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Dear byzcath

I was talking to one of my theologian friends here at Oxford. His a postgraduate Orthodox student and he told me something I'd not been aware of about Fr Dumitru Stăniloae. He said that many of the Western based theologians like Frs John Meyendorff and Nikolai Afanasiev did not enjoy the ear of the Orthodox East (geographically) like Fr Stăniloae. Moreover, he said Fr Stăniloae theology was more representative of Orthodox thought and that Fr Stăniloae was critical of many of the stances Fr Meyendorff and Afanasiev took.

Is anyone here able to tell me more about Fr Stăniloae and his reception in Orthodoxy as compared with Fr Meyendorff and the like?

Father Dumitru is a very respected theologian, some consider him to be one of the greatest theologians of the post war period in Orthodoxy. He was a confessor, and suffered and was imprisoned for a time under the dictatorship in Romania.

It is not easy to compare him to the Russian theologians (Meyendorff and others) because his own studies were so different. He himself studied in Greece, at a time when Orthodox theology there was very influenced by latin scholastic method. His early writings reflect this influence. He had some writings (perhaps penned in his name while he was in prison, under pressure from the atheistic authority?) which were polemic in tone (and bitterly anti-Catholic).

His great work is the translation of the Philocalia into Romanian, with his own great commentary. Rejecting his own scholastic education, he decided that a real rebirth in Orthodox theology would be best founded on the spiritual and patristic synthesis he read in the Philocalia. Like a new Paisius, he sowed the seeds of the spiritual and monastic revival in Romania, and today we are witnessing its strength.

Great theology, rooted firmly in the fathers, distilled through trials and personal suffering, expressed in the language of prayer! You can't beat that....

His books are being translated into English, and are well worth any time spent with them.

the unworthy,
Elias

The Paris school (Meyendorff, et. al.) I think has a certain amount of popularity among some people in the West. I don't think their thinking has gained a lot of support in traditional Orthodox areas though, and there are many criticisms to be found of them.

Fr Stăniloae I think would be considered much more in line with traditional Orthodoxy.

Andrew

With regret, I must add that Father Staniloae lent his highly respected name and his pen to mendacious accounts of the "voluntary" reunion of the Greek-Catholics with the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate.

Incognitus

Dear Incognitus,

I was told by a friend of Father Dumitru, that some of these diatribes, penned in his name, and printed in the Journal of the Romanian Patriarchate, may not actually have been written by him, but may have been published while either Father Dumitru or members of his family were in prison.

That the "mendacious accounts" penned in Father Dumitru's name (if not actually written by him) happen to correspond exactly to the official view of these events held by the Ceacescu (communist) authorities, is at least, suspicious.

Father Dumitru's name was internationally known, and so was something to be used by propagandists. I do not know how I would have responded if members of my family were threatened, and that regime was capable of much cruelty.

Incognitus is right, and the accounts are troubling. Father Dumitru's anti-Catholic nonsense is also not worthy of him, for a great theologian to present cartoon sumaries of Catholic doctrine in order to attack it is disappointing.

But I have always hoped that these were written to satisfy a government 'request', and that it was a price he paid to help his more sublime work in the Romanian Philocalia to be printed.

the unworthy,
Elias

I haven't read any of Fr. Dumitru's anti-Catholic writings, but having spent 20 days last summer in Romania surrounded by very pious, enthusiastic and zealous Orthodox Christians, I can say that it is quite common to find Orthodox clergy and laity (and the pious ones at that!) who are viruently anti-Greek Catholic; it seems to go along with the other two prevalent hatreds of Hungarians and Gypsies.

Dave

Dear brother in Christ, Myles,

I have read and meditated on more writings of Father Dumitru Staniloae such as (I write in English) "Most Holy Trinity or in the beginning it was the love", "Jesus Christ or the restauration of the man", "The Orthodox ascetics and mistics", "The Orthodox Dogmatic Theology" and other little writings.

Brother Myles, you should know that I've also read "The Byzantine Theology" of Father Meyendorff.

Why is Father Staniloae one of the most great theologians of the entire Church? Because he lived what he has written.

I have seen him, Myles, and I listened to him. If you want, you may skip his years of communist jail etc., but that Father lived with high intensity the Orthodox faith.

As you know he translated the whole Philokalia, 12 volumes, from Greek into Romanian. A large work. But the Romanian Philokalia is somehow unique by his footnotes.

That it is the true work of Father Dumitru. If now I am Christian, it is only due to Father Dumitru and I am in debt to him forever.

His writings are not scholastic, but they vibrate of life. "The Most Holy Trinity or in the beginning it was the love" is one of my favourite writtings.

If you may, read, please, this work "Ose comprendre que je T'aime" written by Father Marc-Antoine Costa de Beauregard and Father Dumitru Staniloae. But you might read this [amazon.ca] too.

His best theology is in those footnotes of Philokalia, so I see. He is a great theologian and he liked a lot the writting of Saint Maxim the Confessor. See Ambigua for example.

I told you, brother, how much I am able to share this time. I pass a difficult time and my mind is not too focused. Myles, I hope that you find some useful for you in the above words.

