Page 148 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
It was St. Ignatius of Antioch who first expressed this rela-
tionship with clarity, referring explicitly to the structure and
ministers of the Church. For this reason, he may serve as our
guide. The early Church appears to have remained faithful to
the image he offers, and for at least the first four centuries
there was no essential departure from this model. However
complex the historical questions may be, for the Orthodox
understanding this Ignatian vision remains decisive.
At the heart of this vision stands the convocation of the
people. This is of absolute importance. The roots of this eccle-
siology lie in the biblical understanding of the people of God
gathered together in the last days. The assembly of the faith-
ful—the laity—is therefore an indispensable element of the
Church. One cannot have the Eucharist without the people.
The entire structure of the Eucharist presupposes dialogue,
consent, and the living participation of all, expressed above all
in the “Amen” of the people. If this participation is absent, the
eucharistic structure itself becomes deficient. The Church, as
revealed in the Eucharist, is not a solitary act but a common
event.
Within this gathered community, a particular ministry
emerges as essential: that of the bishop, the head of the eucha-
ristic assembly. In the early Church, the bishop presided over
the local Eucharist. Even when, in later centuries, parishes
came into existence, the bishop remained present in each cel-
ebration—symbolically through elements such as the anti-
mension and through the commemoration of his name. The
unity of the Church is thus episcopocentric, because the bish-
op manifests the presence of Christ in the midst of the people.
When the faithful gather, they gather around Christ, and this
gathering takes form through a concrete ministry. The pres-
ence of Christ is not abstract; it is personal and ministerial. It
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