The Spirit blows where He wills (John 3:8), but we know
that He wills to blow in the direction of Christ.

In his exploration on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Metropolitan John Zizioulas delves deep into the nuances of Pneumatology, placing it within the broader spectrum of Triadology and ecclesiology. His discourse centers around three pivotal questions: (a) What is the place of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology) in the Holy Trinity; (b) What is the place of the Pneumatological dimension in the Oikonomia? and (c) How does the Pneumatological dimension show itself in the life of Christians?

John Zizioulas underscores the Holy Spirit as being “Lord” in full equality with Christ. Regarding the place of Pneumatology in Triadology, he revisits the Patristic tradition that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, pointing out that the ultimate ontological ground of the Holy Spirit is a person of the Father and not substance. The fact that the Holy Spirit is uncreated—one of the Trinity—demonstrates that creation cannot survive if it is self-centered and autonomous and that the only way for it to be “saved” or “deified” (theosis) is through communion with the uncreated. This communion is the work of the Holy Spirit, who becomes, in this way, “lifegiving” (zoopoion), as the Creed of Constantinople calls him. Life and communion coincide only in the uncreated realm since death overcomes communion in creation. The Spirit gives true life because he is uncreated, and the communion he offers comes “from above” from the uncreated God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the eschatological force that brings the Kingdom of God into history. The Holy Spirit is the “communion” (I Cor. 13:13) that builds up the unity of the Church.

Zizioulas recognizes that the Church is described in the New Testament as the Body of Christ. This seems to suggest that our starting point in ecclesiology should be Christological. Christians are incorporated into the Body of Christ and not of the Spirit, and it is Christ who is the head of the body. However, if this is so, what is the role of Pneumatology in ecclesiology? Zizioulas is aware that the place of Pneumatology in theology constitutes an old problem in the history of the Church. Long before the controversies concerning the divinity of the Spirit took place, the Church had to face another problem, namely that of the relation of the Spirit and the Church. In Zizioulas’ perspective there is no room for a division between Christ and the Spirit.

Drawing from the shared perspective of both Western and Eastern Fathers, Zizioulas articulates that God’s ad extra actions should be perceived as unified, leaving no room for division in the Economy between Christology and Pneumatology. No matter how specific the role of the Spirit is, it is perilous for the unity of the Economy to speak of a particular “Economy of the Spirit.” Concerning the Church in particular, any such view would make it difficult to understand the biblical assertion that the Church is the body of Christ and not of the Spirit.

So, Zizioulas asserts that Christology is undoubtedly the starting point in ecclesiology and that Christology is inconceivable in itself without Pneumatology. By emphasizing the intricate role of Pneumatology, Zizioulas affirms that the Spirit is not some kind of impersonal “force” or “power” springing as it were from Christ or a Person “assisting” Christ in His saving work. There is no priority of Christ in relation to the Spirit; both are co-founders of the Church and they “co-institute” the Church, as the late Cardinal Yves Congar put it.

By clarifying this, Zizioulas reflects on the proper synthesis between Christology and Pneumatology. “We must take seriously,” he holds, “in all its implications, the biblical assertion that Christ was born of the Spirit, was anointed by him, and that his existence was fully in the Spirit. Studying the Bible and Tradition, Zizioulas detects that the work of the Spirit is described in various ways and mostly in terms of “power,” “sanctification,” “Spirit of Truth,” “Spirit of Freedom,” and, above all, as “life-giver” and “communion.” Looking for the significance of these terms for ecclesiology, Zizioulas finds those of “life-giver” and “communion” as the most appropriate ones, “especially as they, in fact embrace the others as well.”

Similar observations could be made about the Church. The Church is not caused to exist by a pre-existing factor—be it Christological or Pneumatological—but both simultaneously constitute her.

This is what the Spirit does to the ontology of the Church. The same Spirit as life-giver and communion brings the ultimate, the eschaton (Acts 2)—i.e., the eternal life of God—into history. In this way, the Church becomes the communion of saints in which the past, the present, and the future are not causally related to each other but are one as the Body of Christ in the event of communion.

The implication of this is the fact that in being conceivable only in the Spirit, Christ appears to be a relational being to an absolute degree; He cannot be conceived in terms of our empirical individualized existence.

All this should not be conceived in theoretical terms alone; it is and must be reflected in the structure and life of the Church, where “the institutional becomes, in the Spirit, charismatic and the charismatic institutional.”

Further, Zizioulas criticizes an overtly Christo-centric perspective, noting the rise of movements like Pentecostalism and Charismatism that underscore the Holy Spirit, potentially overshadowing Christ. “As a reaction against this excessive Christo-centricity, there appeared, in the context of Western Christianity itself, a tendency to emphasize the importance of the Holy Spirit almost at the expense of Christ. Such is the case with the Pentecostal and charismatic movements of our time, which put the accent on the experience of the Spirit by the individual and the community rather than on the institutional aspects of the Church, including the sacraments and ministry.”

Metropolitan John of Pergamon acknowledges the increasing emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s role in ecclesial and global contexts in the 20th century. “Already at the time of the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church showed remarkable signs of sensitivity concerning the need to introduce Pneumatology into its doctrine of the Church, more than Western theology was prepared to do up to that time.”

Zizioulas concludes by emphasizing the indispensable role both Christ and the Holy Spirit play in our salvation, deeming it crucial for contemporary theological discourse. “Ascribing the proper role to the person of Christ and the person of the Holy Spirit in our salvation is, therefore, of crucial importance for theology at the turn of this century.”

Metropolitan John Zizioulas offers a harmonized theological vision where Christology seamlessly integrates with Pneumatology.