On the Sunday of St. John of the Ladder, Fr. Anthony delivers a homily that encourages us to take our pursuit of joy, peace, and freedom from anxiety seriously. He begins by asking whether we truly want these things or if we expect them to come without effort, likening it to people desiring health or success without being willing to make the necessary sacrifices. He emphasized that true peace and joy require commitment, not idle desire, and must be pursued through effort, prayer, and fasting.

Fr. Anthony critiqued the common temptation of chasing material security and success, such as the promises of the "American Dream." While these may offer temporary peace, he warned that they are ultimately unreliable. Instead, Fr. Anthony pointed to the ascetic struggle of Orthodoxy, which teaches the importance of cultivating true love for God and others while rejecting selfishness. This process, he explained, involves training the heart to be immune to external manipulation and cutting the "strings" that vice and bad habits use to control us.

In closing, Fr. Anthony reminds us the faithful of the spiritual disciplines of fasting, prayer, and charity, especially during Great Lent. He urges us to evaluate our progress in these practices and to recommit ourselves to the ascetic path if we have fallen short. Ultimately, the homily leaves us with this message: true joy and peace come from aligning with God’s will, casting out the demons of vice, and living according to the Orthodox faith.

Fr. Anthony leads a discussion with the men of Christ the Savior's parish on the basics of leading a Christian home. Enjoy the show!

Still trying to “keep it real,” Fr. Anthony leads a class on the challenges that come when we try to love our neighbor. Enjoy the show!

Mark: 8:34-9:1.
In this homily, Fr. Anthony discusses the true meaning of taking up one's cross in Christian life. He emphasizes that Christ's cross was not just a symbol of pain but of sacrificial love, where Jesus Christ gave Himself for the salvation of others. The act of following Christ involves denying personal desires to serve others, even when it's difficult or misunderstood. By sacrificing our time and efforts for others' well-being, we emulate Christ's example, aligning our actions with His purpose for eternal life. The homily highlights that true sacrifice is motivated by love and the desire to see others thrive, leading to spiritual glory. Enjoy the show!

In this lesson, Fr. Anthony talks about how necessary a prayer rule and proper worship are to knowing and loving God. Enjoy the show!

After reading part of Philippians 2, Fr Anthony talks about the work we are called to do, how our disordered minds thwart it, and what we can do about it. Enjoy the show!

Fr. Anthony talks with Dn. Basil about recent findings on religion and the authoritarian personality. Dn. Basil in a a professional therapist; his practice is Mount Tabor Counseling (mounttaborcounseling.com). Enjoy the show!

The Sunday of Orthodoxy: Embrace the Fullness of the Faith
Fr. Anthony Perkins

Every morning we join together and pray:

Lord, save and have mercy on our civil authorities; protect our nation with peace, subduing our every foe and adversary. Fill the hearts of our leaders with peaceful, benevolent thoughts for your Holy Church and for all your people so that we, in their tranquility, may lead a peaceful and quiet life in true faith and in all godliness and purity.

This same attitude is found amongst the most solemn intercessor prayers in all of Orthodoxy: those that occur during the Anaphora. In the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the prayer is;

We also offer You this spiritual worship for the whole world, for the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and for all those who live in purity and holiness. And for all those in public service, permit them Lord, to serve and govern in peace, that in their tranquility we may lead a calm and quiet life in all Godliness and purity.

This is our approach to politics, and this is the basis of our theology of church and state.

We are expected to pray for our government, that it provides a safe place for us to pursue perfection. And don’t forget that pursuing perfection is what we are all about. We are learning to radiate peace and joy and unity so strongly, to be transformed by the grace and mercy of Christ so completely, that the people and world around us are themselves transformed. That when people see us on the streets, they recognize us as something different because of our love; that when they see us together as a church they are awed by the love that radiates among us and warmed by the Spirit that burns within our hearts.

It is wonderful when the government respects this and gives us a safe space to make it happen. But sometimes the government goes beyond this. Sometimes it wants to get more involved. Orthodoxy is a way of life – we do not simply pursue holiness in our minds and before the icons in our prayer corners or in our houses of worship: we do it 24/7, with an approach to life that is complete and holistic. The way we eat, the way we talk, everything we do – it’s all designed to further this one goal: the healing and perfection of us and of this world. When the government sees it as its own responsibility to guide us towards a certain way of thinking and living – rather than as simply the force that protects us as we think and live – we quickly run into problems.

On previous Sundays of Orthodoxy, I have preached about the transformative power of beauty, of the fact that icons are not only allowed by Christianity but required by it, I have explained the findings of the councils and why they are true. These are very important lessons, and I will, no doubt return to them in future years. But certainly one of the lessons to be learned from the whole nasty history of iconoclasm – when morality police came into our churches and destroyed our icons and told us we were wicked for having them – is just how dangerous it is for the government to get involved in the substance of theological disputes. And it gets even worse when it seeks to enforce the version it believes is best for us.

But thank God we are free from such things here and now. Thank God the First Amendment [and the rest of the Constitution] encourages our government to protect us rather than change us. This, combined with the melting pot of cultures and religions here has created a widespread respect for the ideal of religious diversity, even when disparate beliefs are held with fervor.

