Father Dumitru Stăniloae

Studia Theologica No. II (XX) / 2025 Patience: an exercise in spiritual maturity His Eminence Varsanufie

Patience is examined as a theological and spiritual virtue in contrast to the impatience and irascibility characteristic of contemporary society, which is marked by a fast pace and instant gratification. Taking as its starting point God’s long-suffering revealed in Holy Scripture, through the Holy Fathers such as Maximus the Confessor, Isaac the Syrian and Dumitru Stăniloae, and in the liturgical life of the Church, patience emerges as a means of participating in the divine life and a path to deification.

Studia Theologica No. I (XIX) / 2025 On God’s goodness and man’s part in it Rev. Prof. Dr. Constantin Coman

Taking as its starting point the Saviour’s reply to the rich young man — ‘No one is good except God alone’ (Matthew 19:17) — this article explores the scriptural and patristic foundations of divine goodness, drawing on the writings of Saints Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Athanasius the Great, John of Damascus and Dumitru Stăniloae, to demonstrate that man participates in goodness by partaking of the divine source, not through his own powers.

Studia Theologica No. I (XIX) / 2025 Man’s communion with God Lecturer, PhD Mihai Burlacu

Communion (koinonia) is analysed from etymological, philosophical, sociological and theological perspectives, with an emphasis on its ecclesial-Eucharistic dimension in the thought of Saints Nicholas Cabasilas, Dumitru Stăniloae and Maximus the Confessor. The article demonstrates that true communion presupposes objective knowledge grounded in God and is fully realised through the Eucharistic communion, in which Christ offers Himself to humankind at every level of their being.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVIII) / 2024 The religious aspect of science and the rationality of faith Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Stancu

The article explores the relationship between science and faith, arguing that the scientist is not a creator but an interpreter of the divine work, drawing on examples from the history of scientific discovery and the thinking of Romanian scholars such as Dr Nicolae Paulescu, Dr Victor Gomoiu and Prof. Ilie Bădescu, as well as the Church Fathers, from Saint Basil the Great to the Thomism of Thomas Aquinas.

Studia Theologica No. I (XVII) / 2024 On God’s goodness Lecturer, PhD Mihai Burlacu

The article analyses goodness as a divine attribute and a moral category, demonstrating that it is not an innate or passive quality, but a free act of the will, peculiar to personal beings. Drawing on Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Father Dumitru Stăniloae and the words of the Saviour in Luke 18: 19, the author shows that true goodness has God as its sole source and is realised only through man’s conscious communion with Him.

Studia Theologica No. I (XVII) / 2024 God’s love, the call to communion His Eminence Varsanufie

Divine love, rooted in the intra-Trinitarian life of the Holy Trinity, constitutes the archetypal model of man’s communion with God and of love for one’s neighbour. Through grace, the Holy Sacraments and liturgical life, human beings are cleansed of their passions, become deified and share in the inexhaustible love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the divine image being fully realised in communion and interpersonal love.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVI) / 2023 Holiness, the path to eternal life

Holiness is analysed as a universal vocation of humankind and as a gift from God, springing from the Holy Trinity and shared through the grace of the Holy Spirit within the Church. Drawing upon Holy Scripture and the Holy Fathers — including Dumitru Stăniloae, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor and Nectarius of Aegina — the article demonstrates that holiness entails purification, virtue and spiritual experience, culminating in the deification of humankind and the sanctification of all creation.

Studia Theologica No. I (XIII) / 2022 Anthropological Insights into the Theology of Saint Gregory Palamas. The Role of Prayer in the Inner Formation of the Human Person. His Eminence Varsanufie

The anthropology of Saint Gregory Palamas is analysed in its ascetic and mystical dimensions, with an emphasis on the image of God in man, the relationship between νοῦς and καρδία, the trichotomy of body-soul-spirit, and the role of uncreated grace in deification. The deified human being, understood as homotheos, participates in the life of God through the uncreated energies, the body itself becoming a partaker in this eschatological transfiguration.

Studia Theologica No. I (XIII) / 2022 The Pneumatological Teaching of Saint Symeon the New Theologian Rev. Dr. Mercurie-Daniel Apostol

Saint Symeon the New Theologian’s theology of the Holy Spirit is presented in close connection with the Father and the Son, emphasising the unity and inseparability of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. Through images such as the key in Catechesis 33, the wine in Catechesis 23 and the divine seed, Saint Symeon demonstrates that the grace of the Holy Spirit is essential for purification, deification and the conscious perception of the divine presence in the human soul.

Colloquium No. II (XII) / 2021 On Prayer (II). An interview with Father Archimandrite Veniamin Micle Fr. Constantin Olariu

The dialogue with Father Veniamin explores the nature, forms and role of prayer in Christian life, emphasising that prayer is an ontological necessity for humankind – not a magical practice, but an act of freedom and communion with God. The different kinds of prayer are analysed according to the teachings of Saint John Climacus, Saint Symeon the New Theologian and Saint Theophan the Recluse, as well as the role of the spiritual father in guiding the faithful along the path of pure prayer.

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