Jakov Arsović

Saint Jacob the New of Tuman (; born Radoje Arsović; 13 December 1894 – 1946) was a Serbian Orthodox monk who is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was a doctor of philosophy and law by education.

Youth and education

Born on 13 December 1894 in Ravna Gora, in the village of Kušić, municipality Kušići near Ivanjica.

His secular – baptized name was Radoje. He completed primary and secondary school in Serbia. Doctorate twice in France after studies: in the field of philosophy at the Sorbonne and in the field of law at Montpellier. He also practiced medicine, law and theology during his secular life.

He worked as a diplomatic officer of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the French Third Republic. In 1929 he was appointed ambassador of Yugoslavia in Paris.

Monasticism

After World War I, he met Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović of Žiča who exerted a great influence on him to devote himself to the Church. He was an active participant in the Bogomoltsy Movement and a writer of several pious articles and a translator.

In 1937, he translated the book "Lives of Holy Maidens", published in Kragujevac. After the Bogomoltsy Council in Vrnjačka Banja, he left the diplomatic service in Paris and came to Ohrid, and then Bitolj where he served with Bishop Nikolaj.

He became a monk there in 1938 and took the name Jakov. He became an ascetic, only to then undergo strict asceticism. He joined the monastic brotherhood in Žiča Monastery, as a brother. For a while, he later stayed in Ljubostinja Monastery.

After returning from Ohrid, he edited before World War II (until February 1941) the magazines and in Kragujevac. With a suitcase full of books, he walked as a missionary between Čačak and Kraljevo.

He was silent, modest, calm and transparent; he predicted the German bombing of Belgrade and the suffering of the Serbian people. Before the war, he walked around Kraljevo leading yoked oxen, warning people that slavery was coming.

During World War II, he preached in the churches of Belgrade, and when he was forbidden to do so, he continued in gymnasiums and schools. In the summer of 1941, he was in Ljubostinja Monastery, with Bishop Nikolaj also interned there.

Death

He was arrested in 1945 in Velika Drenova by the Yugoslav Communist authorities, who subjected him to torture with the intention of renouncing his "conservative religious beliefs". In 1946 he brought 8,000 copies of the Lord's Prayer from Belgrade, which he distributed to passengers at the train station in Požarevac, for which the Communists beat him to death. Members of the UDBA met him at night on the road between Požarevac and the village of Rabrovo, and brutally attacked him. As a result of that attack, he died six days later in Rabrovo, in the home of Vasa Popović, a believer. Even though he was a fellow of Žiča Monastery, according to his wish he was buried in Tuman Monastery.

Sainthood A mosaic icon depicting Saints Zosimus (left) and Jacob the New of Tuman (right), along with Jesus Christ, located in Tuman Monastery. In December 2014 with the blessing of Bishop Ignatije Midić of Braničevo, his grave was opened and his relics were found whole and incorruptible.

In 2017, the Serbian Orthodox Church canonised him as a saint as "Venerable Jacob the New of Tuman" . The Orthodox Church celebrates it on 8 August according to the Julian calendar, and 21 August according to the Gregorian calendar.