Christology and Existence

This article by Jean Zizioulas offers a theological and philosophical study of Orthodox Christology based on the dogma of Chalcedon. Adopting a rigorous speculative approach, the author shows that the notions of "created" and "uncreated" constitute a fundamental dialectic, irreducible to ancient Hellenic ontology, which organically linked God and world. He demonstrates that biblical thought introduces a decisive break by affirming creation ex nihilo, grounded not in necessity but in divine freedom. The existential significance of the Chalcedonian dogma is then brought to light: the adverbs "without division" and "without mixture" express respectively love and freedom as conditions for overcoming death. The major theological contribution lies in the articulation between Christology, ecclesiology, and the Eucharist: it is within the ecclesial body that Christ's victory over death becomes a lived experience, offering humanity a new hypostasis.