Homily - Reality Has the Last Word
OrthoAnalytika
Why do sincere people so often believe things that simply are not true? This homily examines the Orthodox understanding of prelest, or spiritual delusion, and explains how the ascetical life of the Church gradually heals our perception of reality. In an age of curated news feeds and ideological echo chambers, Christ remains the only Truth in whom faith never collides with reality. Enjoy the show. Matthew 17:14-23 Faith is a wonderful thing—but only if it is faith in the right thing. When I was a boy, I had an idea...[ the sword.] At the time, it made perfect sense to me. I was...
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Homily - Building a Life that Lasts
OrthoAnalytika
Saint Paul reminds us that the Church is God's building, founded on Jesus Christ alone, and that each of us is called to build our lives with materials that will endure. Drawing on St. John Chrysostom's homilies on this reading, this sermon explores how small acts of faithfulness—or neglect—shape the kind of people we are becoming. God's goal is not merely that we obey His commandments, but that, stone by stone, we become His holy temple, a dwelling place for His presence. Enjoy the show! --- Gold or Straw? Building a Life That Lasts I Corinthians 3:9-17 In today's Epistle, Saint Paul...
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Homily - Raised for Sonship
OrthoAnalytika
What if prayer, fasting, confession, and Holy Communion are not assignments from a strict schoolmaster but the ordinary practices of life in our Father's house? Reflecting on Galatians 3:23–4:5, this homily invites us to see the Christian life as a journey from guardianship to sonship, from preparation to fulfillment, and from obedience to loving communion with God. --- Galatians 3:23-4:5 In today's Epistle, Saint Paul says something that has puzzled Christians for centuries. He tells us that "before faith came, we were kept under guard by the Law." Then he says that "the Law was our...
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Homily: From Obedience to Transformation
OrthoAnalytika
The Christian life can seem difficult at first, but Christ does more than command holiness—He heals the heart. Reflecting on St. John Chrysostom's homily on Matthew 5, this sermon shows how the Holy Spirit gradually reshapes our desires so that virtue becomes joyful and love becomes natural. Christ fulfills the Law not only in Himself but also, by His grace, in us. Enjoy the show! --- The Sunday of the Fourth Ecumenical Council Matthew 5:14-19; Titus 3:8-15 In today's Gospel, our Lord says something that must have surprised His listeners. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the...
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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
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...
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.