Page 270 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
Holy Spirit. Therefore, all the sacraments performed by schis-
matics and heretics are deprived of divine grace and are “non-
existent.” However, this line of thought does not appear to
have been embraced in practice by the Church. Already Basil
the Great makes a distinction between heretics, schismatics,
and counter-assemblies (παρασυναγωγαί), the latter being
assemblies without the permission of the bishop. St. Basil ex-
empts the repetition of baptism in the last two instances, while
the Second Ecumenical Council (canon 7) extends the non-
repetition of baptism even to certain cases of heresy, including
Arians. How, then, is this stance to be explained theologically?
The solution proposed by modern Orthodox theologians
through the concept of oikonomia does not satisfy Fr. Floro-
vsky. How, he asks, can the Church recognize “by oikonomia”
a reality—such as the presence of divine grace—that is said to
be nonexistent? If grace is absent, how can the sacraments be
recognized? And if they are recognized as performed in the
Holy Spirit, how can St. Cyprian’s principle still hold?
Fr. Florovsky regarded the problem of schism as the gravest
ecclesiological issue faced by Orthodox theology. Acknowl-
edging that the Church early diverged in practice from St.
Cyprian, and dissatisfied with the notion of oikonomia, he
turned to Augustine of Hippo, proposing that the canonical
and charismatic boundaries of the Church do not coincide:
the grace of the Holy Spirit continues to operate, even despite
human division.
As he himself writes:
“For Augustine it was not so important that the sacraments
of schismatics are ‘unlawful’ or ‘illicit’; much more important
is the fact that the schism is a dissipation of love. But the love
of God overlaps and surmounts the failure of love in man. In
the sects themselves and even among heretics the Church
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