November 12th is the Memorial of St. Josaphat (1580-1623), Bishop & Martyr. Josaphat was born Ioann (John) Kuntsevych in Volodymyr in the province of Volhynia, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Ukraine). His father, of noble descent, went in business and held the office of town councilor. Both of his parents encouraged John to participate in his religious faith and so he studied the Church Slavonic language, memorizing almost the entire horologion, the official prayer book of the Eastern Orthodox Church. From this source he received his early religious education. Due to his parents financial situation, John became an apprentice to a merchant in Vilnius, a city north of his home. John turned down a partnership in the business and a marriage and in 1604 at the age of 20 entered the Monastery of the Trinity of the Basilian monks in Vilnius and given the religious name of Josaphat. He quickly became known for his holiness and many people to visit the young monk. Josaphat came to know John Veliamyn (Benjamin) Rutsky, who supported the recent union with the Roman Catholic Church in 1596 of the Ruthenian Church which had belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church, and who furthered his interest in the Catholic Church. John Benjamin came from a noble family with Ruthenian origins, who were Calvinist Protestants. However, he studied under the Jesuits and converted to the Catholic Church of Latin Rite against the will of his parents. He studied in Rome, where he was authorized by Pope Clement VIII to change from the Latin Rite to the Byzantine Rite. He completed his studies in 1603 and was sent to Vilnius by Pope Clement VIII in 1605. In 1607 he entered the Religious community where Josaphat was a monk, the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, where he took the monastic name Josef (Joseph) and later was ordained a priest. Josaphat was ordained to the diaconate and attracted others to join the monastic order, which steadily increased, resulting in the revival of Eastern Catholic monastic life among the Ruthenians (Belarusians and Ukrainians). Josaphat studied privately under the Jesuit priest Blessed Peter Faber and in 1609 was ordained a priest by a Catholic bishop. He was then sent to found new houses in Rome and became the prior (superior) of several monasteries. Fr. Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky during this time became archimandrite (superior) of the monastery and in 1611 was consecrated and appointed as coadjutor bishop (who becomes the next bishop) of Kiev. In 1613, Bishop Josef Veliamyn Rutsky became Metropolitan of Kiev, Ukraine of the Byzantine Catholic Church, in union with Rome. In 1617, Bishop Josef Veliamyn Rutsky consecrated Fr. Josaphat as Bishop of Vitebsk and appointed him as coadjutor of the Archbishop of Polotsk, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (present day Belarus) and in 1618 Bishop Josaphat became Archeparch (Archbishop) of Polotsk due to the death of his predecessor. Many of the millions of Orthodox Catholics of the East had not agreed with the bishops decision to return to communion with the Roman Catholic Church of the West. Both sides tried to resolve this disagreement not just with words but tragically with violence, resulting in deaths on both sides. Therefore, Archbishop Josaphat had the daunting task of convincing the people of his Archdiocese to accept union with Rome and so he tried to be a voice of peace and reconciliation. But he had stiff opposition from the monks, who feared the liturgy of the Byzantine Church would be changed to conform to the customs, traditions and language of the Church of the West. Also, the Church of Polotsk was in ruins with buildings falling apart and the clergy marrying two or three times. Neither monks nor clergy were interested in pastoral care or giving example of true Christian living. Within three years, Archbishop Josaphat rebuilt the Church by restoring church buildings, assembling synods (gatherings of clergy to discuss and decide on Church issues) in various towns of the dioceses, issuing a catechism to the clergy to instruct everyone in the Catholic Faith and composing rules of conduct for priestly life and entrusting to the deacons the task of supervising their observance. Archbishop Josaphat was steadfast in the unity with Rome and firmly opposed the Polish Imperial Chancellor who wished to make too many concessions to the Eastern Orthodox. At the same time he firmly opposed those who saw unity only in Latin terms and wanted to suppress Byzantine traditions in the name of Catholic unity. So he also firmly opposed the conforming of his people to the customs, traditions and language of the Church of the West, which made enemies and severe critics among the Latin clergy of the Church. He gave himself to preaching, instructing others in the faith, visiting the needy of the towns, hearing confessions in the fields, hospitals and those in prison and showing kindness to the poor. Throughout all his strivings and all his labors, he continued his religious commitment as a monk, never neglecting his life of prayer and penance. Through all his laborious service, he not only won over and gained respect of a large portion of the people, it also provoked an opposing reaction with a rival hierarchy being set up by the Orthodox Church, with the monk Meletius Smotrytsky appointed as the rival Orthodox Archeparch of Polotsk and Archbishop Josaphat accused of taking office invalidly. Many of his Byzantine Catholics were convinced and gave their allegiance to Orthodoxy. Archbishop Josaphat sought recourse from the King of Poland, who declared him to be the legitimate Archbishop and suppressed