Protopresbyter Toma Popović was born in Vladimirci on April 14, 1936, near the city of Šabac, Serbia. After finishing high school, he enrolled in the St. Sava Seminary in Belgrade. Upon completing seminary studies, he was admitted to the Theological Faculty, where he spent a year and successfully passed his exams. At the end of the school year, together with his class, he visited Mount Athos and the city of Thessaloniki as part of a school excursion.

On their way back to Thessaloniki, three students, including the future priest Toma, decided to seek political asylum in the city. After a long interrogation, the Greek authorities decided to grant asylum to the young theologians, placing them in a refugee camp in the city of Lavrion. After four months, the three theologians were transferred to a theological boarding school in Athens, where they were allowed to continue their studies at the Theological Faculty.

Theologian Toma, along with his two schoolmates, Ilija Dajković and Milorad Milošević (both later priests in the U.S.), had no intention of staying in Greece but was firmly determined to join their fellow Serbs who had previously emigrated to America. To that end, the young theologians informed Bishop Dionisije (Milivojević) of their intention to serve the Serbian Orthodox Church in America and Canada. Bishop Dionisije gladly accepted their requests and agreed to send them the necessary documents for visas. Upon receiving visas for the United States, the three theologians purchased tickets for a ship that sailed from Piraeus to New York City. They arrived in America on August 5, during the peak of summer heat. At first, they were accommodated at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York and then sent to the Monastery of the Most Holy Mother of God in Shadeland, where they spent two months getting acquainted with Serbian parishes in the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania.

Upon returning to New York, the theologians enrolled at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, with the desire to later continue their studies at the Theological Faculty in Belgrade. In addition to attending seminary lectures, they took English language courses at Columbia University. After completing his studies at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, Toma Popović, then a theologian, met Miss Vesna Protić, the daughter of Dr. Milovan Protić, and on May 6, 1960, they entered into the Holy Sacrament of Marriage. Since the city of New York needed another priest, Russian Metropolitan Ireney ordained young theologian Toma a deacon on September 21, 1960, and Bishop Dionisije ordained him a presbyter on October 23 of the same year.

As an assistant priest, Presbyter Toma welcomed Serbian immigrants, blessed homes with holy water, and performed other priestly duties. At that time, the Dean of St. Sava Cathedral in New York was Archimandrite Firmilian (Ocokoljić), who accepted Presbyter Toma as his assistant. Since the cost of renting a one-bedroom apartment in New York exceeded Presbyter Toma’s financial means, he decided to move to Flushing, after which he received a dismissal notice, with the explanation that a priest must live near the church. The young priest was thus forced to seek another position.

At the beginning of 1962, Presbyter Toma found employment at Columbia University, where he worked in the International Law Library until August 1968. After work hours, he attended evening courses in preparation for a professorship. His academic focus was on medieval history and Western civilization. After obtaining a master’s degree, Presbyter Toma decided to pursue doctoral studies, planning for his dissertation to focus on the life of Priest Jeremiah, a well-known medieval writer of Old Slavonic apocrypha.

Presbyter Toma remained devoted to the Serbian Orthodox Church and priesthood, for which he had prepared his whole life. During his studies, he occasionally served in churches where needed. For a time, he also served in a Greek church in Flushing and occasionally substituted for priests in New York and Elizabeth, New Jersey. From 1982, he served the Washington parish of the Serbian Orthodox Church, located in Maryland. He was faithful and dedicated to the Church and was willing to take on the duties of a parish priest in New York.

Bishop Vasilije (Veinović), who had served as a parish priest at the St. Sava Cathedral in New York for over 30 years, was enthroned as Bishop of Australia and New Zealand in September 1991, leaving the parish without a priest. At his recommendation, Metropolitan Iriney (Kovačević) appointed Protopresbyter Toma Popović as the interim parish priest.

After years of battling Parkinson’s disease, Protopresbyter Toma Popović reposed in the Lord in his hometown of Šabac on February 20, 2025. May his memory be eternal!