With faith in Christ and hope in the Resurrection, we share news of the repose of Protopresbyter Justin Yoshito Yamaguchi of Japan, who fell asleep in the Lord on Wednesday, April 15, 2020 due to cardiac failure. He was 86 years old.
Father Justin served as a priest of the Orthodox Church in Japan for fifty years in various cities including Ishinomaki, Sendai, Tokyo, and Osaka. He graduated from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1968.
In a correspondence dated 1964 to Fr John Meyendorff, Bishop Vladimir, who was at the time Bishop of Tokyo and Japan, wrote of the young Justin Yoshito Yamaguchi and his application to St. Vladimir’s Seminary: “The future of the Church in Japan depends on the Japanese themselves—not only in membership and clergy but in the hierarchy as well.”
In his application to the Seminary in 1964, Justin Yamaguchi, the son of an Orthodox priest, wrote movingly of why he desired a theological education. “From my true humble heart I desire to learn about our faith and be a missionary among my people here in Japan. I want to be a true worker for the light of Orthodoxy. In my heart I know that Orthodoxy is true […] but cannot explain it in the correct way. I request that you please allow me to study in the seminary so that I can do my part for my church and my people.”
A panikhida was served for Fr Justin on April 17th, and the funeral was conducted on April 18th by His Eminence Serafim, Archbishop of Sendai.
