Page 183 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

A P O S T O L I C S U C C E S S I O N A N D C O N T I N U I T Y
These two approaches are already visible in the life of the
early Church. The historical perspective is expressed in the
language of mission and transmission, while the eschatologi-
cal perspective appears in the vision of the Church as a com-
munity gathered in one place, imaging the Kingdom in her
eucharistic life.
If the Church is to remain truly apostolic, these two dimen-
sions must not be separated. She must both transmit the ap-
ostolic faith and manifest the Kingdom that judges and trans-
figures history.
It is precisely at this point that apostolic succession must be
properly understood. Communion with the apostolic keryg-
ma and mission is not simply a matter of a chain of ordina-
tions, nor merely of preserving the apostolic faith in its origi-
nal form. Apostolic succession itself passes through the com-
munity of the Church—hence the requirement that all ordina-
tions take place in the presence of the community, especially
in its eucharistic form. It is, therefore, a succession of com-
munities rather than of individuals, a succession that comes
to us through the Kingdom as it is portrayed and foretasted in
the eucharistic gathering. In this way, the communities of the
past meet those of the present and are opened toward those of
the future. Without this meeting, there is no true communion.
For this reason, truth cannot be understood as something
objectified or transmitted in isolation. It is conditioned epi-
cletically and cannot be detached from the community,
whether through individuals or through systems of ideas. In
order to be the Pillar of Truth, the Church constantly depends
upon the Pentecostal event. It is within this event that she
ordains the bishops as ministers endowed with a charisma
veritatis. The objective form of episcopacy in apostolic succes-
sion serves to embody this charisma, yet without turning
183