Josaphat Kuntsevych

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"Saint Josaphat" redirects here. For the 3rd or 4th-century saint, see Barlaam and Josaphat.
Saint

Josaphat Kuntsevych

Romanian Greek Catholic Church, Ruthenian Catholic Church[2]
)
November 14 (General Roman Calendar of 1960)
Title as SaintBishop and martyr
BeatifiedMay 16, 1643
Rome
by Pope Urban VIII
CanonizedJune 29, 1867
Rome
by Pope Pius IX
Patronage[Ukraine]The St Leonards academy
Ordination history of
Josaphat Kuntsevych
History
Priestly ordination
Date1609
Episcopal consecration
DateNovember 12, 1617
Family shield
Coat of Arms

Josaphat Kuntsevych,

Belarusians in Vitebsk,[a] in the eastern peripheries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
.

His death reflects the conflict between the

Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople to the Holy See, under the terms laid down by the 1439 Council of Florence, by signing the 1596 Union of Brest. Archeparch Josaphat remains one of the best-known victims of anti-Catholic violence for his role in both personally accepting and very effectively spreading the Eastern Catholic Churches as a hieromonk and bishop,[4]: 57 [5] and was canonized in 1867 by Pope Pius IX as a saint and a martyr of the Catholic Church.[b]

In response to the nickname "The Soul-Snatcher", which Josaphat received from both his Orthodox and Calvinist opponents, his biographer, Fr. Demetrius Wysochansky, has written, "In summing up his pastoral activities which were directed towards the one goal of snatching souls, his contemporaries and witnesses to his life were able to say: 'Whatever Catholics there are in Polotsk, are the fruit of the pastoral labors of Josaphat.' To this statement one may add that whatever Catholics there have been in Lithuania and Byelorussia in the 350 years since Josaphat's death, may all attribute their Catholic Faith to the labors and blood of Josaphat, the 'Soul-Snatcher.'"[7]

Biography

Historical and religious background

King

metropolitan of Kiev – but at Vilnius,[c] Vilnius Voivodeship, the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth – were signatories of the Union of Brest in 1596 which brought the Metropolitanate of Kiev into communion with the pope. Two ecclesiastical factions, those Eastern Orthodox bishops who were signatories and those Eastern Orthodox bishops who were not signatories, met and excommunicated each other, but those who did not assent were in a much worse position than before, because they were no longer officially recognized.[9]
: 204  The Union resulted in two sectarian groups:

Main article: Union of Brest

Early life

He was born Ioann Kuntsevych in 1580 or 1584 in

Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown (now in Ukraine). He was baptized into a family associated with the Eastern Orthodox Church
.

Although descended from

councilor. Both of Kuntsevych's parents encouraged religious participation and Christian piety in the young John. In the school at Volodymyr he gave evidence of unusual talent; he studied Church Slavonic and memorized most of the Horologion, which from this period he began to read daily. From this source he drew his early religious education.[h]

Owing to his parents' poverty, Kuntsevych was

Calvinist who converted to Catholicism and transferred from the Western to the Byzantine Rite
. Rutsky supported the recent union with Rome, and under his influence Kuntsevych grew interested in the Catholic Church.

Monk

In 1604, in his early 20s, Kuntsevych entered the

Church and monastery of Holy Trinity) of the Order of Saint Basil the Great in Vilnius, at which time he was given the religious name of Josaphat. Seeking to emulate the Coptic Rite Desert Fathers of Roman Egypt, Brother Josaphat repeated the Jesus Prayer so constantly that he was heard to still murmur it during his sleep. He also engaged in many acts of mortification of the flesh, such as praying overnight in the parish cemetery during the winter, while barefoot and deliberately underdressed, in order to offer up his suffering towards the salvation of souls.[17] According the Beatification testimony of his fellow monks, Brother Josaphat regularly prayed while disciplining himself, "Lord, God, grant unity to the Holy Church and the conversion of the Dissidents."[18]

