The text was published on the Kinonia portal, in the column “From the Editor’s Pen,” on January 20, 2026.
We may doubt many things and ask ourselves whether tomorrow will be gloomy or bright, whether we shall be healthy or fall ill, whether we shall be rich or poor; but of one thing there is no doubt—we shall all, sooner or later, stand before God. Dying is “the way of all the earth.” This truth is clear to us, yet despite this, in moments when those whom we love depart from us—those whose presence represents true wealth for us—we, as weak human beings, are filled with sorrow.
Three years have now passed since Protodeacon Vladimir Jaramaz, my eternal brother and friend in the love of Christ, passed from this transient life into life eternal. He hastened to meet his Lord, whom he faithfully served throughout his life. I believe that in the Kingdom of Heaven he was greeted with the words: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matt. 25:23).
I miss him. Although I know and feel in my heart that he now stands at the heavenly Liturgy beside the throne of God, holding his orarion raised and glorifying the name of God with the words: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts; heaven and earth are full of Your glory, O Lord,” nevertheless, in human weakness I confess that I miss our face-to-face encounters.
“God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt. 22:32). The soul constitutes the essence of a human being. Intellect, goodness, character, love—all these are attributes of the soul of our neighbour, that which forms his personal image. The body is the garment of the human being; it ages, suffers, changes, and undergoes irreversible processes. If we loved our neighbour during his life, we continue to love him after death. “Love never ends,” says the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 13:8). When we lose those close to us, we always experience a sense of parting, but not a sense of finality.
Because of the limitations of language and my inability to express the mystery that Protodeacon Vlado Jaramaz carried within himself, I shall highlight only one angle of viewing his life, of which I was a personal witness. Every Christian, with God’s help, is the creator of his earthly life—in the sense that he directs it towards virtue. All human virtues make a person like God, since virtues are, in fact, divine attributes. The Lord Himself said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12). In such an ascetical life struggle, each person’s moral character is formed, and the moral character of the blessedly reposed Protodeacon Vladimir was one marked by virtue.
Father Vlado was, on earth, a witness to the love of God; by word and deed he actualized the Lord’s commandment of love for God and love for one’s neighbour, knowing that the path to God always leads through another human being. In every person he saw the image of God; he rejoiced in every person, and in every encounter he manifested genuine joy. He was a man of encounter. Through his life and service to the Church, Protodeacon Vlado bore witness that God’s love demands a response on our part. From the mosaic of the life of Protodeacon Vladimir Jaramaz there radiates the truth that we are obliged to respond to God’s love with love for every human being. The holy Apostle Paul says of himself that he is ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13). “Who shall separate us from the love of God?” he asks. “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35). “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39), he replies.
One of the great preachers of our time proclaims with clarity that love does not allow one to die. Love, as the bond of perfection, was the foundation of our friendship with Protodeacon Vladimir, and that sacred bond is today even stronger. Walking upon this earth, he transformed his life into the love of God, and that love he continues to bear witness to even now. The protodeacon of the Saviour’s cathedral in Podgorica knew well that one does not come to God through books and knowledge, but exclusively through love. “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8), says the holy Apostle John the Theologian.
Christ was born, baptized in the River Jordan, lived, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, yet He remains truly present on earth in His Body—the Church—which is therefore “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). One of the remarkable traits of our blessedly reposed friend and brother was his unwavering gaze fixed upon Christ. This gaze toward Christ sprang from his love for divine worship and the beauty of the church. Standing before the holy altar, he stood with such zeal as though he were standing before the Lord Himself. Even today it happens that in my mind I “hear” his triumphant voice with which he glorified the Lord. His gaze fixed upon Christ, present in all dimensions of his being—especially when he concelebrated in the sacred services—had a catechetical significance, which I can testify to from personal experience. By his example, Father Vladimir encouraged us to step out of the hurried rhythm of everyday life and to direct our attention towards what is essential—namely, the Lord, in whose embrace the mystery of our salvation is hidden. Divine worship was his lifeblood. Following the ethos of gazing unto Christ, after the temple services he continued to “serve liturgically” as a man of virtue and love. In my archive I preserve dozens of photographs from liturgical gatherings at which Protodeacon Vladimir concelebrated, and in half of those images we can see the protodeacon lifting his gaze towards the Lord.
As I offer today this prayerful candle on the occasion of the third anniversary of the repose of Protodeacon Vladimir Jaramaz, I raise a supplicatory cry to the Lord, our Resurrector, that He may place the soul of His faithful servant in the abodes of Paradise, and that He may grant to us spiritual strength, zeal, and clear spiritual vision, so that, gazing unto Christ, we may walk the path that leads to eternal Life.
Written by: Catechist Branislav Ilić, Editor of the Kinonia Portal
