Fr Dumitru Stăniloae - Forgiveness and the Renewal of the Church

As we approach the season of Lent, the Church invites us to examine ourselves and to ask for God’s forgiveness and mercy. But forgiveness is not just about restoring our relationship with God: Jesus teaches us to pray, ‘forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.’ Forgiveness has a social dimension – it is just as much about our neighbours, those alongside whom we live and work, as it is about us and God.

This is the subject of an essay by Fr Dumitru Stăniloae (d. 1993), called ‘Forgiveness and the Renewal of the Church.’ Fr Stăniloae was the foremost Romanian theologian of the last century and, as he lectured across Europe, his writings were translated and are widely read.

In this essay, he reminds us that the need to forgive others before we can receive God’s forgiveness points to our interdependence, our reliance on other people. Fr Stăniloae writes that ‘behind the people we have wronged there is always God; when it is God we have sinned against, there are always other people involved.’ This means that we must also acknowledge those times when we should ask forgiveness of those whom we have wronged. We must forgive, and we must ask forgiveness.

Fr Stăniloae notes that both of these things are hard to do! Our pride holds us back from forgiving others, and our pride keeps us from asking for forgiveness. This keeps our souls in what Fr Stăniloae calls a ‘state of rigidity.’ He says, ‘in this situation, we cannot love the other; neither can the other love us.’

It is only sincere penitence and forgiveness that can untie this knot. ‘Since the sins we commit against God are also sins against our fellow-men, and vice versa, so there is no end to our sinning against others, and so too, we must continually be asking their forgiveness.’

This is why, Fr Stăniloae argues, we must remember to pray for the people we know and ask their prayers. It is hard to hold a grudge against someone for whom we have been sincerely praying! The Church, through its liturgy, gives us opportunities to remember our brothers and sisters before God.

‘The relations which exist, directly or indirectly, between all men are vehicles of the imperfections common to all; it is our desire that at least within the Church these relations, which endure beyond death, should be no less inevitably vehicles of forgiveness mutually sought and granted, the prayer of all for all, so that God may pardon all.’

The Church – the community of believers – should be a place where the social dimension of penitence and forgiveness is visible. Fr Stăniloae suggests that this is part of what makes the church universal; it is also dynamic and purifying. ‘In this living family infirmities are always apparent, but they are overcome, washed away in the ocean of mutual love between the members. All commit sin, but all contribute to the work of purification.’ In the life of the Church, there is a ‘common interchange of prayer for the forgiveness of all.’

It is the Holy Spirit at work in the Church that makes this possible. ‘Sin is dissolved by the ceaseless waves of forgiveness, of prayer, of love, which the Holy Spirit sets in motion.’ It is the Holy Spirit who overcomes our pride, that ‘state of rigidity’ in which we find ourselves. It is the Holy Spirit who softens and bends our hearts, inspiring us to rise above our pride and to forgive and ask forgiveness.

For Fr Stăniloae, the mutual forgiveness he describes is not simply about cancelling out the sins we have committed – but rather, ‘it represents the living breath of love which opens men’s hearts to one another.’ So, by forgiving and being forgiven, the community of believers is constantly being renewed in love. 

As we journey through the season of Lent, let us pray for ourselves and for one another. Let us pray earnestly for the people we have wronged and for those who have wronged us. May the Holy Spirit soften our proud hearts, and renew the life of the Church in love and holiness.

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Dumitru Stăniloae, ‘Forgiveness and the Renewal of the Church,’ in Dumitru Stăniloae Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God, (Oxford: SLG Press, 2016), pp. 33-40.