Stories that the young monk was a Greek Catholic

Calvinists to convert to Eastern Catholicism, that his theological opponents dubbed him, "The soul-snatcher".[20]

During his beatification process, Dorotheus Akhrymovych, a Polotsk city councilman who had known Josaphat in Vilna, testified, "Though the parents of the young boys complained publicly and privately about him, calling him the 'Soul-snatcher' of their sons, later, after their sons returned home from their studies, they were happy with the results and thanked the holy man."[21]

Father Gennadius Khmelnytsky later testified, "Because of the numerous souls he was converting to God and the numerous boys he was drawing into the religious life from among the townspeople and the

Last Judgement which they placed in the vestibule of the Orthodox church, in which Josaphat was depicted as one of the devils who was dragging souls to Hell with a hook. Below the painting were written the words: 'Soul-snatcher.'"[22]

Whenever Brother Josaphat, however, was called this name, however, he would chuckle and respond, "God grant me the grace to snatch all your souls and lead them to Heaven."[23]

After a notable life as a layman, Rutsky also joined the Order in 1607.[24]

Priest and Archbishop

When Josaphat was ordained to the

Jesuit
Valentin Groza Fabricy, Josaphat was ordained a priest by a Greek Catholic bishop.

Joseph Velamin-Rutski later testified, "He took care of the condemned prisoners to their very last hour, as if there were no one else to do it. After hearing their confessions, he would accompany them to the place of execution, without evin ing a shadow of reluctance on his face, even if the time were most in opportune, in the evening, for example, or in wintertime. He went gladly as if it were a feast day."[27]

He subsequently became the hegumen (prior) of several monasteries.

During his Beatification process, Raphael Korsak testified, "Josaphat never neglected to give alms to the poor, to widows, and especially to orphans. Everyone loved him. Whenever he left the Church, everyone pressed towards the Church doors, seeking solace in his words. Hence, when he was elevated from the office of Hegumen to Archbishop of Polotsk, the beggars wept as they bade their protector farewell. His mercy was even more evident when he became Archbishop, so that one could say that his palace was like a market place and trading post for beggars."[28]

On November 12, 1617, he was

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk
was rebuilt in 1618–1620.

Kuntsevych faced the daunting task of bringing the local populace to accept union with Rome. He faced stiff opposition from the monks, who feared

examples needed] Throughout all his strivings and all his occupations, he continued his religious devotion as a monk, and never abated his practice of mortification of the flesh in order to offer up his sufferings for the conversion of others. Through all this he was successful in winning over a large portion of the people.[30]

Discontent increased among the inhabitants of the eastern voivodeships. In 1618 an Orthodox nobleman at

church buildings at Mohilev, and gave them instead to the Ruthenian Catholic Archeparchy of Polotsk.[31]: 190–191 [l]

Norman Davies alleged in God's Playground that Josaphat Kuntsevych "was no man of peace, and had been involved in all manner of oppressions, including that most offensive of petty persecutions – the refusal to allow the Orthodox peasants to bury their dead in consecrated ground;"[10]: 174–175  in other words, he is alleged to have prohibited burial of "Disidents" in Greek Catholic cemeteries.[3]: 42 [further explanation needed]

The Ruthenian Orthodox did not disappear, however. In 1620 they assembled in synod at Kiev, protected by

bishops including Meletius Smotrytsky as archbishop-elect of Polotsk, all of whom were consecrated "in great secrecy" at Kiev by Theophanes III, the visiting Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Neophyte, metropolitan of Sofia, and Avramios, bishop of Stagoi. Thus a rival Orthodox hierarchy was established.[8]: 305 [15]: 90 [31]: 191  In response, King Sigismund III accused Patriarch Theophanes III, with some justification, of being a covert agent working to destabilize the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on behalf of the Ottoman Empire and ordered his arrest and arrest of all Bishops consecrated by him.[15]
: 89–90 

