He was a professor at Moscow University and taught materialistic views, rejecting vitalism.
Justin was born in the village of Dyatkovo where his father was a priest (sexton) and received his early education at the Ryazan seminary.
He served in the army during the Patriotic War for two years and joined back as an assistant.
The specific cause was that he had taught students that under certain conditions, dead bodies do not decompose but mummify, and thus suggested an alternative to miracles ascribed to saints.
[2] His beliefs included the idea that the organic world was derived from the inorganic through transformations and special conditions.