You’ll learn how to be Orthodox. That means the basics of what we believe, how we worship, how we pray, and how to live as a member of the Church.
The catechumenate isn’t a college course where you memorize facts and take a test. It’s formation. You’re being shaped into someone who can stand at the Divine Liturgy and know what’s happening, who can pray the prayers of the Church, who understands why we fast and confess and venerate icons. You’re learning to participate in a 2,000-year-old way of life.
Most parishes run catechumen classes for six months to a year. Here at St. Michael, we meet regularly and expect you to attend Sunday Liturgy throughout that time. You can’t learn Orthodoxy from a book alone any more than you can learn to swim by reading about water.
The Big Stuff: Doctrine
You’ll learn the Creed. Not just memorize it (though you’ll do that too), but understand what it means when we say Christ is “begotten, not made” or that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father.” You’ll learn about the Trinity, three Persons, one God, and the Incarnation. Fully God and fully man, not half and half or God wearing a human suit.
We’ll talk about salvation differently than you’re used to if you grew up Baptist or at one of the big non-denominational churches around here. Salvation isn’t a one-time decision. It’s theosis, becoming united with God through grace. We’re being saved, present tense, healed and transformed over a lifetime.
You’ll learn why we say the Orthodox Church is the Church Christ founded. That’s not arrogance. It’s what we actually believe, and you need to understand why before you’re received.
How We Worship
You’ll learn the structure of the Divine Liturgy. Where it comes from (it’s ancient, written by St. John Chrysostom in the fourth century). What’s happening at each part. Why the priest says certain things, why we stand, when to cross yourself, what that curtain across the altar is for.
You’ll learn about the Church year. Great Lent isn’t just giving up chocolate. Pascha isn’t Easter with a different name. The Theotokos has more feast days than you knew existed. You’ll start to feel the rhythm of fasts and feasts, of Sundays and weekdays, of the cycle that’s shaped Christian life since the beginning.
Icons will make sense. They’re not just religious art. They’re windows into heaven, and we venerate them because the person depicted is alive in Christ right now. The Seventh Ecumenical Council settled this in 787, but you’ll learn why it matters in your own prayer life.
The Mysteries
You’ll learn what happens in Baptism (you die and rise with Christ), Chrismation (you’re sealed with the Holy Spirit), and the Eucharist (you receive Christ’s actual Body and Blood). These aren’t symbols. They’re real means of grace.
Confession will probably be new to you. You’ll learn how it works, why we do it, and you’ll make a “life confession” before you’re received into the Church. That’s exactly what it sounds like, confessing your whole life up to that point. It’s hard. It’s also one of the most freeing things you’ll ever do.
Prayer and Fasting
You’ll learn a basic prayer rule. Morning prayers, evening prayers, prayers before and after meals. The Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” You’ll say it hundreds of times, and it’ll start to change you.
Fasting isn’t about earning points with God. It’s a discipline that heals us. You’ll learn the fasting rule, no meat, dairy, or eggs on Wednesdays and Fridays, and during the longer fasting seasons. You’ll also learn that your priest can adjust this for your situation. If you’re working offshore on a rig for two weeks at a time, we’ll figure out what’s realistic.
Practical Stuff
You’ll need a sponsor (we call them godparents even for adults). They should be an Orthodox Christian in good standing who can help you learn to live this life. You’ll learn what makes someone qualified and how to choose wisely.
You’ll learn about parish life. We support the Church financially. We serve each other. We show up not just on Sundays but for Vespers, for feast days, for the extra services during Lent. Being Orthodox isn’t a Sunday-morning-only thing.
You’ll probably read a book or two. “The Orthodox Church” by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware is common. You might listen to Ancient Faith Radio podcasts. But honestly, most of what you learn will come from standing in church, watching, listening, and slowly figuring out how to participate.
What You Won’t Learn
We won’t teach you a five-step plan to get saved or give you a chart about the end times. We don’t do altar calls. We won’t tell you that if you just believe the right things and pray a prayer, you’re good to go.
We also won’t teach you to be suspicious of beauty or tradition or the physical world. Orthodoxy is incarnational. God became flesh. Matter matters. That’s why we have icons and incense and we kiss things and cross ourselves.
The catechumenate is long because becoming Orthodox is serious. You’re not joining a club or switching churches like you’d switch gyms. You’re entering the Church, capital C, the Body of Christ. That takes time.
Come to a class. Talk to Fr. Michael. Start attending Liturgy on Sundays. You’ll learn by doing, by being here, by letting the life of the Church shape you into someone who can say the Creed and mean every word.
