Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Contemporary Greek Theologians Series, No 4)

272 Pages·1997·12.051 MB·English

by  John D. Zizioulas

BEING AS
COMMUNION
John D. Zizioulas

B E IN G
AS
C O M M U N I O N
Studies in Personhood and the Church
CONTEMPORARY GREEK THEOLOGIANS
NUMBER FOUR
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Professor Christos Yannaras
Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia
Costa Carras
JOHN D. ZIZIOULAS
BEING AS
COMMUNION
Studies in Personhood and the Church
With a foreword
by
John Meyendorff
ST VLADIMIR’S SEMINARY PRESS
CREST WOOD, NY 10707
1997
Library of Congress Cataloging-m-PubUcation Data
Zizioulas, Jean, 1931-
Being as communion
(Contemporary Greek theologians; no. 4)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Church—Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Orthodox Eastern
Church—Doctrines—Addresses, essays, lectures.
I. Title. II. Series.
BX323.Z59 1985 262 85-2134
ISBN 0-88141-029-2
BEING AS COMMUNION
Copyright © 1985
by
ST VLADIMIR’S SEMINARY PRESS
575 Scarsdale Rd., Crestwood, N.Y., 10707
1-800-204-2665
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 0-88141-029-2
First Printing 1985
Second Printing 1993
Third Printing 2000
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
For Costa and Lydia Cartas

Contents
Foreword 11
Preface 13
Introduction 15
Chapter l
PERSONHOOD AND BEING 27
I. From Mask to Person: The Birth o£
an Ontology o£ Personhood 27
II. From Biological to Ecclesial Existence:
The Ecclesiological Significance of the Person 49
Chapter 2
TRUTH AND COMMUNION 67
I, Introductions The Problem of
Truth in the Patristic Era 67
II. Truth, Being and History:
The Greek Patristic Synthesis 72
1. The "Logos” Approach 72
2. The Eucharistic Approach 78
3. The Trinitarian Approach 83
4. The "Apophatic” Approach 89
5. The Christological Approach 93
6. The Approach through the "Eikon” 99
III. Truth and Salvation: The Existential
Implications o£ Truth as Communion 101
1. Truth and the Fallen Existence: the Rupture
Between Being and Communion 101
2. Truth and the Person 105
3. Truth and the Savior 107
IV. Truth and the Church: Ecclesiological
Consequences of the Greek Patristic Synthesis 110
1, The Body of Christ formed in the Spirit 110
2. The Eucharist as the Locus of Truth 114
Chapter 3
CHRIST, THE SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH 123
I. Introduction 123
II. The Problem of the Synthesis between
Christology and Pneumatology 126
III. Implications of the Synthesis for
Ecclesiology 132
IV. Conclusions 139
Chapter 4
EUCHARIST AND CATHOLICITY 143
I. The "One” and the "Many” in the Eucharistic
Consciousness of the Early Church 145
II. The Composition and Structure of
the Eucharistic Community as
Reflections of Catholicity 149
III. The Eucharistic Community and the "Catholic
Church in the World” 154
IV. Some General Conclusions 158