Saint Jacob the New of Tuman was a Serbian monk and confessor of the twentieth century, born Radoje Arsović in 1894 at Ravna Gora near Ivanjica in the Kingdom of Serbia. Before entering monastic life he was an educated layman who studied in France and worked in the diplomatic service of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and he was associated with a doctoral thesis on the French philosopher Blaise Pascal completed in the 1920s. He abandoned his secular career to become a monk, took the name Jacob, and was later persecuted under the communist authorities that came to power in Yugoslavia after the Second World War.
He is venerated at Tuman Monastery, where he was buried and where his relics were uncovered, and is commemorated together with Saint Zosimas of Tuman. The Serbian Orthodox Church numbered him among its saints, and his feast is kept on August 8.
Timeline 8 moments
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1894Birth at Ravna GoraRadoje Arsović is born near Ivanjica in the Kingdom of Serbia, where he receives his early education.
1920sStudies in FranceHe pursues advanced study in France and is associated with a doctoral thesis on Blaise Pascal; reports credit him with doctoral-level work in philosophy, law, and theology. He also serves in the diplomatic service of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in France.
1937Religious writing and the prayer movementDrawn to the religious life under the influence of Bishop Nikolai Velimirović, he takes part in the Bogomoljci ('God-worshippers') prayer movement and produces religious writings and translations, including a work on the lives of holy maidens.
1938Monastic tonsureHe is tonsured a monk, taking the name Jacob, and serves as a brother at Žiča Monastery, staying for a time at Ljubostinja. He edits the religious magazines Pismo and Missionar and works as a missionary in the Čačak–Kraljevo region.
1945Arrest under the communist authoritiesHe is arrested by the Yugoslav communist authorities for his religious convictions and subjected to mistreatment.
1946Repose at RabrovoAfter distributing thousands of copies of the Lord's Prayer to travelers at the railway station in Požarevac, he is attacked at night by members of the secret police on the road toward Rabrovo and dies of his injuries days later. He is buried at Tuman Monastery.
2014Uncovering of the relicsHis relics are uncovered at Tuman Monastery in December 2014 and reported to be incorrupt.
2017CanonizationThe Serbian Orthodox Church canonizes him as Venerable Jacob the New of Tuman.
Contributions & Legacy
4 contributions
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Scholar and diplomat
Before his monastic conversion, Radoje Arsović belonged to the educated class of the early Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After his early schooling in Serbia he studied abroad in France, where his name became attached to a doctoral thesis on the philosopher Blaise Pascal; accounts also credit him with study across philosophy, law, and theology. He served in the diplomatic apparatus of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in France, a path that placed him among the country's cosmopolitan, Western-educated elite rather than in a traditional clerical milieu.
Conversion and monastic life
Arsović's turn from secular accomplishment to the monastic life was shaped by Bishop Nikolai Velimirović and by the Bogomoljci, or 'God-worshippers', a lay devotional movement of prayer and renewal in the Serbian Church. He became active in religious publishing, editing the magazines Pismo and Missionar and producing translations and devotional writing. Tonsured in 1938 with the name Jacob, he lived as a monk at Žiča and Ljubostinja and labored as a missionary in central Serbia.
Confession and death
With the establishment of communist power in Yugoslavia after the Second World War, Jacob was arrested in 1945 for his religious convictions and ill-treated. In 1946 he carried thousands of printed copies of the Lord's Prayer from Belgrade and handed them out to travelers at the railway station in Požarevac. Soon afterward he was assaulted at night by members of the secret police on the road toward the village of Rabrovo and died of his injuries several days later in the home of a layman. He was buried at Tuman Monastery as he had wished.
Veneration at Tuman
Jacob's grave became a focus of veneration at Tuman Monastery, the same house that keeps the memory of the medieval ascetic Zosimas of Tuman. His relics were uncovered in December 2014 and reported to be incorrupt, and in 2017 the Serbian Orthodox Church formally numbered him among the saints as Venerable Jacob the New of Tuman. He is commemorated on August 8, together with Saint Zosimas, at the monastery where both are honored.
His companions & kin
Commemorated together at Tuman Monastery
Zosimas of Tuman
Hierarch whose influence shaped Jacob's turn to the monastic and missionary life
Nikolai Velimirović
Notes
Born Radoje Arsović, 1894; reposed 1946. Commemorated with St Zosimas of Tuman (OS-1674).
