Josaphat Kunzewitsch

Holy Josaphat

Josaphat Kuntsevych (also Josaphat Kuncewycz , Belarusian Язафат Кунцэвіч Jasafat Kunzewitsch , Polish Jozafat Kuncewicz , Ukrainian Йосафат Кунцевич Jossafat Kunzewytsch * 1580 in Wlodzimierz , Poland-Lithuania , today Ukraine ; † 12. November 1623 in Vitebsk , Poland-Lithuania, today Belarus ) was Greek Catholic Archbishop of Polatsk and is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

Josaphat Kunzewitsch was born as Iwan Gawrilowitsch Kunzewitsch around 1580 in what is now Wolodymyr-Wolynskyj in the historical region of Volhynia , which was then ruled as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in personal union with the Kingdom of Poland . He came from a Russian Orthodox family and, as a child, was tireless in attending Church Slavonic services, learning to pray and singing; his favorite place to stay was the house of God. The confessor of Josaphats said in the canonization process that he himself heard from his mouth how he said: “When I was still little and once went to church with my mother and asked her what the image of the crucified Christ meant and how my mother taught me , a spark of fire came up to me and penetrated me. The effect was that church services became my sweetest fruit. "

The impoverished parents sent their son to apprenticeship to a merchant who would have liked to make him his heir. But his vocation led him to the monks of the Basilian Order in Vilna . In 1604 he became a member of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, which belonged to the Order of St. Basil, and took the religious name Josaphat. As a Greek Catholic monk he lived in the strictest asceticism and devoted himself to the study of the liturgy and the church fathers. The unity of the Western and Eastern Churches under the leadership of the Pope was particularly close to his heart. He was ordained a priest five years after entering the monastery .

Josaphat's great talent for preaching was soon discovered, which meant that he was able to inspire many people for Catholicism. Because of the crowds caused by the enthusiasm of the believers for his sermons, Jehoshaphat had to start delivering his sermons in public places. This talent enabled him to be declared Archimandrite of Vilna and in 1617 he was ordained coadjutor of the Bishop of Polatsk.

His spirituality was wholly Eastern Church. The Jesus prayer “Jesus, you Son of the living God, have mercy on me, the sinner”, had become like the breathing of his soul. Through his example he became the renewer of his order. His sermons and writings were so effective for reunification that his opponents called him the “soul robber”. Among other things, he also wrote a catechism for the citizens.

As a friend and closest collaborator of the Greek Catholic Metropolitan Joseph Rutski of Kiev , he became Archbishop of Polatsk in 1618. In this office he became known among the Russian Orthodox believers as the rigorous enforcer of the Union of Brest , which was entirely in the spirit of the Polish-Lithuanian government . His work sparked massive protests. For example, the citizens of Mogilew drove him out of the city in 1618, whereupon Kunzewitsch obtained the violent suppression of the urban uprising and the execution of the leaders from the Polish king. As a result, Orthodox throughout the country were deprived of their church buildings and a number of civil rights. Orthodox priests were forbidden from priestly work under threat of prosecution. People had to secretly perform their rites outside the cities in the open air. Documents show that under Kunzewitsch even the Orthodox dead "illegally" buried in cemeteries were dug up again.

Icon of Saint Josaphat Kunzewitsch

The Polish statesman Lev Sapieha , himself a supporter of the church union, expressed criticism of his approach in correspondence with Kunzewitsch. Kunzewitsch, on the other hand, defended tough measures in the implementation of the church union.

When he was in Vitebsk on November 12, 1623, the apartment of the "Latin papist" was stormed by angry Orthodox citizens. The trigger was that Kunzewitsch's servants beat up and imprisoned the orthodox priest Davydowitsch, who had violated Kunzewitsch's prohibitions. Josaphat stood protectively in front of his own and was cut down. The body was dragged through the city and, weighted with stones, on a particularly deep Stelles the River Daugava sunk. It was taken out of the water six days later, then taken by ship to Polatsk in eight days, where it was openly exhibited in the cathedral for ten days. Then the corpse, wrapped in red silk blankets, was kept in the castle church of Polatsk. The solemn burial did not take place until a year later, on January 28, 1625. In the canonization acts it is repeatedly stated that the face of the saint was very beautiful after death, e.g. B. "quod facies Servi Dei ex aquis extracti pulcherrima fuisset". The confessor explained: “We put the body on public display for several months until it was gloriously buried. But the whole time it was on display there was no change or corruption in it. So I testify because I know, because I have seen it and have been present at everything myself. "

The death of Kunzewitsch led to numerous repression on the part of the Polish king. More than a hundred people were executed and Vitebsk lost its city rights. The imposition of the Union of Brest became even more uncompromising as a result.

As early as 1628 Pope Urban VIII entrusted a commission to investigate Kunzewitsch's case. He was beatified in 1643 and canonized in 1867 .

His feast day is celebrated on November 12th. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of his martyrdom, Pope Pius XI. the encyclical Ecclesiam Dei admirabili of November 12, 1923. In 1963, Josaphat's remains were buried in St. Peter's Basilica .

See also

• Basilian of St. Josaphat
• St. Josaphat Basilica , Milwaukee

literature

• Clemens Jöckle: The great lexicon of saints . Cologne 2003
• Antonio M. Sacri: Joseph Kuncewicz in the Atlas of the Saints . Bassermann Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8094-2083-5
• Joseph Kuncewicz in the Brockhaus Encyclopedia . Volume 10, FA Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1970
• Kerstin S. Jobst: Trans-national or Trans-denominational? The Veneration of Jozafat Kuntsevych in 19th and 20th Century. In: Martin Schulze Wessel / Frank Sysyn (eds.): Religion, Nation and Seculariation in the Ruthenian and Ukrainian Culture in Modern History. Journal of Ukrainian Studies 2012 (37), pp. 1–18. (Second edition 2015 / Edmonton and Toronto).
• Kerstin S. Jobst: politics and veneration of saints. The initialization of the Josaphat Kuncevyč cult in the Habsburg monarchy (1860s to 1918) , in: Yuriy Kolasa / Rudolf Prokschi (ed.): What does it mean to be a Christian today? From the experience of the martyrdom of the Eastern Churches , L´viv 2015, 156–173.

Web links

Commons : Josaphat Kunzewitsch  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Entry in the dictionary of saints
• Taken over from " Josaphat Kuncewicz in Kathpedia.com "
• Greetings (Italian) from Pope Francis I on November 25, 2013 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the transfer to Rome

Individual evidence

1. ^ Opera Theologiae Societatis Ucrainorum I, De St. Josaphat Kuncevyc, ed. J. Slipyj, Leopoli 1925, p. 119.
2. ↑ ibid., P. 145; German: "that the face of the servant of God, after he was pulled out of the water, was extremely beautiful"
3. ↑ ibid., P. 130
4. ↑ Canonization processes FL on the EAB website ( Memento of the original of 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

predecessor	Office	successor
Gedeon Brolnicki	Greek Catholic Archbishop of Połock, Vitebsk and Mścisław	Antonius Sielawa