Chapter VII: The Local Church in the Aspect of Communion

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Preface

One of the important and constant aims of the theologian who seeks to express the Orthodox faith as it is reflected in the Orthodox Catholic Tradition is to be able to do justice both to history and to the "systematic" thinking addressed to contemporaries. In most cases, however, historians confine themselves to history, establishing the facts of the past and leaving open the problem of objective truth. Systematic theologians, on the other hand, disregard the strict rules and requirements of historical criticism and use the past as a source of evidence-texts, selecting them in order to prove their own, often controversial, interpretation of the truth.

This dichotomy is especially dangerous for Orthodox theology, which simply ceases to be Orthodox if it either neglects Tradition, which has not been revealed in history, or forgets the truth that is its rational foundation. The present work of John Zizioulas, in my opinion, should be considered important, not only because it clearly transcends the dichotomy mentioned above, but also because it brilliantly shows that Orthodox teaching on man and the Church cannot be divided into carefully separated sections of theological science—"theology," "ecclesiology"—for all of these become meaningless when approached separately. Only together do they reflect the true "mind of Christ" about which St. Paul wrote. Paul, the "true gnosis" defended by St. Irenaeus, and the experiential authentic sense of God to which the Fathers of later centuries called.

Extensive Orthodox theological literature, published in many languages of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, has become much more accessible in English over the past two decades. It includes general introductions to Orthodox history and teaching, some important specialized studies and monographs, and a large number of texts relating to spirituality. In this book, Genesis as Communion, attentive readers will learn how all these scattered elements of Tradition relate to the Gospel itself, how the early Christian community lived by it, and how it is reflected by the great Fathers. They will also see that it transcends the historical framework and is directly related to today's problems.

This book is not always easy to read. It presupposes some degree of understanding of contemporary theological trends. Zizioulas's disciplined and critical mind is in constant dialogue with others, either trusting them or criticizing them, largely on the basis of partiality and one-sidedness, that is, on the basis of their lack of a truly "catholic" understanding of ecclesial reality. His thinking is in many ways close to that of the late Father Nikolai Afanasiev, a well-known defender of the theory of "Eucharistic ecclesiology," but how sharp (and, in my opinion, how justified) is Zizioulas's criticism of Afanasiev! Did Afanasiev not miss the Trinitarian and anthropological aspect of ecclesiology to some extent, focusing his thinking on the "local" nature of the Eucharistic community and excluding to some extent the problems of truth and the universal prerequisites of unity?

I hope that readers will not be confused by the technical nature of this book. John Zizioulas does address the most contemporary, the most urgent, the most essential problems facing the Orthodox Church today. As long as the visible reality of the life of our Church does not correspond to the communion revealed to us in the Eucharist, until our ecclesial structures, especially here in the West, themselves correspond to what the Church really is, until the Eucharistic nature of the Church is freed from the layers of anachronism and ethnic politics, which hides it today, no ecumenical witness, no authentic mission in this world is possible.

Born in Greece in 1931, John Zizioulas graduated from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Athens, where he later received a doctorate in theology for his work "The Unity of the Church in the Eucharist Bishop in the First Three Centuries" (Athens, 1965). He also studied patristics at Harvard and was a member of the Center for Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks. For several years he served on the staff of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and gradually became recognized as one of the most influential Orthodox theologians of the younger generation. As a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch, he is a member of the International Commission for Dialogue with Roman Catholicism. His ecumenical involvement led him to publish a number of articles and studies in various periodicals. Some of these articles appeared in the French book Ecclesiastical Life (Paris, 1981). The same articles with important additions are included in this book.

John Zizioulas is currently Professor of Theology at the University of Glasgow. He was recently appointed a part-time lecturer at the University of Thessaloniki.

Introduction

The Church is not just an institution. It is a "mode of existence," a mode of being. The mystery of the Church, even in its institutional aspect, is deeply connected with the existence of man: with the existence of the world and the very existence of God. Because of this connection, so characteristic of patristic thinking, ecclesiology is of marked importance and significance not only for all aspects of theology, but also for the existential needs of man in each age.

First of all, the existence of the Church is connected with the very existence of God. Proceeding from the fact that a person is a member of the Church, he becomes the "image of God", he exists as God himself exists, he perceives the "mode of existence" of God. This way of being is not a moral achievement, something that a person does. It is a way of relating to the world, to other people, and to God, an event of communion: this is why it should not be regarded as an achievement of an individual, it is a fact of the Church.

However, for the Church to represent this mode of existence, it must itself be an image of the way in which God exists. Its whole structure, its ministry, etc., must express this mode of existence. And this means, first of all, that the Church must have the right faith, the correct vision of God's existence. Orthodoxy in relation to the problem of God's existence is not a luxury for the Church and man: it is an existential essential necessity.