Talk to your priest first. That’s the short answer. But let’s unpack what the Church actually teaches about this, because if you’re working a turnaround at the refinery or pulling a 28-day offshore rotation, you’re not the first Orthodox Christian to face this.
Sunday isn’t optional in Orthodox life. It’s the Lord’s Day, the day Christ rose from the dead. We call it “the small Pascha”, a weekly Easter. The Divine Liturgy is where we receive Christ’s Body and Blood, where we’re united with the whole Church on earth and in heaven. It’s not just a nice thing to do if your schedule allows. It’s the center of everything.
But the Church has always recognized that life happens.
Works of Necessity and Mercy
Orthodox tradition distinguishes between unnecessary work on Sunday and what the Fathers called “works of necessity” or “works of mercy.” A nurse caring for patients isn’t sinning by working Sunday. Neither is a refinery operator keeping the units running safely. The early Christians understood this. Many of them were slaves or laborers who couldn’t just take Sunday off. They still gathered for the Eucharist whenever they could, often before dawn.
The question isn’t whether your work is important enough to justify missing church. The question is whether you’re doing everything in your power to prioritize the Liturgy when you can, and whether you’re maintaining your spiritual life when you can’t.
What You Can Control
If your schedule rotates, look at it honestly. Can you bid for shifts that let you attend more Sundays? Can you trade shifts with coworkers? Some guys I know work it out so they cover Christmas and Pascha for non-Orthodox coworkers in exchange for getting Orthodox feast days off. It takes planning, but it’s possible.
When you can’t be at Liturgy, you’re still Orthodox. You’re still part of the Body. But you’ve got to stay connected. That means a daily prayer rule at home, morning and evening prayers, even if they’re short. It means reading Scripture. It means keeping your icon corner active, not just decorative. Light a candle, say the Jesus Prayer, ask the Theotokos and the saints to pray for you.
If there’s a weekday service you can make, go. Vespers on Saturday evening counts as the beginning of Sunday liturgically. Some parishes offer weekday Liturgies. You might not be able to attend Sunday morning, but maybe you can catch a Wednesday Liturgy before your night shift.
The Spiritual Danger
Here’s what you need to watch for: drift. It’s easy to let work become the excuse for disconnecting from church entirely. You miss one Sunday, then another, then you realize it’s been a month and you haven’t been to confession in three. Your prayer rule falls apart. You stop fasting. Pretty soon you’re Orthodox in name only.
The Church isn’t a building you visit when convenient. It’s your life. Christ didn’t say “I am the way, the truth, and the life, when your schedule permits.” If your job makes it genuinely impossible to participate in the life of the Church, you might need to find different work. That’s a hard thing to say in Southeast Texas where good-paying jobs aren’t exactly growing on trees, but your soul matters more than your paycheck.
Economia and Your Priest
The Church practices something called economia, pastoral flexibility applied with wisdom. A priest can’t change the fact that Sunday Liturgy is central to Orthodox life, but he can help you figure out how to navigate your specific situation. Maybe that means a different approach to fasting during turnarounds. Maybe it means bringing you communion at home when you’re offshore for weeks. Maybe it means helping you discern whether this job is actually compatible with Orthodox life long-term.
Don’t try to figure this out alone. Your priest has dealt with shift workers before. He knows guys who work offshore, nurses who work weekends, first responders who can’t predict their schedules. He’s not going to shame you for having a job. But he will hold you accountable for whether you’re actually trying to put Christ first or just using work as a convenient excuse.
The Real Question
At the end of the day, it comes down to this: Is your work schedule an obstacle you’re trying to overcome, or an excuse you’re hiding behind? Are you doing everything possible to attend when you can, and staying spiritually engaged when you can’t? Or have you let work become your functional god?
The Church has been dealing with this tension for two thousand years. Christians have always had to work. They’ve always had obligations. But they’ve also always known that nothing, not work, not family, not money, not convenience, comes before Christ. Figure out what that means for your situation, and talk to your priest about it. He’s there to help.
