Consecration of Archimandrite Justin for Bishop of Hvosno

At the regular session held in Belgrade from May 24 to 29, 2021, the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church elected Archimandrite Justin (Jeremic) as the vicar of the Serbian Patriarch, with the title of Bishop of Hvosno.

Archimandrite Justin was born on June 22, 1982 in Ruma to father Milos and mother Olga. He finished primary school in his hometown, from where, with the blessing of the Bishop Vasilije of Srem enrolled in the Theological Seminary of St. Arsenije Sremac in Sremski Karlovci.

Diligence towards theology and love for worship, but also towards monastic life and deeds, determined the further life path of the young theologian, so Bishop Vasilije decided that before the end of the fifth grade, in March 2002, that he would be tonsured in Fruska Gora. at the monastery of Velika Remeta.

Shortly afterward, on the Feast of the Annunciation. the monk Justin was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon in the monastery of Krusedol. After the seminary, which he finished as the best student in the generation, he enrolled in the Moscow Theological Academy on the recommendation of the competent Bishop. Before leaving for Moscow, in October 2002, he was ordained a hieromonk at the monastery of Velika Remeta.

During his studies, he developed a special love, but also knowledge in the field of Liturgy, so during the fourth year of study, he was appointed a teacher of liturgical practice in the Protection Church of the Academy, through which he taught newly ordained priests-students about Typikon and proper completion of otherwise very demanding worship of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2006, he graduated from the Theological Academy, defending his dissertation on "Hesychasm in Serbian monasticism in the 13th and 14th centuries." During his studies, as the best foreign student, he was awarded a special scholarship from the Fund of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexei I.

Upon his return from Moscow in 2006, he was assigned to the brethren of the abandoned monastery of Stari Hopov on Fruska Gora. Despite the difficulties, youth and inexperience, he manages, together with his brothers, to restore that sanctuary, which was abandoned from the Second World War until their arrival, both materially and spiritually.

With the blessing of the Bishop of Srem, Vasilije and the Holy Synod of Bishops, in 2008 he was sent to postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Theology in Athens, where he stayed until 2013, when, with the blessing of the Bishop of Western Europe, he moved to Paris. He served as a parish priest in Lyon and Dijon, as well as in the parish of Saint Sava in Paris.

On the feast of the Epiphany in 2015, he was decorated with the rank of protosynchellos, and on October 30, 2016, he was ordained into the rank of archimandrite.

He actively translates liturgical texts from Russian and Greek, some of which he published in the magazines Istina, Vidoslov and Srpski Sion. He wrote the Service to the Holy Venerable Martyr Raphael of Sisatovac. He speaks Russian, Greek and French.

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The act of proclamation of the elected Bishop of Hvostan will be performed at the old Cathedral of the Holy Archangel Michael in Belgrade on Saturday, September 11, 2021, beginning at 6 p.m.

The Holy Liturgy with the hierarchical consecration will be celebrated by His Holiness Porfirije, Serbian Patriarch, together with the brothers archbishops and priests, in the Cathedral church of Saint Sava in the Vracar district on September 12, 2021 at 9 am.