Theology of john zizioulas biography

He was a frequent contributor to the publications and work of the Oxford-based Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius , founded in to promote mutual contact and information for Orthodox Christians and Anglicans. Nan Arrington Peete on the implications of inter-Anglican unity. Finally, Zizioulas advocates an episcopocentric understanding of Church structure, understanding the Bishop primarily as the president of the Divine Liturgy and the Eucharistic community.

Zizioulas worked on the theology of the person , appealing to the work of Irenaeus and Maximus the Confessor. The primary focus of his work was to develop his own ontology of personhood derived from an extensive investigation of Greek philosophy, patristic era writings and modern rationalist philosophy. He argues that full humanity is achieved only as person so that they may participate koinonia in the Trinitarian life of God.

However, an essential component of the ontology of personhood is the freedom to self-affirm the participation in relationship. He continues that man initially exists as a biological hypostasis, constrained as to the types of relationships one can have biological and to the eventual end of this type of being - death. He makes use of existentialist philosophers and novelists, notably the French absurdist writer Albert Camus , to show that the only type of ontological freedom in the biological hypostasis is the choice to commit suicide.

He claims that Baptism constitutes an ontological change in the human, making them an ecclesial hypostasis , or a person. This rebirth 'from above' gives new ontological freedom as it is not constrained by the limits of biological existence. Such ecclesial being is eschatological, meaning it is a paradoxical 'now,' but 'not yet. Contents move to sidebar hide.

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Theology of john zizioulas biography

From OrthodoxWiki. Jump to: navigation , search. Categories : Bishops 20thst-century bishops Modern Writers. Navigation menu Personal tools Log in Request account. Namespaces Page Discussion. Because of this he was compelled to leave Greece, a blessing in disguise, because this fostered the dissemination of his work internationally. At the suggestion of another great theologian, Nikos Nisiotes, he was then appointed Assistant Secretary of the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches from - His dream, however, was to return to Greece, and in he was appointed professor of Dogmatic and Systematic Theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a position he held until his retirement in In , due to the desire of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to have a theological consultant and representative with worldwide clout, according to ancient practice, as in the case of Ss.

Tarasios and Photios, Zizioulas was ordained for one day a deacon, the next day a priest, and finally, on the third day June 17 , he was ordained and enthroned as the Metropolitan of Pergamon. He immediately represented the Ecumenical Patriarchate at pan-Orthodox and pan-Christian forums and ecumenical dialogues. In he became a member of the Academy of Athens, the highest academic post in Greece, and, in , he became the only clergyman ever to be the president of this academy.

In the year he was appointed the first director of the newly founded Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Athens, and, in , he was appointed as fellow at the Academy of Theological Studies in Volos. Very important from an international point of view was his role in ecological matters. He proposed at a conference on Patmos in that September 1 be dedicated as a day of prayer for the protection and preservation of the natural environment.

Starting in , as co-chair of the Religion and Science Committee of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, he initiated a series of international, interfaith, and interdisciplinary symposia on the environment that took place on ships sailing major seas and rivers to raise awareness of the ecological crisis. After his doctoral dissertation on the unity of the Church, Metropolitan John authored many books and articles.

One of the highlights of his huge oeuvre would be Being as Communion , mentioned above, which is considered by many to be the most significant theological work of the late 20th century. This was followed by many others, including Communion and Otherness , which deepens the dialogue between Orthodox and Western theology. His yet-to-be-seen magnum opus on eschatology, most of which had been finished prior to his death, Remembering the Future: An Eschatological Ontology , thankfully will be published posthumously.