Homily - The Man Born Blind
OrthoAnalytika
In John 9:1–38, Jesus heals a man born blind, showing that suffering isn’t always caused by sin but can reveal God’s glory. St. John Chrysostom teaches that the man's blindness led to humility and spiritual insight, unlike the Pharisees who remained spiritually blind. The reflection calls us to open our eyes to God’s grace in everyday life, allowing ordinary things—like relationships—to become vessels of holiness through love and intention.
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Homily - The Orthodox Way to Wellness
OrthoAnalytika
On Paralytic Sunday, Christ asks a man who had been sick for 38 years, “Do you want to be made well?” It’s a question that reaches beyond the Gospel and speaks directly to us. True healing—spiritual and physical—begins with recognizing our need, seeking real help, and committing to the path of recovery. Christ is the Great Physician, and the Church is His hospital. But healing isn’t automatic; it requires humility, trust, and obedience. As with the paralytic, Christ knows our pain and desires our healing. The question is: do we truly want to be made well?
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Talk - Shortcuts to Sanctification
OrthoAnalytika
Today Fr. Anthony started out talking about some of the temptations that come with becoming Orthodox, but most of the conversation ended up being about the draw and danger of cults. Enjoy the show!
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Homily - Myrrhbearers
OrthoAnalytika
Today’s reflection centers on the Myrrhbearers — those who came to anoint Jesus’ body after His death. Their actions teach us a powerful lesson about love as duty rather than transaction or warm fuzzy. They approached the tomb thinking Jesus was still dead and knowing (!) that he was utterly unable to reward them for their sacrifices. But their actions found resonance with something deep and real - the Love that knows no death.
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Adult Education - Talking about Pascha
OrthoAnalytika
Fr. Anthony speaks about different liturgical traditions, their history and significance, especially Pascha. Enjoy the show!
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Homily - On Belief
OrthoAnalytika
This homily from Thomas Sunday emphasizes the point that God does not condemn doubt but invites honest seekers into deeper belief. True belief in Christ isn't just accepting facts, but trusting in His love, intentions, and power—similar to the trust found in all healthy relationships. Doubt, when motivated by a sincere desire for truth, can lead to greater faith, especially when brought into open, loving community. However, skepticism rooted in malice or apathy is spiritually harmful. Christ welcomes honest questions because they build relationship, but He opposes harmful, rigid belief used...
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Men’s Talk - On Financial Freedom
OrthoAnalytika
Entrepreneur, Orthodox Christian, and former radio host Jimmy Harris shares his own experiences with overcoming financial adversity using sound Biblical principles, and through this, leading his family into financial peace and prosperity. Enjoy the show!
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Homily - Palm Sunday
OrthoAnalytika
In this homily, Fr Anthony challenges us to reflect on our own expectations of God. Like the Jews, we often approach God with our own predefined ideas of what He should do for us. When our problems persist or even worsen, we are faced with a choice: either we try to control God and limit His power by confining Him to our expectations, or we allow Him to transform our lives in unexpected ways, leading us to a deeper relationship with Him. Enjoy the show!
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Lenten Lesson - Loving Our Enemies
OrthoAnalytika
Today, Fr. Anthony continues to keep it real while talking about the great challenge of loving our enemies. Love your enemies. Matthew 5:43-48 1 Corinthians 13: 1 John 13:34 Romans 15:1a St. John Chrysostom: [St. Paul] adorns love not only for what it has but also for what it has not. Love both elicits virtue and expels vice, not permitting it to spring up at all. St John Chrysostom: For neither did Christ simply command to love but to pray. Do you see how many steps he has ascended and how he has set us on the very summit of virtue? Mark it, numbering from the...
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Retreat on Beauty - Putting It All Together
OrthoAnalytika
Fr. Anthony concludes his prestantation on beauty at the 2025 UOL Lenten retreat by connecting music with love. Music taps into and draws from something that is primal, foundational, and rational (word – bearing); so does love. Music requires mastery of certain skills and concepts that require repetition to master; so does love. Music improves when there are different voices represented; so does love. Music works with dissonance to move us towards deeper truths; so does love. Music often requires periods of silence for listening, anticipation, and appreciation; so...
info_outlineRevelation Class 13 – The Woman and the Beasts
05 February 2025
Revelation, Chapter Twelve - Fourteen
Patrick Henry Reardon, Revelation: A Liturgical Prophecy (Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2018), 70–78.
Chapter Twelve
… Nonetheless, this is not simply a description of the Lord’s nativity. The Woman in the vision is the mother of Jesus, but she is more; she is also the Church, which gives birth to Christ in the world. The sufferings and persecution of the Church are described as birth pangs (cf. Jn 16:21–22).
The serpent, of course, is the ancient dragon that is the enemy of our race, the one who seduced the first woman in the garden. …
Chapter Thirteen
Up till now we have seen two beasts, one of them from the underworld (Chapter 11) and the other from the heavens (Chapters 12). Two more beasts will appear in the present chapter, one of them from the sea (verse 1), who also has seven heads and ten horns (cf. 12:3), and one from the land (verse 11). …
Far more than ourselves, one fears, the early Christians were aware of the power of evil in the world. They spoke of it frequently in personified forms that are difficult to interpret literally. And the Christians described their relationship to this evil as one of warfare. …
Now we come to the beast arising out of the earth, a parody of Christ in the sense that he faintly resembles a lamb (verse 11). Performing great signs and bringing fire down from heaven (verse 13), he is also a parody of the two witnesses in Chapter 11; in this respect he resembles the magicians of Egypt. The Gospels, we recall, have several warnings against false christs and false prophets, who will work wonders. …
Interpreters of the sacred text, however, have been most partial to the Hebrew form of the name, “Nero Caesar,” which does, in fact, add up to exactly the number six hundred and sixty-six. There are other possibilities, but this explanation seems the most compelling. The number was thus a reference to Nero, the first Roman emperor who ever undertook the persecution of the Christian Church.
Chapter Fourteen
… On the image of harvest as judgment, see Joel 4:13–14 (3:9–14). The Son of Man on the cloud is, of course, from the Book of Daniel, an image that Jesus interprets of Himself in each of the Synoptic Gospels.
The rising pool of blood becomes a kind of Red Sea. Indeed, the following chapter will be full of imagery from the Book of Exodus. plagues, the cloud of the divine presence, the tent of testimony, Moses, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the destruction of the pursuers.