A Russian theological concept (from sobor, “council” or “gathering”) developed by Aleksei Khomiakov denoting the organic, Spiritfilled unity of the Church as a communion of persons—neither authoritarian uniformity nor mere individualism. Zizioulas notes, however, that the term originally referred more concretely to the actual gathering of the Church in eucharistic assembly, and that later notions of both “universality” and sobornost can obscure the original meaning of the Church as a concrete communion gathered in one place.
