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
OrthoAnalytika
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
OrthoAnalytika
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...
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Homily - The Paralytic and Moving from Explanation to Obedience
OrthoAnalytika
On the Sunday of the Paralytic, this homily explores Christ’s piercing question: “Do you want to be made well?” It examines our tendency to respond not with repentance, but with explanation—justifying our condition rather than opening ourselves to healing. Grounded in the Church’s therapeutic vision of salvation, it calls us to move beyond self-justification and into obedience, where Christ’s command becomes the source of our transformation. Enjoy the show! --- Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic John 5:1–15; Acts 9 Christ is risen! What effect do you have on...
info_outlineToday we started our Fall Wednesday evening education series, during which we are working our way through Zachery Porcu's "Journey to Reality" from Ancient Faith Publishing. Today, after framing our discussion with the "trees walking" account of the healing of the blind man from the Gospel according to St. Mark (8:22-38 - see below), we cover the main topics in chapter one. Enjoy the show!
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Trees Walking: the Problem of Discerning the Gospel
Fr. Anthony Perkins; 03 September 2025
Text: Zachery Porcu, PhD. 2025. “Chapter 1 – What is Christianity” in Journey to Reality; Sacramental Life in a Secular Age. Ancient Faith Publishing.
St. Mark 8:22-38 (KJV)
22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
St. Ambrose; Through the font of the Lord and the preaching of the Lord’s passion, your eyes were then opened. You who seemed before to have been blind in heart began to see the light of the sacraments.
24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
Why would he see men as trees???
25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Note the progression.
26 And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.
27 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
28 And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.
How could they not know?
29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
But even using the right word, how much did he understand?
30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
And how much of this plain speaking were they able to hear?
33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
This is the warning: a poor understanding of the truth can lead us to condemnation. (segue to text)
So how can we know the Gospel in a way that saves?
Intellectual knowledge. Study the Bible! [oops]
More intellectual knowledge. Study the Fathers. [oops]
The Bible is not the source of the Gospel or of the Church or of Christianity. All the written texts of Holy Tradition – to include the Bible - are not the source of Orthodoxy.
How can I make this claim?
It is not the way that the members of the early Church were saved and grew in holiness. It was not a text that evangelized the Roman Empire. It was a way of being; a way of thinking; a way of relating. It was first called “The Way.”
The metaphor of the family (p 13)
Our way of relating to information is new. Before, information was contextualized within relationships. We still have some of this, but even people’s experience of Orthodoxy is increasingly a-contextual and un-Orthodox.
The metaphor of sex (p. 15)
Two types of Christianity
Text-based (re-enactment). Ideas. Dissolute community.
Sacramental participation. A community with a life-energy (an angel!)
Problems with using the Bible. Genres: myth, song, prophecy, history, rules, authors, styles. Needs interpretation!
Need to avoid: ignoring – forsaking both the culture AND the text (progressive/individualist). Make the text and the culture what we want it to be.
A paradigm shift to Sacramental Reality.