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==Language==
One of the first tasks of Orthodox [[missionaries ]] has always been to translate the service books into native tongues. From [[Cyril and Methodius]] in the ninth century, to [[Innocent of Alaska]] and [[Nicholas of Japan]] in the nineteenth, there has always been a need to translate the service books into native tongues.
==Emphasis on Divine Beauty and Self-Confident Informality==
Orthodox, inspired by a vision of 'heaven on earth,' have striven to make their worship in outward splendor and beauty an icon of the great Liturgy in heaven.
There is no Orthodox equivalent to the 'Low [[Mass]]'. At every [[Divine Liturgy|Liturgy]], as at every [[Orthros|Matins]] and [[Vespers]], incense is used and the service is sung, even though there may be no choir or [[congregation]], but just the priest and a single reader. Since the Orthodox sincerely believe in the One Church, every service is served as if all of the [[One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church#Unity|One Church]] is present, both the visible and the invisible.
In Orthodox worship, people come and go freely, and nobody is surprised if one moves about during the service, arrives late, or does not stay to the end. The absence of pews, at most churches, adds to the feeling of being at home when at church, or like children in their Father's house, and not patrons at the opera.
The Orthodox have their whole religious experience in the Liturgy. It is the very expression of their faith. It is the Liturgy which has inspired their best poetry, art, and music. Among Orthodox, the Liturgy has never become the preserve of the learned and the clergy, as it tended to be in the medieval west, but it has remained the common possession of the whole Christian people.
One of the most effective [[missionary ]] tools, it turns out, is the worship of the Orthodox Church, especially the Divine Liturgy. In Eastern Europe and the Middle East, during the 400 years of Ottoman Turkish rule, the liturgy was one of the primary methods of preserving and proclaiming the faith. Illiterate People learned the Holy Scriptures and teachings of our faith by listening to the readings and hymns of the services.
Likewise, during the years of Communist persecution in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the other nations of Eastern Europe, the faith was literally saved by the liturgy. When it was impossible, on pain of imprisonment and even death, to preach the Gospel, the Word of God was made known through the liturgy. Martyrs were educated in the school of faith, that is orthodox worship.
*"Bow to the earth," full bow, large bow
*Great metania
*Greater [[penance ]] (metanoia megale)
*Panchanga pranam
===Kneeling===
'''Kneeling''', as it is used in the english English language, is also practiced by some Orthodox in their services. The bending of one's knees is also known as the lesser penance (metanoia mikra). Genuflection, or the bending of the right knee, is practiced in the [[Roman Catholic Church]].
In some church buildings, pews are equipped with kneelers in front of the seating bench, so that members of the congregation can kneel on them instead of the floor. Although kneelers are less common in Orthodox church buildings, they do appear in some. They often appear where there are pews in the building or when the building was purchased from Roman Catholic or liturgical Protestant churches.
==Services==
