The Persecutions and Martyrdom of Saint Justin Popović

 

 

 

Introduction

Saint Justin Popović (1894–1979) was one of the most important figures of contemporary Orthodox Theology. His life was a continuous testimony — not only against the atheistic communist regime of Yugoslavia, but also against the compromising tendencies that entered into the Serbian Orthodox Church itself. His martyrdom had a twofold dimension: political and ecclesiastical. Both aspects of the persecution were inseparably connected with his uncompromising faith in the God-man Christ.

Political Persecution by the Communist Regime

Expulsion from the University (1945)

With the establishment of communist rule in Tito’s Yugoslavia in 1945, mass persecutions against the Church began. Justin Popović, as a man of the Church with openly expressed anti-communist positions, was expelled from his position as professor of Dogmatics at the Theological Faculty of the University of Belgrade, together with another 200 professors.

Arrest and Condemnation to Death (1946)

Father Justin took refuge in the Holy Monastery of Sukovo in Pirot, in southern Serbia, where in 1946 he was arrested and imprisoned. Later he was tried and condemned to death as an “enemy of the people.” He was saved at the last moment thanks to the intervention of Patriarch Gabriel, who had only just returned from the Auschwitz concentration camp and demanded his release from prison.

Thirty-Year Confinement in the Monastery of Ćelije

From 1946 until his death in 1979 — for 33 full years — Justin lived essentially confined in the small women’s Monastery of the Archangels in Ćelije of Valjevo. Driven out from everywhere, without a pension and deprived of his human, religious, and political rights, he found refuge there as the spiritual father of the monastery.

The Monastery of Ćelije as a Spiritual Center of Orthodoxy

The Search for Refuge

At the Holy Monastery of the Archangel Michael in Ćelije, the persecuted Fr. Justin was deprived of human help and consolation, both on the religious level — through the deprivation of the faithful — and on the political level, since state law provided him with no means of livelihood. Thus he sought a place of residence in a monastery. In the monasteries to which he turned (Kalenić, Ovčar, Sukovo, Ravanica), no brotherhood accepted him. But the hope of the psalmic verse gave him strength on his path: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and the Lord shall deliver them out of them all.”

At that time the Serbian Church had several ancient monasteries, which exercised great influence over the local people. This led the communists to turn many of them into museums without monks, in order to prevent their activity. There were, however, smaller monasteries with limited influence only in the surrounding provinces, as a result of which they were regarded by the ruling authorities as harmless. Such a coenobium was destined to host Fr. Justin.

The Arrival at Ćelije

A nun, Mother Sarah, was initially at the Monastery of Ljubostinja. Together with several sisters, in 1947 she settled in the Monastery of the Archangel Michael, known as Ćelije (Cells — Ćelije), near Valjevo in western Serbia. A year later, in May 1948, in the small church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Mother Sarah met Fr. Justin. Knowing his integrity, she proposed that he come to the monastery of Ćelije. He accepted her invitation and remained there until the end of his earthly life.

By the unanimous decision of the women’s sisterhood, he became their spiritual father, as well as that of the faithful pilgrims of the monastery. The daily celebration of the services of the daily cycle and of the Divine Liturgy was established, according to the monastic typikon. He became a luminous teacher of simple Serbs, educated and uneducated alike, as well as of professors from the fields of theology, history, philosophy, and other sciences. In an apt expression, he became “the hidden conscience of the Church of Serbia, but also of martyric Orthodoxy in general.”

The Rupture with Mother Sarah

Later, however, the unity of the sisterhood was shaken. Differing views and continual disagreements with Fr. Justin over questions concerning monastic obedience and the work of the monastery led, in 1958, to Abbess Sarah leaving Ćelije and, together with half of the sisterhood, heading to the Koporin Monastery.

After this tragic event, the remaining nuns had to elect a new abbess. At first they elected the nun Justina, while later, at her proposal, the nun Glykeria was elected. Mother Glykeria, then still young, with complete trust in the person and spiritual experience of Fr. Justin, proved capable in the administration of the monastery, with the result that it developed both spiritually and architecturally.

Persecution by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Church

Isolation During Synodal Sessions

The political persecution by the communist regime had a particularly harsh dimension that was directly connected with the Holy Synod of the Serbian Church. Especially when the Holy Synod was meeting in Belgrade, he was forbidden any departure from the monastery for months, because of the authorities’ fear that he would come into contact with the bishops and influence them.

This prohibition had a twofold significance: on the one hand, the communist regime feared the spiritual influence of Justin, who was already recognized as the “hidden conscience of the Serbian Church.” On the other hand, this isolation had the result that Justin was excluded from the Church’s critical decisions, especially in matters concerning its stance toward Ecumenism and the World Council of Churches.

The Confrontation over Ecumenism

Justin Popović was a vehement critic of Ecumenism when it tended to relativize the Truth of God. He regarded Ecumenism as “a common name for the pseudo-Christianities, for the pseudo-churches of Western Europe,” and characterized it as a “pan-heresy.”

This stance brought him into conflict with the Holy Synod of the Serbian Church, which had decided on the participation of the Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches. Justin sent a series of letters to the Synod, in which he expressed his strong disagreement:

• Letter of January 27, 1971: A reply to an anonymous card, in which he accused the bishops of preaching “the Ecumenism of Protestant syncretism and eclecticism based on a barren European humanism and a frenzied European anthropocentrism.”

