KRŠĆANSKA SVETOST KAO OBJAVA BOŽJE SVETOSTI
CHRISTIAN HOLINESS AS A REVELATION OF GOD’S HOLINESS

Summary/Abstract: Based on 1 Peter that the Christians are a chosen race, a holy nation called to proclaim τας αρετάς – the mighty acts of Him who called us out of darkness, the author discusses certain aspects of holiness or sanctity from the perspective of the tradition of the Orthodox Church. After a brief introduction which reminds that holiness is the final affirmation of the eternal human existence as a unique personality, the paper brings some generalities about holiness as a theocentric concept, but it also asserts a sort of historical development of the concept, as well as adding new content to the concept. During the apostolic and postapostolic period, the concept of holy pertained to each member of the Church, especially each participant in the Eucharistic communion. In the period after the prosecution, the concept was narrowed down from all to some, prominent and outstanding, members of the Church. Moreover, a spatial shifting of sanctity from the parish temple to the monastery and the desert can also be observed, and in particular, what author emphasizes by analyzing the theory of sanctification, the shifting of sanctity from the nave to the altar of the temple, that is to say, from the ‘λαός’ (the people of God) to the clergy. Although the theory of sanctification has never been fully actualized in the Orthodox Church, its consequences can be noticed even today.

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