Saint Josaphat

Bishop and Martyr
(1580–1623)

Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych was born around 1580 at Vladimir in Volhynia, now part of Ukraine, into an Orthodox family. He was baptised with the name John and grew up in a region where both Catholic and Orthodox Christians lived side by side in considerable tension. As a young man working in Vilnius he came into contact with the Uniate Church, the Greek Catholic Church that had been created by the Union of Brest in 1596, which brought a large part of the Orthodox Church of Poland-Lithuania into communion with Rome while retaining the Byzantine rite and tradition.

He entered the Basilian Order, took the name Josaphat, was ordained a priest in 1609, and became one of the most effective preachers and missionaries for the cause of church union in his region. He became Archbishop of Polotsk in 1618, one of the most important sees in the Uniate Church, and immediately threw himself into the work of reforming the clergy and strengthening the faith of his people. He promoted education, rebuilt churches, and established schools.

His zeal for the union with Rome made him deeply unpopular with the anti-union Orthodox faction, who conducted a vigorous campaign against him. He was denounced to the king as a persecutor of Orthodoxy, and tensions in his archdiocese became increasingly dangerous. In November 1623 he visited Vitebsk, a city whose population was largely hostile to him, against the advice of his friends. On November 12 he was attacked by a mob, beaten, shot, and his body thrown into the river.

He was the first saint of the Eastern churches to be formally canonised by Rome, by Pope Pius IX in 1867. He is venerated as the proto-martyr of Christian unity and his feast is celebrated on November 12th.