01 — Foundations

Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae’s Transylvanian peasant origins and his theological formation at Cernăuți and in the great centers of Europe — Athens, Munich, Berlin, Paris, and Constantinople — where a young dogmatician trained in the German academic manner turned toward the Greek Fathers and, decisively, toward St Gregory Palamas.

Tradition: Romanian Orthodox

This section covers the first three decades of Stăniloae’s life: the village of Vlădeni in the Făgăraș country of Transylvania where he was born in 1903; his schooling at Brașov and the theological faculties; the doctorate at Cernăuți; and the study-years abroad that redirected him from Western scholastic method to the patristic and hesychast sources that would define his life’s work.

Contents

File	Description
Vlădeni and Early Life	Birth in 1903 in Vlădeni, Transylvania; family; schooling at Brașov; the choice of theology
Formation at Cernăuți and Abroad	Theology at Cernăuți and the doctorate; study in Athens, Munich, Berlin, Paris, and Constantinople; the turn to Palamas

See Also

• The Filocalia Translation — the project that grew out of his patristic formation
• Stăniloae and Palamism — the fruit of the “turn to Palamas” begun abroad