It is very difficult for a person who does not attend a temple, and sometimes has never been there, except for his own baptism, to start attending church. Shyness, shyness, ignorance of how to behave, how to enter, where to stand, how to light candles, etc., interfere.
Preparing to get to know the church
The most important thing that a person going to church should remember is that ordinary people serve in the church, who are always happy to advise what and how to do. If you have a spiritual impulse and want to go to church to pray, then be sure to go and do not be afraid of anything.
However, it can be a good idea to prepare in advance for church attendance. To do this, you first need to get acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, that is, with the Bible. It is better to start reading it from the New Testament, since the Old Testament is quite difficult to understand. According to the priests, many lay people, who began their acquaintance with the Bible from the Old Testament, were “stuck” on it. This is due to the complexity of the book's language.
The next step is prayer. One must learn to pray. In this, a prayer book will become an assistant, which can be purchased at any church shop. First, define small prayers for yourself, the main thing is to try to pray with concentration, thoughtfully reading the meaning of what has been written. For example, you can start accustoming yourself to prayer with morning and evening rules, which do not have large volumes. Gradually, the number of prayers read should be increased.
To church - without fear
Then you need to go to the service at the temple. To begin with, you can defend not the entire service, which lasts about 4 hours, but an hour or an hour and a half. The main thing is to pray sincerely and be attentive to what is happening in the temple. Be prepared that, at first, you may not understand much from what you hear from the priest, because the divine service is conducted in the Church Slavonic language. It will be useful if you read the relevant literature before visiting the service in order to know its order.
The next stage of acquaintance with the church will be communion with its Sacraments, such as the Sacrament, Unction.
There are also Sunday schools for adults. It will be useful to attend these classes, since at them priests talk about the life of Christ, miracles, features of worship, confession and much more. The main thing is that in the classroom, each parishioner can ask a question of interest and get an exhaustive answer.
It is important to understand that Christianity is not just a religion, it is, above all, everyday life itself. And such a life is impossible without the church, without knowledge and respect for its basic canons.
