The reality of the secular and (or) the utopia of the sacral. Reading “Gift of the world” by Charles Miller

This paper focuses on the Russian translation of Charles Miller’s classical publication “Gift of the World: An Introduction to the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae”. The book was published at a critical moment in the Orthodox Theology and gives a kind of answer to modern challengers of neopatristic synthesis. Father Dumitru Staniloae, as Charles Miller pictures him, is among not many thinkers who remained faithful to Holy Tradition being open to the heritage of non-Orthodox theology and current problems of secular philosophy. D. Staniloae’s neopatristic synthesis has been considered in a wide context of the world conception. Special emphasis has been made on parallels in archpriest Dumitru Staniloae’s and venerable Justin (Popovich)’s theology.