This e-book is designed to present traditional Orthodox practice and piety in a brief, understandable way. Originally, most of the material was collected for the benefit of catechumens, who needed exposure to the practical side of Orthodoxy as part of their education in the Faith. However, many lifelong Orthodox Christians never learned some of the particulars of living their Faith. Some have forgotten them or disregarded them. Other people have wondered how to begin to live observant Orthodox lives, and many who have begun have asked how they might live it better.

This book tries to show them how. It offers some of the traditional means of incorporating the Orthodox Faith into everyday life and of bringing everyday life into conformity with the life of the Church.

Orthodoxy is incomplete if it is not lived. It is not abstract theory; it is a comprehensive, all-encompassing, integrated way of life. There are particular beliefs, observances, attitudes, and practical do’s and don’ts that distinguish Orthodox Christians from everybody else. Anyone who wants to be an Orthodox Christian is expected to make them his own.

Orthodoxy could not lay claim to the Truth if it did not make radical claims upon its members. A church without radical claims all too easily becomes utilitarian. That is, it becomes a church we embrace to serve our own "needs." Christ did not establish His Church to serve people’s "needs." He established it to give people the means to salvation.

Adapting life to the standards of the Gospel is no easy task. Some will find it strenuous and frustrating. Everyone will find it a lengthy process. Indeed, it is the work of a lifetime.

The book is divided into two parts. Part I is more general in scope and talks about how to become an observant Orthodox Christian and the problems the newly observant might encounter. It also offers an apology, or a justification, for observant living.

Part II is a consideration of specific observances, the "how to’s" if you will, of living Orthodoxy day to day. All the topics in both parts are treated briefly. This is meant to be a handbook, not an exhaustive study. Moreover, it is impossible to be comprehensive. Orthodoxy is life, and it cannot be sandwiched between the covers of one little book.

Those who are already Orthodox Christians and want to become more observant should not pass over Part I thinking it is for catechumens only. The woman who decides to begin to cook meals according to the fasts, the man who decides to give up his Saturday night poker game to attend Vespers, anyone who begins to fast according to the canons, is likely to feel uncomfortable. After all, established patterns of behavior and relationships are being modified. Part I will help you to know what to expect from yourself and from others as you become more observant. Expected problems are easier to work through than unexpected ones.

For our purposes, someone who is newly observant, or is becoming more observant, may be either a catechumen coming to the Faith for the first time, or an Orthodox Christian who wants to be "more Orthodox" or "more religious" in his or her life. Both have the same interest and the same goal. Both will likely face the same difficulties. Nevertheless, issues that may be unique to the catechumen or to the already Orthodox will be discussed as they come up.

This book is not primarily about Orthodox spirituality, or about the purpose of all observance and spirituality: salvation through repentance, or deification. There are any number of good books on Orthodox spirituality available in English that you can read to learn more about these things.

What this book does concern itself with, however, are the ordinary, normative observances that undergird spirituality and which Orthodox spirituality presupposes. Spirituality will not succeed without regular Orthodox observance. Without observance, it is a house built on sand. Salvation involves the whole person, not just the soul or the spirit. This is a point which cannot be over emphasized, especially with new converts, who, in their zeal, are often captivated by the loftiest aspects of Orthodox spirituality: the Jesus Prayer, the Philokalia, and hesychasm. As a contemporary monk once put it, "you gotta learn to be Orthodox plain before you can be Orthodox fancy." The body must be brought into subjection just as much as the mind and the heart, and self-mastery in the active life precedes the way of contemplation. "Indeed, prayer corresponds with way of life," says St. Isaac of Nineveh. All of the Fathers are agreed on this point. If you want to advance along the path of salvation, you cannot skip "the easy part," the dull part, the (seemingly) boring, gritty practica of daily Orthodox observance. They are the foundation for a life of service to the Lord.

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"Indeed, one who does not have the labors of the body does not have the labors of the soul. For the latter are born from the former, as an ear of corn from a bare grain." – St Isaac the Syrian

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"A man who offers to teach rhetoric and philosophy to someone who is only learning his alphabet, far from doing him any good, will only distract him from what he is learning, and make him forget what he has learned, for his mind will be unable to cope with these subjects. In the same way, a man who discourses about the last degrees of perfection to beginners, and especially to the more lazy ones, far from bringing them any profit will only make them lose ground. For as soon as they look up at the heights of virtue and see how far they are from the summit, they will think it impossible for them to reach it, and will give up even the few useful works they had already begun, as being useless, and be plunged into hopelessness." – St Symeon the New Theologian

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