On May 21, 2025, on the feast of Saint John the Theologian, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porphyrije celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the chapel dedicated to that apostle and evangelist at the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Belgrade.

The Patriarch was concelebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan David of Kruševac and His Eminence Bishops Hesychije of Valjevo and Nikon of Jenopolje, with the prayerful participation of His Eminence Metropolitan Irinej of Bačka and His Eminence Bishop Nektarios of London and British-Irish and Vicar Jovan of Hum.

The festive celebration was crowned with a great blessing that honored the highest educational institution of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Namely, His Grace Bishop of Valjevo, Mr. Hesychije, brought as a gift to the Faculty of Theology a particle of the relics of Saint Justin of Celje, who, we remind you, was also a professor at that higher education institution.

After reading a passage from the Holy Gospel, Metropolitan of Kruševac, Dr. David, addressed those present, emphasizing that all the words of the Lord have their red echo, their red resound, they have consequences, because they are also transformed into His works and thus fill time and space, but they also have the echo of eternity. –In the Gospel of John, in the eighteenth chapter, we see the entire sacramental life of the Church – past, present and future – and the Lord at the center who blesses His creation, His creation, and shares His gifts, giving Himself to us, and every giving is a reference to Him, the Lord the Giver, who is our life, our hope and fullness. These gifts of His always mean life and are equated with life – Metropolitan David emphasized and reminded:

– This image reminds us very much of the Last Supper, also of the dinner at Emmaus with Philip and Cleopas, and now with Philip and the others, with the entire people. This image contains our very identity and through it we best feel and know ourselves, because the Lord is with us. The theme of the bread of life and the drink of life is the basic theme of our thinking, our responses, our exploits, our hopes. In the end, everything fits into that picture: all of life, which is diverse, whether it concerns us individually or all of us in community. The event, therefore, has a Eucharistic character and meaning. And it is full of hope. It does not require anything else from us, no qualifications, no gradations, but only participation in the event of bread and wine, that is, the Body and Blood. Therefore, angelic theology is a blessing of the Church and each of us is an experienced theologian, a theologian who theologizes on the basis of bread and wine, having, of course, the Lord within himself. According to this logic, it is the Lord who theologizes all the time, always and in every place, and we only participate in His word. He who is love, who is the all-giving God, includes us in His entire economy, in all ranks and levels, which becomes a sacred mystery and thus our life becomes a sacred mystery, a life of engaging in mysteries always through the Lord and Him as the Teacher.

– What is needed here? As much as possible opening ourselves, our minds, our hearts, our entire being, because the presence of the Lord in us depends on this. Of course, this reminds us of the theme of the eros of our soul and our life, of the Lord who introduces us to the mystery of love, because one day it will certainly take its place, but also the place of faith and hope. That is why it is necessary to be free for the Lord. The forces of possibility of our opening up to the Lord are dynamic. This expansion of boundaries flows constantly and constantly encounters obstacles. It clashes with what we call passions, sins – Bishop David emphasized and concluded:

– Let us rejoice in the Lord just as children rejoice in their parents, not doubting for a moment that they will be left behind, abandoned, abused, mutilated, degraded. And that is why, we repeat, this image is dear to us, this representation, this panorama where everyone is gathered together under the veil of bread and other edibles, which is clear and has our deep conviction, the deepest, that we will never be left behind, abandoned to hunger and thirst. There are, therefore, two hungers and thirsts, when our being begins to disappear, to disappear, to wither, when the entire order of our life collapses. In order to oppose this, to stop this collapse, it is necessary for us to do everything on our part, even if it is insufficient in our eyes and the eyes of others; It is important to do everything that is in our power, even if it is not enough according to the logic of things. And then the Lord, who is sensitive to our mood, to our well-being, will hasten to enrich us, to feed us, to drink us, and to clothe us again, because in essence this is what is at stake yesterday, now, and in the future. The furthest we can get into the future is the wedding of the King's son, a common table, of course, we dressed appropriately, pleasing to God, befitting God for that wedding, for that dinner, for that council.

At the end of the Holy Liturgy, Patriarch Porphyry consecrated the Slavic gifts and on that occasion said:

- Christ is risen! May the glory of this church school of ours be happy and blessed. May we have the prayers of all the saints, above all those saints of God who were teachers here and who studied in this college. Among them, we should also have the prayers of Saint Justin Ćelijski, whose relics we received as a gift, with the blessing of His Eminence, Bishop Hesihi of Valjevo. May these relics also be a comfort to all those who study theology and who are being taught theology, to be an example to respect and to be an inspiration for prayer, and above all, to be a call to true Orthodox theology, which is nothing but prayer.

- And precisely in the person of Saint Abba Justin, who was all burning with Christ, lived with Christ, breathed with Christ, looked with Christ, listened with Christ, thought with Christ, we have an example of a man whose whole life was prayer. His theology is not any analysis, it is not synthesis, it is not deconstruction, it is not any kind of methods that are used in the human mind. Of course, all of this exists in each of us, and especially exists in people who live a holy life, only all of this has its true and proper place and gains its meaning and its fullness only if it serves what each person exists for, what is true theology, only if it serves the building of an indissoluble union with God. And Saint Abba Justin's theology was entirely prayer, because his life was prayer. From prayer, he gives birth to word and thought, and his thought and his word flow again into prayer and return to prayer. For him, the words of the Holy Apostle Paul were true, who says that no one has ever seen God, but that those who love God are worthy to have God revealed to them. And love finds its best expression precisely in prayer - emphasized Mr. Svetejši. Porphyry concluded:

- Well, we are blessed that Saint Abba Justin came to us, returned, even though he never left, so that we would pray to him, that he would be an example for each of us to follow, that he would be an invitation to each of us that our every word, thought, deed and everything that we are begins with prayer, that it be imbued with prayer and culminate in prayer so that the ancient sentence that is an expression of the experience of the Fathers of the Church would also be true: that you are a true theologian if you pray and that if you pray you will be a true theologian. Have a happy and blessed day and holiday! May God give us all love for Him, our Savior, but also mutual understanding and love, may we all understand that the call of Christ - that we all be one is not just a platitude, but the foundation, meaning and content of our lives. And that - that we can be one and we are one, implies our transformation, which is nothing but repentance, and which includes seeking forgiveness and forgiving everyone in the name of Christ, in the name of His love. Have a happy and blessed holiday today! Cheers to many summers!

This was followed by a short address by the Archpriest Prof. Dr. Zoran Ranković, Dean of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Belgrade:

- Brothers and sisters, we are happy to celebrate the Apostle of love, St. John the Theologian, today. We also rejoice that we received a blessing in the form of the relics of Saint Justin of Čelijski, for which we thank you, Your Holiness, and you, Your Eminence. According to tradition, on this day we present diplomas to those who have successfully completed their theological studies at our Faculty. Sticking to that tradition this time too, we congratulate our colleague Ivan Cvetanović on his graduation and wish him success in his future work.

Source: SPC