Fr Justin: 29th Anniversary of His Repose

Today is the twenty-ninth anniversary of the blessed repose of Archimandrite Justin (Popovic), to whose memory this humble web log is unofficially dedicated. If you haven't read the eulogy given in his memory by Hieromonk (not Metropolitan) Amfilohije, I'd very much encourage you to do so today, in Fr Justin's memory. Here is how it begins:

Recently writing an article, a famous contemporary writer and monk from Mt. Athos began with the following words: "A man was sent by God. His name was Justin." And here, that man who was sent by God, who was sent to this holy place, who was sent to our nation, who was sent to the Orthodox Church, that holy man now lies before us. He was born in 1894, on the Feast of the Annunciation. on a Friday at twelve o'clock—he told me that at midnight before his death. He died on the Feast of the Annunciation, two days ago, a little more than an hour after the hour of his birth. Like a prayer rope, the days of his life were told between the Archangel's greeting: "Rejoice, thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee!" And again, within that same Archangel's greeting "Rejoice, thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee!"

This holy man who lies before us in death spent eighty-five years on earth. All of those eighty-five years of his life he gave as a gift to the last; he really was a glad tiding, a glad tiding eternally new, which is heard and has lasted already for thousands of years. He was one of the numerous, true witnesses to the Annunciation. He bore witness in his word, in his life, and even in his birth; and he bore witness also in his death.

It is our hope and prayer that Fr Justin will one day be officially counted among the saints commemorated by the Orthodox Church.