ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

Communication and Communion 167information, phatic communication is used to open and keep the channels open.It conveys sociability (sincere or hypocritical), politeness; phatic signals may beverbal or non-verbal: greetings, “small talk”, handshakes, eye contact, andclichés. But even at this (sometimes) despised level communication can beconverted to communion. In fact, the praying mind could invest authenticity andreal efficiency in the so-called “ordinary”, human communication. It could makeit really empathetic. Only through epiclesis, the invocation of the Holy Spirit,the other in front of me could become my neighbor, my brother, and, mostimportantly, God`s image. A short, simple prayer going on in the back of mymind is what could heal me from my aggressiveness, malice, the need to besuperior, the need to win. Unfortunately our communicative situations are toooften seen as a variety of conflict, as an instance of the eternal struggle forpower. The many books on the art of communication legitimize this distortedreality. We are advised to avoid manipulation but, why not, through the samepsychological “secrets”, we learn how to manipulate, how to overcome the otherperson or at least seduce them into buying our products, our interpretations, ourtheories, our worldview or our lifestyle.Communion means Eucharist; but it also translates the Greek koinonia(the Latin equivalent is communicatio). Other versions for koinonia are“community”, “sharing”, “solidarity”, “participation”, “fellowship” (“thefellowship of the Spirit”, Phil. 2,1). Or, in 1John, 1-3: “and our fellowship isindeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” 8 .Knowing that the word is creative energy, we should be careful how weuse it. Father Rafail Noica admits this energy can become dangerous, evenlethal, when used inadequately. 9 He quotes Father Sophronie Saharov who usedto say that the word had metaphysical roots, so, it is much more than an8 Here are some of the occurrences of koinonia in The New Testament:“1 FundamentallyGod, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is sharing himself with us. I Cor. 1:9 (God called you into thekoinonia of his Son); 11 Cor. 13:13 (The grace of Christ, the love of God and the koinonia of theHoly Spirit); Phil. 2:1 (The koinonia of the Spirit); I John 1:3 (Our koinonia is with the Father andwith Jesus Christ); 11 Peter 1:4 (We are koinonoi, sharers, in the divine nature). 2. If we havekoinonia with God, we cannot have it with evil (I Cor. 10:20; 11 Cor. 6:14; Eph. 5:11; I John 1:6;Rev. 18:4) and this means avoiding false teachers (11 John 11; 1 Tim. 5:22). 3. Koinonia in theGospel (Phil. 1:5); to share in its blessings (I Cor. 9:23); koinonia in grace (Phil. 1:7; koinonia ofyour faith (Philem. 6). 4. Koinonia in the sufferings of Christ (Phil. 3: 1; 1 Peter 4:13; Rev. 1:9),and in the sufferings of disciples (11 Cor. 1:7; Phil. 4:14; Heb. 10:35) so as to share his glory (IPeter 5:1). 5. Koinonia with fellow Christians (II Cor.8:23; Gal. 2:9; Philem. 17; 1 John 1:3 and 7;Acts 2:42). In Luke 5: 10 it refers to the business partnership between Peter, James and John. 6.Koinonia includes sharing possessions (Acts 2:44, and especially through Paul's collection fromGentile churches for poor Jewish Christians - Rom. 12:13 and 15:26; 11 Cor. 9:13; Phil. 4:15; 1Tim. 6:18; Heb. 13:16).7. Koinonia in the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper (I Cor.10: 16).” (Martin Reardon, June 1998, Sharing Communion: The New Testament Legacy,http://www.interchurchfamilies.org/resource/eucharist/legacy.shtm).9 Cf. Celălalt Noica. Mărturii ale monahului Rafail Noica însoţite de câteva cuvinte defolos ale părintelui Symeon, Bucureşti, Editura Anastasia, 2002, editia a III-a, p.67.