Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more.
The Thought and Mission of St. Justin Popović Cover Image

Мисао и мисија Светог Јустина Поповића
The Thought and Mission of St. Justin Popović

Author(s): Vladimir Cvetković, Bogdan Lubardić
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Systematic Theology, Pastoral Theology, Eastern Orthodoxy
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Summary/Abstract: On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the birth and the 40th anniversary of the passing of Justin Popović, on May 10th and 11th, 2019, an international scientific conference titled ‘The Thought and Mission of St. Justin Popović’ was held at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory in Belgrade, organized by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Belgrade, and the Center for Byzantine-Slavic Studies of the University of Niš.

  • Print-ISBN-13: 978-86-80484-47-1
  • Page Count: 422
  • Publication Year: 2019
  • Language: Serbian
ЈУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ И АНГЛИКАНСКИ ТЕОЛОЗИ: ПОСРЕДОВАЊА

ЈУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ И АНГЛИКАНСКИ ТЕОЛОЗИ: ПОСРЕДОВАЊА
(JUSTIN POPOVIĆ AND ANGLICAN THEOLOGIANS: MEDIATIONS)

  • Author(s):Bogdan Lubardić
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Comparative Studies of Religion
  • Page Range:29-52
  • No. of Pages:24
  • Keywords:Serbian refugee theologians; Justin Popovic; Walter Freer; Oxford University; World War I; Anglican theology; Orthodox theology; Fyodor Dostoevsky; Francis Thomson; mediations; brotherhood; otherness
  • Summary/Abstract:During the Great War the Faculty of Theology in Oxford received a group of some 60 theological refugees from Serbia: seminarians, professors and clergy. In this way the Serbian Church’s seminarian system of formation of theologians was preserved, including the corpus of teachers and pupils. Amongst the first to arrive, in 1916, was Fr Justin Popović (1894–1979), recently sainted as St Justin the New of Ćelije (2010). Popović is rightly regarded as one of the most influential Serbian theologians in the 20th century. In Oxford he was accepted to read for a Baccalaureus Litterarum higher undergraduate degree (1916–1919). His thesis was titled The Religion of Dostoevsky. The said thesis was the only thesis written by several of the Serbians in Oxford, during WWI, not to receive the merit of certificated degree from the University’s examiners. This study essay explores pro et contra arguments in regard to such an outcome. Alongside, we endeavour to demonstrate that, next to a negative view of Western Christianity, Fr Justin Popović, nevertheless, in certain passages of his published opus, does indicate a positive relation as well. We venture to claim that this more positively inclusive side of Fr Justin’s relation to Western — Anglican Christians, albeit quietly present, remains indicative of a dimension of mystical fellowship forged by those on both sides who have offered their whole lives to God in Christ. It is this in Fr Justin’s earlier oeuvre that brings him closer than expected to his Anglican brothers. Оn Fr Justin’s terms, however, this empathy of love and admiration towards one’s Anglican (or western Christian) (br)other, precisely because it is expressive of love, keeps pointing to the truth as well: i.e. the truth of the one Church (which for Fr Justin is the Orthodox Church). This makes his mystical empathy with chosen Anglicans paradoxical, but not contradictory. Namely, Popović does ground love discourse in truth discourse, but this does not prevent love to remain love. If this more inclusive side of Popović’s reflections on Western Christians (viz. Anglicans), regardless of its paradoxical nature, is taken into conside- ration by a non-Orthodox – “Western” – Christian, and is spiritually understood as a promising “contact-point” (Anknüpfungspunkt), then Popović’s uncompromising (dogmatic-canonical) strictures in regard to Western Christian denominations (especially his claim that the Orthodox Church is the only Church) might not present a sufficient reason for their premature departures from his spiritual, theological and philosophical oeuvre. On the contrary, they may come to contemplate – and profit from – the magnificence of Fr Justin’s saintly experience of living in Christ the Godman by the Spirit.
ЈУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ, ЧИТАН ОЧИМА КАТОЛИКА

ЈУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ, ЧИТАН ОЧИМА КАТОЛИКА
(JUSTIN POPOVIĆ ON LUTHER AND PROTESTANTISM)

  • Author(s):Zdenko Širka
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Comparative Studies of Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:53-83
  • No. of Pages:31
  • Keywords:Justin Popovic; dogmatics; Catholicism; ecumenism; ecclesiological Christocentrism
  • Summary/Abstract:This conference paper focuses on the methodology that Justin uses when evaluating Protestantism, and suggests comparison between Justin Popović and Martin Luther. First is explained a historical and a theological context in which Justin talks about Protestantism, then the hermeneutical presuppositions of his critique are introduced, third, his methodology is brought under scrutiny, finally, a closer assessment with German reformer Martin Luther is proposed, of their aims, methods, key concepts. It is claimed that Justin and Luther should be considered brothers in arms, and that they are much closer than Justin has been aware of.
СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ О ПАПСТВУ

СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ О ПАПСТВУ
(ST JUSTIN POPOVIĆ ON PAPACY)

