Page 23 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

T H E G R E AT N E S S O F O R T H O D O X Y
crisis of our days. To this crisis, the Orthodox Church offers
an ethos inspired by her ascetic tradition—one that limits the
consumption of natural resources to what is truly necessary—
as well as by her liturgical life, which receives the natural en-
vironment and incorporates it into the “Body of Christ,” there-
by sanctifying it and offering it back to its Creator as Eucharist.
The third millennium after Christ is foreseen to be critical
for all humanity. The rapid development of technology and
the interventions of science into the deepest realms of our
natural world inspire both awe and anxiety. Where will the
modern human being arrive without spiritual guidance, with-
out reverence for the sacredness of the human person and of
God’s creation?
Orthodoxy, reflecting on the greatness of her inheritance,
also becomes aware of her profound responsibility. Her his-
torical mission has not come to an end. God calls her to a
new—and perhaps even greater—offering.
Yet this greatness, if it is to be true, must not remain a dis-
tant inheritance, but become a lived experience and a per-
sonal encounter—one that awaits us in what follows.
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