Page 218 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
compassionate and sanctifying presence within it. This be-
longs to the incarnational character of the Church and to her
life in the Spirit.
At the same time, the Church can never identify the escha-
ton with history. She cannot attempt to build the Kingdom as
a historical project. In the Spirit, she becomes both the pres-
ence of the eschaton in history and a sign pointing beyond it.
She remains holy by being in the world but not of the world.
Within this perspective, mission must be seen in connec-
tion with ordination. Historically, these two realities were
separated: ordination became associated with a static view of
Church life, while mission was reduced to the idea of “send-
ing.” But in the light of communion, this division cannot
stand. Ordination signifies an existential involvement in the
world. It brings the Church into a deep relationship with the
world—its needs, its anxieties, its possibilities. Through ordi-
nation, the Church becomes the community that relates the
world to God.
Mission, therefore, is not a method. It is an attribute of the
Church’s very nature. The Church goes out of herself not by
abandoning herself, but by involving herself. This is the ek-
stasis of communion. Any form of “sending” that is not at the
same time a presence is not the ek-stasis of communion.
Because it is rooted in communion, mission is always con-
crete and local. The Church is involved in particular situa-
tions, cultures, and conditions. These particularities are not to
be rejected. The Church must enter into them, relate to them,
and through this relationship transform and transcend them
into elements of the unity of God’s creation. Since God Him-
self chose the way of communion—entering personally into
the world—the Church has no other way of fulfilling her mis-
sion.
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