The eschatological nature of the Eucharist in the theology of John D. Zizioulas

Abstract

This work aims at presenting the eschatological nature of the Eucharist as developed in the theology of John D. Zizioulas. The first chapter will set the life and concerns of this Orthodox theologian in context. The second chapter will develop his ontology of personhood, showing that communion and freedom are not opposed to each other. This chapter will investigate how Zizioulas argues that God is the origin of the freedom and the communion promised to man. The third chapter will explore how the Church, the ecclesial community, is the place in which the person and freedom come into being. The fourth chapter will focus on the role of man as priest of creation in the context of the contemporary ecological crisis. One hopes that this work will contribute evermore to overcoming the one-sidedness of the western theological Tradition, by bringing the often neglected eschatological nature of Eucharistic worship to bear on the whole of Christian thought and praxis through the theological synthesis of one who is widely recognized as the most significant contemporary Orthodox theologian.