Page 242 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
Holiness as an Ecclesial Experience
The rediscovery of the hesychast and monastic tradition,
with its emphasis on the knowledge of God through
prayer and personal encounter, inevitably led contemporary
Orthodox theology to a renewed attention to holiness and its
true ecclesial expression.
The term “saint” has a revealing history. The Greek word
hagios derives from the root “ag,” from which come words
such as agnos (pure) and agos (an object of reverence, or,
negatively, a curse). Its deeper sense is linked to awe before a
mysterious and tremendous power, what has been called mys-
terium fascinans et tremendum—that which at once attracts
and inspires fear. Thus, in ancient Hellenism, holiness was
associated with power and reverence before the sacred.
In the Old Testament, however, the word translated by the
Septuagint as hagios is qodesh (kadosh), related to a root
meaning “to sever,” “to separate,” “to discern radically,” “to
cleanse.” Holy things are those set apart from the ordinary,
especially in worship, and dedicated to God. Thus biblical
faith moves beyond awe before sacred power and links holi-
ness to consecration, to belonging wholly to the absolute Oth-
er: to God Himself.
The Holy Bible goes beyond the psychological significance
that ancient Hellenism often attached to holiness as awe be-
fore a superior power. It links holiness to absolute otherness,
to the absolute Other, and therefore to God Himself. Only
God is holy, and every holiness springs from Him and from a
relationship with Him. This is why Isaiah cries out: “Holy,
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