The OCA is not immune from latecomers or chit-chatters. There are a number of large and extended families at my parish, many of them Russian. The more elderly people seem to be punctual, but those with younger children, or even teenagers, tend to lag behind, and these are the people/families that make up the choir!
These people have been attending this parish their entire lives. I tend to think that if I am distracted from worship by people walking about and chattering about who-knows-what, then OK it's probably bad that they are doing this, but how much worse is it that I allow myself to become distracted by it, and that I turn my focus to "how dare they do this, don't they know they are in the House of God right now?" If this thought ever comes to mind, I try to tell myself, "how dare I lose sight of where I am right now, and what I am experiencing."
Anastasia/Kim