Homily - From Grace to Greater Grace
OrthoAnalytika
From Grace to Greater Grace Romans 12:6-14 Every Christian has received gifts from God, but discernment begins not with extraordinary revelations, but with a quiet heart that learns to recognize where God is already at work. Drawing on St. John Chrysostom's image of the vessel, this homily explores how repentance, prayer, humility, and faithful cooperation with God's grace enlarge our capacity to receive His life. The goal of the Christian life is not to envy another's calling but to become fully ourselves in Christ, growing "from grace to greater grace, from love to deeper love." Enjoy...
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Homily - The Freedom that Bears Fruit
OrthoAnalytika
Galatians 5:22-26; 6:1-2 Freedom is more than independence from tyranny—it is the freedom to become what we were created to be. Reflecting on St. Paul's teaching about the fruit of the Spirit, this homily explores how the Christian life is a lifelong journey of growth, repentance, and transformation. Christ has already won the decisive victory; our task is simply to remain united to Him and let His life bear fruit within us. Enjoy the show! --- Notes: This weekend our nation celebrates the Declaration of Independence. Whatever else one thinks about our country's history—and there is...
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Orthodox Evening Prayers
OrthoAnalytika
The Orthodox Evening Prayers from the Prayer Book of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA.
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Orthodox Morning Prayers
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The Orthodox Morning Prayers from the Prayer Book of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA.
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Homily - From American Consumers to Orthodox Disciples
OrthoAnalytika
All Saints of North America and Antioch St. Matthew 4:18-23 On the Sunday of All Saints of North America and Antioch, Fr. Anthony reflects on how the same American instincts that often lead people to Orthodoxy can become obstacles to spiritual growth once they arrive. While habits of inquiry, comparison, and evaluation help many converts discover the Church, the Christian life requires a transition from constantly judging and analyzing to trusting the Church's proven path of formation. Drawing on examples from marriage, culture, and the lives of the saints, he argues that the Church has been...
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Homily - All Saints
OrthoAnalytika
The Sunday of All Saints reveals the fruit of Pentecost: the Holy Spirit does not produce one type of saint but sanctifies every kind of person according to God's purpose. The saints differ in vocation, personality, and circumstance, yet all are united by the same Spirit who transformed ordinary human lives into icons of Christ. The question is not whether we are the "right kind" of person to become holy, but whether we will allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify the life God has given us. --- Last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost. We celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. And...
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Homily: The God Who Gives US What We Need (Pentecost)
OrthoAnalytika
Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11; St. John 7:37-52; 8:12 Pentecost reveals the God who never ceases to act for our salvation, giving His people exactly what they need—from the Law at Sinai, to the Incarnation, Cross, and Resurrection, and finally the gift of the Holy Spirit. The kneeling prayers for the departed flow naturally from Christ's descent into Hades, for if Christ sought those held by death, His Incarnate Body, the Church, continues to seek them through prayer and love. We pray for the departed not because we possess a detailed map of the afterlife, but because Christians imitate...
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Homily - Sunday after Ascension
OrthoAnalytika
In this homily on Christ’s prayer “that they may be one,” Father Anthony reflects on humanity’s calling to communion and the tragic ease with which sin turns even good things into instruments of division. Drawing on the example of Arius and the divisions of the modern world, he argues that the deepest fractures in society begin not in institutions but in the human heart. The healing of the world therefore begins not with self-righteous outrage or victory over enemies, but with repentance, humility, holiness, and the difficult work of learning to love one another in Christ. Enjoy...
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Homily - Humility and Spiritual Sight
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“I Once Was Blind”: Humility and Spiritual Sight St. John 9:1-38 In this homily on the healing of the man born blind, Father Anthony reflects on how Christ not only gives sight, but gradually heals the whole person. Though baptism opens our eyes to the truth of God and His Kingdom, we still struggle to see clearly through the distortions of pride, fear, anger, and self-justification. The path to true spiritual sight is therefore not certainty or condemnation, but humility, repentance, patience, and trust in the One who already reigns over the world. Enjoy the show! --- Today’s Gospel...
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Homily - From Justification to Repentance: The Samaritan Woman
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On the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, this homily reflects on the encounter between Christ and Saint Photini, focusing on the deeper moral psychology of repentance. It explores how we instinctively justify our sins and construct explanations to protect ourselves, even in the presence of divine truth. Drawing on Scripture and the witness of the saints, it shows how true healing comes not through self-defense, but through humility, repentance, and stepping fully into the light of Christ. Enjoy the show! --- From Justification to Repentance: The Samaritan Woman St. John 4:5–42 “He...
info_outlineRevelation: Lesson 8
Revelation 4:1 – 5:1
Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, ed. David G. Hunter, trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, vol. 123, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011), 81–90.
4:1. After these I saw, and behold, an open door in heaven! And the first voice that I heard was like a trumpet [47] speaking to me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after these.”
[Compare to the Ascent of Moses].
4:2–3. 2 And immediately I was in the Spirit. And behold, a throne stood in heaven, 3 and one sitting upon the throne who appeared like the stone jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow was around the throne that looked like an emerald.
… First, jasper, meaning, as pale green, the evergreen at once both the life-bringer and bestower of the food of the divine nature, through which every seed brings forth young sprouts. … And the rainbow like an emerald shows the variety and blooming virtues of the angelic orders.
4:4. And around the throne <were> twenty-four thrones, and sitting on the thrones <were> twenty-four elders wrapped in white garments, and upon their heads <were> gold crowns. [49]
… by the twelve elders <is meant> those who excelled in the Old, and by the twelve others those who excelled in the New. …
4:5a. From out of the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.
4:5b–6a. 5b And seven torches of fire burn before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God; 6a and before the throne <something> like a glass sea like crystal.
… The glass sea designates the multitude of the holy powers, and also the clarity, spotlessness, and calmness of the future life. …
4:6b. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, <were> four living beings, full of eyes in front and behind:
The throne is shown by this to be signifying the reign and resting-place of God, in which and around which he saw the seraphim, being taught through the multitude of their eyes their ability to see God with regard to the divine light, and also that those eyes behind and in front receive light and knowledge from God.
4:7. And the first living being <was> like a lion, the second living being <was> like a calf, the third living being had a face like a man, and the fourth living being <was> like an eagle flying.
These living beings, we think, were also seen by Isaiah…
4:8a. And the four living beings, each of them having six wings, are full of eyes all around and within,
…
4:8b. And they do not rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!”
These holy powers do not rest, never ceasing the divine hymnody and offering the threefold blessing to the Tri-hypostatic Divinity. And the who is and who was and who is to come we said means the Holy Trinity.
4:9–10a. 9 And whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanksgiving [53] to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, 10a the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever.
[LITURGY!]
4:10b–11. 10b They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “You are worthy, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
They say, “You, Master, are the cause and the provider of the crowns of victory, and thanksgiving is due to You from all things as creatures.”
About the Small Scroll Sealed With Seven Seals Which No One Who Has a Created Nature is Able to Open
5:1. And I saw in the right <hand> of the One who was seated on the throne a small scroll covered in writing on the inside and outside, sealed with seven seals.
… The seven seals, which no one of created nature is able to loosen, <signify> either the fulfillment of the scroll, which is obscure and unknown to all, or the dispensation of the one “who searches the depths of the Spirit of God.” The scroll also means the prophecy which Christ himself said in the Gospel according to Luke had been fulfilled, which things occurring thereafter are to be fulfilled in the last days.