the Orthodox Catholic revolt in one city by executing leaders and turning over church buildings to the Byzantine Catholics. However, the former Diocese of Vitebsk of Archbishop Josaphat turned completely against the reunion with Rome and against him, together with two other cities. He went there in November of 1623 to bring about peace by preaching in the churches and trying to reconcile differences. He was completely aware of the danger but said, If I am counted worthy of martyrdom, then I am not afraid to die. Their threats were so public that Archbishop Josaphat preached on the Gospel verse John 16:2, Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. He spoke out, You people want to kill me. You wait in ambush for me in the streets, on the bridges, on the highways, in the marketplace, everywhere. Here I am; I came to you as a shepherd. You know I would be happy to give my life for you. I am ready to die for union of the Church under St. Peter and his successor the Pope. While he was there an Orthodox priest entered the house where he was staying, shouting insults and threats. The priest was subdued and locked up, but Archbishop Josaphat later had him released. Yet a mob had already arisen that attacked the house and his companion servants. Archbishop Josaphat confronted them, shouting,My children what are you doing with my servants? If you have anything against me, here I am, but leave them alone! So they attacked and struck him with a long handled battle axe through the head and beat him to death. Some of the Jewish people of Vitebsk rushed in to rescue and save the lives of the others from the mob. However, Archbishop Josaphats lifeless, mangled body was dragged to the city plaza and through the city to dishonor him and eventually thrown to the river bottom. The Jewish people publicly accused the killers and mourned the death of the martyred Josaphat while the Byzantine Catholics of the city hid in fear of their lives. His body was recovered from the river and laid in state in the Cathedral of Polatsk and buried there. Regret and horror at how far the violence had gone and the loss of their Archbishop Josaphat swung public opinion over toward the Byzantine Catholics and unity with Rome. Even his Orthodox Catholic Archbishop Meletius Smotritsky, was evantually reconciled with Rome. Numerous miracles were claimed and reported through Martyred Archbishop Josaphat and a commission was appointed by Pope Urban VIII in 1628 to inquire into his cause of holiness examination of 116 witnesses under oath. His body was exhumed 5 years after his death and was found to be incorrupt. A 2nd commission in 1637 investigated his life and twenty years after his death, Archbishop Josaphat was beatified in 1643. Although his canonization did not take place until 1867, more than two centuries later by Pope Pius IX, Archbishop St. Josaphat became the first saint of the Eastern church to be formally canonized by Rome. His incorrupt body is now in St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican, placed under the altar of Saint Basil the Great. Let us pray, Stir up in your Church, we pray, O Lord, the Spirit that filled Saint Josaphat as he laid down his life for the sheep, so that through his intercession we, too, may be strengthened by the same Spirit and not be afraid to lay down our life for others. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. St. Josaphat, pray for us. From the Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam Dei by Pope Pius XI He gave his life for the unity of the Church In designing his Church God worked with such skill that in the fullness of time it would resemble a single great family embracing all men. It can be identified, as we know, by certain distinctive characteristics, notably its universality and unity. Christ the Lord passed on to his apostles the task he had received from the Father: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. He wanted the apostles as a body to be intimately bound together, first by the inner tie of the same faith and love which flows into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and, second, by the external tie of authority exercised by one apostle over the others. For this he assigned the primacy to Peter, the source and visible basis of their unity for all time. So that the unity and agreement among them would endure, God wisely stamped them, one might say, with the mark of holiness and martyrdom. Both these distinctions fell to Josaphat, archbishop of Polock of the Slavonic rite of the Eastern Church. He is rightly looked upon as the great glory and strength of the Eastern Rite Slavs. Few have brought them greater honor or contributed more to their spiritual welfare than Josaphat, their pastor and apostle, especially when he gave his life as a martyr for the unity of the Church. He felt, in fact, that God had inspired him to restore world-wide unity to the Church and he realized that his greatest chance of success lay in preserving the Slavonic rite and Saint Basil’s rule of monastic life within the one universal Church. Concerned mainly with seeing his own people reunited to the See of Peter, he sought out every available argument which would foster and maintain Church unity. His best arguments were drawn from liturgical books, sanctioned by the Fathers of the Church, which were in common use among Eastern Christians, including the dissidents. Thus thoroughly prepared, he set out to restore the unity of the Church. A forceful man of fine sensibilities, he met with such success that his opponents dubbed him “the thief of souls.”
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 21:25:36 +0000
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