Last confessor of Elder Cleopa of Sihăstria, Hieromonk Jacob, reposes in the Lord

On Monday morning, July 20, Hieromonk Jacob (Savin) of Sihăstria Monastery reposed in the Lord. His funeral was served the following morning, the monastery reports.

Fr. Jacob is renowned as a wise hieromonk who served as the last confessor of the great Elder Cleopa (Ilie) who is venerated throughout the Orthodox world.

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel sent a message of condolences to the abbot Archimandrite Arsenie (Popa) and the brotherhood of the monastery and the bereaved family of Fr. Jacob, speaking of the newly-departed as “a true example in humility, obedience and love for the Church.”

“His departure from us means a loss for the community of the monastery, for his family, but also for the Church of Christ in which he labored, his life being a true example in humility, obedience and love for the Church,” the Patriarch writes.

Fr. Jacob was gentle and peaceful, the Patriarch writes, ever avoiding worldly glory and hiding his God-pleasing labors, like the great fathers we read about in the Patericon.

After the repose of Fr. Varsanufie Lipan in 1997, Hieromonk Jacob took up the mantle of confessor to Elder Cleopa (Ilie), serving in that function until the great elder’s repose the following year, Pat. Daniel recalls.

His Beatitude concludes by offering a prayer for the eternal salvation of the soul of Fr. Jacob.

Source: Orthochristian.com