Page 205 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

F R O M C O N S TA N T I N O P L E T O R U S S I A : F R O M M O T H E R C H U R C H T O S I S T E R C H U R C H
From C onstantinople to Russia:
From Mother Church to Sister Church
If autocephaly expresses the freedom of the Church to take
root in diverse cultures while remaining within the unity of
communion, its historical development reveals how this prin-
ciple was embodied in the passage from the ancient centers of
Orthodoxy to the emergence of new Churches—most notably
in the movement from Constantinople as Mother Church to
the rise of Russia as a Sister Church.
“They led us to the places where they worship their God,
and we did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth.”
These words, preserved in the ancient Chronicle, describe not
only the psychological but also the ecclesiological depth of the
event which gave birth to the Church in Rus’. The encounter
with the Divine Liturgy in Constantinople became the begin-
ning of a relationship—one that unfolded in history as a bond
between Mother and Daughter, and in time as a communion
of sister Churches.
From this city the faith in Christ was transplanted to Rus-
sia. This is not only historically indisputable, but repeatedly
acknowledged by the Russian Church itself throughout the
centuries. Yet what must be especially emphasized is not sim-
ply the fact of this transmission, but the way in which it took
place and its deeper ecclesiological meaning.
The manner in which the faith was transmitted bears two
decisive characteristics. The first is that the cultural identity of
the people was fully respected, especially with regard to lan-
guage. Already from the beginning, there existed translations
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