Wysławiajcie Boga w swoim ciele. Wokół teologii ciała Kallistosa Wareʼa

Abstract

Metropolitan Bishop Kallistos Ware is undoubtedly one of the foremost contemporary Eastern Orthodox theologians. His personal road of faith, his familiarity with the treasures of thought of the Christian East and West as well as his pastoral experience make him a unique and outstanding witness to the presence of Orthodoxy in the modern world. One of the most frequently recurring subjects of his books, articles and spiritual conferences is the mystery of man. The article strives to offer a comprehensive collection of Kallistos Ware’s statements on the Christian understanding and experience of the human body. According to him, the mystery of the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor sheds essential light on our understanding of the mystery of the human body. Kallistos Ware’s texts are a testimony to his profoundly biblical and patristic vision of the human body, created by God in His image as part of the entire human being and intended for participation in the mystery of deification. As an inherent element of human nature, the body is good and wanted by God. Made up of his soul and body, man is “microcosm” and “microtheos”, and has a special place among other creatures. Man’s special task is to mediate and unify the physical, spiritual, created and divine worlds as the king and priest of creation. Liturgy, in which man participates through his body, is a privileged place for fulfillment of this vocation. The entire man, also in the reality of his body, is intended for eschatological deification, which is anticipated by the Transfiguration. The Christians actively and faithfully await the redemption of their body and the entire created world.