Memories of Father Dumitru Stăniloae

The work and thought of Father Dumitru Stăniloae, the greatest theologian the Romanian nation has produced, of great spiritual stature, have remained fundamental landmarks in contemporary theological research. But the profound theological study of Fr. Stăniloae was also strongly reflected in the life of his Holiness. This is testified to by those who crossed his threshold to find a useful word or to obtain clarification of the questions that preoccupied him at a time that was not conducive to spiritual concerns. I talked to some of Father’s disciples to find out why they sought him out, what was so special about him, how he managed to create that spirit of communion. Their answers paint a picture of a very special priest and man.

“I never felt a shadow of superficiality in this priest”

Father Gheorghe Holbea is a Doctor of Orthodox Theology and a lecturer at the Department of Systematic Theology of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest. His doctoral thesis, presented in 2000 at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Thessaloniki, Greece, was entitled “The Theology of Father Dumitru Stăniloae and its connection with contemporary Eastern and Western Theology”. Father Gheorghe Holbea was also a student of Father Stăniloae.

At what point in your life did you meet Father Dumitru Stăniloae?

I met Father Dumitru Stăniloae during my studies. I discovered the support I needed, the steadfast tree rooted in the fertile soil of the Church. In a time of confusion, I felt in that space, in the proximity of the Father, the God-inspired atmosphere of the saints, where nature and the world, despite the transient forms through which we pass, open up to a completely new and renewing perspective. At a time when the aim was to depersonalise, to turn the individual into a cog in a mechanism called “the great mass”, Father Stăniloae spoke of the great mystery of the person revealed to us through the Saviour Jesus Christ. I remember how happy I was when he gave me the typewritten manuscript of The Immortal Face of God. I read just a few pages a day and felt a joy that sparked creative thoughts within me, and then with the overflowing enthusiasm of a teenager, I shared my joy with others.

Could you describe in a few words how you perceived Father Stăniloae’s spiritual stature?

Father Stăniloae united in his personality, in a harmonious way, the Orthodox priest with the theologian of great love and understanding, the married priest preoccupied with Philokalia, the man of advanced years but with a young spirit, full of love.

“Every Holy Father brought a special joy to Father Dumitru’s soul”.

Although for many he was only a strict guardian of dogma and our true faith, Father Dumitru showed that he was both warm-hearted and open-hearted. At that time he had just finished translating some of the works of St. Athanasius the Great, and he was enthusiastic about the personality of St. Athanasius, whom he felt inspired and helped in his daily work. Every Holy Father brought a special joy to Father Dumitru’s soul. Observing this, I realised the difference between Father Dumitru and the other translators of the works of the Holy Fathers. For Father Dumitru, the most important thing was the communion with the saints he was translating and who inspired him in this work of translation. When he spoke to you, you could feel how he was nourished by the Fathers, how he emphasised and assimilated their message, how he naturally embodied their life and teaching.

“Let us go to Jesus from the depths of our hearts!”

What effects did the encounter with Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae have on your soul and how have these effects shaped your life?

Meeting Father Dumitru gave me a sense of trust and confidence in God’s work in history, even in that period of my student days, filled with the rubble of crumbling churches, the fear and terror of being pursued at every moment by evil forces that tried to penetrate even into the deepest recesses of the soul, when Father Dumitru urged “let us go to Jesus from the depth of our hearts”. Even at that time of cowardice and crass compromise, in the name of the supposed interests of the family or the children, his presence, his deep trust in Orthodoxy, in Eastern values, in his nation, through Christ, preserved the blind passion of history on the path of the Resurrection. What strengthened me in the presence of his holiness was the attitude with which he approached every problem. I never felt any shadow of superficiality in Father Stăniloae, none of the superficial, ephemeral love or the sterile harshness that is desolating. His presence spread a clarity and a serenity that seemed liturgical, beyond the immediate story.

“Stăniloae knew how to create communion between different people”.

Professor Elena Solunca Moise, what was your first contact with Father Stăniloae?

I met Father Stăniloae for the first time in writing. Before the revolution, anyone who wanted to read could read. That’s how I ended up reading Father Stăniloae’s books, and as a graduate of a philosophy faculty with many open questions, of a philosophy that was fashionable at the time, I couldn’t find the answers to many questions. The encounter with Father Stăniloae in his books enlightened me, showed me where to look and what to find out, and indirectly I became in a way his disciple, I was in fact at that time the spiritual daughter of Father Galeriu.

