Venerable Justin Popović

Justin Popović was a Serbian Orthodox theologian, archimandrite of the Ćelije Monastery, Dostoyevsky scholar, writer, anti-communist advocate and critic of the pragmatic church ecclesiastical life. On 2 May 2010, he was canonized as a saint by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In English, his name is sometimes spelled "Iustin Popovich". Popović was born to Spiridon, a sexton, and Anastasija Popović, in the southern Serbian town of Vranje, on 6 April 1894, on Feast of Annunciation by the Julian calendar. At his baptism, he was given the name Blagoje after the Feast of the Annunciation (Blagovest means "Annunciation" or "Good News"). He was born into a priestly family, as seven previous generations (not including his father) of the Popovićs (Pop is Serbian for "priest") were headed by priests. He completed his nine-year studies at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Theology in 1914. In the early 20th century, the School of St. Sava in Belgrade was renowned throughout the Orthodox world as a holy place of extreme asceticism as well as of a high quality of scholarship. Some of the well-known professors were the rector, Fr. Domentian; Professor Fr. Dositheus, later a bishop; Athanas Popović; and the ecclesiastical composer, Stevan Mokranjac. Still, one professor stood head and shoulders above the rest: the hieromonk, Nikolaj Velimirović, professor of philosophy and theology, who was the single most influential person in Popović's life. During the early part of World War I, in autumn of 1914, Popović served as a student nurse primarily in Shkodër, Niš and throughout Kosovo. Unfortunately, while in this capacity, he contracted typhus during the winter of 1914 and had to spend over a month in a hospital in Niš. On 8 January 1915, he resumed his duties sharing the destiny of the Serbian Army from Peć to Skadar during which 100,000 Serbian soldiers died.