In Memoriam: Vladyka Job

It's been a year since Vladyka Job's death and it's still hard to believe what happened. I still feel that if I went to Chicago I could just give him a call and meet up with him at Christ the Savior or Holy Trinity or have dinner with him at his apartment near the Moody Bible Institute. He was such an incredible, loving man. I had met bishops before I moved to the Midwest and found myself in the American Orthodox Church's Midwestern American Diocese, but for me he exemplified what a bishop was supposed to be. He was truly Christ's icon in our midst.

I remember waking up in Addis Abeba not feeling well and finding out later that morning that Vladyka had died. I was unable to go to his funeral because of being out of the country, but when I returned to the States I made a pilgrimage to his grave in Black Lick. I do not know what his fate was, but because of changes in certain issues in my life that I brought to him and the continuing strengthening of our Diocese of Chicago I feel that he is still with us, praying for us. May his memory be eternal! Fr. John Matusiak has posted a lovely tribute to Vladyka Job on the website of the Midwestern American Diocese here.