He worked for over 45 years on a comprehensive Romanian translation of the Greek Philokalia, a collection of writings on prayer by the Church Fathers, together with the hieromonk Arsenius Boca, who brought manuscripts from Mount Athos.

In the fall of 1928 he earned his PhD degree at Cernăuți,[8] with thesis Life and work of Dositheos II of Jerusalem (1641-1707) and his connections with Romanian Principalities.

In January 1934, Stăniloae took over as editor in chief of the Transylvanian bi-weekly church newspaper Telegraful român (The Romanian Telegraph).

Under the previous editor in chief, George Proca, Telegraful român had published ambivalent articles about the Jewish minority.

Some editorials (including a 1942 article suggestively titled Au să dispară din Europa, i.e., They will disappear from Europe) go as far as advocating the Final Solution:[9] "The newspaper Raza from Bessarabia prints the joyful news that the last Jewish convoy from Chişinău is heading towards the Russian steppe, and thus the city got rid of the Jewish cancer.

Mironescu, poet Vasile Voiculescu, architect Constantin Joja, Father Andrew Scrima and John Marin Sadoveanu.

In 1946 he was asked by metropolitan bishop Nicholas Bălan, under pressure from Petru Groza, first Communist Prime Minister of Romania,[11] to resign as rector of the Theological Academy in Sibiu.

Because of political unrest in Romania in 1958, following a split in the Romanian Communist Party, Father Demetrius was arrested by the Securitate on 5 September.

He attended conferences in Freiburg and Heidelberg at the invitation of Prof. Paul Miron, with the permission of the State Department of Cults, who wanted to change the image of Romania.

He was awarded the Dr. Leopold Lucas prize of the Faculty of Theology in Tübingen in 1980 and the Cross of St Augustine in Canterbury in 1982.

[6][14] His canonization, along with Ilarion Felea's and Ilie Lăcătuşu's, was criticised by Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania:[15][16][17] “We question whether elevating to sainthood individuals who, during their lives, shared the values of fascism through words or deeds is consonant with Christian ethics”The Romanian Orthodox Church promptly replied to criticism, supporting the decision:[18][19] "Some saints venerated in the Orthodox Church have had, at certain times in their lives, attitudes, and gestures that are hard to understand or even contrary to Christian teachings.