The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The paper addresses the concepts of transparency and opacity in the works of Romanian theologian Priest Dumitru Stăniloae. This author’s antithesis may be a key to a holistic understanding of his multifaceted thought. An attempt is made to systematize the contexts in which these concepts are present and to reveal their content, tracing parallels with the views of other Orthodox theologians of the 20th century. Stăniloae uses the concept of transparency in relation to God, Church, human being (including human nature, heart, mind, face, conscience, consciousness), the created world, dogmas. As for the concept of opacity, it is related exclusively to the Fall and its consequences. Pointing out that the original transparency of the primordial creation was lost as a result of Adam’s fall, Fr. Dumitru uses various analogies (a blank wall, cloudy window glass, thick veil, etc.) to describe how the fallen world and the human being have lost the ability to perceive and irradiate the divine light. However, the Romanian theologian’s ideas also reflect his belief that the transparency of creation has not been lost completely and irrevocably. He suggests that only through Christ it is possible to overcome this opacity, understood as alienation from God, impenetrability to communication and self-centeredness. Stăniloae focuses on how Christ through His death on the cross, Resurrection and Ascension restores the lost transparency of human nature. The Church is called to show this transparency within the communion of the faithful ones and in the sanctification of the world.