{"podcast":{"title":"OrthoAnalytika","slug":"orthoanalytika-927444","podcast_index_feed_id":927444,"rss_url":"https://orthoanalytika.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://orthoanalytika.libsyn.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/f/4/7/a/f47ac582700d6bafd959afa2a1bf1c87/logo_1.jpg","author":"Fr. Anthony Perkins","episode_count":100,"summary":"Welcome to OrthoAnalytika, Fr. Anthony Perkins' podcast of homilies, classes, and shows on spirituality, science, and culture - all offered from a decidedly Orthodox Christian perspective. Fr. Anthony is a mission priest and seminary professor for the UOC-USA. He has a diverse background, a lot of enthusiasm, and a big smile. See www.orthoanalytika.org for show notes and additional content.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-05T18:17:03.313113+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/orthoanalytika-927444"},"episode":{"title":"Homily - Through the Cross to Pascha","slug":"homily-through-the-cross-to-pascha","published_at":"2026-03-15T21:27:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/orthoanalytika-927444/homily-through-the-cross-to-pascha","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/orthoanalytika-927444","url":"https://orthoanalytika.libsyn.com/homily-through-the-cross-to-pascha","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/orthoanalytika/Homily-20260315-Cross.mp3?dest-id=52211","summary":"Great Lent 2026; Sunday of the Cross \"Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.\" ( Matthew 16:24) Christ is talking as if \"coming after\" or \"following\" Him is something good. What is that all about? Where is He going? Where is He leading us? Christ talks about \"denying\" ourselves. In the next verse He ties that to being willing to die. This sounds important. We need to get it right. There is a great lie in our world: that all religions are basically the same. But Scripture warns us that the devil himself can appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). So it is not enough simply to have faith in something . Why in the world are there so many warnings in the Bible about idolatry? Some people focus on sexual sin. But even Scripture often uses sexual sin as a metaphor for something even worse: worshipping false gods. One is bad—but the other is worse. Just as marriage is good, but union with God is even greater. So we need to get this cross thing right. Is it just about perseverance? Everyone has their own cross to bear? Well… kind of. But even that needs to be grounded. We are not simply stoics. If we are stoics at all, we are stoics of a very particular kind. So what is the cross? Yes, it involves pain. But not just any pain. Look to the prototype. We are Christians, and Christ is our standard. His cross was painful—but it was pain put to a purpose. It was sacrificial. He gave Himself as a sacrifice. And all sacrifice involves something valuable—something costly, something difficult. Pain can be like that. The cross was Christ's sacrifice on behalf of the people and the world that He loved. That gives us something to work with. Taking up our cross means doing things that are hard on behalf of others. At the very…","meta_description":"Great Lent 2026; Sunday of the Cross \"Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.\" ( Matthew 16:24) Chri…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":629,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/orthoanalytika-927444/episodes/homily-through-the-cross-to-pascha/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/orthoanalytika-927444/homily-through-the-cross-to-pascha.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}