ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

Communication and Communion 173Ghost (ruah, pneuma). The theology of the Word is also pneumatology. Insidethe Church, the word becomes mysterion, sacrament (different from the standardmeaning of ritual), because the entire cult is dialogical. As beneficiaries of theliturgy, we are very much like Luca and Cleopa when they heard Christ’s wordson the way to Emaus and dined with Him, eucharistically, after Resurrection:“And he entered in to stay with them. And it came to pass as he was at table withthem, having taken the bread, he blessed, and having broken it, gave it to them.And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he disappeared fromthem. And they said to one another: Was not our heart burning in us as he spoketo us on the way and as he opened the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24, 32-36).The Lord has taught us how to make responsible use of the word. In thislight, all the relativist theories of communication, taking into account a lot ofvariables (context or situation of enunciation, status of sender and receiver, age,gender, education of the speaker etc.) appear as useless complications. “Again,you have heard that it has been said to the ancients: Thou shall not forswearthyself, but shall render to the Lord what thou hast sworn. But I say unto you,Do not swear at all; neither by the heaven, because it is the throne of God; norby the earth, because it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem because it isthe city of the great King. Neither shall thou swear by thy head, because thoucanst not make one hair white or black. But let your word be Yea, yea; Nay, nay;but what is more than this is from evil.” (Matthew 5, 33-37).From His example, we can learn when to speak, when to remain silent,how to embrace the paradox, the truths that defy the human logic. For logosmeans also logic, reason, but not the one we are used to. The gospel transcendsthe Aristotelian logic (happiness as defined in the sermon on the mountain).Surely the saints knew, and they learned from the Word Himself, and from theHoly Spirit. What Derrida called logocentrism is perhaps this central presence ofthe Word, that is, God, that is, “the Way, the Truth and the Life”. Thisunderstanding of the Word is in clear opposition with linguistic, structuraldefinitions. The word as being a combination of a signified and a signifier isadequate, perhaps, to the decayed status of language, in a post-Babelian world.So, confusio linguarum and the imperfections of the natural idioms areconsequences of sin. Still, there is no real need of the complicated, utopianspeculations concerning the lost perfect language 25 . Christ has assumed ournature, our body in order to restore it. Why should we not trust Him that He alsowanted to redeem our language? Communion connotes presence, intimacy,epiphany, love, peace, confidence, hope. It is that privileged moment (kairos)when even ideal, utopian communication is no longer necessary. It is the placeof silence full of faith and understanding. No wonder love (agape) is theultimate virtue in Christianity. Saint Paul gave us that unique eulogy of love thatmakes useless all the moral or psychological theories and philosophies that try toreify human relationships: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but25 Cf. Umberto Eco, În căutarea limbii perfecte, Iaşi, Editura Polirom, 2002.