That changed in 1620, when, with

Cossack aid, a rival Eastern Orthodox hierarchy was set up by the Orthodox Church,[clarify][5][page needed][33] with Smotrytsky (who later himself entered into communion with the see of Rome)[34][35] being appointed the Orthodox Archeparch of Polotsk.[5][page needed] Smotrytsky publicly claimed that Kuntsevych was preparing a total Latinization of the Church and its rituals.[clarify][30][failed verification
]

After 1620, according to Orest Subtelny, in Ukraine, sectarian violence over ownership of church property increased and "hundreds of clerics on both sides died in confrontations that often took the form of pitched battles."[5][page needed]

The government imposed a settlement on the "unsettling and destructive" conflict in 1632 by legalizing the Disuniate hierarchy and redistributing church property between Uniates and Disuniates.[5][page needed][m]

Death

National Museum in Warsaw

In October 1623 Kuntsevych ordered the arrest of the last priest who was clandestinely holding Orthodox services at Vitebsk,[35] where Kuntsevych had a residence.[36] Enraged at this, some Orthodox townspeople lynched Kuntsevych on 12 November.[35][37]

Witnesses of the event described it as follows:

The ringing of cathedral bells and the bells of other churches spread. This was the signal and call to insurrection. From all sides of town masses of people – men, women, and children – gathered with stones and attacked the archbishop's residence. The masses attacked and injured the servants and assistants of the archbishop, and broke into the room where he was alone. One hit him on the head with a stick, another split it with an axe, and when Kuntsevych fell, they started beating him. They looted his house, dragged his body to the plaza, cursed him – even women and children. ...They dragged him naked through the streets of the city all the way to the hill overlooking the river

Dvina. Finally, after tying stones to the dead body, they threw him into the Dvina at its deepest.[38]: 121 [36]

John Szlupas wrote, in The Princeton Theological Review, that the Lithuanian Protestants were also the secret instigators in the murder of Kuntsevych, and Smotrytsky, the chief agent in the murder, was in constant communication with them.[39]
: 263 

In January 1624, a commission presided over by Sapieha investigated Kuntsevych's murder and sentenced 93 people to death for their involvement in the

conspiracy,[4]: 57 [n] and many were banished and their property confiscated. The townhall and the disuniate churches were destroyed, and the franchises of the city abolished, but restored under the subsequent reign.[31]: 193–194  With Kuntsevych's death the Disuniates were completely broken up in Lithuania, and their leaders were severely punished. The Disuniates lost their churches in Vitebsk, Polotsk, Orsha, Mogilev, and other places. Smotrytsky joined the Uniates in order to escape punishment, and turned his pen against the Disuniates whose weaknesses were not secrets from him.[39]
: 263  The body was recovered from the river and lay in state in the cathedral of Polatsk.
Saint Basil the Great.[30]

Legacy

Hagiography

As a boy Kuntsevych was said to have shunned the usual games of childhood, prayed much, and lost no opportunity to assist at the Church services. Children especially regarded him with affection. As an apprentice, he devoted every leisure hour to prayer and study. At first Papovič viewed this behavior with displeasure, but Josaphat gradually won such a position in his esteem that Papovič offered him his entire fortune and his daughter's hand. But Josaphat's love for the religious life never wavered.

Kuntsevych's favourite devotional exercise was the traditional Eastern monastic practice of

prostrations, in which the head touches the ground, while saying the Jesus Prayer. Never eating meat, he fasted much, wore a hair shirt and a chain around his waist. He slept on the bare floor, and chastised his body until the blood flowed. The Jesuits frequently urged him to set some bounds to his austerities
.

From Kuntsevych's zealous study of the Church Slavonic Byzantine Rite

Palaeologus.[clarify
]

Canonization

Saint

Josaphat

Romanian Greek Catholic Church, Ruthenian Catholic Church)[2]
  • November 14 (General Roman Calendar of 1960)
  • November 25 (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
    • PatronageUkraine

    After numerous

    beatified. He was canonized on June 29, 1867, by Pope Pius IX.[40]

    The

    Traditionalist Catholics continue to observe the General Roman Calendar of 1954, the General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII, or the General Roman Calendar of 1960
    , in which the feast day is on November 14.

