Strengthening the Ecumenical Relevance of Zizioulas’s Eschatological Hermeneutics through a Dialogue with Protestant and Roman Catholic Theologians

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63394/x7s58c76

Keywords:

John Zizioulas, eschatological ontology, ecumenical dialogue, Jürgen Moltmann, Roman Catholic theology, future-oriented hermeneutics, Orthodox–Catholic dialogue, common celebration of Easter

Abstract

This article examines the ecumenical potential and challenges of John Zizioulas’s eschatological ontology in Remembering the Future. It considers his critical engagement with Jürgen Moltmann, arguing that broader dialogue could enrich discussion of creation, ecology, and universal salvation. It then brings Zizioulas into conversation with Louis-Marie Chauvet, Johann Baptist Metz, Reimund Bieringer, and James Alison. Their approaches to sacramental mediation, apocalyptic expectation, biblical interpretation, and the Resurrection reveal convergences and differences with his thought. Finally, it explores eschatological themes in the international Orthodox–Catholic dialogue, whose relevance remains largely implicit in the book. These encounters can extend Zizioulas’s future-oriented vision while preserving its Orthodox foundations. A common celebration of Easter is proposed as a concrete expression of this potential, linking theological reflection with the pursuit of Christian unity within the historical life of the churches.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Peter De Mey, KU Leuven, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

    Peter De Mey (Dendermonde, 1966) is full Professor of Roman-Catholic ecclesiology and ecumenism at the Research Unit Systematic Theology and the Study of Religions, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven. He is involved in the Centre for Ecumenical Research, the Centre for the Study of the Second Vatican Council, and the Louvain Center for Eastern and Oriental Christianity (LOCEOC). His latest research project (with Prof. Dr. Wim Coudenys) focuses on the contacts of the Benedictine monastery of Chevetogne with Eastern Christians and Louvain theologians (1925-1965).
    Peter De Mey is the founding chair of the Vatican II Studies group (2012-2016) of the American Academy of Religion. During 2004-2010, he was secretary and then president of Societas Oecumenica, the European Society for Ecumenical Research. He regularly participates in meetings of the Ecclesiological Investigations Network and the Peter & Paul Seminar, an international network of Roman-Catholic ecclesiologists and canonists. 
    Peter De Mey publishes regularly in periodicals and collective volumes about the development of the Catholic view on ecumenism prior to Vatican II, the redaction history and interpretation of Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio and Orientalium Ecclesiarum, post-conciliar Roman Catholic ecclesiology and ecclesiological themes in the bilateral and multilateral ecumenical dialogue.

References

Alison, James. Raising Abel: The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination. Crossroad, 1996.

Alison, James. The Joy of Being Wrong: Original Sin Through Easter Eyes. Crossroad, 1998.

Asproulis, Nikolaos. Theologically Reading Metropolitan of Pergamon John Zizioulas: Orthodox, Ecumenical and Modern. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2025.

Beardsall, Sandra, and Martin Illert, eds. Towards a Common Date for Easter. Faith and Order Paper, 241. Geneva: WCC, 2025. https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/publications/towards-a-common-date-for-easter.

Bentley Hart, David. That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation. Yale University Press, 2019.

Bieringer, Reimund and Mary Elsbernd, eds. Normativity of the Future: Reading Biblical and Other Authoritative Texts in an Eschatological Perspective. Annua Nuntia Lovanienses, 61. Peeters, 2010.

Bieringer, Reimund and Mary Elsbernd. "The Normativity of the Future. The Authority of the Bible for Theology." ET Bulletin. Zeitschrift für Theologie in Europa 8 (1997): 52–67.

Chauvet, Louis-Marie. Symbol and Sacrament. A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Christian Existence. Liturgical Press, 1995.

Chauvet, Louis-Marie. Symbole et sacrement. Une relecture sacramentelle de l’existence chrétienne. Cerf, 1987.

De Mey, Peter. "'Quanta est nobis via?' (Ut Unum Sint): A Plea to Accelerate Orthodox-Roman Catholic Dialogue." In Holding Fast to the Mystery of the Faith: Festschrift for Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Eastern Church Identities, 10, edited by Sorin Șelaru & Daniel Munteanu, 474–89. Brill, 2022.

De Mey, Peter. "Church as Sacrament. A Conciliar Concept and Its Reception in Contemporary Theology." In The Presence of Transcendence. Thinking 'Sacrament' in a Postmodern Age. Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia, 42, edited by Lieven Boeve & John Ries, 181–96. Peeters, 2001.

Džalto, Davor. "Review of Remembering the Future." Toronto Journal of Theology 41 (2025): 186–87.

Gabunia, Aleksandre. "Reverse Perspective as Hermeneutical Principle: Zizioulas’ Ecclesiology and the Russkiy Mir Discourse." Ecclesiology [forthcoming].

