The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. And we know this from experience: the courage of the martyrs who endure such torture and cruelty, spilling their blood for Christ, inspires others to believe - Ancient Church father Tertullian
the Jewish people of the city acted heroically amidst the violent mob — they risked their own lives to try to protect Josaphat and his friends and servants. These Jews saved many lives and they were the only ones to publicly accuse the killers of Josaphat and mourn his death while the Catholics of the city hid.
Josaphat Kuntsevych, OSBM (c. 1580 – 12 November 1623) was a Basilian hieromonk and archeparch of the Ruthenian Uniate Church who served as Archbishop of Polotsk from 1618 to 1623. On 12 November 1623, he was beaten to death with an axe during an anti-Catholic riot by Eastern Orthodox Belarusians in Vitebsk. in the eastern peripheries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In 1595, the Orthodox bishop of Brest-Litovsk in present-day Belarus and five other bishops representing millions of Ruthenians, sought reunion with Rome. John Kunsevich—who took the name Josaphat in religious life—was to dedicate his life, and die for the same cause. Born in 1580 in what is now Ukraine, he went to work in Wilno and was influenced by clergy adhering to the 1596 Union of Brest.
John Kuntsevych was born at a time not much different from today. The difference is that the Morally Bankrupt Entertainment Industry driving the antiChristian forces is having a significant on Church attendance. Whereas. Since the Great Schism separated Orthodox and Catholic Christians in the year 1054, attempts at union between the Eastern and Western Churches had been tried and failed. By the time John was born in western Ukraine to Orthodox parents, many Orthodox Christians harbored great animosity toward the Church of Rome. In 1596, however, a small glimmer of hope arose for those praying and laboring for the unity of the Body of Christ: John’s Ruthenian Church accepted reunification with the Holy See, while maintaining its Byzantine liturgy and traditions
As a youth, he turned down a marriage arrangement and business partnerships in order to enter a monastery in 1604, when he took the name Josaphat. He became a Basilian monk, then a priest, and soon was well known as a preacher and an ascetic. He lived a life of prayer and discipline and as he matured, was named bishop of a local church in present-day Ukraine that was in great need of reform.
Soon after, schismatic Orthodox bishops took up residence in the same area, claiming priority in the faith among the people and a dissident hierarchy was set up. His opposite number spread the accusation that Josaphat had “gone Latin” and that all his people would have to do the same. He was not enthusiastically supported by the Latin bishops of Poland. Conflict arose, and Josaphat was unfairly discredited. He tried to calm the troubles by speaking out, knowing full well that it might cost him his life. "If I am counted worthy of martyrdom,” he said, “then I am not afraid to die."
He urged patience and forbearance among his people, even when they were incited to violence. Despite warnings, he went to Vitebsk, still a hotbed of trouble. Attempts were made to foment trouble and drive him from the diocese: A priest was sent to shout insults to him from his own courtyard. When Josaphat had him removed and shut up in his house, the opposition rang the town hall bell, and a mob assembled. The priest was released, but members of the mob broke into the bishop’s home. Tensions rose until finally a mob gathered and took him by force Josaphat was struck with a halberd, then shot, and his body thrown into the river. The Jewish people of the city acted heroically amidst the violent mob; they risked their own lives to try to protect Josaphat and his friends and servants. These Jews saved many lives and they were the only ones to publicly accuse the killers of Josaphat and mourn his death while the Catholics of the city hid.
Josaphat’s death brought a movement toward Catholicism and unity, but the controversy continued, and the dissidents, too, had their martyr. The violence convinced many in the city that things had gone too far, and public opinion moved towards unity. Orthodox opposition leaders came to reconcile with Rome.
His death reflects the conflict between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches that intensified after four Ruthenian Orthodox Church (Kiev Metropolitanate) bishops transferred their allegiance from 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
After the partition of Poland, the Russians forced most Ruthenians to join the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1964, newspaper photos of Pope Paul VI embracing Athenagoras I, the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, marked a significant step toward the healing of a division in Christendom that has spanned more than nine centuries.
St. Josaphat, who gave your life for the unity of Christians and inspired reconciliation with your death, pray for us!
