Page 109 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

A F E S T I VA L O F T H E R E S U R R E C T I O N
A Festival of the Resurrection
The most eloquent proof of the eschatological character of
the Eucharist—its identity as a foretaste of the Kingdom
of God—is its inseparable connection with Sunday, the day of
its proper celebration from the earliest times.
Already in the second century, tensions arose around this
very point. The Quartodecimans of Asia Minor celebrated
Pascha on the fourteenth of Nisan, regardless of the day of the
week, thus sometimes celebrating the Eucharist on a day oth-
er than Sunday. This divergence led to the well-known paschal
controversy, which threatened the unity of the Church, not
least because it created differing rhythms of fasting and feast-
ing among local communities.
Yet, in time, the Church resolved this tension by affirming
Sunday as the universal day of the Eucharist. The witness of
Scripture (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10), along with early
sources such as the Didache and Justin Martyr, confirms that
the Eucharist became firmly rooted in the first day of the week.
But why Sunday? What is its deeper meaning?
Sunday is the day of the Resurrection. From the beginning,
Christians recognized that Christ rose “on the first day of the
week” (Mk 16:2), and they understood this not simply as a
historical fact, but as the inauguration of a new creation. The
Resurrection is not the return to the old order of things, but
the beginning of a new mode of existence.
For this reason, Sunday came to be understood as the
“eighth day.” It is both the first and the beyond—the day that
transcends the cycle of time. It is the day of the Kingdom.
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