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Fr. Anthony shares some thoughts on the ecclesiology of discernment, based on a talk he gave to the clergy of the Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Miami and the Southeast in January of 2026. It focuses on the need to slow down and let the inspired processes of Orthodoxy move us from justification to truth in love. Enjoy the show!

What happens to the bread during the Divine Liturgy—and what does its journey reveal about what God is doing with us? Fr. Anthony follows the prosphora from scattered grains of wheat, through the Proskomedia, Great Entrance, offering, consecration, Communion, and Ascension, showing how the Church's Eucharistic worship gathers the many around Christ and ultimately into Him. The journey of bread turns out to be our journey: from isolation to communion, from what God created good toward its perfection in Christ, and from the earth toward the Kingdom. Enjoy the show!

Fr. Harry and Fr. Anthony continue their discussion of consumerism by examining what happens when we begin treating the Church—and even other people—as products that can be discarded when they fail to meet our expectations. The Christian alternative is the difficult work of communion: receiving correction with humility, addressing offenses directly, practicing repentance and reconciliation, and resisting the temptation simply to “check out” when relationships become uncomfortable. Being the Church means learning to remain in relationship, not because everything goes the way we want, but because it is precisely within those relationships that God teaches us how to love, repent, forgive, and become His family. Enjoy the show!

Fr. Harry and Fr. Anthony examine how our consumerist and transactional habits can quietly shape the way we approach giving, worship, prayer, and even our relationships with one another. Beginning with the perennial problem of summertime giving, they contrast offering God our “first fruits” with giving Him whatever time, attention, or money happens to be left over—and ask what it would mean to stop evaluating the Church according to what we get out of it. Ultimately, Christian life is not a quid pro quo but a continual offering of ourselves to God and one another, through repentance, sacrifice, generosity, and the self-emptying love revealed in Christ.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Fr. Anthony and Fr. Harry reflect on patriotism, nationhood, and the relationship between local communities and the Church. Drawing on political theory, Orthodox ecclesiology, and their own pastoral experience, they explore the difference between nations, peoples, and places, arguing that Christian life flourishes not in abstract ideologies but in concrete communities rooted in love, worship, and shared life. The conversation culminates in a discussion of the internet, technology, and the dangers of disembodied existence, offering a defense of local parish life as an essential antidote to the homogenizing forces of modern culture. Enjoy the show!

Following Pentecost, Fr. Harry and Fr. Anthony discuss how the Church protects and nurtures healthy parish culture while remaining faithful to Christ's command to care for His flock. Drawing on Scripture, canon law, and pastoral experience, they explore disruptive behavior, false teaching, predatory personalities, online "para-ecclesial" communities, and the responsibility of clergy and faithful alike to preserve unity without sacrificing truth. The episode concludes with a call to cultivate authentic Orthodox formation through prayer, worship, accountability, and life within the parish rather than through personalities, factions, or divisive online influences.

In this episode of Made to be a Kingdom, Fathers Anthony Perkins and Harry Linsenbigler explore Pentecost as the climactic fulfillment of God’s saving work, where the Holy Spirit makes the life of the age to come present within the Church. Drawing on liturgical texts and the Eucharistic prayers, they show how Pentecost is not merely a past event but an ongoing participation in the Kingdom, uniting heaven and earth and forming the Church as the living body of Christ. The conversation also offers a pastoral warning against confusing emotional experience with spiritual reality, emphasizing instead humility, discernment, and faithful participation in the sacramental life.

