Page 88 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
after death the soul cannot be conceived apart from its body,
since it remains always the soul of a concrete human being,
awaiting the resurrection in order to be fully itself again.
This has profound implications for identity. The human
being does not merely have a body; the human being is a body.
And this body is not an isolated entity, but a biological reality
organically linked with the rest of creation, especially with the
animal world. Although the Fathers were unaware of modern
theories such as evolution, their anthropology is remarkably
consonant with such insights, precisely because of this empha-
sis on the organic unity of all life.
By assigning such a central role to the body, the Greek Fa-
thers depart radically from those traditions that locate human
identity primarily in reason or consciousness. For them, the
distinctiveness of the human being does not lie in intellectual
capacities, but in a deeper and more comprehensive vocation.
This vocation is expressed in a twofold capacity, unique to
the human being, through which its true meaning is revealed.
The first aspect of this capacity is expressed by the term
logikos (λογικός). This term is often translated as “rational,”
but such a translation is inadequate and even misleading. The
Greek word logos does not primarily refer to reasoning or
intellectual analysis. As has been observed—already in mod-
ern philosophy, for example by Heidegger—its original mean-
ing is connected with gathering, bringing together, and estab-
lishing unity.
This relational dimension of logos is essential. The human
being is logikos not because it thinks abstractly, but because it
is capable of bringing together the diverse elements of creation
into a coherent whole. It is capable of forming cosmos—a
harmonious and unified reality.
This task is not fulfilled through analysis alone, but through
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