  • Author(s):Vladimir Cvetković
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Comparative Studies of Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:85-98
  • No. of Pages:14
  • Keywords:Justin Popović; papacy; ecumenism; papal infallibility; universal jurisdiction
  • Summary/Abstract:The paper aims to analyse St Justin Popović’s critique of papacy, which is one of the most recurrent themes in his entire opus. I will first examine St Justin’s early critique of the papacy from his Oxford B.Litt thesis on Dostoyevsky and articles published in the journal Christian Life, arguing that his harsh criticism of the Pope might be seen as a reaction to Vatican’s Ostpolitik. The focus is then shifted to the period of the 1930s and 1940s, in which in my view St Justin follows his mentor Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović, in his attempt to distinguish between papacy and Catholicism, describing the former as a sort of ecclesial imperialism. Finally, his letters to the Holy Synod about ecumenical meetings between the Roman Catholic and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Yugoslavia from 1970s will be under scrutiny as well. I argue that the main obstacles to Christian unity for St Justin are the papal claim to universal jurisdiction and infallibility.
ФИЛОСОФИЈА И ЊЕНО ЗНАЧЕЊЕ У ДЕЛУ ОЦА ЈУСТИНА ЋЕЛИЈСКОГ

ФИЛОСОФИЈА И ЊЕНО ЗНАЧЕЊЕ У ДЕЛУ ОЦА ЈУСТИНА ЋЕЛИЈСКОГ
(PHILOSOPHY AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN THE WORKS OF FR JUSTIN OF ĆELIJE)

  • Author(s):Slađana Ristić-Gorgiev
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Philosophy of Religion
  • Page Range:101-111
  • No. of Pages:11
  • Keywords:philosophy; tragicism; God-seeking; divine-human realism
  • Summary/Abstract:Despite different attitudes towards the Hellenic heritage in the first centuries of Christianity, as well as among the Church Fathers of the later centuries, the view prevailed that philosophy could survive in a new Christian sense. It was considered also that theologians should incorporate into Christian wisdom all that is in accordance with the Logos and to reject what is not in accordance with him. As many Church Fathers of the previous centuries, Fr Justin of Ćelije communicates in his works with the spirit of his time and expounds his own philosophical reflections. As a contemporary of twentieth-century philosophy, he critically assesses the philosophical ideas of Western Europe, believing that they are deviating from theo-humanism due to the exaggerated humanism. Similarly to ancient philosophers and, above all, to the Christian Holy Fathers, he states that philosophy arises from the feeling of a unique connection between the world, man and God. In addition to the common elements he shares with his predecessors, one may observe in his writings some specific approaches to understanding philosophy, which can be described in several points: philosophy as an encounter with tragedy, philosophy as God-seeking and philosophy as a God-human realism.
СИМБОЛИЧКО И ЛИРСКО У РЕЦЕПЦИЈИ ДЕЛА СВЕТОГ ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА

СИМБОЛИЧКО И ЛИРСКО У РЕЦЕПЦИЈИ ДЕЛА СВЕТОГ ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА
(SYMBOLICAL AND LYRICAL IN THE RECEPTION OF ST JUSTIN’S WORK)

  • Author(s):Sunčica Denić
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy, Theory of Literature
  • Page Range:113-123
  • No. of Pages:11
  • Keywords:Saint Justin Popović; lyrical work; metaphorical-symbolic image; reception; transformation
  • Summary/Abstract:The literary or, better, lyrical, metaphorical-symbolic image of “canonized” language is visible and highlighted in the work of Saint Justin Popović (Abba Justin), especially in his shorter forms. The reception transmits the complete image of God, regardless whether Saint Justin is dealing with Liturgy, philosophical understanding of God, or Divine substance. No less, Justin reveals God in small descriptions of plants (flowers) or animals (roe deer), in a letter to a dying friend (Nušić) or in his address to other close beings. His apostolic tone and his reflections always reveal the harmony of a “higher order”. Everything in his work translates into a lyric synthesis of transformation and illumination, which characterize those who keep an unbreakable connection and love to God and have a direct experience of the Holy Fathers.
AВА JУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ: ЕСТЕТИКА ДУХОВНИХ СПОЗНАЈА НА ОСНОВУ ДЕЛА ДОСТОЈЕВСКОГ

AВА JУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ: ЕСТЕТИКА ДУХОВНИХ СПОЗНАЈА НА ОСНОВУ ДЕЛА ДОСТОЈЕВСКОГ
(ABBA JUSTIN POPOVIĆ: THE AESTHETICS OF SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS IN LIGHT OF DOSTOEVSKY’S WORK)

  • Author(s):Slađana Aleksić
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy, Theory of Literature
  • Page Range:125-142
  • No. of Pages:18
  • Keywords:Justin Popovic; Orthodox realism; Dostoevsky; God-sanctified creativity; spiritual beauty
  • Summary/Abstract:Fyodor Mihailovich Dostoevsky, a key figure in the philosophical thought of the twentieth century, for a time, was marginalized as a thinker in comparison with Nietzschе who is considered as a great philosopher. Thinking about God in a Christian way, Dostoevsky and his followers opened the question of the Logos as truth, but also the question of morality and beauty. Archimandrite Justin Popović as a representative of Orthodox spirituality, of Dostoevsky’s Russian Orthodox thought and in particular of St Savian Serbian Christian tradition, engaged with Dostoevsky’s thought in his thesis as well as in his other theological and philosophical works. This paper deals with the problem of human spirit and spirituality in the reflections of Abba Justin (viz. philosophy of love and gnoseology): however, defining Abba Justin not only as a philosophical and theological thinker, but as a supreme interpreter of Dostoyevsky’s literary world as well.
СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН ЋЕЛИЈСКИ И ДОСТОЈЕВСКИ: ПРОБЛЕМ ЉУДСКЕ ДЕТЕРМИНИСАНОСТИ И СЛОБОДЕ

СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН ЋЕЛИЈСКИ И ДОСТОЈЕВСКИ: ПРОБЛЕМ ЉУДСКЕ ДЕТЕРМИНИСАНОСТИ И СЛОБОДЕ
(SAINT JUSTIN OF ĆELIJE AND DOSTOYEVSKY: THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN DETERMINISM AND FREEDOM)

  • Author(s):Nemanja Škrelić
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy, Theory of Literature
  • Page Range:143-159
  • No. of Pages:17
  • Keywords:Father Justin; Dostoevsky; freedom; determinism; existentialism; subject; object; catholic personality; transformation
  • Summary/Abstract:In this paper I deal with the problem of human determinism and freedom as a problem noticed and resolved by Father Justin through his reading of Dostoevsky. As the main source for this paper I use Justin’s book Philosophy and Religion of F.M. Dostoevsky, with a consideration that he wrote this book when he was twenty eight years old, which adds special value to it. Along with this book I also use the revised version of his book entitled Dostoyevsky on Europe and Slavdom, as well as his text “Dostoevsky as a prophet and apostle of Orthodox realism” published in his collection of essays entitled Philosophical Crevasses. In the first part of the paper, I recall some critiques addressed to Father Justin on his book on Dostoevsky. Thus, I will outline the basic elements of Justin’s approach to Dostoevsky. The second part of the paper focuses the main theme of the paper. It will be argued that, according to Justinʼs view, neither rationalism, nor anthropocentrism nor freedom that opposes God’s will can solve the problem of ontological nullity and determinism of human objective reality. The human being does not succeed in solving problems through rationalism, anthropocentrism, and self-sufficiency, but rather ends up in self-destruction through despair and nihilism. We will see that, by dealing with these problems, Father Justin enters the field of existential philosophy. According to Justin, Dostoevsky finds the answer to the problem of determinism and ontological nullity in Christ, who by his incarnation eliminates ontological nullity and liberates human beings from the state of determinism. Thus, human being ceases to be part of objective reality and objective reality becomes part of human being, and the Orthodox saints are eminent examples of this. According to Fr Justin, they escape solipsism that makes them merely parts of reality, and in their union with others, they become the bearers of all human nature. In the concluding part of the paper, I attempt to explain what Father Justin implies under Dostoevsky’s Orthodox realism, and I do so through what was already said.
MОРАЛНО ТЕРАПЕУТСКИ СМИСАО ДИЈАЛЕКТИКЕ БОГОЦЕНТРИЧНОСТИ И ЧОВЕКОЦЕНТРИЧНОСТИ КОД СВЕТОГ ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА

MОРАЛНО ТЕРАПЕУТСКИ СМИСАО ДИЈАЛЕКТИКЕ БОГОЦЕНТРИЧНОСТИ И ЧОВЕКОЦЕНТРИЧНОСТИ КОД СВЕТОГ ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА
(ТHE MORAL THERAPEUTIC MEANING OF THE DIALECTIC OF GOD- CENTRICITY AND DIVINE-HUMANITY IN SAINT JUSTIN POPOVIĆ)

  • Author(s):Aleksandar Fatić
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:163-178
  • No. of Pages:16
  • Keywords:God-centeredness; human-centeredness; humanism; self-development; therapy; God-humanity; nature of God
  • Summary/Abstract:The paper deals with St. Justin Popovićʼs understanding of humanism as a morally negative concept and his complex dialectic of the concepts of “godliness” and “humanity”. On the one hand, St. Justin sees godliness, or God-likeness, as the ultimate moral ideal of a Christian life. On the other, he represents “humanity- centrism”, or the culture of humanism, as a sort of hedonistic swaying away from the ascetic ideal of Christian character and values. This type of dialectic seems to militate against the concept of dual nature of God, namely the idea of Christʼs divine and human nature at the same time, as two faces of Christ. That idea leads to the concept of a fundamental godliness of human nature, at least in its capacity to develop Christian virtues. However, on closer analysis it becomes apparent that St. Justin uses the concepts of God-centered as opposed to human-centered cultures not as concepts intended to relate to the dual nature of Christ, but as concepts constitutive of an essentially moral therapeutic perspective of building a Christian character in everyday life. This perspective is very much in line with the modern therapeutic conceptualisations of personal development and personal change: however, unlike many modern accounts, St. Justinʼs view of self-development offers a clear framework which helps one to avoid moral relativism and value nihilism.
СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН ЋЕЛИЈСКИ И АСКЕТСКИ КЉУЧ ТЕОЛОГИЈЕ ЛИЧНОСТИ

СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН ЋЕЛИЈСКИ И АСКЕТСКИ КЉУЧ ТЕОЛОГИЈЕ ЛИЧНОСТИ
(Justin Popović; theology of personality; deification; ascetic existence.)

