Receive Communion. That’s it for your first act as an Orthodox Christian, you’ll commune that same day, probably holding your candle with your sponsor beside you, still smelling faintly of chrism.
But you’re asking about what comes next, after the service ends and everyone’s hugged you and you’ve driven home still feeling like you’re floating six inches off the ground. Here’s the truth: the first few months after reception are when the real work starts. The honeymoon phase is wonderful, but it doesn’t last forever.
Start Simple with Prayer
You need a prayer rule, but don’t try to become St. Seraphim of Sarov by next Tuesday. Talk to your priest about what’s realistic. Most new Orthodox Christians do well starting with morning and evening prayers, maybe ten or fifteen minutes each. Get yourself a prayer book. The one published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery is solid, or ask what your parish recommends.
A basic rule might look like this: Trisagion prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed (you just said it at your reception), Psalm 51, and some Jesus Prayer on a prayer rope. Thirty-three knots is plenty to start. Don’t jump straight to three hundred repetitions because you read about some monk on Mount Athos who did that. You’ll burn out by Wednesday.
The point isn’t to impress God with your stamina. It’s to show up every day, even when you don’t feel like it. Especially when you don’t feel like it.
Get to Confession Regularly
You just got chrismated, so you’re starting fresh. That won’t last. You’ll sin again, probably sooner than you’d like to admit. This isn’t pessimism, it’s realism. The passions don’t vanish the moment the priest anoints your forehead.
Go to confession monthly at first, maybe more often if your priest recommends it. You’re learning how to see your sins clearly, which is harder than it sounds. Converts often struggle with either thinking they’re doing great (they’re not) or thinking they’re complete failures (they’re not that either). A good confessor helps you see yourself honestly.
And here’s something nobody tells you: you might be shocked when old temptations come roaring back a few months in. That pornography habit you thought was dead. That anger at your spouse. That pride about finally being in the “true Church.” Don’t panic. This is normal. The spiritual life isn’t a straight line up, it’s more like two steps forward, one step back, then sideways for a while when you’re not paying attention.
Keep Showing Up to Liturgy
Every Sunday. Every feast you can manage. I know you work shifts at the plant and sometimes you’re offshore for weeks. I know your mother-in-law thinks you’ve joined a cult and Thanksgiving is going to be awkward. Come anyway.
The Eucharist isn’t optional for Orthodox Christians, it’s the center of everything. You’ve spent months or years preparing for this. Don’t let the newness wear off and then drift into showing up twice a month because you’re tired. We’re all tired. Come tired.
Find Your Place in the Parish
You’re not a visitor anymore. You’re family now, which means you’ve got responsibilities. Volunteer for something. Coffee hour needs help. The church needs cleaning. There’s always bookstore duty or setting up for feast days.
Don’t try to fix everything or suggest how things should be done differently based on what you read online about how they do it at Holy Transfiguration Monastery or some parish in Moscow. Every parish has that convert who shows up with opinions about iconography and liturgical practices before they’ve been Orthodox for six months. Don’t be that person.
Just show up, be helpful, and learn the rhythms of your community. Get to know people’s names. Bring something for the potluck. Offer to drive Mrs. Kallouf to Vespers when her car’s in the shop.
Watch Out for Convert Syndrome
There’s a real temptation in the first year to become insufferable. You’ve discovered this ancient faith, you’re reading everything you can get your hands on, and suddenly you’re correcting your Baptist uncle about the filioque at Christmas dinner. Stop.
Spiritual pride is sneaky. It shows up as enthusiasm for the faith, but it’s really just you feeling superior to everyone who isn’t Orthodox yet. The antidote is humility, which you probably don’t have much of (none of us do). That’s why you need confession, a spiritual father, and friends in the parish who’ll gently tell you when you’re being ridiculous.
Some converts also hit a wall around month four or five. The euphoria fades. Church feels long. Fasting feels hard. You start noticing that Orthodox people sin too, that parishes have politics, that you’re still struggling with the same passions you had before. This is when people sometimes drift away or become bitter.
Push through. This is where real growth happens, when you’re not running on emotional highs anymore but choosing obedience anyway. Talk to your priest when you hit this phase. He’s seen it before.
Read, But Not Too Much
Get a copy of The Orthodox Way by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware if you haven’t already. Read the Gospels daily, even just a few verses. Maybe start the Psalms. Lives of the saints are good too, especially ones like St. Mary of Egypt who show you what real repentance looks like.
But don’t spend three hours a day reading theology while neglecting your prayer rule and your family. Some converts become perpetual students, always learning but never actually doing the work of repentance. Books are tools, not substitutes for the spiritual life.
Remember Why You’re Here
You didn’t become Orthodox to win arguments or collect exotic spiritual practices or feel superior to Protestants. You’re here because you encountered Christ in His Church, and you want to be united with Him. That happens through the Mysteries, through prayer, through fasting, through loving your neighbor even when they’re annoying.
It happens slowly, over years, through showing up and falling down and getting back up and trying again. You’re not going to master this in a year. You’re going to be working on it for the rest of your life.
Welcome home. Now get to work.