But here’s the thing. There really have been times when people hid their icons because the authorities were confiscating them and persecuting the people who were caught with them. Here, don’t just think of when the iconoclasts ruled in Constantinople in parts of the first millennium; the militant atheist iconoclasts in the Soviet Union destroyed plenty of icons in the 20th century and Muslims have done this more recently than in Kosovo and the Middle East.

But in America we are free. No one is taking our icons. And yet even so it seems to me that the iconoclasts are winning, not just in our broader American culture (which we are called to sanctify), but perhaps even amongst us, in our own homes.

When strangers come into our homes, are they greeted with an image of that which is central to our identity? The thing that drives and draws us toward peace and perfection? Are our wedding and patronal icons central to the “feng shui” of our living rooms and bedrooms? Do we have reminders in our kitchens and hallways that there is a Christian manner of eating and living? Is there an icon near our television to remind us that our every thought should be pure and chaste, that it is better to pluck our eye than allow it to pull us off the path of righteousness?

And remember, it’s not just about icons. All our life is to be transformed by our life in Christ. It is a holistic way of life that informs and blessed everything. The way we eat, the way we think, the way we love.

If we have not sanctified our homes with icons, I wonder if we have sanctified them with prayer. If we have not sanctified them with prayer, then there is no way we can them with love. And if we have no love, our lives are full of noise and confusion, and we are little more than wasted potential; wasted skin and mind and soul.

The world believes that icons are unnecessary. We know that to be a lie.

St. John of Damascus lived in a time when icons were being attacked, both by the Muslim authorities who governed over him and his flock and by heretical religious authorities who shared their vision. He was a theologian, so he defended icons with theological arguments, but his strongest advice was pastoral:

He wanted to see his people free. He wanted to see them healed. He wanted to see them holy. He knew that Orthodoxy – the fullness of the faith (and not some compromised watered-down version) was essential to that purpose.

So he told them to embrace their icons, despite the surrounding culture.

I want you to be free. I want you to be healed. I want to see you holy. I know that Orthodoxy – the fullness of the faith (and not some compromised watered-down version), is essential to that purpose.

So I encourage you to embrace your icons. And not just icons. Resist every temptation and encouragement to water down any aspect of your faith; not by attacking the forces that mock or try to destroy your faith, but by committing yourself to a life in Christ. To prayer. To fasting. To sacrificial giving. To chastity.

As we will proclaim together at the end of the Liturgy; 

This is the Faith of the Apostles.
This is the Faith of the Fathers.
This is the Faith of the Orthodox.
This is the Faith which has established the Universe.

In the name …

MATTHEW 6:14-21

The Lord said, "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

We are going on a journey up a mountain – we should not carry things that are not worth having.  

This is part of the connection between forgiveness and fasting; 

• “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…”

• Holding onto grudges – remembrances of wrongs – is the polyunsaturated meal that multiplies like the food in Gurgi’s magical sack: no matter how much we eat, there is always more.  But the more we eat, the more we are weighed down, the more damage we do to our souls, and the less capable we are of the theotic climb to holiness.

Three types of letting go.

1.  Exoneration: this is the ideal – wipes the slate clean

• It was an accident – no intent

• The actor was a child or an innocent; reconciliation should not even be threatened and should automatically be restorred

• The person is truly sorry; takes full responsibility; asks for forgiveness, and shows through their actions that they are reliable partners in love

• IN THESE CASES FULL EXONERATION IS REQUIRED; THE WORLD BECOMES BETTER WHEN WE DO AND WORSE WHEN WE DON’T

• “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

But there is forgiveness with thee.” Matthew 129:3-4.

2. Forbearance

• Apology is qualified or inauthentic

• Let go of the thought

• “Forgive but don't forget”; setting of boundaries

• Allows us to maintain relations with people we cannot avoid or that we love

• Allows for the possibility of eventual exoneration as the person grows in goodness

• In scripture; all the commandments to be patient with one another and for the strong to bear the burdens of the weak speak to this kind of forgiveness.

3. Release

• No recognition of wrongdoing

• No repentance

• No expectation that the person will not do it in the future

• FORGIVENESS OF THIS KIND.DOES NOT EXONERATE

• Liberating.

• “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.”  St. Matthew 10:14.

Three Mistakes many of us make:

• Reconciling when it hasn’t been earned through repentance

• There is not more heartfelt sorrow and desire for forgiveness than that offered by the addict or the one who is set to lose things they value because of their sin.

• There is also little less reliable.

• Reliability is an attribute of love.  Those adults who cannot be relied on to be reliable do not deserve complete reconciliation.  They have earned boundaries of various types.  Some belong in category three.

• Those who demand reconciliation because of the depth of their feelings may be either sincere or manipulative, but it takes discernment to determine if complete reconciliation should be given.  For those with whom we have a good history, this can be done in steps.
  
  

• Taking offense when none was intended.  We are terrible at discerning intent, but we jump to it so quickly.  Offer grace and, if needed, a conversation.  Flowing from this:
  
  

• Coming at relationships like lawyers or police interrogators rather than friends and Christians.
  
  

We’ve got a mountain to climb…

Forgiveness is one of the great superpowers granted to us; let's use it properly.