Page 55 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

T H E E A R LY C H R I S T I A N C O M M U N I T Y A N D I T S FA I T H
At the same time, unlike the Greek mentality—which
looked to the past for the meaning of reality—biblical thought
looked to the future. Truth was not recollection, but expecta-
tion. The meaning of life was to be revealed in the final act of
God in history. It was this eschatological horizon that shaped
the faith of the first Christians.
This expectation found its fulfillment in the person of Jesus
Christ.
Jesus of Nazareth was recognized by the early Church as
the Messiah—the Christ—and as the Son of Man, the figure
expected to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. Whether this
identification is approached historically or theologically, it is
already present in the New Testament and forms the founda-
tion of Christian faith. In Him, the future entered history. The
Kingdom of God was no longer only awaited—it was present.
From this moment, the relationship between humanity and
God became inseparable from the person of Christ. To relate
to God was to relate to Him.
Yet it was not simply His life that defined this relationship,
but above all His Passion and His Resurrection.
The expectation of the Messiah had been one of glory and
power. But Christ revealed a different path: the way of the
Cross. The suffering and crucified Messiah became a scandal,
yet precisely through this scandal, the true nature of divine life
was revealed. The way to God passes not through domination,
but through humility, service, and self-offering. Strength is
found in weakness (cf. 2 Cor 12:10); life is found through the
loss of life (Mt 6:39).
But the decisive confirmation that Jesus is the Christ came
through the Resurrection.
Without faith in the Resurrection, the identification of Je-
sus with the Messiah would have been impossible. In the Res-
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