Page 137 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

B E T W E E N T H E “A L R E A D Y ” A N D T H E “ N O T Y E T ”
Between the “Already” and the “Not Yet”
The dimension of ecclesial life in which the expectation of
the Parousia has most enduringly survived—though often
without full awareness—is that of worship, and above all the
Eucharist.
In the Eucharistic anamnesis, the Church does not remem-
ber only the past. She recalls “the Cross, the Tomb, the Resur-
rection on the third day, the Ascension into heaven, the sitting
at the right hand,” but also—and strikingly—“the Second and
glorious Coming again.” Thus, in the very act of thanksgiving,
the Church remembers not only what has been, but what is
yet to come.
This remembrance of the future is not accidental. It belongs
to the very heart of the liturgy, especially in the East, where
every eucharistic canon includes the memory of the Parousia.
Its absence from Western anaphoras is not without signifi-
cance. It reflects a deeper theological divergence: the East re-
tains more vividly the patristic vision of the Church as a man-
ifestation—a phanie—of the invisible realities of the Kingdom
within history. As Yves Congar observed, this leads to a pro-
foundly sacramental and iconological understanding of the
Church: she is not merely an institution remembering past
events, but a living revelation of what is to come.
This eschatological understanding of anamnesis is rooted
already in the New Testament. Paul the Apostle writes: “As
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim
the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). The Eucharist
is thus not a recollection of a past event, but a proclamation
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