  • Author(s):Svilen Tutekov
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:179-192
  • No. of Pages:14
  • Keywords:Justin Popović; theology of personality; deification; ascetic existence.
  • Summary/Abstract:The topic of this paper is the thought of St. Justin of Chelije, as the locus of a neopatristic ascetic theology of personhood, as well as the possibility of its reception in contemporary Orthodox anthropology. The question of personhood is the main theme of religious-philosophical and theological reflections from the beginning of the 20th century and Justin’s theological thought should be seen as a neopatristic response to this intellectual and spiritual challenge. The fruit of Abba Justin’s neopatristic synthesis is his existential dynamic anthropology which assumes the concept of personhood as the point of convergence of the existential-moral with the ascetic. The theme of personhood is the topos of Justin’s return to the Church Fathers, where the theological question of personhood is articulated through an ascetic discourse. The initial motives of Abba Justin for theologizing about personhood are gnoseological, yet radical Christologization of his theological-anthropological thought reveals the profound existential ontological dimension of his theological perception of personhood. From this Christological perspective, the ontological truth about the likeness of humanity to God and the existential task of attaining this likeness constitute the dynamic structure and the God-human logosness of human nature, which must be realized as a person which has acquired the image and likeness of Christ: to wit, which is Christ-like. According to Abba Justin, precisely the dynamism of such a god-bearing and god-like personal structure creates the anthropological foundation of askesis, as well as the way and mode for the realization of person. The ascetic dimension of personhood reveals the dynamic character of human existence, which in the Christological key means the realization of Godhuman logosness of the human nature. In Abba Justin’s view, however, this dynamism also reveals the agapic content of personhood as created in accordance to image and likeness of the triune God, who is Love. According to Abba Justin, the reintegration of the fallen human person is possible only in this agapic perspective and this is the core, alpha and omega, of authentic ascesis, as a way of one’s personalization (oličnošćenje) or of one’s person-making (ličnostnotvorenje). Thus, ascesis is the way and the mode of truthing (oistinjenje) human existence in Christ, that is, the self-realization of the human being as the existential bearer of God’s image. Accordingly, Justin’s thought can be interpreted and evaluated as a model of an authentic neopatristic and ascetic theology of personhood, which in turn can be incorporated in a creative way into contemporary theological-prosopological discourse.
ПАРАДИГМАТИЧНИ ПУТЕВИ КА ЗЕМЉИ ЖИВИХ АВЕ ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА: КРОЗ ПОДВИГ РАСКРИВАЊА ЧОВЕКОВОГ САМОРАЗУМЕВАЊА

ПАРАДИГМАТИЧНИ ПУТЕВИ КА ЗЕМЉИ ЖИВИХ АВЕ ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА: КРОЗ ПОДВИГ РАСКРИВАЊА ЧОВЕКОВОГ САМОРАЗУМЕВАЊА
(Abba Justin Popović; paths of divine knowledge; Christian tradition; hermeneutics of existential phenomenology; finitude and status of being)

  • Author(s):Aleksandar M. Petrović
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:193-208
  • No. of Pages:16
  • Keywords:Abba Justin Popović; paths of divine knowledge; Christian tradition; hermeneutics of existential phenomenology; finitude and status of being
  • Summary/Abstract:Abba Justin Popović’s paths of knowing God were prepared with an existentialist-personal and phenomenological method, by which he embarked on the interpretation of the great Christian tradition. He founded them in the spirit of re- actualizing orthodox gnoseological moments of that tradition, emphasizing their rootedness in the “light of the world” as the evangelic annunciation of the world of life. This largely coincided with the patristic idea of encyclical paidea or comprehensive education, which implied a dialectical approach to the science of thinking and language as a higher degree of preparation for Christian theology. With the profound passion and courage of a believer, his self-explanatory interpretation led both to the logical and ethical character of the very concept of the world, and to the eschatologically open “status” of the Christian being and life in the immediacy of its time, directed to the living path of truth. His great message is that finality is not the reason for surrender, but the reason for the struggle with misfortunes in which the transformation of the whole human being occurs, referring to the invincibility of the eternal Being of Christ, who by living love defeated the death in itself. Therefore, by virtue of his insights, we are allowed to enter the true way of human life, through researching the content of life and its meaning, and in regard to both the earthly conditions and eternity of the Kingdom of God. The exemplary nature of this thoughtful experience regarding the modern human being’s self-understanding is still valid, interms of a preeminent hermeneutical experience ofknowledge of thought and of belief.
ОТАЦ ЈУСТИН (ПОПОВИЋ) И МОНАШТВО

ОТАЦ ЈУСТИН (ПОПОВИЋ) И МОНАШТВО
(FATHER JUSTIN (POPOVIĆ) AND MONASTICISM)

  • Author(s):Slobodan Prodić
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:209-219
  • No. of Pages:11
  • Keywords:Father Justin (Popović); monasticism; monastic tradition; theology; asceticism
  • Summary/Abstract:Father Justin (Popović) undoubtedly represents an extremely important person among the Serbian intellectuals of the 20th century. His creative work, through which he demonstrated an unusual gift of dealing with theology and philosophy, testifies to this. This gift consists of the ability to perceive a whole range of issues that a person inevitably encounters, and also to provide meaningful answers to the same issues, primarily relying on the basic principles of Christian faith and the Orthodox way of life. Analyses of the life and works written by Father Justin (Popović) directs researchers to the very fact that he accepted monasticism as one of the ways of life in the Church. Monasticism defines Fr Justin not only as a theologian and a philosopher. By reading his works one may clearly recognize that his thoughts are rooted in the views of generations of monastic authorities, beginning with the Egyptian desert of the first half of the 4th century. Monasticism contributed immensely to his intention to transform the results of his sincere and deep faith, into a concrete example to others, who also want to gain the knowledge of God. With details from his live I attempt to support my claim that monasticism essentially influenced not only the creativity of Fr Justin, but also his life.
ПРЕПОДОБНИ ЈУСТИН ЋЕЛИЈСКИ КАО ПИСАЦ ЖИТИЈА СВЕТИХ

ПРЕПОДОБНИ ЈУСТИН ЋЕЛИЈСКИ КАО ПИСАЦ ЖИТИЈА СВЕТИХ
(VENERABLE JUSTIN OF ĆELIJE AS THE AUTOR OF THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS)

  • Author(s):Radomir Popović
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, History of Church(es), Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy, History of Religion
  • Page Range:223-231
  • No. of Pages:9
  • Keywords:hagiography; Lives of the Saints; Venerable Justin of Celius
  • Summary/Abstract:Although it is not easy to offer a complete and comprehensive account of a work such as the Lives of the Saints, this paper is an attempt to shed light on the author and his unique work. The assessment of the author, and of such a complex work, must be undertaken from several perspectives and aspects: theological, historical, literary, poetic, liturgical, dogmatic, homiletic and linguistic. Therefore, a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach is necessary. A response to each of these aspects requires, on the other hand, a multilateral approach. It is to be hoped that studies of this kind, if not already, will soon appear. All the above aspects of the study of the Lives of the Saints imply an insight into the personality and work of the writer himself - the Venerable Justin of Ćelije. Father Justin is above all an ascetic monk, a theologian, a worshiper and an erudite of wide education. This work is initial and, hopefully should inspire and lead to comprehensive analyses of the hagiographic work of the Venerable Justin.
ОНТОЛОШКА ОСНОВА И САДРЖАЈ У БЕСЕДНИШТВУ ПРЕПОДОБНОГ ЈУСТИНА ЋЕЛИЈСКОГ

ОНТОЛОШКА ОСНОВА И САДРЖАЈ У БЕСЕДНИШТВУ ПРЕПОДОБНОГ ЈУСТИНА ЋЕЛИЈСКОГ
(THE ONTOLOGICAL FOUNDATION AND CONTENT OF ST JUSTIN OF ĆELIJE’S PREACHING)

  • Author(s):Ljubiša Kostić
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:233-259
  • No. of Pages:27
  • Keywords:Justin Popovic; ontology; oratory; sermons
  • Summary/Abstract:By relying on the rich opus of his preserved orations, we intend to explore the ontological aspects of the theological thought of the greatest Serbian theologian of the 20th century Saint Justin Popović. His recognizable oratorical style represents the perfect synthesis of theological, ascetic and philosophical endeavor. Like no one of his contemporaries, in a crystal-clear and, we’d like to say, in an accessible manner, he points to what is eternal and immortal in Christianity. By doing this St. Justin indicates for his recipients the ontological character of everything that is called to become immortal and eternal. St Justin’s theological-philosophical erudition should not surprise us, since the question of the eternal existence of man and of the world is the quintessence of Christ’s preaching and Christian faith.
ДОГМАТИКА ОЦА ЈУСТИНА ЋЕЛИЈСКОГ У ИСТОРИЈСКОМ И САВРЕМЕНОМ КОНТЕКСТУ

ДОГМАТИКА ОЦА ЈУСТИНА ЋЕЛИЈСКОГ У ИСТОРИЈСКОМ И САВРЕМЕНОМ КОНТЕКСТУ
(DOGMATICS OF FATHER JUSTIN OF ĆELIJE IN HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT)

  • Author(s):Aleksandar Đakovac
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:261-278
  • No. of Pages:18
  • Keywords:Justin Popovic; Dogmatics; Eschatology; Christology; Ecclesiology
  • Summary/Abstract:Мany years аfter its publishing, Fr Justin Popović’s Dogmatics is still highly valued in the Orthodox world, as testified by the recently published Greek translation of this work. Justin’s Dogmatics is frequently quoted, and it is often presented as a work of standard reference in Orthodoxy. Therefore, this work deserves an impartial consideration. In this paper we intend to provide an analysis of the major areas of Trinitarian theology, Christology, eschatology and ecclesiology. We will attempt to shed light upon some of Justin’s solutions that could be considered insufficiently clear or questionable. We will show that the analysis of the problems which Justin encounters in the presentation of these areas of Dogmatics forms the basis of his vision of the key elements of Christian theology. The weaknesses and shortcomings of this vision are precisely what we will be dealing with, as I am convinced that only a fair critical approach may reveal the real magnitude of his work
ЕВХАРИСТИЈСКА РАДОСТ У ДОГМАТИЦИ ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА: ОДРАЗ ЈЕДНОГ ПРОТАГОНИСТЕ

ЕВХАРИСТИЈСКА РАДОСТ У ДОГМАТИЦИ ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА: ОДРАЗ ЈЕДНОГ ПРОТАГОНИСТЕ
(EUCHARSTIC JOY IN JUSTIN POPOVIĆ’S DOGMATICS: A REFLECTION OF A PROTAGONIST)

  • Author(s):Đorđe N. Petrović
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:279-290
  • No. of Pages:12
  • Keywords:Justin Popovic; Eucharist; joy; Bogočovek
  • Summary/Abstract:The term joy holds a prominent place in the Orthodox life. This term, although present in humanist studies, actually occupies a small space in theological works. Joy as the most positive anthropological state deserves, before all else, an analytical biography: explaining the origin and the ultimate goal joy. Can we imagine let alone live in this world or have faith without joy? The question of joy is an experiment of a personal relationship we seek in the divine-human reality — the Eucharist. The theme of this paper does not exhaust the relation of Dogmatics and Liturgics as much as it rediscovers the term joy as a factor which culminates in both theological disciplines. The doctorate carrying the same title in retrospect represents an attempt to retrieve the unavoidable bond of Dogmatics and Liturgics thus inducing research of the term joy in several domains: Anthropology, Philosophy and Ecumenism. The leading argument is provisionally divided in three parts: 1. Joy – phenomenon of life. The most important characteristic of joy is an integral experience of being as one which became and is transferred from non-being into being. Life itself is joy and as such the constitutive part of conditio humana. The phenomenon of life is particularly questioned in the face of the problem of death and the way of overcoming it. 2. Joy — a state, but also an act (action) toward the true and eternal life, that is, toward the One who is the eternal life — the Lord Jesus Christ. The unity with Christ guarantees the remedy against death and mortality hence providing a quantitativeexistential element. The choice for Christ is a re-establishment of the movement (action) of a being toward the All-being — ὁ ἔσχατος Ἀδὰμ. This choice is not just ethical but an ontological expression of true desire: humanity desires to overcome its non-being by becoming Christ-like (ὁμοιοῦσθαι Θεῷ) in the communion with Christ. However, the question of life resolved in the problem of death is not quantitative in nature only. 3. Joy — an outcome of the divine-human communion in the Eucharist. This result is twofold: in the first instance, the communion with Christ carries existential implications in quantitative categories, and in the second, joy is an event of the order of quality. For the lack of a better expression, joy is an experience of a relationship with Christ in eternity. In Christ, humanity is not merely alive forever, but exists forever in the qualitative sense. Besides, what is the meaning of eternal life without quality, without the greatest excitement of eternal unity with Christ?
„ВОЛИМ ДАКЛЕ СПОЗНАЈЕМ“: КРИТИКА ЗАПАДНЕ ФИЛОСОФИЈЕ ПО СВЕТОМ ЈУСТИНУ НОВОМ (ПОПОВИЋУ) И ЊЕНЕ СВЕТООТАЧКЕ ПРЕТПОСТАВКЕ

„ВОЛИМ ДАКЛЕ СПОЗНАЈЕМ“: КРИТИКА ЗАПАДНЕ ФИЛОСОФИЈЕ ПО СВЕТОМ ЈУСТИНУ НОВОМ (ПОПОВИЋУ) И ЊЕНЕ СВЕТООТАЧКЕ ПРЕТПОСТАВКЕ
(“I LOVE THEREFORE I KNOW”: THE CRITIQUE OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY ACCORDING TO SAINT JUSTIN THE ΝEW (POPOVIĆ) TO AND ITS PATRISTIC PRESUPPOSITIONS)

  • Author(s):Dionysios Skliris
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Philosophy, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:293-309
  • No. of Pages:17
  • Keywords:Holy Fathers; asceticism; Western philosophy; Bogočovek
  • Summary/Abstract:The paper will observe Saint Justin’s critique of Western philosophy as well as his proper philosophical insights. The claim of this paper is that the point of departure of Saint Justin’s critique is the traditional Orthodox view, based on the Greek speaking Fathers, according to which true philosophy is likening to God (τὸ ὁμοιοῦσθαι Θεῷ). The latter is the Christological integration of man in the Logos of God in the Spirit. Two interdependent dimensions of this philosophy are dynamism and catholicity. The former means that philosophy is an initial thirst provoked by the consciousness of one’s deficits, as well as a primordial urge for infinite and complete life. The latter means that the fulfillment of this striving is the eschatological integration of the different elements of human nature and civilization as well as the salvation of human intersubjectivity in Christ. Inside History this dynamic path to catholicity entails ascetic catharsis. True philosophy is thus not an initial given of discursive reason but an aporia leading to a struggle of purification, in order to achieve the discernment of the world’s logical (i.e. “logos-bearing”) character. The critique of Western philosophy is based on this traditional view. The two interconnected problems of Western philosophy are the self-referential character of the subject and the relevant conflictual fragmentations of thinking. In what concerns the former, Western thought is inaugurated by Augustine of Hippo, followed in Modernity by René Descartes and Immanuel Kant as a break of the individual from the surrounding world and a concomitant turning to the self as a foundation of truth. But this is tantamount to a celebration of partiality. The evolution of Western thought is thus dialectical, since every view proposes a fragmentary priority thus opposing the pre-existing philosophical status quo. This conflictual nature of Western thought might lead to a narrative of progress through dialectical oppositions. Nevertheless, it has the ontological deficit of undermining salvation as an integration of elements that might be antinomical yet without being conflictual. Saint Justin’s philosophical approach helps us perceive how antinomies can be saved in love without being turned into conflictual oppositions.
ОДНОС АВЕ ЈУСТИНА ПРЕМА ЗАПАДУ

ОДНОС АВЕ ЈУСТИНА ПРЕМА ЗАПАДУ
(ABBA JUSTIN’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS WEST)

  • Author(s):Zoran B. Kinđić
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:311-331
  • No. of Pages:21
  • Keywords:humanism; theohumanism; pope; atheism; nihilism
  • Summary/Abstract:Unlike St. Nikolai the Serb, who, in his youth, cultivated a benevolent attitude towards Western culture, St. Justin of Celije, under Dostoevsky’s influence, takes a highly critical stance on the West from the beginning. The reason for such attitude should be sought in Abba Justin’s conviction that the West, instead of remaining faithful to God-man, determined for a humanistic position. He sees in humanism the original evil, rebellion against God. By proclaiming man to be the measure of all things, humanism will eventually arrive to atheism and relitivism, that, however, culminate in anarhism and nihilism. Papacy is the forerunner of secular humanism. The gradual substitution of God-man with man, reaching its pinnacle in dogma of papal infallibility, is the cause of the spiritual death of the West. Faith of the serbian peaple, being at geographical and spiritual watershed between East and West, depends on whether they will opt for theo-humanism or humanism.
КРИТИЧКА МИСАО АРХИМАНДРИТА ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА И ХРИШЋАНСКО ВАСПИТАЊЕ ДАНАС

