Made to Be a Kingdom

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.

As parishes grow, the priest-and-everyone model that once felt like “family” can become unsustainable—especially in catechesis, confession, and pastoral care. Fr. Anthony and Fr. Harry explore practical tools (from scheduling systems to mentoring structures) and historical models of catechesis to show why “one size fits all” is neither Orthodox nor realistic. The goal is not efficiency for its own sake, but discernment: building ministries that preserve intimacy, prevent burnout, and help every member find their calling as the parish moves into a new season. Enjoy the show!

Recorded in person during a seminary week at South Bound Brook, Fr. Anthony Perkins and Fr.

Harry Linsenbigler reflect on two passages from In Every Church (p. 78) to clarify how Christ

“fills” every ministry in the Church—from the faithful to readers, deacons, presbyters, and

bishops—without making ordination a ladder of personal holiness. They challenge a common

misreading (including selective appeals to Pseudo-Dionysius) that treats ecclesial rank as a

holiness metric, instead, grounding the Church’s true unity in the liturgy’s confession that “One

is holy” and in the equal reception of Christ in Holy Communion. Finally, they frame clerical

fatherhood as a derivative grace rather than a personal possession, urging vigilance against pride

and despondency, and calling parishes to a shared culture of mutual support so that every

vocation—ordained or lay—can be exercised as service within the royal priesthood of the faithful.

Fr. Harry and Fr. Anthony explore how internet culture, consumerism, and disincarnate “platforms” distort Orthodox teaching and tempt all of us to become unappointed theologians. Drawing on Metropolitan Saba, Thinking Orthodox, St. James 3, and St. John Climacus, they unpack why theology must remain ecclesial, relational, and local—discerned and bounded within the life of the parish and the wider Church. They conclude with a pastoral call for accountability in online ministry and for internet engagement that flows out of real parish life, gratitude for one’s bishop and priest, and a deeper commitment to becoming saints together face to face.

In this episode, Fr. Harry and Fr. Anthony unpack how a truly sacramental worldview means that

the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church is concretely instantiated in your particular parish—

with its people, culture, limits, and gifts. They caution against importing personal preferences

based on previous experiences and monastic or on-line ideals into parish life, urging charity,

patience, and attentive listening (their “Kentucky windage”) so that real formation in Christ

happens as it should; i.e. through local, embodied relationships