La Santissima Trinità come fonte e modello di sinodalità della Chiesa secondo Dumitru Stăniloae

Abstract

Through his work which manifests a confessional theology, centred on the mystery of Christ, God-Man, in which he affirms a cosmic Christianity and in which the current Hesychast is much present, Stăniloae is a representative of the Romanian theological tradition. He developed an important theology of love which finds its deep roots in the Trinitarian mystery, the structure of supreme love. From this perspective the world is seen as a gift of God to the Church as a communion of love immersed in relationships and in the infinite Trinitarian love. The conciliar rule is not considered as a possible form of government for the Church, but as a basic principle which traces itself back to the apostolic tradition and is rooted in what the theology can teach deeply on the nature of the Church: its life in the image of the Trinitarian life itself, the communion of saints in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. In his thought, the foundation, the strength and the model of the ecclesial synodality is the Most Holy Trinity.

Keywords

• Orthodox ecclesiology
• organic unity of the mystical body of Christ
• ecclesial synodality
• synodal Catholicity
• Most Holy Trinity