Page 34 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
Thus, the true problem of human existence is that life, as
we receive it biologically, inevitably leads to death.
If, then, a person is to be truly reborn, this cannot mean
merely moral correction. It must mean liberation from this
mortal mode of existence. In baptism, the Church becomes
the Mother who gives birth not to mortal, but to immortal
children.
Baptism is therefore the first moment in which a person
encounters the mystery of the Church. In it, we pass from
death to life—not symbolically, but ontologically. We are no
longer defined by the laws of biological existence, but by a new
mode of being.
This is why the liturgical actions of baptism are so signifi-
cant. The turning from West to East is not a mere gesture, but
a movement from darkness to light, from death to life. It is a
renunciation of one kingdom and an entrance into another.
For the adult, this includes the forgiveness of all past sins; for
the infant, it is no less real, for even without personal sin, the
child is born into mortality. In both cases, baptism is a radical
beginning—a new identity shaped not by the past, but by the
future God has prepared.
Yet baptism is not only death to what was. It is also resur-
rection into a new life.
And this new life is not lived in isolation. It is realized
through incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church.
There is no baptism without entry into communion—mem-
bership in the Body of the Church. When the Apostle Paul
wrote that through baptism we die with Christ and rise again,
he immediately linked this resurrection to our incorporation
into the Body of Christ.
This has profound consequences. The relationships that
define our identity are no longer merely biological, but eccle-
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