What should I know before attending an Eastern Orthodox church?

I don't know barely anything about Eastern Orthodoxy. What should I know before attending an EO church so as to not appear disrespectful or anything?

It's quite similar to a Catholic ceremony. It's very traditional, very formal, and can be lengthy. There's definitely going to be chanting involved and you are not allowed to partake in communion unless being baptized in that particular faith. It's definitely different yet it can be rather interesting for one who has never been to an Orthodox service. So plan to see something much different compared to basically all other denominations. Even much different than Catholicism which probably shares the most similarities. But just relax and follow along and you'll be fine. The Orthodox people can be very welcoming.

You should know that the Western Orthodox Church has a better football team.

In advance - I apologize about the length of this post...

As a convert, I found the following writing from Frederica Mathewes-Green to be extremely helpful before I visited for the first time. I hope it helps!

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12 Things I Wish I?d Known?
First Visit to an Orthodox Church

Orthodox worship is different! Some of these differences are apparent, if perplexing, from the first moment you walk in a church. Others become noticeable only over time. Here is some information that may help you feel more at home in Orthodox worship?twelve things I wish I?d known before my first visit to an Orthodox church.

1. What?s all this commotion?
During the early part of the service the church may seem to be in a hubbub, with people walking up to the front of the church, praying in front of the Ecstasies (the standing icons in front of the altar), kissing things and lighting candles, even though the service is already going on. In fact, when you came in the service was already going on, although the sign outside clearly said ?Divine Liturgy, 9:30.? You felt embarrassed to apparently be late, but these people are even later, and they?re walking all around inside the church. What?s going on here?

In an Orthodox church there is only one Eucharistic service (Divine Liturgy) per Sunday, and it is preceded by an hour-long service of Matins (or Orthros) and several short preparatory services before that. There is no break between these services?one begins as soon as the previous ends, and posted starting times are just educated guesses. Altogether, the priest will be at the altar on Sunday morning for over three hours, ?standing in the flame,? as one Orthodox priest put it.

As a result of this state of continuous flow, there is no point at which everyone is sitting quietly in a pew waiting for the entrance hymn to start, glancing at their watches approaching 9:30. Orthodox worshipers arrive at any point from the beginning of Matins through the early part of the Liturgy, a span of well over an hour. No matter when they arrive, something is sure to be already going on, so Orthodox don?t let this hamper them from going through the private prayers appropriate to just entering a church. This is distracting to newcomers, and may even seem disrespectful, but soon you begin to recognize it as an expression of a faith that is not merely formal but very personal. Of course, there is still no good excuse for showing up after 9:30, but punctuality is unfortunately one of the few virtues many Orthodox lack.

2. Stand up, stand up for Jesus.
In the Orthodox tradition, the faithful stand up for nearly the entire service. Really. In some Orthodox churches, there won?t even be any chairs, except a few scattered at the edges of the room for those who need them. Expect variation in practice: some churches, especially those that bought already-existing church buildings, will have well-used pews. In any case, if you find the amount of standing too challenging you?re welcome to take a seat. No one minds or probably even notices. Long-term standing gets easier with practice.

3. In this sign.
To say that we make the sign of the cross frequently would be an understatement. We sign ourselves whenever the Trinity is invoked, whenever we venerate the cross or an icon, and on many other occasions in the course of the Liturgy. But people arena?t expected to do everything the same way. Some people cross themselves three times in a row, and some finish by sweeping their right hand to the floor. On first entering a church people may come up to an icon, make a ?Melania??crossing themselves and bowing with right hand to the floor?twice, then kiss the icon, then make one more Melania. This becomes familiar with time, but at first it can seem like secret-handshake stuff that you are sure to get wrong. Don?t worry, you don?t have to follow suit.

We cross with our right hands from right to left (push, not pull), the opposite of Roman Catholics and high-church Protestants. We hold our hands in a prescribed way: thumb and first two fingertips pressed together, last two fingers pressed down to the palm. Here as elsewhere, the Orthodox impulse is to make everything we do reinforce the Faith. Can you figure out the symbolism? (Three fingers together for the Trinity; two fingers brought down to the palm for the two natures of Christ, and his coming down to earth.) This, too, takes practice. A beginner?s imprecise arrangement of fingers won?t get you denounced as a heretic.

4. What, no kneels?
Generally, we don?t kneel. We do sometimes prostrate. This is not like prostration in the Roman Catholic tradition, lying out flat on the floor. To make a prostration we kneel, place our hands on the floor and touch our foreheads down between our hands. It?s just like those photos of middle-eastern worship, which look to Westerners like a sea of behinds. At first prostration feels embarrassing, but

I second the Frederica Matthews-Greene link.

Some quick tips. They are Christian. No goats on ropes to be dragged out and sacrificed, no invocation of the dark arts. The incense represents our prayers, and the candles the light of Christ.

The service is elaborate, and the sermon probably short. The Divine Liturgy is focused on Christ and communion, not the sermon.

If the service is not already English, there is likely a translation available. There are often changes to the "standard' service; a pew- or row-mate should be able to help you stay on track.

Some congregations will kneel at the consecration of the bread and wine. If that's too much for you, simply sit (or, if no pews or chairs, stand) quietly and reverently and wait for everyone to get back up.

Don't go up for communion; it's a sign of doctrinal unity -- not a wish for doctrinal unity. That part comes in the prayers. If you happen to be in a parish where they all go to communion by row, simply step out of line when it's your turn, bypassing communion, and take a piece of the bread -- it's not communion -- and eat it while you return to your place. That bread is called "andiron" -- "instead of the gifts" of communion. It might be offered instead at the end of the service; take a piece and eat it. It is wheat flour, bread, salt, yeast and water. That's all.

There could be "services in the service" - a memorial for someone who has died, or the "articles" - "breaking of the bread" that is *not communion, but a service of blessing and prayers for the well-being of a family or the parish. Both generate edible items (Kolyma - a wheat-berry preparation - or a sweet bread) that anyone can eat. In fact, if you take some but don't like/want it, it may be discarded for wildlife to eat, but not where it'll be trampled on. It's disrespectful to simply throw it in the trash.

Don't do anything you don't want to, and be respectful. If you aren't in the habit of crossing yourself, you don't have to, though many will at the mention of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" and at other times.. You don't have to light a candle or kiss an icon. You don't even have to smile

Some people are creep ed out by some of the prayers, thinking they are worshiping Mary. Only God is worshiped; the saints (including Mary) are *venerated and held up as examples for us, but we worship only God in Trinity. We do believe that the saints are conscious and can pray for us, still caring for our conditions, and we ask them for their prayers.

Often, a series of petitions ends with "Remembering our most blessed, most pure and glorious lady Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and our whole lives unto Christ our God." Turning it around but maintaining the sense of it, it says "Let us commit our lives to God, while remembering Mary and the saints" -- who committed their own lives to God in spectacular ways. It's good.
[Theotokos - lit. "birth-giver of God", often translated "Mother of God". Mary is the mother of our Lord Jesus, who was human and divine at his conception. She literally gave birth to God.]

Clothing should be conservative - no shorts, short skirts, bare midriffs or upper arms. A dress is better than jeans. But a nice pair of slacks will be fine in all but the most conservative of parishes.

Don't offer to correct their theology in the middle of the service... they've been doing the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for nearly 1500 years, and have it pretty well down.

Come with your mind open to the grace of God; it can be found there.