Now...

We all are called to have true love for God and all our brethren, for all, no matter if Christian or not, etc.

Saint Marc the Ascet has written also that there are three giants who put in danger the poor soul: the laziness, the forgetness and the ignorance.

I have no idea how from a very simple question as: Is anyone here able to tell me more about Fr Stăniloae and his reception in Orthodoxy as compared with Fr Meyendorff and the like? this thread arrived to such a phrase as this one, for example:

Why is there on a Christian forum such a word like hatred?

Father Dumitru Staniloae had very clear ideas regarding the ecumenism, the Romano-Catholic Church and so on.

For him the Orthodoxy is the heart itself of the Christian Church and he hoped that it will arrive one day in which the two major Churches will approach.

For this approaching there is required a lot of knowledge, but not the shadow of the third giant.

And reciprocal forgiveness and humbleness. There is no it seems, but only exact knowledge.

I apologize for my English, I prefer to end here and if I am still a member of this forum is only due to the great love of many members: Romano-Catholic, Byzantine-Catholic or Orthodox.

Words like hatred and seems will lead only to division.

Forgive me.

In Christ, Marian +

I apologize for my use of the word "hatred" in my previous post, and for implying that Fr. Dumitru was a hate-filled man; I'm sure that was not the case. Also, my limited experience in Romania should not be taken as representative of the whole of Romanian Orthodoxy, which is an extremely beautiful, vibrant and strong expression of the Orthodox faith.

However, I did get the impression that the dislike of the Greek Catholics is not something unusual in Orthodox circles. I'm sure there are various cultural and political reasons for this, though, and they might just be expressions of the human weaknesses and insecurities that we all share.

Dave

Dear Marian,

In the American vernacular 'hatred' is not as strong as it is in other languages.

I am sure that Dave did not mean to offend. I myself have sometimes carelessly used this word to describe relations between peoples (Greeks and Turks for instance or Democrats and Republicans).

A better word is definitely 'dislike' but most Americans use the vernacular of 'hate' to mean 'dislike'. We use it flippantly without really meaning it.

We instead tend to use 'loathe' or 'despise' to mean the intense 'dislike' or 'hatred' which you are thinking of.

This is just how our particular geographic version of English has evolved.

In Christ,
Alice

Myles, there are complications because of geopolitical conditions as well. The great minds at St. Sergius like Afanasiev (a great man, in my opinion) in Paris and the surrounding emigre community were censured behind the Iron Curtain. In the post-Sergian MP, and other national Orthodox churches, those works were simply not available until fairly recently.

I too am greatly disturbed by the hyperpolemic tone of some of Fr. Dumitru's works. But he does have some good stuff mixed in with the chaff, no doubt.
DD

It is a miracle that Father Dumitru Staniloae translated Philokalia into Romanian.

I think that his footnotes must be translated into English. They are his true work, the work of the Holy Spirit is felt in every his word.

Father Staniloae had no hyperpolemic tone in his writings. He was a man of peace and tolerance. He emphasized very much that we are the children of God and we must love God and all the people.

However, he lived in his heart what he wrote. Indeed. And as he himself testified, the best prayer of the heart was in the coldness and darkness of the communist jail.

In that jail there were Orthodox, Greek-Catholic, Romano-Catholic priests and simple believers.

The Church was under hard attack. It was very sad what happened to the Greek-Catholic Church in Translivania after the world war II.

Father Dumitru Staniloae was a gentle person. He was somehow sad for how the Christianism evolved in the Western part of Europe, in the Romano-Catholic Church and Protestantism. But he wrote his ideas with calm and peace.

He stressed a lot the importance of the concept of mystery.

He was like a burning candle and lived his life for the Orthodox Church.

You should know, brethren in Christ, that he also had clear ideas regarding the Russian or Greek (Orthodox) theology.

However, this Father remains in the consciousness
of very many people as a man of love and peace. Many souls changed their lives and now live in Church.

Forgive me.

In Christ, Marian +

I have not read all of Fr. Staniloae's writings by any means, but I have read volume one of his dogmatic theology entitled "The Experience of God," and I've read an essay he wrote on the problems surrounding the filioque, which is called "The Procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and His Relation to the Son, as the Basis of our Deification and Adoption," and I found nothing in either of these texts that I would call hyperpolemical against the West. He is of course critical of Western Scholastic theology, but his criticisms are fair -- at least in my opinion -- and he never criticizes the West without explaining why he disagrees with its theological approach.

In general I agree; indeed The Experience of God ranks among Father Dumitru's best. Actually Volume II I believe is better; it dwells more on deification. When he stays within the realm of his Patristic heritage, he is good - his "Orthodox Spirituality" is also worthwhile.

His remarks alluded to by Fr. Elias above regarding the forced reunion of the Greek Catholics into Orthodoxy (if they are in fact, his) are akin to the praising of the 1946 "pseudo-synod" which intended to "reintegrate" the Greek Catholics into Orthodoxy. If these are his works, they are almost entirely polemic in nature, and unbecoming considering the suffering and martyrdom that was ongoing by the Greek Catholics at the time.
FDD