    Kuntsevych's canonization process began in the interval of the

    Russophile Ruthenian newspaper, Slovo [uk], published several negative articles about Kuntsevych.[33]: 29–30 [p] This antagonism to his canonization "makes sense within the context of the Russophile hegemony in Ruthenian public opinion" and was seen as an insult to Imperial Russia.[33]: 31  The Russian government responded, in 1875, with further Russification and forced conversion of the Eastern Catholic Chełm Eparchy, the last Eastern Catholic eparchy in the Russian Empire.[33]
    : 32 

    Veneration

    The Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee

    According to

    The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Kuntsevych could be thought of as a patron "of ecumenical endeavour today."[44]

    Churches

    St. Josaphat Kuntsevych is the patron saint of a number of Polish and Ukrainian churches and parishes in the United States and Canada, including:

    In Croatia, he is patron saint of parishes in Rajevo Selo and Sibinj.[45]

    Society of St. Josaphat

    During the 1990s, a group of

    Second Vatican Council and is critical of the Mass of Paul VI.[46]

    Relic

    Controversy

    Josaphat's canonization has been highly controversial among Ukrainian Orthodox population, mostly due to persecution of Orthodox practices incited by Josaphat. These practices include the arrest of Orthodox priests for holding liturgies.[47] Such actions led the Roman Catholic chancelor Lew Sapieha to write a letter to Josaphat in behalf of the King, condemning him for his actions and claiming that his persecution was his own fault.[48]

    See also

    Notes

    1. trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks.[3]: 7  It was granted Magdeburg rights in 1597. Those Magdeburg rights were divested from Vitebsk in 1624 as a punishment for Kuntsevych's murder.[4]
      : 57 
    2. Religious Information Service of Ukraine at Ukrainian Catholic University, "the circumstances of his life and his murder have been heavily researched and are devoid of religious myths" but "known only by a narrow circle of scholars."[6]
    3. ^ Vilnius was granted Magdeburg rights in 1387.
    4. ^ "Greek Catholic Confession of the Slavonic Rite".[10]: 174 
    5. ^ The conflict between the two sectarian groups "has lasted into the 21st century."[14]: 69 
    6. ^ "Greek Orthodox Confession of the Slavonic Rite".[10]: 174 
    7. ^ Volodymyr was granted Magdeburg rights in 1431.
    8. voivode of Kiev, the chief pillar of the Orthodox church, bitterly complained that the common people hungered in vain for the word of God," and Smotrytsky "declared that he could not lay his hand on three Orthodox preachers, and that, but for the aid of Catholic postils, there would have been no preaching at all." An attempt by Jeremias II of Constantinople, in 1588, "to reform these abuses only made matters worse and raised a storm of protest."[9]
      : 202–203 
    9. junction of key trade routes from northern Europe to Constantinople.[3]
      : 5–6  It was granted Magdeburg rights in 1498.
    10. ^ Mohilev was granted Magdeburg rights by Stephen Báthory in 1577.
    11. Islamic Ottoman Empire rather than the nearby Eastern Orthodox Tsardom of Russia.[31]
      : 190 
    12. ^ Bohdan Sobol, the father of Spiridon Sobol, was among those executed.[32]
    13. ^ Bain noted that, c. 1632, the nobles and clergy owned most of the land in the Kingdom;[clarify] the clergy owned 160,000 villages out of a total of 215,000, and paid no taxes at all.[9]: 196 
    14. ^ According to Kempa, 74 of the 93 people sentenced to death were sentenced in absentia.[4]: 57 
    15. ^ On the Baptism of St. Volodymyr. On the Falsification of the Slavic Books by the Enemies of the Metropolitan. On Monks and their Vows.
    16. Walerian Kalinka.[43]

