On Samaritan Woman's Sunday, June 2, 2024, on the eve of the feast of Saint Emperor Constantine and his mother Empress Jelena, in the crypt of the Cathedral of Christ's Resurrection in Podgorica, a Solemn Academy was held in honor of 130 years since his birth, 45 years since his death and 10 years from the conversion of the Holy Relics of the Venerable Justin Ćelijski, as well as 25 years of the archbishopric service of His Eminence the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Ioannikia.

The following spoke at the Academy: Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and Littoral, Bishop Kirill of Sergijev-Posad and Dmitri, as well as writer Dragan Lakićević. The following participated in the cultural and artistic part of the program: Choir at the Cathedral in Podgorica "Holy Apostle and Evangelist Marko", as well as folk fiddler Radosav Rajo Vojinović.

Previously, the Australian-New Zealand Bishop Mr. Siluan, he served in the Cathedral of Christ's Resurrection with the clergy and the faithful at the festive vespers with the Pentateuch.

After the introductory performance of "Ton despotin", the troparion of the Resurrection and "Angel of the Screamer", by the temple choir "Holy Apostle and Evangelist Marko", the head of the Academy, archpriest Predrag Šćepanović, M.Sc., archpriest of Podgorica-Danilovgrad, addressed all the guests, who thanked all the honored guests. upon arrival and attendance.

In the introductory and welcoming letter, the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Ioannikije especially emphasized that during his 85 years of life, Venerable Justin Čelijski constantly offered himself as a gift to Christ the Lord, serving him from his earliest youth until his death: "Our father Justin, during his 85 years of life, offered all of himself as a gift for all days of his life to Christ the Lord, serving him from his earliest youth until his retirement, uniting himself with Christ, being fed by His eternal light, and he is that evangelical servant who received five talents to work with them and multiplied them and certainly appeared before the face of God with multiplied talents and heard the saving words of the Lord: "Good servant, good and faithful, you have been faithful to me in a little", and that little, that is this temporary life, "I will set you over many", continues the Lord, and his canonization and the conversion of his holy relics ten years ago is the best testimony that this is really so. By the grace and mercy of God, and by offering all of himself as a gift to the Lord, he received extraordinary gifts from God."

In the continuation, the Bishop explained that the Venerable Justin Ćelijski is responsible for the spiritual renewal of our nation, for the renewal of theological thought, monastic life. "He is together with Bishop Nikolaj, whose successor in the Lord's Vinograd is one of the most deserving," the Metropolitan pointed out. "This year is the year of his jubilee, his actually triple jubilee. This is only the first celebration that we are organizing in honor of Father Justin, so that we can hopefully deserve his prayers and his blessing, may his blessing accompany all of us gathered here, our entire Serbian race, in all the days of our lives", wished Metropolitan Joanikije .

In his address, His Eminence Bishop Kirill of Sergiiv-Posad and Dmitri emphasized his great gratitude to Metropolitan Ioanniki for the opportunity to attend the ceremonial academy, referring to a significant number of doctoral dissertations on the theology of Venerable Justin Popovich at the Theological Academy in Saint Petersburg and the Moscow Spiritual Academy: "I am very grateful to Metropolitan Joaniki for being with you at this year's 25th anniversary of his service as an archbishop and when we celebrate the jubilee of Venerable Justin Popović, whose name we know and who used to come to our country. In our spiritual schools at the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg and in the Moscow Theological Academy, there have already been several defenses of theological dissertations on the theology of Venerable Justin Popović, and I am sure that the time to come will yield more papers on the topic of his theology."

"Invoking the blessing and prayers of the Venerable Justin Ćelijski on the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, today we also invoke his blessing on His Eminence Metropolitan Ioanniki who is celebrating his jubilee, so that his service will be fruitful. We believe and pray that his service will bring many more blessed fruits", Bishop Kirill said at the end.

Librarian Dragan Lakićević said that Orthodoxy in the 20th century had two famous Serbian writers: Saint Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović and Saint Justin Popović. "On the scaffold of father Justin Popović exactly half a century ago, the then relatively young professor doctor Amfilohije Radović spoke and said: "That man sent by God, sent to this holy place, sent to this nation, sent to the Orthodox Church, that holy man - father Justin Popovic." In the 20th century, Orthodoxy had two notable Serbian writers. These are priests and religious thinkers, contemporaries, Saint Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović and Saint Justin Popović. They lived for a century, from 1880, when Nikolaj was born, to 1979, when Justin passed away," he said, and then concluded that for Justin's grandmother, faith encompasses the whole of life, everything human, the world and consciousness, morals and mind.

"Ava Justin knows the great disease of our age and our man, and that is the fear of death. With the Resurrection, Christ calls for rebellion against history, because history considers death to be necessary. Hence, his thought about faith refers to everyday life as well as to the concept of God the Logos and his thoughts. In daily rites, weekly and every holiday sermons, there is a large space for words and thoughts about God and man, about kindness and love, as well as at the desk where, surrounded by a library and classified material, our writer translates, writes and thinks about God and the world , about suffering and salvation, as the principles of existence", pointed out Dragan Lakićević, especially referring to the extremely striking and inspiring accent of Venerable Justin in his literary essays and lyrical essays, which is the motif of flowers and the motif of the doe, and Ava Justin says that flowers are the most sensitive, because it is the most heavenly. "From everything that exists in the visible worlds, if you want to feel like you are in paradise in this world, live among flowers, with flowers. Living with flowers like the world. That's Justin's philosophy of life. Every flower is like an ideal.

Man, mimosa, basil, petunia, lily of the valley, all these were designed by God, as Justin says, the all-wise artist. The doe is the sense of sadness in the universe, sadness is one of the most important human qualities. The doe speaks a soliloquy of nature and beauty, the essence of faith. "Why was I thrown into this world among people", asks the doe, "more than anything that is loved, I love freedom, it consists in kindness, tenderness and love", says the doe. "Live with Christ, live with love, live with flowers," Saint Justin Ćelijski taught, concluded Dragan Lakićević.

The ceremonial academy in the crypt of the Cathedral was attended by the Metropolitan of Dabrobosna, Mr. Chrysostomos, the Bishop of Australia and New Zealand, Mr. Siluan, the Bishop of Kyrillo Trojica-Sergijeve Lavra, the Bishop of Mileševski, Mr. Atanasije, the Bishop of Raška-Prizren, Mr. Theodosije, the Bishop of Valjevsi, Mr. Hesihije, the Bishop of Zahum-Herzegovina and Primorskiy Mr. Dimitrije, the Bishop of Budamlje-Nikšić, Mr. Metodije, as well as the newly elected Bishop of Dioklije, Pajsije, and the Director General of the Directorate for Cooperation with Religious Communities in the Ministry of Justice, Human and Minority Rights, Mr. Dragan Radović, the President of the Jewish Community in Montenegro, Ms. Nina Ofner Bokan, with a large presence of clergy, clergy, monks, dignitaries and faithful people.

Text, photo: Boris Music 

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