Page 54 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
The E arly Christian C ommunity
and Its Faith
If authority in the Church arises from communion, then we
must now return to the beginning and ask how this com-
munion first appeared in history. For the Church did not
emerge as a system, but as a living community shaped by faith,
expectation, and encounter.
The Christian Church was born within the history and
expectations of late Judaism, as the fulfillment of the prom-
ises announced by the Prophets. From this context, it inher-
ited a decisive characteristic: an eschatological vision. The
Hebrew mind was oriented toward the future—the coming of
the Kingdom of God, the arrival of a “new aeon,” the age of the
Messiah. This expectation became the foundation of Christian
spirituality.
In contrast to the pagan religions of the time, especially the
Hellenistic mysteries that sought salvation through escape
from history into timeless experience, early Christianity re-
mained firmly rooted in history. Its vision was not cosmo-
logical, but historical. Creation itself was not eternal or divine,
but an event—brought into being by God and sustained by
His will. Human existence was therefore not mediated through
nature, but through a personal relationship with God, ex-
pressed in obedience and truth.
This gave Christian spirituality both an ethical and a deep-
ly personal character. To live in truth was not merely to know
something, but to do the truth (cf. John 3:21), to enter into a
relationship with God that transformed existence itself.
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