This is the story of the first time that I visited an Orthodox Church - With a few things that I learned or wished I’d known beforehand, that I’ll share because we all know that visiting church for the first time - or the first time in a long time, is quite intimidating and coming out of ~12 years of militant Atheism around the time of my first visit, I really didnt know what to expect!

First, its okay to feel like you’re entering a different, unfamiliar world, because... Well, you are! One thing that some people consider is contacting the Church beforehand (You will likely find an email address and/or phone number, etc on any Church’s website) so that you know that they’re expecting you - and perhaps there will even be greeters ready to give you an individual tour when you arrive. This can really make the process a lot more comfortable, however it is not a necessity, and there is no reason why one “has to” do this, nor anything against simply showing up for services one morning!

That’s what I did, my interest in Orthodoxy grew in /cg/ threads on this board, and I found out that there’s a church not too far from my home, so I arrived knowing very little of the Church itself nor actual Christianity, having only read part of the book of Matthew (first book of the New Testament in the Bible) at the time and having prayed for guidance, and repentance from my old life, and for things to go well during this visit, but I was still plenty nervous!