A Page for Parish Visitors

This page is especially for those new to Orthodoxy and to St. Elias.

Here are some articles that might be helpful for someone visiting an Orthodox Church the first time:

Taste and See

Before Your First Visit to an Orthodox Church: 12 Things I Wish I Had Known, by Frederica Mathewes-Green

Some Things You Should Know While in Church, by Fr. David Barr, Pastor of St. Elias

Explanation of Holy Week services from a blog 

The schedule of services is here. Browse the website for items that may interest you, including many more resources from Orthodox links.

The language of the services is English. In some other respects, our services may seem unfamiliar to you. Although the respectful custom is to stand throughout most of each service, especially during the Holy Gospel and prayer -- almost all the Divine Liturgy is prayer -- if you are unable to do so, feel free to sit in a pew. No one will think badly of you.

Sometimes, welcome visitors must remain only visitors, in transit somewhere else. However, we hope they will sometimes visit our website from wherever they call home, and remember us. 

Especially if they have accepted the Pastor's invitation to coffee hour after Divine Liturgy, they can be sure some of us remember them, and are happy that they decided to join us for a service or several.

And some are choose to join the family.  We welcome all.