What’s all this commotion?
For a first comer in an Orthodox Church the first contact with an Orthodox service may be a little bit peculiar. During the early part of the service the church may seem to be in a hubbub, with people walking up to the front of the church, praying in front of the iconostasis (the standing icons in front of the altar), kissing things and lighting candles, even though the service is already going on. In fact, when you came in the service was already going on, although the sign outside clearly said "Divine Liturgy, 10:00." You felt embarrassed to apparently be late, but these people are even later, and they're walking all around inside the church. What's going on here?
In an Orthodox church there is only one Eucharistic service (Divine Liturgy) per Sunday, and it is preceded by an hour-long service of Matins (or Orthros) and several short preparatory services before that. There is no break between these services-one begins as soon as the previous ends, and posted starting times are just educated guesses. Sometimes the "official" 10:00 o'clock start of the Liturgy could actually be 10:10 or 10:15, based on the length of the hymns chanted during Orthros. These Hymns vary from Sunday to Sunday; therefore the starting times of the Liturgy are only approximate. Altogether, the priest will be at the altar on Sunday morning for over three hours, "standing in the flame," as one Orthodox priest put it.
As a result of this state of continuous flow, there is no point at which everyone is sitting quietly in a pew waiting for the entrance hymn to start, glancing at their watches approaching 10:00. Orthodox worshippers arrive at any point from the beginning of Matins through the early part of the Liturgy, a span of well over an hour. No matter when they arrive, something is sure to be already going on, so Orthodox don't let this hamper them from going through their private prayers when entering a church. This is distracting to newcomers, and may even seem disrespectful, but soon you begin to recognize it as an expression of a faith that is not merely formal but very personal.
Of course, there is still no good excuse for showing up after 10:00, but punctuality is unfortunately one of the few virtues many Orthodox lack...but we're working on it!