John Zizioulas - Being as Communion: The Particular Churches and the Universal Church 🤲🏾

Dr. Donald Wallenfang, OCDS offers commentary on Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Zizioulas' 1997 book Being as Communion. This classic text in ecclesiology is valuable in its ecumenical reach, and yet shows the important differences between Catholic and Orthodox ecclesiologies so as to enrich both. Topics include church authority, apostolic succession, the Eucharist, the missionary activity of the church, personhood, metaphysics, and the existential crisis of faith.
For Dr. Wallenfang's Amazon Author Page, see www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-...
#churches #ecumenism #ecumenical #catholicchurch #catholicfaith #orthodox #orthodoxfaith

[@ceh5526]

You've posted so many great and important things over the past couple of days - trying to keep up - and thanks so much. With this a comparison between Zizioulas and Dulles and Ratzinger and Kaspar would be very good - quite stark I imagine.

[@myinteriorcastle313]

Thank you for sharing these encouraging words and we'll keep the content coming.

[@ceh5526]

Just as a practical pastoral theological comment, which is quite interesting in a number of ways.
I was a priest of the diocese of Salford, UK, where the sacrament of confirmation was celebrated on Pentecost Sunday, with the bishop in his cathedral and the pastors in their churches, all confirming children (mostly) at the same time on the same day, and the children were 7 years old. The idea was that they would make their first confession in Lent, first communion at Easter, and then conformation at Pentecost - all of the same year. Exhausting in the parochial school, but theologically worthy - this was introduced by Patrick Kelly, who became Archbishop of Liverpool.
However... and this is only my critique, the parishes never saw the bishop, and the bond between the bishop and the people was non existent, and the bond between bishop and the presbyterate reduced to a brief dialogue at the Chrism Mass. There was never any realised communio between him and his presbyterate and his flock. Visitations didn't really mean anything - there was nothing sacramentally for the bishop to do, so he became a man of power in an office (not that +Patrick was at all like that).
I thought that the way to maintain this 'unity of sacramental initiation' with the bishop, would be for each deanery (a geographical group of parishes) to make pilgrimage to our Mother Church (the cathedral) and there be confirmed by our Father in God (the bishop) during the weeks of Easter, and all the time praying 'Veni Sancte Spiritus'.
Anyhow, nothing came of it - new bishop, new vision, new policy, back to confirming next to no one at 12 years old, blah, blah - all very worthy but in no way immersed in the theology presented here.
This is such an important subject in all sorts of ways, that it shouldn't be left. Parish priests come and go, but the bishop remains. At my most hopeful, I think that there should be lots and lots and LOTS of diocese, as there are in parts of Catholic Europe, where the bishop goes to the market and buys his fruit and vegetables with everyone else, that they know him, and he knows them. This could go on for ever, so thanks for your patience, and may God reward you.

[@myinteriorcastle313]

Thank you for sharing these meaningful thoughts CEH. I appreciate hearing about your experience, and your idea of uniting the local diocesan community around the sacraments of initiation sounds like a good one. I agree that Zizioulas' book is so helpful to recalibrate our ecclesiological vision to one that is so much more communal, relational, incarnate, and pneuma-filled. Thanks again.