Filocalia ca mărturie de lumină și speranță în timpuri grele. Despre volumul VI al Filocaliei
Philokalia as a Testimony of Light and Hope in Difficult Times: On Volume VI of the Philokalia

Author(s): Dumitru Horia IONESCU
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion
Published by: Editura Doxologia
Keywords: Philokalia; 1977; Saint Niketas Stethatos; Saint Simeon the New Theologian; Saint Dumitru Stăniloae; prayer; freedom; atheism;
Summary/Abstract: The Romanian Philokalia translated by Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae represents, without any doubt, the apologetic combination of academic theology and Orthodox spirituality. The publication of the translation of the philokalic texts, accompanied by Father Stăniloae’s commentaries, during the communist regime, was a true miracle. In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to the publication of volume VI of Philokalia, an event that I personally witnessed. I wish to present this event to you in the conviction that God’s will is always stronger than any human form of political censorship or militant atheism. Father Stăniloae wanted this volume to be a tribute to the one to whom we owe the knowledge of the life of St. Simon the New Theologian, namely Pious Niketas Stethatos. The year 1977 was marked by the earthquake of the 4th of March to which were added other sad events that marked the life of Father Stăniloae and which I have related in this article. What is more, the atheist communist regime was leaving its mark on all levels of Romanian society. Fr. Stăniloae had to take the typed text to the Department of Religious Denominations fighting for every page and every word. But he was not alone. The whole family, my grandmother, my mother and myself, did our best to help him, arranging the pages of the manuscript one by one, after it had been typed, and always stanging by his side. We knew that his attempt was on a knife-edge, we knew that at any moment the publication of the text could be banned, we knew that he could even be arrested for his audacity in attempting to publish fundamental texts of Christian spirituality, but we were unconditionally by his side. Fr. Stăniloae wanted every believer to read the Philokalia, this text being a manual from which we learn the language of salvation. Moreover, he wanted readers to understand how the Holy Fathers thought, and from their thoughts one acquires the gift of prayer, of a pure heart and of spiritual vision. Thus, Philokalia has become an explicit invitation to assume both individual and collective responsibility for salvation. Philokalia asks readers to participate effectively in the effort to seek the path of a real dialogue with God, and this is why it was an indispensable guide in those difficult years marked by the militant and malicious atheism of the dictatorship that had taken hold. What Philokalia taught in that hostile environment: a vertical life, climbing the ladder of heaven with humility, patience and wisdom, and above all with hope, because we are under the protection of the One Who dwells on high at all times, until the end of the ages.

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