St. Nikolai. Highly recommended.

There are also larger, multi-volume sets called “The Synaxarion” which go much more in-depth in the lives of the saints, but as a beginner (or even intermediate) it’s not recommended as a daily habit.

Other Writings

Other than the main daily habit of Bible and hagiography readings, there are now more Orthodox books in English today than we could reasonably read in a lifetime. Thus, it’s recommended to read what your spiritual father tells you to read and stick with that, or better yet ask him about certain books that gain your interest. I’m no “Orthodox book expert”, so take my recommendations with a grain of salt. Nothing here is necessarily “must read”, but these ones in particular I find very useful:

  1. The Truth of Our Faith (Vol. 1 & 2) by St. Cleopa of Sihastria: A Romanian saint (who was just canonized in 2024) explains much of the doctrine behind Orthodoxy and addresses many common questions that come from heterodoxy, like saint veneration, the Theotokos, icons, etc. He does by just simply stating the truth; no pandering or anything. Not short, but not long either. Highly recommended.
  2. For Catholics - Catholicism in Light of Orthodoxy by Archimandrite (Abbot) George of Grigoriou: A 32-page treatise on why Orthodoxy and Roman Catholocism are not compatible, briefly going over topics like the Filioque and “Papal Infallibility”. UMP also has plenty of other books on Catholocism, which is linked here.
  3. For Protestants - Rock and Sand by Fr. Josiah Trenham: A book around 200 pages or so long, explaining a lot of the history of Protestantism, including it’s developments, relationship with Orthodoxy, and the Orthodox “take” on it all. Becoming Orthodox by Fr. Peter Gilquist is also recommended for Protestants (if only for it’s historical value).
  4. The Way of a Pilgrim: The book on St. Paul’s “unceasing prayer” in practice. Every serious Orthodox Christian will read this one at some point.
  5. The History of the Church by Eusebius: If you didn’t have enough to read, then feel free to crack into Eusebius’ history of the church. If you like history, you will definitely enjoy this as well.

Please note…

I have put books like these at a lower priority because while the instruction is most useful, Orthodoxy is lived first and read second. No one is “saved” through a book; they are saved through the faith handed down by spiritual fathers that pave the way for salvation, and while this certainly includes books, do not let book-learning become the priority over living out the faith.

Fasting

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with their gloomy faces: they disfigure their faces so that people may see that they are fasting! Amen, I tell you: they have received their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that people may not see that you are fasting. Only your Father who is in secret will see, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.” - The Gospel according to St. Matthew, 6:16-18 (EOB)

Here, our Lord and Savior gives us a great deal of information about how we should fast. Notably he says “when you fast”, implying that we are commanded to fast already, and not only that, but we are not to do it for outward appearance (pride/vainglory), but for “your Father” who “will reward you openly.”

It is a large temptation to enter into fasting into the Orthodox Church and act as though you are somehow “better” or “more pious” than the heterodox or others (even those in the church) who do not fast. There is nothing inherently “holy” about fasting; like reading, it is a tool used to draw nearer to God by rejecting things that hold us back (such as gluttony) and reorienting (i.e. repenting) towards God.

It’s especially important that this is a discussed with a spiritual father, and noted that a modest fast without sin is better than a strict fast with sin. That being said, we are called to fast to some degree from the pleasures of this world, for our own sakes.

Beyond Food

Also note that fasting goes way beyond food. Here’s what St. Basil says on the matter:

There is both a physical and a spiritual fast. In the physical fast the body abstains from food and drink. In the spiritual fast, the faster abstains from evil intentions, words and deeds. One who truly fasts abstains from anger, rage, malice, and vengeance. One who truly fasts abstains from idle and foul talk, empty rhetoric, slander, condemnation, flattery, lying and all manner of spiteful talk. In a word, a real faster is one who withdraws from all evil. As much as you subtract from the body, so much will you add to the strength of the soul.

Realistically, Orthodox Christians fast on fast days and seasons from secular entertainment (or even entertainment generally), idle talk (i.e. talking when it is not necessary to do so), taking baths1, and even now talks about fasting from social media, internet usage, etc. In modern parlance, you could call this a “dopamine detox”. In that sense, the benefits are more obvious, but combined with prayer, virtues, and almsgiving, fasting gains a powerful spiritual dimension.

Conclusion

I hope this praxis guide was helpful in getting you going on your journey into Orthodoxy. Feel free to come back and visit and you make your way towards baptism. Recommend this page to others if you found it helpful.

Once you get catechised, consider picking up some catechetical materials from the holy fathers; they usually aren’t that long, so it’s easy to go through.

If you are Orthodox already or have become illumined recently, then congratulations! Feels free to look at other parts of this site for helpful links. Check out these especially:

  1. “In his old age, Sigfrid had become very forgetful: once, he ordered a bath drawn during a fasting day, and a voice came down and reproached him, at which point he removed himself from the bath and repented.” - Life of St. Sigfrid of Växjö ↩︎