Page 100 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
in Greek philosophy, does not resolve this problem. It may
soften the blow of death, but it does so at the cost of diminish-
ing the seriousness of bodily existence—the very place where
createdness is most fully expressed. Moreover, such a view
introduces necessity into existence, making immortality a
natural property rather than a gift.
But as long as the human being continues to revolt against
death—and woe to us if this revolt ever ceases—the search for
true life cannot rest in such solutions. The human protest
against death is not an illusion; it is a witness to the truth of
existence as gift.
The dialectic between created and uncreated preserves this
protest. It keeps alive the awareness that existence is not self-
evident, but given; not necessary, but free. And precisely be-
cause it is gift, it cannot sustain itself. The world is created in
such a way that it cannot live by its own power—and yet it is
so loved by God that it must live.
Here lies the deepest tension of existence. Death, the “last
enemy,” stands before creation not as a natural conclusion, but
as a contradiction that must be overcome.
If death is not merely a biological event but the deepest
problem of created existence, then the question is no longer
theoretical but urgent: how can life be given to what cannot
sustain itself? And where can the created find the power to
overcome death?
100