The decisive beginnings of the ontological articulation of the Fathers of the Church are seen, says Zizioulas, in the theological work of St Ignatius of Antioch and St Irenaeus of Lyons. On the basis of the Johannine identifications of Christ with life, and truth, and upon their identification of life with being for ever, these saints identified life, truth and eternal being. And on the basis of their understanding that the Eucharist is truly Christ, they affirmed that in the Eucharist we receive life and true (immortal) being. But this life and true being which we receive in Communion, precisely in that it is received as a gift, does not pertain to us according to nature (phusis, ousia). And since the communion in which we receive true life is Christ himself – and not a vehicle containing Christ or an intermediary between us and Christ – it follows that this life is itself communion. True life and true being, then, are identified as communion with God. And a fortiori, for St Irenaeus, since knowledge is identical to true and eternal life which is communion with God, it follows that true knowledge is likewise communion with God.
Alan Brown
