La realtà mistica della Chiesa nella riflessione ortodossa di Dumitru Stăniloae

Abstract

Theologian of reference for Romanian Orthodox Church, Dumitru Stăniloae prefers to speak of the Church as “the mystical Body of the Lord in the Holy Spirit”. The Church reproduces the communion of the Trinity on a human and historical level. In this sense, in is in the Church that the Incarnation, the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ are actualized in a sacramental way. In God's saving plan, the Church represents the fulfilment of the divine economy of salvation. Born on the day of Pentecost, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it has become an instrument of salvation and sanctification for all those who, through faith, open themselves to the work of Christ. The Church, being the union without confusion between God and humanity, has a theandric constitution, the content of which consists in Christ united, as regards the divine nature, with the Father and the Spirit and, according to human nature, united with the men.