Elder Thaddaeus Strabulovich

Elder Thaddeus (Strabulovich) (1914-2003) is considered one of the greatest Serbian ascetics of the 20th century. He served as a spiritual guide for the Serbian people. His life was that of a modern-day martyr during one of the most challenging periods in Serbian history, a time of spiritual and historical upheaval: two world wars, a civil war, a fifty-year communist occupation, the wars in Krajina, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, the NATO forces' attack on the Serbian people in 1999, the occupation of Kosovo and Metohija, and the ongoing globalization of societies worldwide. During these dark times, which spanned an entire century of war and suffering, Elder Thaddeus sought peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and became a witness to them, demonstrating through his personal example the victory brought by choosing the narrow path of the Kingdom of Heaven. Throughout his life, Father Thaddeus was graced with the Holy Spirit and the three stages of mystical perfection (purification, illumination, and deification). This was known to all who knew him, conversed with him, confessed to him, and received the Holy Eucharist from his hands. We also know, from his humble third-person narratives, that the elder was also granted that ultimate mystical level of theology, where the deified person communicates with angelic forces and is granted the vision of the uncreated light. The Holy Spirit reveals to him the depths of divinity and allows him to receive the uncreated energy of God. Before such a person, many mysteries of the Gospel of God are revealed, which remain hidden from others.