Made to Be a Kingdom

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.