The Body of Christ at Prayer

(The following is taken from the class lectures of Metropolitan John Zizioulas.  It contains an extremely important insight into the unique ecclesiology of the Orthodox Church.  This is nothing more than the scriptural understanding of the Body of Christ.  The Body of Christ language used by the early Christians was applicable equally to the historical body of the Christ (born of the Theotokos), the Eschatological body of Christ (Sits at the right hand of the Father), the ecclesial body of Christ (the Church), and the Eucharistic body of Christ ("This is my body...").  This is true because they are one and the same!  This is not metaphor, this is the reality of the presence of the uncreated Logos in Creation.  This reality of the body of Christ is fully and always Trinitarian.  Beginning with the good will of the Father the pre-eternal Cause of Son and Spirit, the holy Spirit opens creation to receive the Father's Word.  Remember at the Annunciation the Father sends the Holy Spirit to "overshadow" the Virgin Mary in which she conceives Christ.  At Pentecost the Holy Spirit descends upon the early followers of Christ making them the body of Christ, the Church.  At ever Liturgy the Episkopos/Priest, an Icon of Christ, prays to the Father to send down the Holy Spirit making the Bread and Wine the Body and Blood of Christ.  This Trinitarian "movement" does not end with the presence of the Son.  The Son reveals the Father.  If we have seen Christ we have seen the Father.  Where can we see Christ?  We must remember Emmaous,  Christ is recognized in the Breaking of the Bread, the Synaxis!  Now as members of the Body of Christ we are "without confusion and without division" united to the Only-Begotten Son and only in this are we sons and daughters of God the Father.) -Micah

The Church is not a community, which we can perceive in juxtaposition to Christ. Christ doesn’t stand opposite the Church, or “face-to-face”; He is the very “I” of the Church. This is precisely the reason that the Church is Holy: because: “One is Holy, One is the Lord, Jesus Christ…” Despite the sinfulness of the members of the Church, the Church Herself is Holy, because Her personal identity is none other than the personal identity of Christ. To perceive this in our own experience, in our existence, we need only to give some serious thought about what transpires during the Divine Eucharist, because it is during the Divine Eucharist that the body of Christ (as a Church) is realized, and the Church is likewise realized as the body of Christ. If one were to pose the question: “There, during the Eucharist, who is actually praying? Is it the Church?” The answer is No. It is Christ Who is in fact praying. Christ cannot of course be parted form the Church. He prays as a Church, therefore the Church prays as Christ.  It is He therefore Who delivers us to the Father, and it is He Who addresses the Father and prays during the Eucharist Liturgy: the Son. Naturally, Christ Himself is invisible. His presence is not tangible during the Liturgy. This is why the one who does the offering during the Divine Eucharist (the Bishop in the ancient Church, and in his name, eventually, the presbyter also) is an image of Christ within that liturgical assembly, that liturgical context; It is he, who recapitulates, who embodies, who renders the entire Church into one body, and refers it to the Father. And in this way, another mystery, another paradox arises, i.e., even though the Divine Eucharist is being offered by the bishop or the presbyter, he, during the prayer of the Cherubim, states: “Thou art the offerer, Christ”. In other words, whereas in the eyes of the laity the offerer is the bishop, the bishop himself is aware that the One actually doing the offering is Christ. Thus, in this way, there is a relating of the officiator and Christ, however, this relating always permits distinction between the two, as the officiator is a human and consequently, while related liturgically to the person of Christ, he does not cease to be fully aware that he is not Christ, hence his addressing Christ as the One Who actually offers - as though he himself is not the offerer, when in fact he is physically enacting the offering.