Written by: Catechist Branislav Ilić, Editor of the “Kinonia” Portal
“All is from Her, the Most Holy Mother of God; everything that the Lord Christ accomplished in this world—comes from Her.” (Saint Justin of Ćelije)
In the year of the Lord’s goodness, 2024, we mark the one hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the birth, the forty-fifth anniversary of the repose in the Lord, and the tenth anniversary of the uncovering and translation of the relics of the venerable Father Justin of Ćelije. By His wise and ineffable providence, the Lord brought Blagoje-the secular name of the Venerable Justin Popović-into being through his pious and God-fearing parents on the Feast of the Annunciation in 1894. On that same feast in 1979, the Lord called Archimandrite Justin to Himself-he who, until his final breath, tirelessly laboured in cultivating the spiritual Vineyard of the Lord. The fact alone that Saint Justin was both and reposed on the feast of the Annunciation is a clear sign that it was not by chance that he spoke, in both his sermons and theological reflections, with profound love and reverence about the Most Holy Theotokos, penetrating into the mystery of her person. Taking this into account, and considering the aforementioned jubilees, this issue of The Vineyard of the Lord offers a brief reflection on the theological thought of Saint Justin of Ćelije regarding the Most High Theotokos.
When one is given the opportunity to speak of the Most Holy Theotokos, the tongue falters, the voice trembles, and the hand quivers… not from fear, nor from confusion of mind, but from awe before Her whom the God of Love placed at the very centre of His Divine Economy of Salvation; from awe before Her who gathered the human race within herself and offered it to the Logos of Life. The life of the Most Holy Theotokos represents the perfection of virtuous living, insofar as it is possible for a human being. From her conception and birth—which were the fruit of deep faith and prayer, granted as a gift to her elderly parents Joachim and Anna—to her entry into the temple, not merely into the temple but into the Holy of Holies; to the wondrous and supra-rational conception of God the Logos and His birth-her entire life is inscribed by the Holy Spirit. The hymnography of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ is enriched by a sticheron that, in a prayerful-poetic manner, brings us closer to the mystery of the person of Theotokos and her blessed role in the Economy of our salvation. “What shall we offer You, O Christ, who for our sake has appeared on Earth as Man? Each of Your creatures brings You a token of gratitude: the angels-a hymn; the heavens-a star; the Magi-gifts; the shepherds-wonder; the earth-the cave; the wilderness-a manger; but we offer You the Virgin Mother. O God before the ages, have mercy on us!”
To speak of the Theotokos and to contemplate Her—who is more spacious than the heavens—always lifts us to desire theology itself, for through her person and her blessed surrender to the will of God, it is revealed that theology is nothing other than participation in the very life of God. And this participation is nothing else but a joy that no one can take away from us. In the second volume of his Dogmatics, Saint Justin of Ćelije devotes an entire chapter to the Most Holy Theotokos, in which, following in detail the biblical and patristic tradition, he sets forth her significance. According to his teaching, the Church’s devotion to the Theotokos is something kerygmatic—deeply biblical—resonating with the manner in which the gift of salvation in Christ is understood and responded to. The theological thought of Saint Justin on the Most Holy Theotokos clearly and unambiguously demonstrates that the mystery of salvation—and with it, the figure of the holy Virgin—was gradually unveiled in the Old Testament through various types: in Jacob’s ladder, in the burning bush unconsumed, in the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, in the manna-filled vessel, in Gideon’s fleece. Ultimately, it was the Old Testament evangelist Isaiah who lifted the veil from this mystery and revealed it to the whole world when he prophesied: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14).
Saint Justin of Ćelije repeatedly points out that the Holy Virgin is called Theotokos—Mother of God—not in the sense that she gave birth to the Lord Christ according to His divinity, nor that she granted being or existence to His divine nature, since His divinity is eternal and without beginning, but in the sense that she gave birth to Him according to His humanity. For the One born of her, in the very act of conception and birth, was—and always is—true God. In his Dogmatics, Saint Justin formulates this truth with greater clarity: “The divine truth concerning the Holy Virgin Theotokos is comprised of two affirmations: first, that the Holy Virgin is Ever Virgin (Aeiparthenos); and second, that the Holy Virgin is Theotokos. Both of these truths flow from one divine source: Holy Revelation. Each is a divine reality within the bounds of the human world.”
In his reflection on the text of the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos, which is chanted according to liturgical order on Friday evenings during the first four weeks of Great Lent at Small Compline, as well as at Matins on the Saturday of the fifth week, Saint Justin writes that the text of this laudatory hymn can rightly be considered a theological hymn of the Church’s doctrine on the Theotokos. He emphasises that the Theotokos, having given birth to the Benefactor, herself became a richly overflowing source of benefaction; she is able to do all things, for she bore the Almighty One—Christ; and having become the Mother of the merciful Lord, she herself became a source of mercy and an abyss of compassion. The All-Blessed Theotokos is heaven on earth; in her the laws of nature are overcome, and in bearing the Lord Christ she has surpassed every human praise.
