St. Dumitru Stăniloae’s canonization is a joy for the theological world: The tradition of the first centuries is resumed

The news of the canonization of the illustrious theologian and confessor priest Dumitru Stăniloae brought joy among Romanian theologians.

Basilica.ro took the pulse of theology faculties in the country where Saint Dumitru Stăniloae taught: Bucharest and Sibiu.

Bucharest

“We have awaited with joy and hope the moment of the canonization of the most illustrious and representative Romanian theologian, Father Dumitru Stăniloae,” confesses Fr. Ștefan Buchiu, a disciple of the newly-canonized saint, former dean, and emeritus professor at “Patriarch Justinian” Orthodox Theological Faculty in Bucharest (FTOUB).

“With joy, like all who had him as a professor, who were spiritually formed and nourished by his high and profound theology, who took him as a model for theologizing, for knowing and living Orthodox spirituality. With hope, because through this decision of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the creed of Father Professor, transmitted to all his disciples, that theology is a service of the Church, in the Church, and for the Church, is confirmed.”

An Act of Justice and Honour

Father Ștefan Buchiu explains that “the recognition of Father Dumitru’s self-sacrifice in serving the Church through his personalist-communal theology, by bringing closer to us, today’s people, the Holy Fathers and their works, the imperishable Philokalic and liturgical Orthodox values, through the authentic Christian testimony offered in difficult times, is an act of justice and honour, whose amplitude and resonance will have positive consequences in the consciences of theologians, clerics, monks, and all Orthodox believers.”

The father professor is convinced that “the one who inspiredly described, like no other, the delicate and firm image of holiness in the pages of his Dogmatics, has fully fulfilled it in his person, through the grace of the Most Holy Trinity and through his own effort: the Holy Confessor Priest Dumitru Stăniloae!”

A Responsibility for FTOUB

“We receive with great joy the decision of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church to canonize 16 venerable and confessor Romanians, among whom is also Father Dumitru Stăniloae, considered by many to be the greatest Orthodox theologian of the 20th century,” stated Father Cosmin-Daniel Pricop, the current dean of Bucharest’s Faculty of Orthodox Theology.

The dean mentioned that Saint Dumitru Stăniloae was a professor of Ascetic and Mystical Theology and later of Dogmatic and Symbolic Theology at the Theological Institute of university level in Bucharest, currently the “Patriarch Justinian” Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Bucharest.

“The canonization of Father Stăniloae, a man-institution, as he was rightly characterized, constitutes, for the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Bucharest, an essential responsibility, both for the teaching staff and the students, towards preserving, valorizing, and deepening the theological heritage that Father Stăniloae left us. At the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Bucharest, we have this holy duty to try to rise to the dignity of heirs of a theologian, professor, and saint of the Church,” said Fr. Cosmin Pricop.

Sibiu

The joy is also felt at the “Saint Andrew Șaguna” Orthodox Theological Faculty in Sibiu, an institution led by Saint Dumitru Stăniloae in the interwar period.

The dean of the Sibiu faculty, Father Constantin-Horia Oancea: “The canonization of Father Dumitru Stăniloae and other pious and reverent confessor fathers represents a significant event in the life of the Romanian Orthodox Church – if not the most important since 1989.”

Firstly, said the dean from Sibiu, the inclusion among the saints of the 16 remarkable figures of Romanian Orthodoxy is a recognition of their status as confessors of the faith during the communist persecution.

“I am glad that, in a world where false values are increasingly promoted, our Church offers Romanians strong moral benchmarks as help for a balanced life.”

Resuming the Tradition of the Early Centuries

“The canonization of Father Dumitru Stăniloae has a special significance in the life of all Orthodox Churches, as Father Stăniloae was long seen as a personality of Orthodox Theology.”

In this way, observed Dean Constantin Oancea, in our Church, “the tradition of the most glorious period of the Church is resumed, the period of the early centuries, when not only martyrs and pious with improved life were honoured as saints, but also the teachers of the Church.”

“Father Stăniloae thus continues the line of great teachers of the universal Church, joining remarkable teachers such as Saints Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandria, Maximus the Confessor, to name just a few from this long list of luminaries of Christian theology.”

“I am convinced that, over the centuries, theologians will read the writings of Saint Dumitru Stăniloae with the same reverence with which they will read the works of the Holy Fathers of the first Christian millennium.”

“We can only pray to Saint Dumitru Stăniloae to turn his prayers also towards the Faculty of Theology in Sibiu, an institution he led in the interwar period, and to inspire today’s theologians with that spirit of peace, prayer, and light that permeates his writings,” added Fr. Constantin Oancea for Basilica.ro.

Photos: Basilica.ro & Trinitas TV

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