Pentecost and the Mission of the Church Today (With Particular Reference to the Theology of Metropolitan John Zizioulas)

In the paper, the author critically examines the view of Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon on the issue of the mission of the Church in relation to the modern world and its challenges. Starting from the specific area, Western Europe, the author presents the views of the metropolitan on the question of the place of the Church as a reality of the relationship between the Orthodox tradition and Western Christianity. Within these frameworks, the author focuses on the event of Pentecost, as an event of ecclesial manifestation ad extra in relation to the world. The essential question of this part of the work is: what is, in fact, the mission, ethos or essential characteristic that the Church offers to the world, opening the perspective of the liturgical-relational identity of the Church by which every movement is measured. On those grounds, in the second part of the work, the author observes the mission of the Church in our time, presenting several parameters of the authentic relationship between the Church and the world. The last part of the work is dedicated to the dangers and challenges faced by the Church, where the author presents specific views and proposals of Metropolitan John Zizioulas.