Because God is beyond our full comprehension, and Orthodox worship reflects that reality. We don’t try to explain everything or make it all clear and accessible. We invite you into an encounter with the living God who exceeds our understanding.
If you’ve visited an Orthodox service for the first time, you probably felt overwhelmed. The incense, the chanting in minor keys, the icons staring back at you, the priest disappearing behind closed doors. Nobody handed you a bulletin explaining what’s happening. You couldn’t see everything. And that’s intentional.
We’re Not Trying to Confuse You
Let me be clear about that first. The mystery in Orthodox worship isn’t meant to gatekeep or exclude. It’s there because we believe some realities can’t be reduced to explanation. You can’t fully understand the Holy Trinity by reading about it. You can’t grasp the Incarnation through a PowerPoint presentation. These are mysteries in the truest sense, truths revealed by God that remain beyond our complete comprehension even after He’s shown them to us.
The word we use is mysterion. It doesn’t mean “puzzle to be solved.” It means a reality so deep, so divine, that we encounter it more than explain it. When we celebrate the Eucharist, Christ becomes truly present. How? That’s mystery. We don’t have a metaphysical formula. We have two thousand years of Christians receiving His Body and Blood and being transformed by it.
God Isn’t a Math Problem
Most folks around here grew up Baptist or at a Bible church. I get it. You’re used to sermons that explain everything, to altar calls that lay out the plan of salvation in five clear steps. That approach has its place, but it can make faith feel like a transaction you need to understand before you sign.
Orthodoxy works differently. We believe you’re being healed, not closing a legal deal. Healing takes time. It involves your whole person, not just your intellect. So our worship engages all five senses. You smell the incense (which represents our prayers rising to God). You see the icons (windows into heaven where the saints are alive and praying with us). You hear the chanting. You taste the bread and wine. You feel the sign of the cross on your forehead when the priest blesses you.
This isn’t about creating atmosphere. It’s about recognizing that you’re not a brain on a stick. You’re a body and soul together, and God meets you as a whole person.
The Iconostasis Isn’t Hiding Things from You
That icon screen separating the altar from the nave? It’s called an iconostasis. The Royal Doors in the center open and close throughout the service. Sometimes you can see what the priest is doing. Sometimes you can’t.
People ask if we’re trying to keep secrets. No. We’re acknowledging that the altar represents heaven itself, and there’s a boundary between heaven and earth that we cross carefully, with reverence. When the priest goes behind the iconostasis during the Liturgy, he’s entering the Holy of Holies on our behalf. The mystery isn’t about information you’re missing. It’s about a reality too sacred to treat casually.
Fr. Alexander Schmemann wrote that the liturgy makes “time that is eschatologically transparent.” That’s a fancy way of saying worship opens a window where heaven and earth meet. You’re not watching a religious performance. You’re participating in something that’s happening simultaneously in heaven, where Christ stands before the Father and the angels cry “Holy, holy, holy.”
You can’t make that clear and simple. You can only enter into it.
Mystery Leads to Theosis
Here’s where it connects to everything else we believe. The goal of the Christian life isn’t to understand God fully. It’s to be united with Him. We call that theosis, or deification. Not that we become gods ourselves, but that we participate in God’s divine life by grace.
The mysteries, what Western Christians call sacraments, are how that happens. Baptism isn’t just a symbol of your decision. It’s God actually drowning your old self and raising you as a new creation. The Eucharist isn’t a memorial meal. It’s Christ giving you His Body and Blood to transform you from the inside out. These things work on you whether you understand them or not, the way medicine works in your body even if you’re not a pharmacist.
The mystery in our worship trains you to approach God with humility instead of demanding explanations. It teaches you to receive rather than control. And over time, as you keep showing up, keep standing through the long services, keep receiving the mysteries, something changes in you. You start to experience what you couldn’t grasp intellectually.
What to Do When You Don’t Understand
I’ll be honest. Your first few visits to St. Michael will probably feel confusing. You won’t know when to stand or sit (we mostly stand). You won’t recognize the hymns. You’ll wonder why the service takes so long. That’s normal.
Don’t worry about understanding everything. Just be present. Let the prayers wash over you. Look at the icons. Breathe in the incense. Talk to the priest afterward if you have questions. Read the service texts during the week if that helps. But don’t treat it like a test you need to pass.
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware teaches that we know God through what He isn’t as much as through what He is. That’s called apophatic theology. It means embracing the mystery, resting in God’s incomprehensibility, trusting that He reveals Himself in His own time and way.
You’re not supposed to master Orthodoxy before you enter it. You enter it and let it transform you. The mystery isn’t a wall keeping you out. It’s a door inviting you deeper.
Come stand with us on Sunday morning. You won’t understand everything. But you might encounter Someone who understands you completely.
