Page 156 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
Ordination as Gift in C ommunion
Any approach to the ministry of the Church and to ordina-
tion must begin from a Christological standpoint. It is not
accidental that in the New Testament there is hardly any min-
isterial title known to the primitive Church that is not attrib-
uted to Christ. He is the Apostle, the Prophet, the Priest, the
Bishop, the Deacon. He is “pre-eminent in everything.” If this
is so, every ministry in the Church must be viewed not as
existing parallel to that of Christ but as identical with it. Christ
did not simply institute forms of ministry which can be con-
ceived in themselves; He intended that the Church, through
her ministries, reflect and realize in the world His own min-
istry until the Parousia. Thus, the ministry of the Church is a
projection of Christ’s presence in the world, not merely the
fulfillment of a commandment.
But Christ is present in the world only in and through the
presence and work of the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation itself is
inconceivable without the Spirit, and Christ’s ministry re-
quired the Spirit in order to begin to function. A Christologi-
cally understood ministry is therefore possible only in the
context of Pneumatology. Wherever the Spirit blows, the es-
chaton breaks into history and men are brought into commu-
nion with one another and with God as a community. This is
what took place at Pentecost: the “last days” entered history,
and the Church was constituted as communion. The ministry
of the Church is precisely this charismatic presence of the
eschaton, calling the world to repentance, to Baptism into
Christ, and to participation in the eucharistic Banquet of the
156