Page 96 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
nality of death. From the earliest stages of human history, this
refusal is evident. Anthropological evidence suggests that the
emergence of homo sapiens is marked by practices such as
burial rites and the placing of personal objects with the dead—
signs of a conviction that death is not the end.
This refusal is not confined to religious belief. It appears as
a universal human tendency. Even outside explicit religious
frameworks, human beings seek ways to preserve memory,
identity, and presence beyond death. The desire for immortal-
ity—whether expressed through ritual, memory, or legacy—is
a fundamental mark of humanity.
The same tendency is manifested in art.
Art, in its true sense, is not imitation but creation. It does
not merely reproduce reality; it brings forth something new—
a new world, as Paul Valéry described it. While animals may
use tools or manipulate their environment, only the human
being transforms nature into a bearer of meaning, imprinting
upon it a personal identity.
The artist does not simply accept nature; he struggles with
it, seeks to transcend it. Michelangelo is reported to have said,
“When shall I be finished with this marble in order to do my
own work?” Nature sets limits, but art strives to overcome
them. It is not submission to nature, but its transfiguration.
Other dimensions of human existence—such as history
and culture—confirm the same pattern. In all of them, the
human being refuses to remain confined within what is given.
There is a constant striving to bring forth something new,
something lasting, something that resists decay and death.
All these expressions point to a single underlying reality:
The human being is a creature who seeks to go beyond
nature—not to deny it, but to transform it; not to escape exis-
tence, but to fulfill it in freedom.
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