Page 60 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
vidual, but the life of communion, the shared existence of
persons united in love. In this communion, all other gifts—
strength, holiness, truth—find their place.
Scripture and tradition speak of the Spirit as “power,” “sanc-
tification,” “Spirit of Truth,” “Spirit of Freedom,” and above all
as “life-giver” and “communion.” Of these, the most decisive
for the life of the Church are precisely these last two. For “life-
giver” and “communion” ultimately express the same reality:
the life that the Spirit gives is communion, and communion is
the very form of divine life. It is within this living communion
that all the other manifestations of the Spirit—sanctification,
charisms, truth, and freedom—are brought to life and sus-
tained.
Thus, the era of the Spirit is the era of the Church. The
Church is the community of those who, through the Spirit, are
united in Christ and offered to the Father. It is the eschato-
logical community already present in history—the gathering
of the last days, the Body of Christ formed and sustained by
the Spirit.
In this sense, the Church as the Body of Christ and the
Church as the communion of the Spirit are one and the same
reality. The Spirit does not act apart from Christ, nor is Christ
ever understood apart from the Spirit. Christ is never an iso-
lated individual, but always the Head of a Body; and the many
who form this Body exist only in relation to Him.
Here we encounter the central paradox of Christian exis-
tence: the one who is many, and the many who are one. This
paradox lies at the heart of the Church’s life and defines her
spirituality.
For this reason, Christian spirituality is essentially ecclesial.
The Church is not a means by which individuals become spir-
itual; she is the very space in which a new identity is given. To
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