Nablus, West Bank, August 26, 2021
orthodoxianewsagency.gr
Archimandrite Justin of the Orthodox Monastery of Jacob’s Well is no stranger to death threats and assassination attempts.
In an interview with Pemptousia in May, Fr. Justin explained that he has been laboring at the monastery for 40 years and has survived 32 assassination attempts in that time. And it was after the martyrdom of the former abbot, St. Philoumenos (Hasapis), that Fr. Justin moved to the monastery.
And according to a new report by Fr. Justin’s friend Maria Giachnaki on the Orthodoxia News Agency, there was another recent attempt on the life of the archimandrite, who is the only monk remaining in the monastery. The well built by the Old Testament Patriarch Jacob, which is where Christ met the Samaritan Woman, is located on the territory of the monastery.
“Please do something. They’re throwing gasoline on me, setting fire to the monastery, and they want to burn me too,” Fr. Justin told Giachnaki on the phone.
He was also attacked with rocks several days ago and still has the wounds on his head. This is not the first time he was hospitalized or abducted, Giachnaki reports.
Every time such attacks happen, Giachnaki contacts local and international authorities, and while police are sent to help the Elder after each attack, no overall solution has been found, and she fears that he will simply be killed.
Unfortunately, no order for protection has come from the Palestinian authorities, leaving Fr. Justin and the monks and nuns of several other monasteries at constant risk.
“Our Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, in cooperation with the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Palestinian Leadership, must find a solution yesterday,” Giachnaki emphasizes.
Fr. Justin’s interview with Pemptousia includes wonderful footage of his life in the monastery:
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