St. Justin Popović: A Voice of Fire Against the Lie of Ecumenism

In an age drunk on compromise, St. Justin Popović (1894 – 1979) stood as a clear and sober voice. A confessor of the faith in 20th-century Serbia, he didn’t mince words when it came to what he called the “pan-heresy” of our time: ecumenism.

For him, ecumenism wasn’t a movement toward unity — it was a dilution of truth. A betrayal. Not a coming together, but a falling away. He saw in it the spirit of relativism, the denial that there is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church — the Orthodox Church. Everything outside her — no matter how sincere, no matter how ancient — he named clearly: heresy.

And not out of hatred. Out of love. Out of reverence. Out of a burning desire to guard the Church, unbroken and unbending, from being remade in the image of the age.

“Ecumenism is the common name for the pseudo-Christianities, for the pseudo-Churches of Western Europe. And within it is found the heart of all heresies. Hence, ecumenism is nothing other than a pan-heresy.”

He wasn’t posturing. He wasn’t trying to be controversial. He was simply a man who loved Christ, and refused to see His Body fractured and renamed as “diverse expressions.”

In St. Justin’s theology, truth isn’t democratic. It doesn’t exist in fragments. It is whole. It is unchanging. And it is only found within the Orthodox Church. To speak otherwise is not humility — it is a lie dressed in tolerance.

This is not triumphalism. It is clarity. It is a call to repentance — not debate. He never sought mutual recognition. He sought the return of the prodigal. For him, dialogue only made sense if it ended at the chalice, in full communion.

St. Justin died in 1979. He was canonized in 2010. And still, his words ring louder than most. Because he said what few dare to say now: ecumenism is not the solution — it is the sickness.

His feast day is June 1st. May his prayers strengthen the faithful, and may his voice not be silenced by the polite fog of modern Christianity.