• Letter of November 26, 1974 (“Memorandum”): In this historic text, which was published in the journal Koinonia (1975), Justin characterized the World Council of Churches as a “heretical, humanistic, humanized, man-worshipping union,” and the participation of the Orthodox Church in it as “apocalyptically horrifying in its un-Orthodoxy and anti-Orthodoxy” and a “monstrous dishonor and unprecedented betrayal.”

• Letter of May 7, 1977: This concerned the convocation of the Great Council of the Orthodox Church, in which Justin expressed his objections to the “neo-papal” tendencies of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Moscow.

The Stance of the Holy Synod toward Justin

The Holy Synod of the Serbian Church did not accept Justin’s letters. On the contrary, the Church’s participation in ecumenical dialogue continued. Justin, as a simple archimandrite and not a bishop, had no right to vote in Synodal decisions. His isolation by the regime, especially during the periods of Synodal sessions, meant that he could not intervene in person and defend his positions before the bishops.

At the same time, the Synod took no action to lift Justin’s political persecution. Although Patriarch Gabriel had intervened in 1946 to save his life, the Serbian Church did not officially demand Justin’s freedom of movement or his restoration to academic and ecclesiastical life. Justin remained confined in the Monastery of Ćelije until his death, without ever being rehabilitated.

The Silent Acceptance of the Persecution by the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy

The stance of the Serbian Church toward Justin was silent and ambiguous. On the one hand, the bishops recognized the holiness of his life and his theological depth. On the other hand, their political line — which aimed at the survival of the Church under the communist regime — led to a de facto acceptance of Justin’s restriction. Justin himself, in his letter of 1974, accused the Synod that its stance toward Ecumenism was “disastrous and abhorrent in relation to Holy Tradition, slavishly lowering the Holy Church.”

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The communist authorities did not leave Fr. Justin in peace, since they frequently summoned him for interrogation. The situation worsened when his books of theological and philosophical content, Philosophical Abyss and The Honor Shown to Saint Sava as a Philosophy of Life, circulated and became known abroad. Regarding the first work, they wanted to discover the manner of its “illegal export,” because it criticized the politics of communism. He, in a clever way, simply replied: a friend of his from Germany had asked him to read his work, and Fr. Justin was sending it to him by letters. His friend, when he had read it, published it.

Often, after interrogation, he would be detained by the atheist regime. Thus the nuns of Ćelije would go outside the prison of Valjevo, as a sign of protest, and would stand silently for hours before the state administration. This brought about the release of their spiritual father, because they feared an uprising of the Serbs of Valjevo, who were chiefly anti-communists, as was also a large number of Serbs from all the other regions.

Fr. Justin was also feared because of his influence over the Serbian people. In 1950 Patriarch Gabriel reposed, and, as the canons of the Church prescribe, it was necessary for the Serbian Hierarchy to be convened in order to proceed with the process of electing the new patriarch. It was certain that the communist authorities “participated” in the session for the election of the new ecclesiastical leader. Fr. Justin was informed about this and went to the Synod. Immediately, however, they approached him and said to him: “Please come to the car. You are going back to Ćelije.” This action confirms his deep influence over the bishops of the Serbian Church, something the atheist regime did not desire.

In similarly important and difficult events that arose in Belgrade, they forbade Fr. Justin to leave the Monastery of Ćelije for several months. This, however, did not prevent his interactions with the pilgrims of his monastery, who hastened to him, especially on Sundays.

Spiritual Martyrdom

Ascetic Life under Persecution

Despite the prohibitions, the exhaustion, the intimidation, and the threats, Justin prayed unceasingly and lived a strict ascetic life. He celebrated all the services of the daily cycle without fail. He celebrated the Divine Liturgy daily and fasted, eating nothing at all, every Friday, during the first week of Great Lent, and during Holy Week. He commemorated hundreds of names daily at the Divine Liturgy.

Literary Work as Testimony

His strict confinement did not prevent him from becoming known throughout the world. For 28 years he wrote his highly learned works without ceasing. His literary work includes his Dogmatics in three volumes, the Lives of the Saints in 12 volumes, the Interpretation of the New Testament in 7 volumes, and a multitude of other texts. His works were translated into many languages and made him one of the three most important Serbian theologians recognized internationally.

Spiritual Influence beyond the Borders

Thousands were the letters he received, and likewise thousands were his visitors, from Serbia and from all over the world. His reputation spread quickly and passed beyond the borders of Serbia. He was visited not only by Serbs, but also by many Greeks, Russians, and other Orthodox. Even the restrictions of the regime could not halt his spiritual influence.

The Canonization and Rehabilitation

Justin reposed on April 7, 1979, March 25 according to the Old Calendar, on the very day of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos — the same day on which he had been born. On April 29, 2010, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church canonized him, thus recognizing his holiness with a delay of 31 years. The uncovering of his holy relics took place in 2015.

His canonization by the very Synod which, during his lifetime, had not accepted his warnings about Ecumenism, constitutes a historical irony. Justin, who had been characterized as the “hidden conscience of the Serbian Church,” ultimately became an officially recognized Saint of the Church.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Saint Justin Popović — Charalampos Andralis
Edition: Politeia bookstore

Saint Justin Popović: Life — Works — Holiness. Archim. Justin (Vasileios) Alexiou
Edition: AUTH (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Doctoral Dissertation

Periodicals and Articles in Greek

Journal Koinonia (1975): Publication of the 1974 Memorandum.
Journal Parousia: Electronic edition of the Dogmatics.
Journal Halosis: Articles on his canonization and theology.
Journal Aktines: References to his theology of Baptism and Ecumenism.

 

Greek source: https://fdathanasiou-parakatathiki.blogspot.com/2026/06/blog-post_12.html