Remembering the Future

John D. Zizioulas (1931-2023), a renowned modern theologian and former Metropolitan of Pergamon in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, is known for his significant contributions to Christian theology. He earned his doctorate in theology from the University of Athens and held academic positions at various universities. He was a professor of Systematic Theology at the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Thessaloniki and a visiting Professor at King's College in London. Metropolitan John became a regular member of the Academy of Athens in 1993 and its president in 2002-2003. His extensive ecumenical involvement and scholarly work resulted in several influential publications, solidifying his reputation as a leading Orthodox theologian of our time. He is generally recognized as the most brilliant and creative theologian in the Church, dealing with the most contemporary issues facing humanity today. ?t the culmination of his theological journey, John Zizioulas, has bestowed upon the academic world his magnum opus, a work that surpasses all his previous endeavors in depth, insight, and scholarly rigor. The insights presented in his celebrated Being as Communion and Communion and Otherness provided the groundwork for the extensive exploration undertaken in this seminal piece that will likely be dissected and referenced even more extensively than the author's prior contributions. This Zizioulas' work presents a holistic Christian "theory of everything," as he underscores how eschatological ontology deeply influences the entirety of Christian doctrine. Metropolitan Zizioulas acknowledged the profound challenge of articulating the influence of the future on the present. In 1999, he remarked, "I realize that this concept is most difficult to grasp and to experience," attributing this difficulty to the fact that "we still live in a fallen world in which protological ontology is the dominant form of rationality." The future of things in this perspective is defined by its origins and the "given" or the "factum."

To hold this book by John Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon, in my hands is for me still to clasp his hands in the friendship that bound us together. A posthumous book, as the title tells us, it comes to me as a sign springing from a past that has been liberated in the Future of God.. The eschaton knocks at the door of our daily life, seeks our collaboration, loosens the chains, liberates the transition to a good life. And it is at the heart of the eucharistic canon that for Zizioulas the Church remembers the future, completing as he does in the chapters of this book a doxology to Him who comes, a theology that he has written on his knees, in expectation.

• Foreword by Pope FrancisPreface by Bishop Maxim VasiljevicIntroductionI.Between the "Already" and the "Not Yet"II.The Eucharistic Remembrance of the FutureIII.God's RemembranceIV.The Light of the Post-Easter ExperienceV.The "Earnest" of the Future KingdomVI.The Reversal of the Direction of TimeVII.From the Omega to the AlphaVIII.An Epiphanic OntologyIX.Eschatological HermeneuticsX.Death and ResurrectionXI.Towards an Eschatological EthicXII.Toi, tu ne mourras pasChapter OneEschatology and OntologyIntroduction1.Ontology and Theology2.Ontology and EschatologyThe Birth of Eschatological Ontology1.From "de principiis" to "ex nihilo": The Will as "Cause" of Being2.From Teleology to Eschatology: The End as the Cause of BeingAppendix: The Eschatologization of HistoryChapter TwoEschatology and CreationIntroduction: The Ontological Content of the EschataI.The Mortality of CreationII.The Sustainment of CreationIII.The Ever-being of Creation1.The Incarnation and the Eschata2.The Ontological Significance of the Resurrection3.The Holy Spirit and the Eschata4.Creation as EucharistIV.Existential Consequences1.Eschatology and Ecology2.Eschatology and Natural Sciencea)The Idea of Relationalityb)The Anthropic Cosmological Principle3.Eschatology and ArtConclusionsExcursus: Historization of the Eschaton: The Significance of Iconic Ontology1.Greek and Biblical View of Eikon: A Comparative Examination2.Eikon and BeingChapter 3Eschatology and the FallI.Fall from What?II.Fall to What?III.The Problem of Evil1.The Reply of Psychology2.The Reply of Vindication3.The Ontological ReplyIV.The Elimination of Evil1.The Judgement of Evil2.The Purification of HistoryAppendix I: Slaves of RealityAppendix II: A Note on PerfectionChapter FourEschatology, Hell, and Final JudgmentIntroductionI.Judgement and ExistenceII.Hell and FreedomIII.Being and the DemonicIV.Hell as the Presence of the OtherV.The Eternity of HellVI.Eschatology and Ecclesia1.The Ontology of the Person2.The ontology of Love3.The Ontology of MercyChapter FiveEschatology and Liturgical TimeIntroductionI.Time as an Existential ProblemII.Toward a Liturgical Conception of TimeIII.The Liturgy as the "Un-Ending Age"1.The Biblical Evidence2.The Kingdom which is to come-the Cayse and Archetype of the Eucharist3.Liturgical Practicea)The Gathering "in one place"b)Passage through the ascetic and baptismal experiencec)The Eucharist as movement and Progressiond)The sacrifice of the Paschal Lambe)A Festival of the Resurrectionf)Remembrance (?v?µv?s??) of the futureg)The structure of the Church's "institution"h)Communion of the Holy SpiritIV.Liturgical Time and Ordinary ExistenceConclusionSelect BibliographyIndex of Scriptural ReferencesIndex of NamesBiographical Note