Beyond Hunger: Fasting, Formation, and the Way Back to Life Fr. Anthony Perkins. [Talk given at the 2026 Winter Antiochian DOMSE Retreat] Introduction When we hear the word fasting, most of us immediately think about food—what we can eat, what we cannot eat, and whether we are doing it right. But fasting is much older, deeper, and more hopeful than a dietary rule. Fasting exists because God loves us too much to leave us trapped in our own appetites. From the very beginning, human beings were created with real power and real responsibility. Scripture tells us that God gave humanity dominion over the earth—not as tyrants, but as His stewards, His gardeners, and His priests. We were meant to shape the world, bless it, and help it from good … [Continue reading]
Retreat – Justifiable but Not Helpful: Discernment in an Age of Manipulation
In this pair of talks, Fr. Anthony examines why discernment so often fails in the Church—not because of bad faith or lack of intelligence, but because discernment is a matter of formation before it is a matter of decision. Drawing on insights from intelligence analysis, psychology, and Orthodox anthropology, he shows how authority, moral seriousness, and modern systems of manipulation quietly exploit predictable habits of perception, producing confidence without clarity. True discernment, he argues, is neither technical nor private, but ecclesial: formed through humility, ascetic practice, and participation in the Church's communal rhythms, where judgment matures over time through accountability, repentance, and shared life in Christ. --- … [Continue reading]
Homily – The Publican, the Pharisee, and the Seeds of the Kingdom
Sanctifying the Moment: The Publican, the Pharisee, and the Seeds of the Kingdom Fr. Anthony Perkins; Luke 18:9-14 All of creation is good—and yet it was never meant to remain merely good. From the beginning, God made the world not as a finished … [Continue reading]
Homily – The Green Hand of Hell
Luke 17:12-19; The Grateful Leper I've included my notes, but I didn't follow them, choosing instead to offer a meditation on the "go show yourself to the priest" part of the Levitical command and noting how we do the same - and will all do the … [Continue reading]
Class – The Architectural Beauty of Eden
From Eden to the ChurchBeauty, Architecture, and the Space Where God Dwells Christian architecture is not primarily about style or preference. It is about ordering space so that human beings learn how to dwell with God. The Church building is … [Continue reading]
Class: The Beauty of Creation and the Shape of Reality
Beauty in Orthodoxy: Architecture I The Beauty of Creation and the Shape of Reality In this class, the first in a series on "Orthodox Beauty in Architecture," Father Anthony explores beauty not as decoration or subjective taste, but as a theological … [Continue reading]
Homily – Repent and Burn (in a good way)
Homily: The Sunday after Theophany Hebrews 13:7–16; Matthew 4:12–17 This homily explores repentance as the doorway from darkness into light, and from spiritual novelty into mature faithfulness. Rooted in Hebrews and the Gospel proclamation after … [Continue reading]
Homily – Repent, Transcend Boredom, and Change the World
Homily – Repent… and Change the World (Embrace Boredom) Sunday before Theophany 2 Timothy 4:5–8; St. Mark 1:1–8 This is the Sunday before Theophany, when the Church sets before us St. John the Baptist and his ministry of repentance—how he … [Continue reading]
Homily – Our Herodic Responses to Christ
Homily for the Sunday after Nativity The Child Christ in the World—and in Our Hearts Gospel: St. Matthew 2:13–23 [Retelling the Lesson] God humbles Himself to save mankind. He leaves His rightful inheritance as God and becomes man, born as a child in … [Continue reading]
Homily – The Name of Jesus
St. Matthew 1:1-25 Why was the Son of God commanded to be named Jesus—the New Joshua? In this Advent reflection, Fr. Anthony shows how Christ fulfills Israel's story by conquering sin and death, and calls us to repentance so that we may enter … [Continue reading]
