Page 202 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
state of schism, bringing the issue of autocephaly to the fore-
front as the principal challenge facing Orthodoxy in our cen-
tury.
In what ways is autocephaly a problem? Beyond the legal
question of who holds the authority to grant autocephaly and
what procedures are appropriate for recognizing an autoceph-
alous Church—a matter included in the agenda of the forth-
coming Great Orthodox Council—the institution of auto-
cephaly undoubtedly presents deeper theological and canon-
ical issues that Orthodoxy cannot avoid addressing. In light of
ecclesiological principles, we can point to two of these key
problems.
The first issue concerns how autocephaly relates to the uni-
ty of the Church. We have already established that Orthodox
ecclesiology is based on the idea that the Church, through its
Eucharistic character and catholicity, transcends all divi-
sions—whether natural, social, or cultural. How, then, can this
transcendence of cultural differences be reconciled with the
affirmation of cultural identities as an acceptable and defining
element of autocephaly? This is the point at which, especially
in our time, both the strength and the weakness of Orthodoxy
become apparent.
Fortunately, the celebration of the same liturgy and the
common tradition of faith serve, in various ways, to safeguard
the unity of Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, it is essential to care-
fully guard against the enemies of unity that may lurk beneath
the idea of autocephaly. Whenever nationalism, phyletism, or
cultural identity claim priority over the unity of the Church,
they must be clearly rejected and set aside. Orthodox ecclesi-
ology cannot attribute the status of ultimate reality to any
historical entity as such, but only to Christ and the eschato-
logical recapitulation of all things in Him; this is what is cel-
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