Dumitru Stăniloae

Dumitru Stăniloae (Romanian pronunciation: [duˈmitru stəniˈlo̯aje]; 29 November [O.S. 16 November] 1903 - 5 October 1993) was a Romanian Eastern Orthodox priest, theologian, academic, and professor. Father Stăniloae worked for over 45 years on a comprehensive Romanian translation of the Philokalia, a collection of writings by the Church Fathers, together with the hieromonk, Arsenie Boca, who brought manuscripts from Mount Athos. His masterpiece, The Dogmatic Orthodox Theology (1978), makes him one of the most reputed Christian Theologians of the second half of the 20th century. He produced valuable comments on the works of the Fathers of the Church, such as Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor, or Athanasius the Great.

Biography

Dumitru Stăniloae was born on November 16, 1903, in Vlădeni, in what is now Braşov County, Romania. He was the last of five children of Rebeca (mother) and Irimie (father). His mother was a priest's niece. On 10 February 1917 he went to Braşov to study at the Andrei Şaguna Confessional Humanist Lyceum. He received a fellowship from Gojdu Foundation in 1918 and a fellowship from Cernăuţi University in 1922.^[1] Disappointed by the quality of the manuals and the teaching methods, he left the University for the University of Bucharest after one year. He was offered a fellowship by Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan at the Metropolitan Center in Sibiu in 1924 during the Easter Fast. Stăniloae graduated from Cernăuţi University in 1927, receiving a fellowship to study theology in Athens. In the fall of 1928, he earned his Ph.D. degree at Cernăuţi^[1] (Thesis: Life and work of Dosoftei of Jerusalem and his connections with Romanian Principalities). The Metropolitan Center in Sibiu offered him a fellowship in Byzantology and Dogmatics. He went to Munich to attend the courses of Prof. August Heisenberg (father of physicist Werner Heisenberg), and then went to Berlin, Paris and Istanbul to study the work of Gregory Palamas. He married on October 4, 1930 and had two twins in 1931, named Dumitru and Maria.

Stăniloae was ordained a deacon on October 8, 1931 and was ordained a priest on September 25, 1932. He had another daughter, Lidia, on October 8 of the following year, and became the director of Telegraful Român (Romanian Telegraph) newspaper, meeting and befriending Nichifor Crainic. In June 1936 Stăniloae became rector of the Theological Academy in Sibiu. In 1940, at the initiative of poet Sandu Tudor the Rugul aprins (Burning altar) group is founded. It was composed of hieromonk Ivan Kulighin (confessor of Russian Metropolitan of Rostov, refugee at Cernica), hieromonk Benedict Ghius, hieromonk Sofian Boghiu, Prof. Alex. Mironescu, poet Vasile Voiculescu, architect Constantin Joja, father Andrei Scrima, Ion Marin Sadoveanu. The group, gathering regularly at the Cernica and Antim monasteries, constitutes a rejuvenation of the Christian life in Bucharest. In 1946 he was asked by Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan, under pressure Petru Groza^[2] to resign as rector of the Theological Academy in Sibiu. He remained a professor until 1947, when he was transferred to the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Theology, as the Ascetics and Mystics chair. Due to political unrest in Romania in 1958 following a split in the Romanian Communist Party, Stăniloae was arrested by the Securitate.^[3] on September 5. While in Aiud prison, his only surviving child, Lidia, gives birth to his grandchild, Dumitru Horia. Lidia is asked to leave the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Physics because of the arrest of her father. Stăniloae is freed from prison in 1963 and begins work as a functionary at the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and begins teaching again in October. He is invited to conferences in Freiburg and Heidelberg by Prof. Paul Miron. He receives the approval for the trip from the State Department of Cults who wants to change the image of Romania.^[4] While lecturing at Oxford University, he became friends with the theologian Donald Allchin. He retired in 1973.

Stăniloae became Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Thessaloniki in 1976, Doctor Honoris Causa of the Saint-Serge Orthodox Institute in Paris in 1981, Doctor Honoris Causa of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade in 1982, and Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bucharest in 1992. He was awarded the Dr. Leopold Lucas prize of the Faculty of Theology in Tübingen in 1980 and the Cross Sf. Augustin in Canterbury in 1982. Stăniloae died on October 5, 1993 at the age of 90.

See also

• Lucian Turcescu
• Vladimir Lossky

Works

Christogram with Jesus Prayer in Romanian: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner. The image appears on Romanian Philokalia book cover.

