Essays from In Communion

What’s in a name?

For many people peace is chiefly the absence of war. “It was a time of peace” is simply another way of saying it was a period between wars. A Christian understanding of peace is far deeper. It is shaped by Christ himself and the example he gives us. It is the Holy Trinity’s dialogue of love. It is honoring the image of God in the other, even in the enemy. We see the contours of the peacemaker’s life in the Beatitudes.

The phrase “in communion” reveals the deeper meaning of the word “peace.” To be “in communion” is to be linked with others at the deepest level of existence. For the Orthodox Christian, communion means intimate participation in the life of Christ: receiving the awesome and life-creating Mysteries that heal body and soul, repel adversity, illumine the mind and heart, sustain love and faith, nourish wisdom and banish fear. This is the peace of Christ.

The idea for the journal’s name was suggested by Father Thomas Hopko, Dean of St. Vladimir’s TheologicalSeminary: “The Orthodox approach,” Father Hopko said, “is that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and that God is a Trinity of persons in absolute identity of being and of life in perfect communion. Therefore, communion is the given. Anything that breaks that communion destroys the very roots of our existence. Seventy times seven times a day we must re-establish communion – and want to do so. My task is not to decide whether or not I will be in relationship with you but to realize that I am in communion with you: my life is yours, and your life is mine.”

— from the first issue of In Communion

Issue 47 – In Communion / Fall: 2007