“In his presence I felt that God is Love”.

It was with great shyness that I went to see Father Stăniloae after he had been elected a member of the Romanian Academy, first as a correspondent and then as a full member. And it was an admirable meeting. I spoke to Father and I felt that all my reservations about approaching him, which I had considered too great for my too modest nature, were useless; and this was because in his presence I felt that God is Love, and this love, which grew with each newcomer to Father’s house, was capable of raising one, almost without one being aware of it, to the height of his Christian thought and feeling.

Gradually my husband and I became regulars at the house. We went frequently. On the way to St. Sylvester’s Church, we would first pass by Father Stăniloae’s house, then we would go to Father Galeriu’s house and bring him news. This created a community. It was very beautiful with Father Stăniloae, that state of God-Love, which I must say I have never experienced around anyone else, but which I still experience now, just by reading his books or looking at his portrait.

“Father had the grace to bring out the faith in you”.

What subjects did you discuss with Father?

The topics were usually based on his books on the one hand, and on my philosophical training on the other. What was extraordinary about Father was that he had a maieutics, in Socratic terms, the grace to draw out of you, to make visible and perceptible the faith that you have in you, the divine light that you have in your soul. This, I think, was the great spiritual grace; around him you felt that you could see him, almost “born” God himself, out of your self, deeply covered with the alluvium of daily life, of our readings, of the education that each of us has received. Because of this, the closeness between us was one that I cannot describe in words.

It was amazing that he read you, and sometimes when he gave us a canon, he didn’t give it as a sentence. Well, you would leave there and go and chew on the thoughts and realise that absolutely everything he said was exactly what he was supposed to say to you, and you felt that.

Father was a spectacular, impressive man, in manifestation?

No. He was kind and gentle. I was a little jealous of my husband because at every meeting Father would take his head in his hands like this, like a cup, kiss him on the forehead and give him a blessing. He kissed me only three times a year.

Father Stăniloae’s gift was that he knew how to create communion between different people. Those of us who came to the house in Cernica Street came from different backgrounds, different professions. He managed to create a kind of communion, then he brought us closer together, sending us to each other according to our needs. He was like a conductor. He sent everyone and that’s how the communion was created, that we all felt around him, but together, as if we were all holding hands. Each one of us brought our contribution to that circle, but it was a contribution that he stimulated. That was the wonderful thing about Father Stăniloae, how he knew how to create that communion in which we all felt the love of Christ. And that cannot be expressed in words.

“Most of the time the priest wrote and translated”

The place where Father Dumitru Stăniloae worked as a priest for the last 10 years of his life was the church “Saint Nicholas” – Negustori in Bucharest. The parish priest of this church, Father Dinu Mihalcea, and confessor of Father Stăniloae, was a close friend of the great theologian. He shared with us some of his memories of the great theologian.

Father Dinu Mihalcea, how did you come to serve at the altar with Father Stăniloae?

I came in 1980 as a priest in the church “St. Nicholas” – Negustori. Father Stăniloae began to serve here in 1981. The Stăniloae family lived very close to the church, not even 300 metres from our house. After Fr. Stăniloae came to the church where we served, we began to go to his house and there we met the current Patriarch, His Beatitude Daniel, Fr. Ioanichie Bălan, Fr. Galeriu, Professor Ioan Bria, Sorin Dumitrescu, Horia Paștina, Leonida Lari, the psychiatrist Enăchescu, Costion Nicolescu.

Father Stăniloae came to our church every Sunday. He served, took communion and preached. He had a quiet, calm voice, but at the same time it had a great effect. His sermon, his simple words, captivated everyone. He was very kind, with a fatherly love for all. People came to kiss his hand at the end of the service and he patiently blessed everyone. If anyone asked a question, he was always ready to give an answer, an explanation, a clarification to anyone who wanted it. He was valued, appreciated and respected by all. He was never in a hurry, neither to speak nor to leave the church early.

“He wanted everyone to depart benefited from him”.

What was the atmosphere like in Father Staniloae’s house?

