Justin Popović (, , secular name Blagoje Popović, ; 6 April 1894 – 7 April 1979) 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".

Early life

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,

Athens

In 1926, Popović was promoted to the title of the Doctor of Theology at the Faculty of Theology, university in Athens, Greece, his dissertation being "Problem ličnosti i saznanja po Sv. Makariju Egipatskom" — The Problem of Personality and Consciousness According to St. Macarius of Egypt. For his course on the Lives of the Saints, he began to translate into Serbian the Lives of the Saints from the Greek, Syriac and Slavonic sources, as well as numerous minor works of the Fathers (homilies of John Chrysostom, Macarius and Isaac the Syrian).

Works

  • The Philosophy and Religion of F.M. Dostoevsky (1923),
  • Dogmatics of the Orthodox Church, I-III (1932, 1935, 1980)
  • The Progress in the Death Mill (1933)
  • The Foundations of Theology (1939)
  • Dostoevsky on Europe and Slavism (1940)
  • Philosophical Abysses (1957)
  • The Man and the God-Man (1969 in the Greek language)
  • Hagiographies of the Saints, I-XII (1972–1977)
  • The Orthodox Church and Ecumenism (1974, in the Greek and Serbian languages, 2001, in English, Lazarica Press UK)
  • Praznične besede
  • Pashalne besede
  • Nedeljne besede
  • Svetosavlje kao filozofija života
  • Put Bogopoznanja
  • Setve i žetve
  • Druge besede
  • Akatisti
  • Tumačenje Svetog Jevanđelja po Mateju
  • Tumačenje Svetog Jevanđelja po Jovanu
  • Tumačenje poslanica Svetog Jovana Bogoslova
  • Tumačenje poslanica prve i druge Korinićanima Svetog apostola Pavla
  • Tumačenje poslanice Efescima
  • Tumačenje poslanice Filipljanima i Kalošanima Svetog apostola Pavla
  • Tumačenje poslanice Galatima I-II
  • Tumačenje poslanice Solunjanima Svetog apostola Pavla

References

  • Perfect God and Perfect Man
  • How to read the Bible and Why
  • The Inward Mission of the Church
  • The Attributes of the Church
  • Homily on the Feast of the Beheading of St John, the Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord
  • Житие Св. Саввы Life of St. Sava (in Russian language)
  • On Summoning of the Great Council Of the Orthodox Church
  • 'A Doe in Paradise Lost – Confession of a Doe'
  • Papism as the Oldest Protestantism.
  • Orthodox Reading of Martin Luther: Protestantism as a Pan-heresy according to St Justin Popović