John Zizioulas | |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan of Pergamon | |
 Zizioulas in 2014 | |
| Native name | Ιωάννης Ζηζιούλας |
| Church | Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople |
| Diocese | Metropolis of Pergamon |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 22 June 1986 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 January 1931 |
| Died | 2 February 2023 (92 years old) Athens, Greece |
| Buried | First Cemetery of Athens |
| Nationality | Greek |
| Denomination | Eastern Orthodox |
| Alma mater | University of Thessaloniki,University of Athens |
John Zizioulas (/zɪziˈuːlɑːs/;Greek:Ιωάννης Ζηζιούλας[ziˈzʝulas]; 10 January 1931 – 2 February 2023)[1][2] was aGreek Orthodox bishop who served as theMetropolitan of Pergamon of theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople from 1986 until his death in 2023. He was one of the most influentialOrthodox Christiantheologians of the 20th and 21st centuries.[3]
Metropolitan John was born inKatafygio, now part of the municipality ofVelventos,Western Macedonia. His education began with study at the Universities of Thessaloniki and Athens in 1950, and then a year at theEcumenical Institute of Bossey in 1955. Between 1960 and 1964 Zizioulas did doctoral research under the Eastern Orthodox theologian[4]Georges Florovsky (1893-1979; Chair of Eastern Church History at Harvard and a member of the Russian Orthodox Church) and was a Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies.[5] He received his doctorate in 1965 from theUniversity of Athens.
Zizioulas took up a post at the University of Athens in 1964 as assistant professor of Church history, and then six years later, worked as professor of patristics at theNew College, Edinburgh from 1970 until 1973. He moved to theUniversity of Glasgow where he held a personal chair in systematic theology for some fourteen years. In addition, Zizioulas also was a visiting professor at the Research Institute in Systematic Theology ofKing's College London. In 1986, he was elected titular metropolitan of Pergamon. In the same year, he assumed a full-time academic post atThessaloniki University's School of Theology as professor of dogmatics. In 1993 he was elected a member of theAcademy of Athens, serving as its chairman in 2002.
Zizioulas held honorary doctorates from theCatholic Institute of Paris, theUniversity of Belgrade,St. Sergius Institute in Paris, theBabeș-Bolyai University,University of Münster (2010),[6]University of Munich (2015),[7]New Georgian University in Poti (2019).[8] He also was elected an Honorary Member of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies (2011).
In 2003, the President of Greece awarded him theSenior Brigadier General of the Order of the Phoenix, In 2007 he was awarded theLambeth Cross. In 2019 President of Ukraine awarded him theOrder of Merit III degree.
Zizioulas died fromCOVID-19 inAthens, on 2 February 2023, at the age of 92.[9]
The theological work of Metropolitan John has focused upon the twin themes ofecclesiology and theologicalontology. The theology of Metropolitan John reflects the influence of Russian émigré theologians such asNikolai Afanassieff,Vladimir Lossky and his teacherGeorges Florovsky. Zizioulas has also been significantly influenced by the ascetical theology ofArchimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov),[10] founder of theStavropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist inEssex, England.
Zizioulas' ecclesiology was first developed in his doctoral dissertation, subsequently published in English asEucharist, Bishop, Church. Here Metropolitan John develops critically the eucharisticecclesiology ofNikolai Afanassieff. He accepts Afanassieff's principal contention that the Church is to be understood in terms of the Eucharist. However, he criticises Afanassief's understanding as overly congregational and insufficiently episcopal in its emphasis. Finally, Zizioulas advocates an episcopocentric understanding of Church structure, understanding the Bishop primarily as the president of theDivine Liturgy and the Eucharistic community.
Zizioulas worked on thetheology of theperson, appealing to the work ofIrenaeus andMaximus the Confessor. The primary focus of his work was to develop his ownontology of personhood derived from an extensive investigation of Greek philosophy, patristic era writings and modern rationalist philosophy.[citation needed]
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 theontology ofpersonhood is thefreedom 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 theFrenchabsurdist writerAlbert 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 ecclesialhypostasis, or aperson. 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.' The completion of this rebirth from above is the day of resurrection when the body will no longer be subject to death.
There are extensive bibliographies devoted to Zizioulas' published works in various languages in:
