On the feast of the Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher and the Venerable Justin of Celje, saints that, among others, we celebrate today, a sermon was delivered to the faithful in the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town by the hierarchal vicar of Kotor-Tivat, parish priest of Kotor, archpriest – stavrophor Nemanja Krivokapić.
“The Holy Gospel, which was read today, reminds us of the fact that the Lord God, the God who created everything, came here among people to save us and to preach the word. The saving word, the truth that saves and teaches us how to gain eternal life. God wanted man himself to participate in this saving work. God is the one who saves us. He could have saved us himself, but he wanted us to participate in this saving work. It is logical that we should respond to the hand extended by God with an outstretched hand and make our contribution,” said Fr. Nemanja.
Thus, he reminds us, God also included Adam in the process of creating the world, to the extent that is his.
"He gave him the power to name the animals, so that he too could participate to the extent possible for him. Thus, God included people in his preaching. Not that he needed help, but that we, people, needed to participate in salvation. The first, those who responded to God's call, were the Holy Apostles. We just heard in the Holy Gospel how, at just one call from the Lord, they left everything they had been doing up until then, their entire life that they knew, to fish and feed themselves and their families from that. They left everything for one word of the Savior, recognizing in it that it was a living and saving word. And, they followed Him and became, as Christ himself says - "fishers of men". The apostles continued the work of God and the word of God that He had sown here on earth and passed it on to all of us to this day. In their time, the apostles did this, and after the apostles, the Holy Fathers,” said Fr. Nemanja. The word of God was further transmitted by those to whom the apostles transmitted it.
“And so that saving word of God has come to us, to this day, that we too may be saved. The Holy Fathers thus continued the saving work to which all of us are called, and which we heard in today's Gospel, where Christ calls the disciples to preach as well," continued Fr. Nemanja.
On this day, he reminded us, we celebrate two of the many Holy Fathers who have carried forward the apostolic word, i.e. the word of Christ, to this day.
"One of them is Saint Justin, a martyr and philosopher, a saint from the second century, and the other is also Saint Justin, also a theologian, philosopher and spiritual father, but in our own time, the twentieth century. Saint Justin the Philosopher was not a Christian. He was born into a polytheistic family, was a philosopher, studied many sciences, was extremely learned and respected in society, but he was not satisfied with himself, because he could not answer the most important questions for himself. The deepest one - who are we, why are we here on earth, what is the purpose of our life,” said Father Nemanja. In essence, he states that these are questions that torment every person who lives on earth.

“But we Christians have the Word of God and the answers to all questions, and he lived then still in ignorance, although he was very learned, and he was searching for the truth. He could not find it at all, although he was a famous philosopher. Once, quite by chance, he learned the truth. Walking along the shore, he met an old man, with whom he entered into conversations on these topics, which was strange, because philosophers did not talk to ordinary people. They were of the upper class, they did not talk to the lower. However, he simply started a conversation, and to the questions to which he could not find an answer, this old man simply answered him. He was amazed by his knowledge and wisdom. When asked where the old man had read it, he gave him the Holy Scripture. Having read it, he also found all the answers that had tormented and interested him since ancient times, since his youth, and had not been able to find them. Of course, he was baptized and became a Christian and the greatest preacher of Christianity at that time, which was very valuable, because until then Christians were mostly poor people. And the apostles were fishermen, and Christianity was the religion of poor people, while they, the upper class, the philosophers, did not talk at all or engage in conversation with poor people. Saint Justin, when he became a Christian, did not reject his class and the benefits he had, because at that time not everyone could speak in public places. Only those who were allowed could speak, and these were the smartest and most prominent people with philosophical togas, such as Saint Justin. He took advantage of the opportunity and his position to be able to preach, whenever he wanted and wherever he wanted, and that everyone had to listen to him, and from that position he preached Christianity. In this way, Christianity began to penetrate the upper classes of the society of that time, which was beneath honor "For example, listening to some fishermen there, or what some Christians there were saying. In this case, they had to listen, but then they heard the real truth. Many came to believe in Christ in this way, because they had the opportunity to hear the Divine Word," said Father Nemanja, recalling that St. Justin the Philosopher suffered martyrdom because it was a time of persecution of Christians, when they could not publicly profess their faith.
He continued his sermon by saying that today we are also celebrating another Saint Justin.
“We celebrate Saint Justin Popovic, a 20th century saint from our Serbian lineage, who was also, as I said, a theologian, philosopher and spiritual leader. He lived during the era of communism, when no one dared to even think, let alone speak, about the Church and oppose the communist ideology. However, he unwaveringly preached the word of God, as one of the greatest intellectuals of his time. With his words and his work, he was a beacon for many seekers of God. He passed on the patristic tradition to today's generations through his work, his words, his writings... He was a refuge and beacon for those seekers of God who were trying to reach the truth in that difficult time, but which was difficult to find at that time. Among those who found support and encouragement at that time were the wisest heads of our Church. His disciples, among others, were the blessed Metropolitan Amphilochius, the blessed Bishop Athanasius and our father Momo Krivokapić. St. Justin is a witness that the work to which Christ called the apostles, to participate in the proclamation of the word of God, is not reserved only for the apostles, nor for the fathers of the first centuries, but for all the fathers to this day. Not only for all the saints, but precisely for all of us who are members of the Church, who have the opportunity to spread the word of God. That the saving word that God has left us, by which we are saved, may we help others to be saved and that, of course, by listening to that word and living by it, may we also save ourselves and gain the eternal kingdom, amen!