Features of the ecclesiological discourse of St Porphyry Kavsokalivit

Abstract

The paper analyzes the approach of St Porphyry Kavsokalivit to ecclesiological issues, in particular his central statement, “The Church is eternal and uncreated”. An attempt to determine the origins and logical justification of this concept is made. The emergence of St Porphyry’s unusual theological formula relates to the literal interpretation of the New Testament metaphor of the Church as the Body of Christ (Eph 1:23, 1 Cor 12). A specific feature of St Porphyry’s ecclesiological discourse is the affirmation of sameness of the Church and Christ, the Church and God, the Church and the Holy Trinity. The relationship of his theological ideas with the ecclesiological constructions of some Christian writers (St Epiphanius of Cyprus) is also shown. Along with the original approach from a theological point of view, St Porphyry Kavsokalivit is quite traditional when he talks about the Church in practical terms, about its significance for salvation and the canonical structure of Christianity. The St Porphyry’s idea of Church is more mystical than theological. His thought is based not on rationalization, but on a subjective experience of the “churchness”. Given the dogmatic uncertainty in ecclesiology in the Orthodox Church, the contradictory and unusual concept of the eternal and uncreated Church of St Porphyry can be qualified as a private theological opinion.