Reviewing Fr. Nikolay Afanasiev’s Eucharistic Ecclesiology

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Abstract:

This study explores the basic aspects of Fr. Nikolay Afanasiev’s Eucharistic ecclesiology. As a prominent theologian, Fr. Afanasiev revolutionized the field of ecclesiology. He particularly contributed to the liberation of scholastic studies and reviews that proposed the idea of the Eucharist as an act that can be completed only by the Church. Fr. Afanasiev as an exceptional and contemporary theologian puts emphasis on the constitutional meaning of the Eucharist in relation to the life of the Church. According to his views, the Eucharist, being the source and criteria for the entire orderliness of the Church, embraces every phenomena occurring in the Church. We may find the criticism of the axiom ‘Where the Eucharist is, there is the Church’ incorrect and unjustifiable as it adheres to the notion that this may lead to a limited understanding of the Church simply by reducing the perception of the Church only to the concept of the Eucharist. Afanasiev does not ‘narrow down’ the Church within the Eucharist, but instead, he ‘broadens’ the Eucharistic communion to the communal dimensions of the Church. Furthermore, the Eucharistic ecclesiology plays an important role in overcoming the ecclesiastical institutionalism, the juridical attitude and the individual piety. Even today some aspects of this ecclesiastical concept are subject to theological discussions (questions on the ecclesiastical status of the parish or the relation between the local and the Catholic Church). However, it is necessary to point out that the Eucharistic ecclesiology remains a secure basis for theological reviewing and unravelling of the numerous issues and anomalies that the Church is facing, such as clericalism, laicism, and pietism.

Keywords:

Fr. Nikolai Afanas’ev, Eucharistic ecclesiology, Eucharistic body of Church, charismata, ministry, royal priesthood, laity, clergy, ecclesiastical institutionalism, juridical attitude.

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