Among the true treasures of Saint Justin’s theological thought on the Theotokos are his homilies, delivered on Marian feast days from the pulpit of the old Church of the Holy Archangels in Ćelije Monastery near Valjevo. One of the truths he most often emphasised in his sermons in honour of the Most Holy Theotokos is her unwavering readiness to entrust herself and her entire life fully to the will of God, as confirmed in her words: “Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
The greatness and dignity of the human being, created in the image of God, finds its firmest foundation in the person of the Holy Virgin. According to Saint Justin, “Through the birth of the incarnate Logos of God, the Most Holy Theotokos was the first to experience Paradise and all the beatitudes—all the riches that God brings into the world. She experienced the entirety of the Gospel of Christ, and all the eternal life, all the eternal truth, all the eternal righteousness. After the Lord Christ, she is the very embodiment of eternal righteousness, the embodiment of eternal love, the embodiment of eternal life. The Mother of God, having been granted the great grace to give birth to the Saviour of the world, reverses the original curse of Eve, for her Son, our Lord and Saviour, is the precious fruit of the Father’s good pleasure.”
It is no coincidence that, in the spirit of obedience to God’s will, Saint Justin affirms in several places that the Theotokos not only contained within herself the Uncontainable Logos, but also that she received into her heart the entirety of His Gospel—the glad tidings of the salvation of the world and of humankind—thus becoming a living, walking Gospel. In his often tear-filled homilies, the Saint describes the Theotokos as the most sacred jewel in the history of human salvation, the gracious countenance, the burning bush unconsumed, the ladder of Jacob connecting heaven and earth; she is the Mother of God and, through her Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ, the Mother of the whole universe.
The prayerful protection of the Theotokos—her mysterious omophorion, stretched forth with maternal love—is a theme that Saint Justin approaches in his homilies with particular reverence. He never fails to emphasise the importance of prayer and the liturgical hymns in which the God-inspired hymnographers glorify and magnify the Holy Virgin as the one who possesses the greatest boldness before the Lord to intercede on behalf of all who turn to her with love and heartfelt devotion. Even the sacred order of Orthodox worship recognises the Theotokos as the prayerful protector of all mankind, such that every series of stichera and troparia is concluded with a hymn to the Mother of God.
In his homily on the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, Saint Justin proclaims with power and clarity: “And the Theotokos—she is in heaven and on earth, unceasingly ministering to her divine Son. What was her life on earth? Service to God, service to the Lord Christ. And what is her life in heaven? Again, service to the Lord Christ, service to God. Ceaseless liturgy. That is the Most Holy Mother of God, the Most Holy Theotokos. Through her intercessions and prayers, we too become strong and mighty—mighty to crush every sin that assaults us or springs up within us, in our souls, from our sin-loving nature. That is why every feast of the Theotokos is a source of joy for us.”
Elsewhere in the same homily, the Saint speaks with absolute clarity of the Theotokos as the one who intercedes in prayer: “And thus, all our prayers—all the prayers of the Orthodox Church—are poured out and offered to her. All those prayers are full of glory to the Most Holy Theotokos, and she stands before all of us in every prayer. As though she intercedes and pleads before the throne of her wondrous Son, the Lord Christ, that He might save us from sin, save us from death, save us from hell. And that is why we Orthodox Christians so greatly magnify the Most Holy Mother of God. No one do we honour more, after her divine Son, the Lord Christ. And how wondrous, how radiantly beautiful and powerful is that prayer which we repeat so many times each day in our Orthodox services: ‘Having commemorated the Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed and Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.’”
In addition to all that has been said, it is precious to note that in nearly every homily on the feasts of the Theotokos, Saint Justin of Ćelije speaks of her as the teacher of the virtuous and evangelical life—one who, in her very being, incarnated all the virtues and commandments given to us not as mere legal prescriptions, but as blessed guideposts on our path towards eternal communion with the Lord. Thus, according to the words of Saint Justin, the Most Holy Theotokos appears as the Hodēgētria—the Guide and Protectress of all who, in this life, walk the path blazed by our Lord Jesus Christ, guided by faith, hope, and love.
Following the teachings and words of Saint Justin and his theological reflections on the Most Holy Theotokos, we marvel at her image, glorify her in ecclesiastical hymns, for in singing to the Theotokos, we theologise about her. And to theologise about her means to lift up our song, our word, and our thought towards God—He who draws us into His embrace. We are inspired by the patristic homilies dedicated to her, we pray that she may cover us with her most honourable veil and protect us from every evil. But above all, we hope that through her intercession, we may be made worthy to partake in the eternal Light of the One who made her womb the Holy of Holies.