The genesis of the idea of Christ’s corporate personality and its reception in the theology of metropolitan John (Zizioulas)

In the presented article, the author analyzes the origin of the notion of corporate personality. The concept of corporate personality arose among Protestant theologians in the first half of the 20th century as a way of understanding the problem of guilt and divine justification in the context of legal theory of redemption. Subsequently, the concept of corporate identity enters scientific circulation with a broader definition. In Orthodox theology, Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) actively used the ideas of corporate personality for his relational theology. In the Russian scientific literature, the phenomenon of corporate personality in theology has not been practically studied, and therefore the purpose of this work is to try to trace the emergence of the idea of Christ’s corporate personality in Protestant theology and its development in the theology of Metropolitan John (Zizioulas). The author defines the provisions of this idea in Metropolitan John’s system of communion theology, and comes to the conclusion that in the version outlined by him, the concept of corporate personality contradicts traditional church ontology, and in practical terms becomes the theological justification of the idea of the primacy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Orthodox Church.