The Eucharist and the Kingdom of God

What we have in the Eucharist is not a flight or deliverance from space and time or from history, but the biblical perspective of the transfiguration of space and time, as indeed of all the creation which God’s love made “very good.”

John D. Zizioulas

In this book, Metropolitan John mounts an extensive engagement with the Liturgy and points out that the Eucharist offers an eschatological vision and foretaste of the Kingdom of God. The linkage between the Eucharist and the Kingdom of God is profoundly developed, addressing many tangible dimensions of ecclesial life. The Eucharist’s proposed future does not stem from the past but penetrates the present by its own initiative, as a free gift from God. In the Eucharist, time is redeemed by the in-breaking of the future into the “present,” by a remembrance that implies remembering the future Kingdom, which enables us to see and taste how the world will be at the end, when the Kingdom comes.

Contemporary theologians and scholars on Metropolitan John Zizioulas:

“One of the most original and most profound theologians of our time.”
   —Fr. Yves Congar

“John Zizioulas is one of the most profound young theologians I’ve ever met.”
   —Fr. Justin Popovich (in 1975)

“John Zizioulas is actually dealing with the most contemporary, the most urgent, the most existential issues facing the Orthodox Church today.”
   —Fr. John Meyendorff

 “Metropolitan John Zizioulas is generally recognized as the most brilliant and creative theologian in the Orthodox Church today. The publication of a new book from his pen is a major event.”
   —Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia

“He’s a real theologian.”
   —Rev. Prof. Henry Chadwick

Language: English
Number of pages:104, softbound  
ISBN:978-1-936773-84-8
Published: 2022

John D. Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon, was previously the Professor of Systematic Theology at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow and visiting Professor at King's College, London and the University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He is generally recognized as the most brilliant and creative theologian in the Church today. Metropolitan of Pergamon is dealing with the most contemporary, the most urgent, the most existential issues facing the Church today.