In this episode of Made to be a Kingdom, Fathers Anthony Perkins and Harry Linsenbigler complete their exploration of Paschaltide by tracing its culmination in the Feast of the Ascension. They reflect on the theological and liturgical movement from Resurrection to Ascension—highlighting themes of water, light, and healing, as well as the Church’s lived flexibility in embodying these mysteries in the parish life. At its heart, the episode reveals the profound claim of the feast: that in Christ’s Ascension, human nature itself is exalted and enthroned, inviting the faithful not merely to anticipate Pentecost, but to celebrate their present participation in the risen and ascended Lord. Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Made to be a Kingdom, Fathers Anthony Perkins and Harry Linsenbigler explore how Pascha functions as the Church’s great “reset,” reordering the liturgical year and illuminating the rhythm of Scripture and worship. Beginning with the proclamation of the Word in Gospel of John and the witness of Acts of the Apostles, they trace how the Church reads the Resurrection through the weeks of Paschaltide, culminating in Ascension and Pentecost. The conversation highlights how the healing narratives—such as the Paralytic, the Samaritan Woman, and the Man Born Blind—reveal the Resurrection already at work in the life of the faithful. Grounded in hymnography and liturgical practice, this episode offers a pastoral and theological guide to living the “fifty days” as a sustained participation in the light and life of the risen Christ. Enjoy the show!

Today we are reflecting on a critical transition in the life of the Church: the movement from Great Lent into Holy Week and then into the feast of Pascha. As we’ll see, this is not just a change in calendar or intensity, but a shift in focus—from repentance centered on ourselves to full immersion in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Great Lent is not a private self-improvement program; it is the Church’s shared praxis of becoming the Body of Christ through fasting, prayer, and worship. Fathers Harry and Anthony connect the “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 11–12) to Orthodox intercession, icons, and the liturgical convergence of heaven and earth—then press the pastoral point: let Lent actually re-form your habits, especially your relationship to media, noise, and distraction.

In this episode of Made to be a Kingdom, Fathers Harry Linsenbigler and Anthony Perkins return to Christ’s words in Matthew 16–18 to explore what Scripture reveals about the nature of the Church. Reading the Gospel through its original biblical and Septuagint context, they reflect on Christ as the anointed Petra, the gathering of the scattered people of Israel, and the Church as the place where God restores His flock from among the nations. Drawing on Micah’s prophecy (2:6-13), the language of gates and mountains, and the Paschal victory over death, the conversation shows how Orthodox ecclesiology is rooted not in abstract authority, but in Christ Himself—the Anointed Rock who leads His people through the gates of hell into life. Along the way, they highlight how Scripture interprets Scripture, why the Church understands herself as the restored Israel, and how Pascha stands at the heart of what it means for the Church to be built, gathered, and led by Christ.

In this episode, Fr. Harry and Fr. Anthony slow down over Christ’s words in Matthew 16— especially the phrase “my Church”—to clarify that the Church is first Christ’s possession and work, not ours. They trace how Orthodox ecclesiology comes into focus through text and context: Christ’s confession, the meaning of rock (Petros/Petra), and the claim that the Church’s “locus” is the faith revealed by the Father and preserved in the Church. Finally, they bring Caesarea Philippi into view as a charged setting—“the gates of Hades”—so that Christ’s promise reads not as abstract poetry but as a Paschal announcement: hell will not prevail.

Pentecost isn't the Church's birthday: the Church precedes it, stretching back to creation itself, angels, prophets, patriarchs, and is revealed most clearly in Christ and the Church's liturgical witness. Pentecost inaugurates the apostolic priesthood and Eucharistic life, and the episode invites listeners to be formed by the prayers and hymnography where Scripture becomes prayer and grace supplies what is lacking.

In this New Year episode, Fr. Harry and Fr. Anthony challenge the casual habit of saying “my church” by reframing ecclesial identity: the Church is of God—not our possession, but the place to which we belong, purchased by Christ’s blood (Acts 20) and built as a household on the apostolic foundation with Christ as cornerstone (Eph. 2:18–20). They trace how the Church’s catholic “wholeness” is Trinitarian—the Body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the people of the Father—made real through baptism, chrismation, and the Eucharist. Along the way, they clarify Christ’s unique mediation (mesitēs), show why the Church can be called “of Christ” without diminishing the Trinity, and close with Theophany’s vivid sacramental imagery—especially the ancient practice of breathing/blowing over the waters as participation, not mere remembrance.