Where Is the Church? Matthew 16:18, the Confession of Peter, and Paschal Victory
About this episode
Fr. Harry and Fr. Anthony explore the meaning of Christ's words in Matthew 16:18 regarding the Church's identity and its implications for Orthodox faith.
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.
More episodes of Made to Be a Kingdom
- Not About Us: The Shift from Lent to Holy Week (and beyond)
- Fasting as the Body of Christ: The Ecclesial Shape of Great Lent
- Built on the Anointed Rock: Christ, the Church, and the Gates of Death
- Before Pentecost: The Church Older Than the Sun and Moon
- Whose Church Is It? Belonging, Not Owning
- Scaling the Parish Without Losing the Family
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