Page 19 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

T H E G R E AT N E S S O F O R T H O D O X Y
cifying their own will and purifying their hearts from the pas-
sions of self-love.
This cloud of holy ascetics, together with that of the mar-
tyrs, stands as a witness that Orthodoxy has never retreated
from the human struggle against evil. Rather, keeping her gaze
steadfastly fixed on the eschatological vision of the Kingdom
of God, she has drawn from it strength and courage for this
struggle. And with her eyes unwaveringly set on Christ, she
has never believed that evil can be overcome by evil, but only
by good (cf. Rom 12:21), through love and kindness.
In this way, she has instilled into the heart of the world a
new ethos—different from that “of this world”—an ethos
which, however ineffective or unrealistic it may appear to
worldly reasoning, will never cease to possess its enduring
value.
The Cross Within History: Asceticism and Ecclesial Life
The obligation of the Orthodox Church to live and journey
within history—without losing sight of the eschatological vi-
sion of the world’s destiny brought by the incarnate love of
God in Christ—inevitably led her to develop structures and
institutions corresponding to the needs of her historical life,
yet always transparent to that vision.
Thus, her inner life was organized on the basis of the struc-
ture of the Divine Eucharist, which is nothing other than an
image of the Kingdom of God, the ultimate destiny of the
world. At its center stands the bishop, the presider of the eu-
charistic assembly, as an icon of the eschatological Christ and
the focal point of unity for the Church in each place. He is
surrounded by the presbyters, just as Christ will be surround-
ed by the Apostles in His Kingdom, and the people are gath-
ered “in one place,” again as an image of the Kingdom.
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