Page 93 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

I N T H E I M A G E A N D L I K E N E S S
and sonship coincide. Both belong not to the primordial state,
but to the eschaton. Humanity is not created in perfection; it
is created for perfection.
The fall, therefore, must be understood not merely as a
moral deviation, but as a distortion at the very level of being—
affecting both humanity and the whole creation. By turning
away from its eschatological calling, humanity also distorted
the very gifts it had received at the beginning. The “image of
God” was no longer lived as openness toward communion
and fulfillment, but was appropriated as possession. In Adam’s
gesture, the human being claimed for itself what could only be
given as gift: it sought to be already what it was called to be-
come. Thus, the image of God was reduced to an image of the
self; the human being made itself the ultimate point of refer-
ence, closing in upon itself as if already divinized.
Even Maximus the Confessor speaks of the original state
not as perfect completion, but as a beginning marked by divi-
sions—distinctions within creation that awaited healing and
transcendence in Christ. Creation itself was oriented beyond
its own limits, destined to be lifted “above nature.” The image
given in the beginning was, therefore, a promise—a seed
awaiting its fulfillment. It was always meant to become “like-
ness” in the end, when freedom, grace, and communion would
bring creation to its true and final form.
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