    References

    1. ^ a b Sas, P. Ivan (Kunchych) Kuntsevych. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine.
    2. ^ a b "Calendar of Saints (MCI)". mci.archpitt.org.
    3. ^
      ISBN 9780300134353
      .
    4. ^
      ISSN 2082-5072. Archived
      (PDF) from the original on 2014-12-02. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
    5. ^
      ISBN 978-1-44269728-7
      .
    6. Religious Information Service of Ukraine. Lviv: Institute of Religion and Society of the Ukrainian Catholic University. 2011-08-15. Archived
      from the original on 2013-03-20.
    7. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Page 80.
    8. ^
      ISBN 9780521811132
      – via Cambridge Histories Online.
    9. ^
      OCLC 599828337
      .
    10. ^
      ISBN 0-231-05350-9
      .
    11. ^ "The Word 'Uniate' ". oca.org. Syosset, NY: The Orthodox Church in America. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. The term commonly refers to those Orthodox Christians who left Orthodoxy and acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome while retaining the rites and practices observed by Orthodoxy. [...] The term 'uniate' is seen as negative by such individuals, who are more commonly referred to as Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, Greek Catholics, Eastern Rite Catholics, Melkite Catholics, or any number of other titles.
    12. ^ "The Catholic Eastern Churches". cnewa.org. New York: Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. It should be mentioned that in the past the Eastern Catholic churches were often referred to as 'Uniate' churches. Since the term is now considered derogatory, it is no longer used.
    13. hdl:2027/ucm.5317972342. sive, uti vocant, Unitos. Translated in "On the Euchologion"
      . ewtn.com. Irondale, AL: Eternal Word Television Network.
    14. ^
      ISBN 978-0-8108-4914-3
      .
    15. ^
      ISBN 9782600038942
      .
    16. ^
      ISBN 9780875804071
      .
    17. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Pages 31-44, 65-78.
    18. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Page 71.
    19. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Pages 44-48.
    20. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Pages 79-80.
    21. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Page 79.
    22. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Pages 79.
    23. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Pages 80.
    24. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Pages 40-44.
    25. ^ "Seliava, Antonii Atanasii". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com.
    26. ^ "Vilnius". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com.
    27. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Page 97.
    28. ^ Demetrius E. Wysochansky, O.S.B.M. (1987), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych: Apostle of Church Unity, Basilian Fathers Publications. Detroit Michigan. Page 97.
    29. ^ "Archbishop St. Jozafat Kuncewicz, O.S.B.M." Catholic Hierarchy. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
    30. ^ a b c "St. Josaphat". AmericanCatholic.org. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
    31. ^
      OCLC 714971939
      .
    32. ^ Makarīĭ, Metropolitan of Moscow. "Борьба православия с унией при митрополите Велямине Рутском" [The struggle of Orthodoxy with the Unia under Metropolitan Velyamine Rutsky]. История Русской Церкви [History of the Russian Church] (in Russian). Vol. 5.
    33. ^
      ISBN 978-0-77351812-4
      .
    34. ISBN 978-1-13945892-4
      .
    35. ^
      ISBN 978-0-81087847-1
      .
    36. ^
      ISBN 978-1-44269879-6
      .
    37. ISBN 978-0-82325192-6
      .
    38. ISBN 978-0-91483458-8
      .
    39. ^
      ISSN 1945-4813
      .
    40. OCLC 22834909.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
      )
    41. ^ Catholic Church (1969). Calendarium Romanum (in Latin). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. p. 149.
    42. OCLC 782124182
      .
    43. OCLC 892857954
      .
    44. ISBN 9780199596607
      .
    45. ^ "Sveti Jozafat – Tko je bio prvi grkokatolički svetac?" [Saint Josaphat – Who was the first Greek Catholic saint?]. narod.hr (in Croatian). 12 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
    46. ^ Stéphanie Mahieu and Vlad Naumescu (2008), Churches In-between: Greek Catholic Churches in Postsocialist Europe, Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia. Pages 157-182.
    47. ISBN 9780810878471
      .
    48. ISBN 978-1363243402
      .

    Further reading

    External links
    Religious titles
    Preceded by
    Gedeon
    Archbishop of Polotsk

    1618–1623     		Succeeded by


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