Synchoresis – Source of Hope
Synchoresis (óõã÷þñçóéò) is the Greek
word for forgiveness. Originally it meant "to go (÷ùñῶ, choro) together (óýí, syn)"; later it
also acquired the meanings "being together in a
certain space", "living together" (óýí-÷ῶñïò, syn-choros). In
ecclesiastical language and, as a consequence, increasingly in everyday use,
the latter meanings have become more important: "being together in a
certain space", "living together". In a more active sense there
is also the idea of "giving another person 'space'". In our everyday
language today, synchoresis also means "forgive
me" or "forgiveness".
Both meanings, that of accepting another person within a shared space and that
of giving the other person space in which to live, have a particular
ecclesiological and socio-ethical weight in the theological thought of the
Greek church fathers, as coming from the centre of New Testament faith, the
gospel of the forgiveness of sins. This short article is intended only to
indicate a few aspects of that thinking for today.
Globalization has brought about a new sense of the living space we share and
consequently given a new reality to coexistence. Every day a world-wide horizon
opens out before us. Instant communications and information systems are
bringing what used to be far away near to us, letting us participate – whether
we are happy about it or not! – in events at both the
microcosmic and macrocosmic levels.
However, the feeling of delight and enjoyment of vast spaces can quickly turn
into feelings of being restricted, that threaten and
frighten us. What many people are increasingly experiencing is the narrowing of
their personal living space and of their national and cultural space. Unceasing
changes in the coordinates of our lives, along with the ever-accelerating
mobility that brings peoples, religions and cultures closer together, cause us
to feel that what we are accustomed to, what we trust and take for granted, is
becoming questionable. The abundance of differences that many people are
encountering makes them feel hemmed in, oppressed. This is the cause of all
sorts of worries and fears.
Can this feeling of confinement be transformed into a wide expanse, a freedom
that enriches us? Archimandrite Vasileios, Abbot on
the Holy Mt. Athos, seems to have had the secret
revealed to him:
"All of creation, space and time, are valuable because they are the
revelation of Christ's love. Love turns space into a paradise… Your heart
rejoices when it is near those who are humble, those who are full of love. You
find space [near them]… [but] you find no space…near
the selfish. If you do not love, your space becomes narrower and your time
becomes shorter… If you give space to others in your actions, you give space to
yourself. [But] if you frighten others away, reject them or hate them,
basically you are hating yourself."
"Love is patient; love is kind . . . it bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor.
13:4,7). Like a key that opens a room, love opens up
another way of seeing, for synchoresis without any
sort of discrimination. There is a reason why Noah’s ark is one of the oldest
types or symbols of the church. As the instrument of God’s love, of rescue from
the flood, the ark offered space as a refuge for humankind and for the entire
animal world, "two of every kind . . . male and female . . . of clean
animals and of animals that are not clean" (Genesis 6).
The flood that threatens us today is the realisation
that, in so many ways, Plautus was right: "lupus
est homo homini"
(human beings are like wolves toward one another). Jean-Paul Sartre's way of
expressing it was even more tragic: “L’enfer, c’est l’autre” (hell is the other
person).
Our Lord Jesus Christ identified with other persons, even "the least of
these" (Matthew 25:40), and lifted them up as an eschatological criterium for judgment or for eternal life in God. As the
ark of God’s grace, the church is called to transmit a gleam of hope to them,
those who have nowhere to lay their heads (cf. Matthew 8:20).
The CEC member churches, during dark times, set up
signs of hope of many kinds throughout
Dr. Alexandros
K. Papaderos
Orthodox Academy of