КРИТИЧКА МИСАО АРХИМАНДРИТА ЈУСТИНА ПОПОВИЋА И ХРИШЋАНСКО ВАСПИТАЊЕ ДАНАС
(THE CRITICAL THOUGHT OF ARCHIMANDRITE JUSTIN POPOVIĆ AND CHRISTIAN EDUCATION TODAY)

  • Author(s):Ivica Živković
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:333-350
  • No. of Pages:18
  • Keywords:Justin Popović; education; West; criticism
  • Summary/Abstract:In this paper we are offering a practical example of reading the critique of humanism in the works of archimandrite Justin Popović. They suggest that his critique comes from his Christological apprehension and is aimed at the existential attitude of centering and restricting the autonomous human perspectives, as expressed throughout many ideological orientations of the contemporary world. The pedagogical relationships in the humanistic culture of the Western society, to which most of Orthodox Christians belongs today, tend to keep children within a status utterly different from that offered by a God-blessed one which is provided by their partaking in church liturgical worship. They impose such associations, and keep the general pedagogic discourse of the Western world in such frameworks, which are not applicable to Christian education without serious misunderstandings.
СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН О ПРОМИСЛИ: ИЗВОРИ И ПОСЛЕДИЦЕ

СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН О ПРОМИСЛИ: ИЗВОРИ И ПОСЛЕДИЦЕ
(SAINT JUSTIN ON PROVIDENCE: SOURCES AND CONSEQUENCES)

  • Author(s):Stephen C. Headley
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:351-361
  • No. of Pages:11
  • Keywords:providence; ascetic Christology; logos of creation; Christ the Logos; cosmic Liturgy; reintegration; reason for existence
  • Summary/Abstract:I begin from St Justin’s repeated affirmation that the interior mission of the Church is to purify oneself. His anthropology was uncompromisingly based on a Christological ascesis. To accomplish this he says that every thought that does not transform itself into a prayer is lost. Fortunately in French or in English we have enough of his writings to elaborate on this. For instance that he read carefully Maximos the Confessor for whom true being is not what is inside history, for that field of “not-yet-being” is the object of God’s Providence. In St Maximos’ Mystagogy the “verbal icons and iconic words” can permit us to elaborate a theology of prayer that embraces invocation worldwide. This is promoted in St Justin’s understanding of Providence as it preserves the world and orients the world towards the acts of God’s love. St Paul wrote famously: “creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God […] because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole of creation is groaning in travail until now” (Rom 8: 19; 21-22). While for Origen the cosmos was created to stop the fall of rational beings, for Maximos the cosmos is the environment of God’s loving care and providence. Rather than: rest – procession – return, for Maximos the triad is: becoming – movement – rest. The cosmos is where we discover our fallen state and learn to love God. For St Justin the essence of Providence lives in the divinehuman body of Christ – the Church – by Holy Tradition. The doctrine of the logos of created beings (their being the object of natural contemplation; what God reveals of Himself; the “finger prints” of the Creator) means that the logos of created beings is analogous to the Logos Christ. Thus logikos means participation in the Logos. But for St Maximos and for St Justin this requires an intense ascetic struggle in response to God’s self-emptying. Although God is separate from everything in the created order, he desires the true logoi of everything to unite to Him. From Gregory of Nyssa’s description of the successive dimensions of division in creation which converge on the human being who embraces all of the divisions found in created reality, Maximos deduces liturgical movements. He celebrates the healing of the five divisions through the Incarnation (Ambigua 41). The cosmic liturgy is the reality of the humblest celebration of the Divine Liturgy and the highest expression on earth of God’s providence. This interior mission of the Church to purify oneself, which St Justin recommends so strongly, is therefore accomplished by God’s Providence through man’s maturation under grace, unless evil makes him lose his way. God gives us a reason for being that is protological.
ДЕЛОТВОРНОСТ УЧЕЊА ВЕРЕ ПОД ДУХОВНИМ СТАРАЊЕМ ПРЕПОДОБНОГ ЈУСТИНА НОВОГ

ДЕЛОТВОРНОСТ УЧЕЊА ВЕРЕ ПОД ДУХОВНИМ СТАРАЊЕМ ПРЕПОДОБНОГ ЈУСТИНА НОВОГ
(THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LEARNING FAITH UNDER THE SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE OF THE VENERABLE JUSTIN THE NEW)

  • Author(s):Ilarion Đurica
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:365-377
  • No. of Pages:13
  • Keywords:faith; feat; Orthodoxy; dogma
  • Summary/Abstract:One of our contemporary giants of faith is the most venerable Justin the New. The author of these lines belonged to a small, one could say “foolish for Christ”, brave, group of his worldly spiritual sons and daughters. In this work we will attempt to outline the Abba’s spiritual activity with this group of “spiritual junkies”, which is a term he used to address us ever so affectionately — portraying him such as he was, as, without a doubt, the most prolific spiritual father of many important contemporary spiritual fathers. For him, there is no compromise in questions of faith. It is inseparably both a gift of God and a holy act of man. The act of faith continuously creates inexhaustible inner spiritual wealth, and does so in multifarious forms.
СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН ЋЕЛИЈСКИ КАО ОРИГИНАЛНИ МИСЛИЛАЦ

