The Servant Church and Christian Unity: Nicholas Zernov’s Rethinking of Orthodox Ecclesiology

Much of Nicholas Zernov’s life-work was connected with Christian unity. He gradually abandoned his Orthodox messianism and moved toward an ecclesiology where the various Christian churches are members of the Body of Christ, have both particular gifts and blind-spots, need each other and can learn from each other. Indeed, he sees this as part of God’s plan “to lead us all to a fuller understanding of truth than was accessible to us as divided Christians on our own.” This paper explores Zernov’s thinking on ecclesiology and its implications for the Orthodox Church as a servant of Christian unity.