Metropolitan John Zizioulas:
First
of all, let
us take a look at the Church as a whole. The Church is one. The
Lord did not found many Churches; only one. And this One Church
identifies with the Body of the One Christ. But, because this One Church
is realized, is expressed and portrayed in the Divine Eucharist, that is why it
necessarily appears as a Eucharist community; that is why She necessarily
appears as many Churches. Because it is unthinkable for one only
Eucharist community to exist for all of the world, for all of Creation.
So, wherever the faithful assemble for the same reason, to comprise the
Eucharist assembly, that is where the overall Body of Christ is realized; that
is where the mystery of Providence is recapitulated, and where the Kingdom of
God is fully portrayed. We have, therefore, One Church, which however consists
of many local Churches. And precisely because each local Church (where the
Divine Eucharist is performed) constitutes an image of the eschatological
community, and also comprises the complete Body of Christ, that is why every
such Church is (and must be) regarded as the whole Church. And that is why She was
called from a very early stage “the catholic-overall Church” – Saint Ignatius
being the first one to name Her thus. The “catholic” Church is,
therefore, each local church that has that fullness which the
Eucharist assembly provides to the Eucharist Body of Christ; the fullness of
the recapitulation of everything, and the portrayal of the Kingdom to come in a
specific place..
The
Church,
therefore, (the One and Catholic-overall one), is composed of many
catholic-overall churches. This is also why the term “catholic” was used in the
plural, even up to the time of Augustine, following which, its meaning was
changed: the “catholic” Church was no longer that which I just described, but
it took on the meaning of “Ecumenical Church”, in other words, the One Church
that is scattered throughout the world. Augustine, in his attempts to
strike at the “localism” of the Donatists whom he was opposed to, highlighted
the universality of the Church, and identified Her with the notion of
catholicity (universality). Consequently, for Augustine, “Catholic
Church” is for the first time in Patristic literature, exclusively the
worldwide Church. This element, like many others, also infiltrated the
theology of the Orthodox East, thus drawing us also into this mistaken viewpoint.
When we say: “…..I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church….” , we usually mean the worldwide-universal Church.
This is of great importance for the organization of the Church, and it
becomes obvious, when we realize how it appeared and how it was applied in the
West, where Augustine’s theology prevailed.
The
Church in
the West was organized as one, uniform whole, with such a structure that would
ensure what we call a universal Church, with one, universal head – the bishop
of Rome. On the contrary, in the East such an Ecclesiology on organization
could not be formulated; the Church could not be regarded as a universal
organization, which has a head and a center. In the East, we have a
different kind of structure in the Church. What we must stress is that
the thing that differentiates us so much from the West is that perception that
we have of the Church as an image of End Times, which is realized with the
Divine Eucharist. This is what allows us to regard every assembly that performs
the divine Eucharist (we shall mention under what conditions, later on) as a
complete Church, because what takes precedence for us is the presence of the
whole Body of Christ. Just as the divine Eucharist realizes the Whole
Christ and not a portion of Christ, so it is with every local Church. In
view of the fact that –for us- the term “Church” is based on the experience and
the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, it is acknowledged as the complete Body
of Christ, and not just a part of it. An Ecclesiology such as this,
therefore, speaks of one Body of Christ in the entire world, and of the
individual Churches as ‘members’ or ‘parts’ of that one Body. Perceptions
such as these exist among the Orthodox also, but it is clearly a Western
perception. Our view is that every Church is a complete Church; a
catholic one; the whole Body of Chris, because the notion of “Church” is based
on the divine Eucharist. That is the only reason. If you take away that
reason, you will not be able to explain why he local church should be
“catholic”. It was because this Ignatian Ecclesiology of the Eucharist
had waned in the West and other kinds of ecclesiological premises were
imported, that each local Church was no longer regarded “catholic”. Instead, the
notion of “catholic Church” was identified with the notion of a worldwide
organization.
Fr. John Romanides:
Since for Ignatius the Eucharist is the formative and
manifest center of corporate love unto immortality, and at the same time the
weapon which insures the continues defeat of the devil, it is quite clear that
the corporate liturgy is the very pivotal point of faith in action, the
participation of which is the only sure sign of continuous communion with God
and neighbor unto salvation. This unity of selfless love in Christ with each
other and the saints is an end in itself - not a means to another end. The
existence of any other utilitarian and eudaimonistic motive other than
unconditional selfless love for God and neighbor in Christ simply means slavery
to the powers of Satan. "... love nothing except God." (Ign. Eph. 9,
11; Mag. 1.)
In the Eucharistic life of selfless love is thus understood as an end in itself and the only condition for continual membership in the Church, it follows that the relationship of one community to another cannot be one of inferiority or superiority. Nor can one community be considered a part to another community because the fullness of Christ is to be found in the Eucharist which itself is the highest and only possible center and consummation of the life of unity and love. " ...whether Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." (Ign. Smyr. 8.)