СВЕТИ ЈУСТИН ЋЕЛИЈСКИ КАО ОРИГИНАЛНИ МИСЛИЛАЦ
(SAINT JUSTIN OF ĆELIJE AS AN ORIGINAL THINKER)

  • Author(s):Dimitry Tribushny
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:379-392
  • No. of Pages:14
  • Keywords:Justin Popovich; Bogočovek; Russian Philosophy
  • Summary/Abstract:One of the main tasks in the study of Saint Justin – is to overcome the myths surrounding the Venerable. Modern ecclesiastical and historical research knows Justin (Popović) to be an ardent defender of Orthodoxy, reproducing the ideas of the early Fathers. His own theology is regarded as the theology of illumination, as the theology of reiteration. Can we therefore speak of original thought in the works by Saint Justin? Venerable Justin (Popović) is the only saint who dared to combine writings of the early Fathers with the Russian religious and philosophic renaissance. He introduces into the course of Dogmatic Theology the debatable notions of “pan-unity”, “theanthropism” (“God-manhood”), unknown to the Holy Fathers. In the theological system of the Serbian saint, we come across the key notions of the pan-unionistic philosophy – those of “ontogenetic affinity” not only of God and man, but the Creator and all creation, of the possibility and even the need for the Divine Incarnation, inherent in the very essence of the creation. Saint Justin denies the existence of the independent created nature and in some cases expresses ideas which are, of course only formally, close to pantheism: “In the end, the basis of everything visible is invisible: the basis of the man is his soul, the basis of the world is God. The invisible is the hypostasis of everything, the basis of everything, it is what the world and everything in it stands on”. In the system of Popović, the narrative regarding the soul of the world, typical of the Russian representatives of pan-unionism, remains unfinished: “After the fall: every person and creature are the fragments of the soul shattered by sin, the common universal soul and common universal body”. Obviously, the above mentioned ideas are alien to the school theology. In some cases, they are in direct contradiction to it. Yet, Saint Justin the innovator does not merely reproduce the intuitions of the philosophy of pan-unionism. He corrects them at the same time, and introduces them into church life and into the world of the Orthodox tradition. Thereby the Reverend widens our perception of the true boundaries of the Orthodoxy.
ОТАЦ ЈУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ КОД СРБА

ОТАЦ ЈУСТИН ПОПОВИЋ КОД СРБА
(SERBS ABOUT FR JUSTIN POPOVIĆ)

  • Author(s):Pavle Jović
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:393-404
  • No. of Pages:12
  • Keywords:Justin Popovic; Serb; reception
  • Summary/Abstract:The purpose of this work is to determine when the Serbs realized the true value of Justin Popović (1894–1979), one of the greatest Serbian ascetics and theologians. The first records of Fr Justin Popović among the Serbs appeared in the theological press, a few years after the publication of his Dogmatics of Orthodox Church (1932). At the time of the communist rule, it was not allowed to write about him. There is no mention of his name in the post-war encyclopaedia of Yugoslavia. The first piece on Justin Popović appeared in the journal Theology from the pen of the theologian and dogmatician Stojan Gošević in 1980. The first, but modest book about Archimandrite Justin Popović was compiled by engineer Aleksandar Mladenović and originated in Australia after his death (1980). Several works on the life and work of Fr Justin Popović were published in the journal Voice of the Church in 1989, while the first monograph dedicated to him in Serbia was edited and published in 1993 by the Monastery of Ćelije.
РЕЦЕПЦИЈА И ЗНАЧАЈ СВЕТОГ ЈУСТИНА И ЊЕГОВИХ ДЕЛА МЕЂУ ОБРАЋЕНИЦИМА НА ЗАПАДУ

РЕЦЕПЦИЈА И ЗНАЧАЈ СВЕТОГ ЈУСТИНА И ЊЕГОВИХ ДЕЛА МЕЂУ ОБРАЋЕНИЦИМА НА ЗАПАДУ
(RECEPTION AND IMPORTANCE OF ST. JUSTIN AND HIS WORKS AMONGST CONVERTS IN THE WEST)

  • Author(s):Phillip Calington
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Page Range:405-414
  • No. of Pages:9
  • Keywords:West; conversion; criticism; reception; ecumenism
  • Summary/Abstract:St. Justin is a highly venerated saint in his native Serbia and by other Orthodox people who have taken his ideas and teachings to heart. One aspect that is rarely examined and spoken about is the influence and importance of St. Justin among converts to the Orthodox faith in the West. Along with holy people of the 20th century like Fr. Seraphim Rose and St. Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos, St. Justin is a beacon shinning bright in the spiritual darkness of the West. His teachings are relevant today and examine questions that the Church fathers never answered directly as they were not faced with these exact issues and circumstances: St. Justin, however, is the living voice of the patristic tradition in the modern world. Why is St. Justin so popular among converts? What parts of his teachings are compelling to former Catholics, former Protestants, former believers of other faiths and atheists? St. Justin is the pinnacle of authentic Orthodox traditionalism and conservatism: deeply rooted in the Church Fathers. In this presentation, we will examine and present why St. Justin is so compelling to western converts to the faith. The author will also try to present the aforementioned through his personal experience of converting to the Orthodox Faith and actively participating in the Orthodox Church life in the West.
О АУТОРИМА

О АУТОРИМА
(ABOUT THE AUTHORS)

  • Author(s):Author Not Specified
  • Language:Serbian
  • Subject(s):Theology and Religion
  • Page Range:415-419
  • No. of Pages:5
Back to list
2025 © CEEOL. ALL Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions of use | Accessibility
ver2.0.1033
Toggle Accessibility Mode