• Catholicism after the War, Sibiu, 1932
• Life and teachings of Gregory Palamas, Sibiu, 1938
• Orthodoxy and Romanianism, Sibiu, 1939
• The standing of Mr. Lucian Blaga on Christianity and Orthodoxism, Sibiu, 1942
• Jesus Christ or man's restoration, Sibiu, 1943
• Philokalia (translation); vol. 1: Sibiu, 1946; vol. 2: Sibiu, 1947; vol. 3: Sibiu, 1948; vol. 4: Sibiu, 1948; vol. 5: Bucharest, 1976; vol. 6: Bucharest, 1977; vol. 7: Bucharest, 1978; vol. 8: Bucharest, 1979; vol. 9: Bucharest, 1980.
• Uniatism in Transylvania, an attempt to dismember the Romanian people, Bucharest, 1973
• Treaty of Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Bucharest, 1978
• Dieu est Amour, Geneve, 1980
• Theology and the Church, New York, 1980
• Praying, freedom, holiness, Athens, 1980
• Priere de Jesus et experience de Saint Esprit, Paris, 1981
• Orthodox Spirituality, Bucharest, 1981
• Moral Orthodox Theology, vol. 2, Bucharest, 1981
• St. Gregory of Nyssa - Writings (translation), Bucharest, 1982
• Orthodoxe Dogmatik, 1985
• Le genie de l'orthodoxie, Paris, 1985
• Spirituality a communion in Orthodox lithurgy, Craiova, 1986.
• God's eternal face, Craiova, 1987
• St. Athanasius the Great - Writings (translation), Bucharest, 1987
• Orthodox Dogmatic Theology Studies (Christology of St. Maximus the Confessor, Man and God, St. Symeon The New Theologian, Hymns of God's love), Craiova, 1991
• St. Cyril of Alexandria - Writings (translation), Bucharest, 1991

Quotes

• "The glory to which man is called is that he should grow more godlike by growing ever more human."^[5]
• "Love for God, or more strictly, thought taken for God, represents a continuous contribution toward more and more authentic relations among humans."^[5]
• "Humans, must work and think in solidarity with regard to the transformation of the gifts of nature. Thus it is through the mediation of nature that solidarity is created among humans, and work, guided by thought, is a principle virtue creative of communion among humans."^[5]

External links

• (Romanian) Dumitru Stăniloae article in Dictionary of Romanian Theologians [1]
• (Romanian) Freely downloadable interviews (audio and video) can be found at www.sfaturiortodoxe.ro and www.ortodox.tv
• (Romanian) From East to West, interview with Sorin Dumitrescu on Eastern vs. Western spirituality [2]
• (Romanian) Dacă n-ar fi iubirea Tatălui şi a Duhului, n-ar fi nici Hristos, interview [3]
• (Romanian) Teologie Dogmatică Ortodoxă freely downloadable at Bilioteca Teologică Digitală (Digital Theologic Library)
• (Romanian) Scurtă interpretare teologică a naţiunii by Dumitru Stăniloae
• (Romanian) Învierea Domnului şi importanţa ei universală by Dumitru Stăniloae
• (German) Liviu Jitianu: Christologische Symphonie von Mensch und Welt. Grundzüge einer neupatristischen orthodoxen Theologie im Werk von Dumitru Staniloae. Dissertation, Freiburg University, Freiburg 2006 ("Christological symphony of man and world. Outlines of a neo-patristic orthodox theology in the works of Dumitru Staniloae"; online version)

Further reading

• Cleman, O. Dumitru Staniloae. Le genie de l’Orthodoxie (Paris, Desclee de Brouwer, 1985).
• Louth, A. "The Orthodox Dogmatic Theology of Dumitru Staniloae," Modern Theology, 2 (1997), 253-266.
• Miller, Ch. The Gift of the World. An introduction to the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae. Еdinburgh (Edinburgh, T&T Clark, 2000).
• Lucian Turcescu, ed., Dumitru Stăniloae: tradition and modernity in theology, Iași, Romania; Palm Beach, Florida: Center for Romanian Studies, 2002. ISBN 9739432298
• Lucian Turcescu, "Dumitru Staniloae", Commentary and Original Source materials in English translation in The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature, 2 vols., eds. John Witte, Jr. and Frank Alexander (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2005) 1:685-711 and 2:537-558. The two volumes received the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles Award for 2006.
• Toma, S.-L. Η πατερικη παραδοσις εις το εργον του π. Δημητριου Στανιλοαε και ο συγχρονος κοσμος (Θεσσαλονικη: Π.Πουπναπα, 2007).
• Ivana Noble, Doctrine of Creation within the Theological Project of Dumitru Stăniloae, Prague, Czech Republic; Communio Viatorum, Volume 2007, XLIX, Number 2, pp. 185–209.
• Mihail Neamtu, 'Between the Gospel And the Nation: Dumitru Stăniloae's Ethno-Theology.' ARCHAEUS. Studies in History of Religions (X (3)/2006)'[4]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Cernăuţi (Romanian) = Чернівці, Chernivtsi (Ukrainian). This article uses the Romanian form for the name of this city in northern Bukovina.
2. ^ First communist Premier of Romania.
3. ^ Political police force of Communist Romania.
4. ^ In Communist Romania a trip to Western countries was not possible without approval from the regime structures.
5. ^ ^{a b c} From "The Experience of God", Holy Cross Orthodox Press

Persondata
Name	Staniloae, Dumitru
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1903
Place of birth
Date of death	5 October 1993
Place of death