November 12

Saint Josaphat

Memorial

Archbishop who gave his life working to heal a divided Church

Josaphat Kuntsevych was born around 1580 in Volodymyr, in Volhynia (today in Ukraine), into an Orthodox family. As a young man he was sent to Vilnius to learn a merchant’s trade, but he spent his free hours in church studying the Slavonic liturgy.

In 1596 the Union of Brest had brought part of the Eastern Church in the region into communion with Rome while keeping its own worship. Josaphat embraced it, became a monk in Vilnius in 1604 and in 1618 was made Archbishop of Polotsk. He preached, reformed the clergy and helped the poor, but the union bitterly divided towns and families, and his firm, sometimes harsh measures made enemies. On 12 November 1623 a mob in Vitebsk killed him and threw his body into the Dvina river.

Pope Pius IX declared him a saint in 1867. Catholics remember him as a martyr for Christian unity; Orthodox Christians recall those years with real pain, a reminder of how costly division is.

I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

John 17:20–21 · BSB

A prayer

Lord God, you gave your servant Josaphat a deep love for your Church and the courage to give his life for its unity. Heal the wounds that still divide your people, teach us patience and humility with one another, and make us one, as you and your Son are one. Amen.