An attempt at an “Einsteinian coup” in orthodox thought. History and eschatology in the theological system of metropolitan John (Zizioulas)

This article is devoted to one of the key aspects of the ecclesiological system of Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) - his attitude towards history and eschatology. It considers a kind of ontology of the reverse perspective of Met. John, which he calls the “eschatological approach”, based on two fundamental categories - communion and eschaton. Within the framework of such an ontology, according to its author, “constitutive for ecclesiology”, he introduces and substantiates in a peculiar way the following concepts: “eschatological Christ”, “eschatological Church”, “eschatological man”. Eschaton for Met. John is the source not only of the true being of the Church, her hypostatic appearance and nature, but also of all her property. History, representing the antithesis of the eschaton, on the contrary, is consistently supplanted by Metropolitan John to the periphery of theological thought; its meaning-forming significance for the Church turns out to be insignificant in his eyes and represents, for the most part, a negative factor in human development, requiring its overcoming in the eschaton. Metropolitan John denies history its significance as an engine for the positive development of church life, endowing it with the exceptional features of “world”, “necessity”, a factor of “nature”. In his understanding, the eschaton, breaking into history, overcomes and transforms it with those opposed to it: the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church, freedom, communion. Such a teaching, organically connected with other aspects of the ecclesiology of Met. John, is not rooted in the Tradition of the Church and represents a significant distortion of its dogmatic thought, and its far-reaching practical consequences are an extreme danger to the entire Church.