Frumusețea Sfântului Dumitru Teologul
The Beauty of Saint Dumitru the Theologian

Author(s): Costion Nicolescu
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion
Published by: Editura Doxologia
Keywords: Beauty; God; Saint Dumitru the Theologian; Maria Stăniloae;
Summary/Abstract: This text is the loving testimony of a man who, for nearly 15 of the last years of his life, was in close contact with Father Dumitru Stăniloae. His memories of Father Dumitru Stăniloae’s physical and spiritual presence in this world, in our Church, are subsumed to beauty—that beauty which, in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s inspiring words, would save the world. That beauty which Father Dumitru Stăniloae radiated around him along the years of his deification, in his ceaseless becoming into holiness. As if to perfectly illustrate Chekhov’s words (“in a man, everything must be beautiful…” – Uncle Vanya), everything was beautiful about Father Dumitru Stăniloae: his face, his stature, his movements, his speech, his communal expression, even his suffering… And, of course, in an eminent way, his poetic theology. The text also conveys a testimony to the beauty of the Father’s complete union with Presbytera Maria, herself a holy person, for sure.Father Dumitru Stăniloae was one of those beautiful elders that we read about in the Paterikon, with whom, with great humility, our Church has enriched the host of God’s saints throughout the ages. Originally from Vlădenii Făgărașului, an archetypal and beautiful Transylvanian village, Saint Dumitru the Theologian entered the Synaxarion of the Church alongside many generations of Romanian saints, some already canonised by the Church, others still waiting patiently in the hearts of faithful confessors. His theological ascent led to him being called “the greatest Orthodox theologian of the 20th century” (Olivier Clément). The fragrance of the holiness of Father Dumitru Stăniloae is entirely unique, stemming not only from an exemplary Christian life, continually bearing witness, but also from a theological expression of great genius, of the same spiritual height and subtlety as that of the Holy Fathers or that of the most brilliant contemporary theologians. For this reason, the qualifying name that suits him perfectly and should be readily attributed to him would be that of Theologian, as a successor to the other wonderful Theologians of the Church: John, Gregory, Simeon…Two lines by the great poet Ion Barbu seem to capture very well the presence of Father Dumitru Stăniloae in this world: “– Stand as a luminous figure in front of the Lord,/ In thoughts — a nimble flash of future lightning!” (Portrait, from the cycle Secondary Dance). He was our Saint, in all his ways, a luminous figure, and his theological thoughts were, for the future of the Church, nimble flashes of theological genius, brimming with divine grace. From the company of the saints, where he is now at rest, Saint Dumitru the Theologian is continuing his work, pouring out upon us the grace of a Tabor-like theological beauty, drawn directly from divine beauty.

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