Page 166 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
The Presbyters: From C ollegium
to Delegated Ministr y
Each local eucharistic community presided over by the
bishop, surrounded by the college of presbyters, and as-
sisted by the deacons, in the presence of the “multitude”
(πλῆθος), i.e., the laymen, constitutes the “catholic Church”
precisely because in it the total Christ is found in the form of
the Eucharist.
The presbyters, on the other hand, have assumed a eucha-
ristic role that was not originally theirs. Since the Middle Ages
they have become the main presidents of the Eucharist. One
could call them the sole ecclesiological presupposition of the
Eucharist: if you have the presbyter, you do not need anything
else in order to have the Eucharist. This widespread assump-
tion, which has led to the practice of the private Mass, is ab-
solutely wrong and contrary to the ancient tradition and eccle-
siology. The presbyters are only part of what is necessary in
order to have a valid Eucharist. Their function was originally
to surround the bishop on his throne as the Twelve will sur-
round Christ in the Kingdom and serve as a collegium, not as
individuals, in the eucharistic community. The Eucharist is
not presbytero-centric in its nature but episcopo-centric in its
nature.
It was a serious deviation from original ecclesiology to re-
gard the bishops primarily as administrators of large dioceses
and the presbyters as the celebrants of the Eucharist. This took
place in the Middle Ages, but in the fourth century the bishop
was still the eucharistic president. The presbyters acted in the
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