Page 111 - 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
addition, nor a concession to human taste—it is a theological
necessity. The Eucharist manifests the Kingdom, and the
Kingdom is glory.
For this reason, a Eucharist celebrated in darkness, reduced
to an atmosphere of inward concentration or individual piety,
contradicts its very nature. The pietistic tendency to strip the
Liturgy of its radiance stems from a misunderstanding: it re-
places the eschatological vision with a psychological one.
A single observation reveals how foreign this is to the Or-
thodox tradition. The greatest simplicity and austerity are
found in the daily life of the monk; yet in the Liturgy, that
same monk is clothed in splendor. He who owns nothing puts
on garments of glory—not for himself, but for the Kingdom.
For in the Eucharist, we no longer move within the condi-
tions of this age, but within the reality of the age to come.
There, in the words of Basil, we encounter “the day which
knows no end or evening.”
Humility belongs to our life outside the Liturgy. The Eucha-
rist is not the place to display our humility or to cultivate pri-
vate emotions of compunction. It is the revelation of Christ in
His glory. The true celebrant is Christ Himself—“He who of-
fers and is offered”—and all who serve in the Liturgy are icons
of this eschatological reality.
Thus, everything depends on the direction of our gaze:
whether we look backward to the past, or forward to the King-
dom.
This same vision explains why the Eucharist is always cel-
ebrated with joy, even in the commemoration of the martyrs.
From the earliest centuries, the Church celebrated the Eucha-
rist on the feast days of the saints, not as a remembrance of
suffering alone, but as a revelation of victory.
The martyrdom of St. Stephen already bears this character:
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