Page 178 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
head of an institution, but the president of the Eucharist, the
shepherd of communion, and the sign that in every place the
many are gathered into one Body in Christ.
The principle “where there is the Eucharist, there is the
Church,” an authentically Orthodox theological principle,
would in this case imply that even a parish—a community not
led by a bishop—could be called a Church in the full ecclesio-
logical sense.
Yet the pastoral consequences of this situation are evident.
The distance between the bishop and his flock is increasing, to
the point that many bishops are no longer in living contact
with the daily struggles of their people or “call their faithful by
name,” as the good shepherd (Jn 10:3). As a result, there is a
gradual loss among the faithful of the awareness of the bishop’s
significance, and his position is often sustained more by devo-
tion to tradition and ritual than by a clear ecclesial under-
standing of his role.
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