Chrysostom Koutloumousianos on his new book 'THE ONE AND THE THREE'

Chrysostom Koutloumousianos on his new book

THE ONE AND THE THREE: 

NATURE, PERSON AND TRIADIC MONARCHY 

IN THE BYZANTINE AND IRISH PATRISTIC TRADITION

(James Clarke Co., Cambridge 2015).

What was the cause or occasion that prompted you to write The One and the Three?

I was participating in a well-attended liturgy in a major country. Many bishops, priests, a huge congregation and the wonderful ritual, all created a sense of heaven on earth, but at the same time I had a strange and unwelcome impression. Instead of living the encounter between the Church, as the people of God, and God Himself, it was as if there were three orders, or even 'worlds', in a descending hierarchy: God, the clergy, and the laity. And the most formidable barrier was the one which separated the laity from the clergy. The first among the bishops displayed his high status in every possible manner. "Is this the right way?," I asked myself. And this thought was re-enforced by the fact that the same kind of barrier was to be found outside the sacrament. Was this a game? Subsequently, looking through contemporary theological writings I realized that this 'game' was well on its way to becoming established as a transcendental truth, a reflection of a heavenly structure, of God Himself. I came to understand that the key was a certain interpretation of the Trinity. That was the reason that I decided to explore patristic Trinitarian thought, and to juxtapose a modern school of theological thought (presumed to be patristic) with patristic theology and anthropology. This also led me to the understanding that monasticism is the best expression of patristic Trinitarian theology and anthropology.

The Aim of Asceticism is the Divine Eucharist

By Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon

Perhaps there is no more revealing point in the life of a Christian as to what holiness is, than when the priest pronounces when raising the Honorable Body soon before the Divine Communion: "The holy for the holy," that is, the Body of Christ and His Blood are holy and are offered to the "holy", who are the members of the Church about to commune. The response of the people is the shocking pronouncement: "One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father." Only one person is holy, Christ - we are all sinners - and His holiness, which we sinners are all called to participate in, aims at nothing other than God's glory. At that point the Church experiences sanctity at its peak. By confessing "one is holy", all our virtues and all or worth are eliminated before the holiness of the only Holy One. This does not mean we can approach Divine Communion without preparation and the struggle for our worthiness to make the approach. It means that no matter what preparation we make, we were not holy before we communed. Holiness does not precede eucharistic communion, but it follows it. If we are holy prior to communing, then what of Divine Communion? Only by sharing in the holiness of God are we sanctified, and this is what Divine Communion offers us. From this observation derives a set of truths related to our subject.