Gabunia, Aleksandre. "Seeing from the Future: The Reverse Perspective and Eschatological Anthropology in John Zizioulas’ Theology." Dialogue 9:18 (2025): 54–77.

Hryniewicz, Waclaw. "Labour and Hope. Fifteen Years of Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue." St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 39 (1995): 339–60.

Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in the Light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/dialoghi/sezione-orientale/chiese-ortodosse-di-tradizione-bizantina/commissione-mista-internazionale-per-il-dialogo-teologico-tra-la/documenti-di-dialogo/testo-in-inglese4.html.

Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The Sacrament of Order in the Sacramental Structure of the Church with Particular Reference to the Importance of Apostolic Succession for the Sanctification and Unity of the People of God. https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/dialoghi/sezione-orientale/chiese-ortodosse-di-tradizione-bizantina/commissione-mista-internazionale-per-il-dialogo-teologico-tra-la/documenti-di-dialogo/testo-in-inglese2.html.

Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Faith, Sacraments and the Unity of the Church. https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/dialoghi/sezione-orientale/chiese-ortodosse-di-tradizione-bizantina/commissione-mista-internazionale-per-il-dialogo-teologico-tra-la/documenti-di-dialogo/testo-in-inglese3.html.

Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Uniatism, Method of Union of the Past, and the Present Search for Full Communion. https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/dialoghi/sezione-orientale/chiese-ortodosse-di-tradizione-bizantina/commissione-mista-internazionale-per-il-dialogo-teologico-tra-la/documenti-di-dialogo/testo-in-lingua-inglese.html.

Kalaitzidis, Pantelis. "Eschatology and Future-oriented Hermeneutics in Contemporary Orthodox Theology: The Case of Metropolitan John D. Zizioulas." In The Spirit and Dialogues, edited by Reimund Bieringer et al., 155–80. Peeters, 2019.

MacDougall, Scott. More than Communion: Imagining an Eschatological Ecclesiology. Bloomsbury, 2015.

Mahieu, Patrice. Se préparer au don de l’unité: la commission internationale catholique-orthodoxe 1975-2000. Cerf, 2014.

Metropolitan Job (Getcha). "The Actuality of the Council of Nicaea." The Ecumenical Review 75 (2023): 185–202.

Metz, Johann Baptist. Faith in History and Society: Toward a Practical Fundamental Theology. Seabury Press, 1980.

Metz, Johann Baptist. Glaube in Geschichte und Gesellschaft: Studien zu einer praktischen Fundamentaltheologie. Grünewald, 1977.

Meyendorff, John. Byzantine Theology. Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes. Fordham University Press, 1974.

Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God. Fortress Press, 1993.

Moltmann, Jürgen. The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology. Fortress Press, 1996.

Pope Francis. "Solemnity of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle." https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/papa-francesco/2025/Omelie/vesperi-San-Paolo-Fuori-le-Mura-conclusione-Settimana-Preghiera.html.

Ricoeur, Paul. Du texte à l’action. Essais d’herméneutique II. Seuil, 1986.

Skira, Jaroslav Z. "The Balamand Document on Uniatism in the Context of the International Orthodox-Catholic Ecumenical Dialogue." In The Catholic Church and Its Orthodox Sister Churches Twenty-five Years after Balamand. Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 326, edited by Jaroslav Z. Skira, Peter De Mey and Herman G. Teule, 27–48. Peeters, 2022.

Tack, Laura. John 14:6 in Light of Jewish-Christian Dialogue. Sharing Truth on the Way to Life. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament II, 557. Mohr Siebeck, 2021.

Taft, Robert F. "The Problem of 'Uniatism' and the 'Healing of Memories': Anamnesis, not Amnesia." Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 41–42 (2000-2001): 155–96.

Tataryn, Myroslaw. "The Munich Document and the Language of Unity." Journal of Ecumenical Studies 26 (1989): 648–63.

Ware, Kallistos. "Dare We Hope for the Salvation of All? Origen, St Gregory of Nyssa and St Isaac the Syrian." In The Inner Kingdom. The Collected Works, 1. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2000.

Zizioulas, John D. Remembering the Future: Toward an Eschatological Ontology. Edited by Bishop Maxim Vasiljević. St. Sebastian Press, 2023.

Peter De Mey - Strengthening the Ecumenical Relevance of Zizioulas’s Eschatological Hermeneutics through a Dialogue with Protestant and Roman Catholic Theologians

Downloads

Received

2026-08-14

Revised

2026-09-22

Accepted

2026-09-28

Published

2026-11-10

How to Cite

De Mey, Peter. 2026. “Strengthening the Ecumenical Relevance of Zizioulas’s Eschatological Hermeneutics through a Dialogue With Protestant and Roman Catholic Theologians”. OmegAlpha: Journal for the Study of Metropolitan John Zizioulas’ Theology 2 (2): 37–57. https://doi.org/10.63394/x7s58c76.

Similar Articles

11-20 of 28

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.