Father lived in unspeakable humility. At the same time, he had a broad soul. Everyone admired the fact that he was open to everyone. When we went to his house, he didn’t rush anyone or explain in any way that “I can’t stay, you have to go” or anything else. He stayed and if there were things that needed to be cleared up, he never backed down. He wanted everyone to leave while having benefited from that interaction. That’s why people loved him so much. His sermons were listened to attentively because they were not scholarly sermons, but sermons that everyone could understand.

I witnessed many of his conversations with those who came to ask him all sorts of questions. Anyone who came to see the priest at any time was welcome. Most of the time Father was writing and translating. There were piles of manuscripts in his room. Father had left many articles and manuscripts unprinted because at that time the printing press of the Biblical Institute could not publish his material because of communist censorship. He worked very hard and his works were of great value, but very few appreciated Father’s hard work at that time. He would have liked to see many of his articles published, but at that time nothing more could be done.

“When he spoke of God, he spoke as of his Father”.

Mr. Costion Nicolescu, main researcher at the Romanian Peasant Museum, doctor of Orthodox theology, writer and media man, also shared with us the grace-filled moments he spent with Father Dumitru Stăniloae.

How did you meet Father Dumitru Stăniloae?

Before I knew Father Dumitru Stăniloae personally, I heard about him in 1975 from a student at the Faculty of Theology. Later I bought his book on the life of St. Gregory Palamas. Of course I didn’t understand it – it seemed very complicated – but nevertheless it aroused an extraordinary respect in me. Then came the moment of meeting Father Stăniloae face to face.

“They made me feel at home, like one of their children”.

I went to the priest’s house with great trepidation; I found the address – it was a small block of flats on Cernica Street – I knocked on the door and the priestess opened it. I entered timidly. But the priest asked me who I was, what I was doing, as any man asks when you cross his threshold. I was too excited to understand anything and seemed to be looking forward to leaving. As I was leaving, something wonderful happened: the priestess said to me, with a light in her eyes and very serious: “Come again! Come again!” It was so urgent – but in a nice way – that I felt the urge to return, especially after I had overcome the stumbling block of the first time, after I had got to know the priest better, with his face of extraordinary light. The Mother Priestess was his arm, his voice and the first to understand him. When they were together, I felt at home, like one of their children.

Father’s house – a place of spiritual confirmation

Please describe Father’s office.

The room in which he lived looked like a chapel, something tiny, with a bookcase and an absolutely modest desk – like this one, the latest student’s desk, ordinary furniture and a television which only the priestess opened to listen to the ‘weather’ and then closed again. Among the books that were about to fall apart were old icons on glass. All this gave the impression of a more special nursery than an ordinary one, because it was animated by the presence of the priest. For me, Father’s house was a place of rest and spiritual confirmation. Why do I say validation? By coming from time to time to be with such a man, in whom the image of God is worked, that is, not left to decay, I could also have access to a certain peace, a kind of hesychasm that cures you of any disturbance.

“When he spoke of God, he spoke as of his Father”.

What made you feel a spiritual bond with him?

What attracted me to him very much was the fact that he knew how to listen to you, he shared your problems, you could see how he sincerely sympathised with you, when he asked you about your problems, then he put them in contact with God. You couldn’t say that you went to him and sat for a quarter or half an hour and everything was discussed about mundane, trivial matters. Always, after this earthly phase of our lives had run its course in one way or another, he would suddenly, and usually quite quickly, go into theology.

When he spoke of God, he spoke as of his Father, as a close friend, and that was contagious. When you were there, you forgot who you were, like when you take a dusty piece of wood to the fire and the wood ignites and becomes like fire. God was a close person. Love, Person, Trinity were some of His constants that He brought close to you. Suddenly you felt that God was with you, beside you, there, but not in a naive, childish or scholarly way, but in a natural, living way. For Father Dumitru, communication was not a theory, but an act that was undertaken every moment, with the whole person. It was a very personal communication. He knew how to listen to you attentively and to answer exactly what you needed. His words reached you and accompanied you. You always felt him close, close to you! I still feel it now… And in the encounter with him, God was never absent, a consoling and encouraging presence. His face, both outwardly and inwardly, had gone far along the path of God’s likeness.

(George Aniculoaie and Augustin Păunoiu – Ziarul Lumina)