The sacraments of baptism and chrismation in the theology of archpriest Dumitru Staniloae

Archpriest Dumitru Stăniloae is one of the leading Orthodox theologians of the 20th century. The doctrine of the sacraments occupies an important place in his dogmatic works, but there are still no significant works in Russian devoted to the analysis of his sacramentology. The article provides a brief overview of his teaching on Baptism and Chrismation as the first sacraments accepted by a person upon entering the Church. It is shown that this teaching is deeply rooted in patristic tradition. At the same time, the sacramentology of Fr. D. Stăniloae has a connection with all his dogmatic thought. It is built in the spirit of neo-Patristic synthesis and pays special attention to the disclosure of the personal principle in the process of a person’s communication with God, other people and the whole world. Certain shortcomings and incompleteness in his teaching on the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation are also pointed out. They are expressed mainly in the relatively limited use by Fr. Dumitru of contemporary theological literature and in the almost complete absence of historical and liturgical aspects related to this topic.