Josaphat Kuntsevych

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Josaphat Kuntsevych, OSBM ( – 12 November 1623) was a Basilian hieromonk and archeparch of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic 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 response to the nickname "The Soul-Snatcher", which Josaphat received from both his Orthodox and Calvinist opponents, his biographer, Fr. Demetrius Wysochansky, has written:<blockquote>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'.</blockquote>

thumb|Saint Josaphat, depicted in a Ukrainian Greek Catholic monastery in [[Vilnius.]]

Biography

Historical and religious background

King Sigismund III Vasa's policy for the Counter-Reformation in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was to reunite, "through missions to non-Catholics, both Protestant and Orthodox," all Christians into the Catholic Church. After preliminary negotiations with Sigismund III and with Grand Chancellor and Great Hetman of the Crown Jan Zamoyski, a delegation of bishops from the Eastern Orthodox was sent to Rome in 1595 to accede to the Union of Brest on condition that their rituals and discipline were left intact. The Union resulted in two sectarian groups:

Ruthenian Orthodox Christians who accepted the Union of Brest became Eastern Catholics and were known as "Uniates", Eastern Catholic Ruthenians were detested, and considered "schismatics and traitors" by those who remained Orthodox and under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He succeeded as archeparch in March 1618. During his episcopacy, the 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 liturgical Latinisation of the Byzantine Rite as well as from widowed priests who had remarried in open violation of the Eastern Code of Canons. As archeparch he: restored the churches: issued a catechism to the clergy, with instructions that it should be memorized; composed rules for priestly life, and entrusted deacons the task of superintending their observance; assembled synods in various towns in the dioceses; and firmly opposed the Grand Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Lew Sapieha, who wished to make what Josaphat saw as too many concessions to the Eastern Orthodox at the expense of Greek Catholic faithful. 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.

Discontent increased among the inhabitants of the eastern voivodeships. In 1618 an Orthodox nobleman at Mohilev, Vitebsk Voivodeship, who had apparently assented to the Union of Brest, openly resisted its implementation and replaced Greek Catholic priests with Disuniate priests. They substituted the names of Timothy II, patriarch of Constantinople, and Osman II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, in the Divine Liturgy for those of Pope Paul V and Sigismund III.

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;" in other words, he is alleged to have prohibited burial of "Dissidents" in Greek Catholic cemeteries.

That changed in 1620, when, with Cossack aid, a rival Eastern Orthodox hierarchy was set up by with Smotrytsky (who later himself entered into communion with the see of Rome) being appointed the Orthodox Archeparch of Polotsk.

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. Enraged at this, some Orthodox townspeople lynched Kuntsevych on 12 November. Witnesses of the event described it as follows:

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After numerous miracles attributed to Kuntsevych were reported to Church officials, Pope Urban VIII appointed a commission, in 1628, to inquire into his possible canonization, which examined 116 witnesses under oath. Josaphat's body was claimed to be incorrupt five years after his death. In 1637, a second commission investigated his life and, in 1643, Josaphat was beatified. He was canonized on June 29, 1867, by Pope Pius IX.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church celebrates his feast day on November 12. When, in 1867, Pius IX inserted his feast into the General Roman Calendar, it was assigned to November 14, which was the first free day after November 12, which was then occupied by the feast of "Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr." In the General Roman Calendar of 1969, this latter feast was moved to Pope Saint Martin's ('birthday to heaven'), and Saint Josaphat's feast was moved to that date, his own . Some 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 January Uprising of 1863–1865 against the Russian Empire and was "understood in many circles, including Polish, Russian, and Ruthenian circles, as a papal gesture of moral support for the insurgent Poles." Neither letter was included in an abridged Polish translation of Guépin by Walerian Kalinka. 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.

Churches

thumb|right|St Josephat Church in [[Bayside, Queens|New York City]]

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

Basilica of St. Josaphat, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Josaphat in Parma, Ohio.
St. Josaphat Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois
St. Josaphat's Parish of Bayside, Queens, New York
St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Rochester, NY
St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church in Detroit
St. Josaphat Parish in Cheektowaga, New York, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo
St. Josaphat's Cathedral and Ukrainian elementary school in Toronto
St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton, Alberta
St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church of Trenton, NJ

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

Society of St. Josaphat

During the 1990s, a group of Byzantine Rite Traditionalist Catholic priests and laity, who had survived the underground Church during the 1947-1987 religious persecution by the Soviet Government and the Russian Orthodox Church, founded the Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat in protest against the allegedly modernistic theology and actions of the UGCC hierarchy which had arrived from the Ukrainian diaspora since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They are closely linked to the Society of St. Pius X, which is critical of both the Second Vatican Council and the Mass of Paul VI.

Relic

There is a relic of the saint in the "catacombs" of Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Chicago.
There are two relics of Saint Josaphat located in the Basilica of St. Josaphat, in Milwaukee Wisconsin. One is located inside the High Altar and the other is located in the lower Chapel. Vatican documentation is presented in the lower Chapel of the authenticity of the relics.

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. Such actions led the Roman Catholic chancellor 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.

Notes

References

External links

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat
Patron Saints Index: Saint Josaphat
Josaphat Kuntsevych at Encyclopedia of Ukraine