About this episode
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.
