User:BoBoMisiu/Josaphat Kuntsevych

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Jozafat Kuncewicz OSBM, imię świeckie Jan Kunczyc lub Kuncewicz herbu (ur. c. 1580 at Włodzimierzu Wołyńskim, zm. 12 listopada 1623 w Witebsku) –  archbishop of Polotsk, Order of Saint Basil the Great, saint of the Catholic Church.

Youth and early activity
He was born into an Eastern Orthodox family at Włodzimierz Wołyński circa 1580 or 1584. He was the son of a merchant and town councilor Gabriel (Hawryły )and his wife Maryna. His given name was Jan. He graduated from the parish school at the. At a young age he moved to Vilnius, where he was preparing to become merchant through apprenticeship bound to Jacenty Popowicz. In Vilnius, he became acquainted with the idea of union of Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Idea was first realized in the Commonwealth in 1596 with the conclusion of the Union of Brest.

Kuntsevych initially studied at the \\Orthodox brotherhood school\\, where as outstanding student was noticed by the Society of Jesus at Vilnius. He benefited from their help in further study, and, on their advice, he entered the Basilian monastery of the Holy Trinity in 1604, taking the religious name of Josaphat. As a novice he studied theology under the direction of the rector of the monastery school, and further in the Jesuit Academy in Vilnius. He ordained to the Uniate priesthood in 1609.

During the late-1500s and early-1600s, Vilnius was an arena of conflict and controversy between Uniates and Disuniates. Kuntsevych took part in them, writing seven treaties defending the union. According to some sources, his attitude influenced a significant number of new adherents to adopt the Uniate Church. In 1614 he became archimandrite of the Basilian monastery at Vilnius. He collaborated with Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky, his former teacher of theology, in reform of the Basilian monastery at Vilnius, introducing a number of changes to its organization along the lines of the Roman Catholic. During this period, he abandoned his family name,, and began to use the noble form, Kuncewicz. He was partly responsible for organizing of the Basilian novitiate in the monastery at, Nowogródek Voivodeship, and for organizing Uniate monastic life in Zhyrovichy Monastery, a former Orthodox monastery acquired by Uniates in 1613. This monastery, thanks to his efforts become one of the largest Christian pilgrimage destinations in the eastern voivodeships of the Commonwealth.

He solicited many contacts in the Uniate szlachta to found new monasteries and schools.

Władyka
Summer 1617 \\na kapitule zakonnej w Nowogrodowicach\\, Rutsky nominated Kuntsevych coadjutor bishop of the with the right of succession, and as bishop of Vitebsk and Mstsislaw. Episcopal Ordination received November 12, 1618 in Vilnius, then went to Polotsk to take \\ (preconization?)\\. When he assumed office, Uniate parishes were in the vast minority compared to Disuniate parishes. Eastern Orthodoxy was \\profession wyznaniem\\ rooted in the region for centuries, while the Catholic Church (including Latin Rite) \\strongly marked\\  its presence only in the second-half of the 16th century. In addition, the first two Uniate archeparchs of Polotsk, and, did not actively work to spread the union. Kuntsevych, known for his piety, zeal, and sincere devotion to Catholicism, had his pastoral work to fix the situation in the archeparchy. In fact, immediately after his arrival in Polotsk, he began to introduce reforms in the diocese. He made daily celebration of the Divine Liturgy mandatory, visited parishes, removed clergy – such as alcoholics or widowers who married again – from ecclesiastical benefices. After Brolnicki died in 1618 he became archeparch of Polotsk. He denounced the abuses of secular founders who interfered in spiritual matters and arrogated for themselves endowments and church goods, treating the clergy as subjects. He preached regularly. He issued regulations for priests and a catechism, also published polemical texts to justify the validity of the concluded union. He formulated arguments in favor of the union based on the interpretation of Ruthenian chronicles and Orthodox liturgical texts. In dialogue with Disuniates, of which there were many in the eastern voivodeships of the Commonwealth, he did not hide his Ruthenian origin, gaining followers through humility and poverty (living in the smallest room in the archbishop's palace, giving the rest of the rooms for use by the homeless). Rutsky, seeing Kuntsevych wearing the hood and habit of a Basilian monk, wanted to procure silk clothing for him – as befits a Ruthenian prelate – and gave him funds for this purpose. Kuntsevych, however, proved to be insubordinate and used the donation for decoration of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk. He led an ascetic life, followed the Orthodox monastic rule of Nilus of Sora i writings of Symeon the New Theologian.

Conflict with Disuniates
In 1618, a year after Kuntsevych assumed the office of bishop of Vitebsk, cities across the archidiocese of Polotsk were still strongly dominated by Disuniates, analogous situation was in private estates. In order to spread their religion, Kuntsevych decided to focus on acquiring church buildings in the cities. Kuntsevych was uncompromising in implementation of union in the areas inhabited by Disuniates (including taking over reluctant parishes by force ), reluctant to acceptance, made, that his activities became the subject of of criticism. Kuntsevych also met with acts of direct resistance from Disuniates. In 1619, arriving at Mogilev with a royal mandate authorizing the taking over \\przejmowanie\\ Disuniate church for benefit \\na rzecz\\ Uniates, he found the town gates closed. Lew Sapieha, grand chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was delegated to investigate the situation. Sapieha confirmed that crimen laesae majestatis violated the dignity of the king and of the archbishop, and sentenced the leaders of the rebellion to death. This judgment had not been executed. Mogilev churches passed into the hands of the Uniates half a year later. In response to both the resistance of the Disuniate townspeople and the support of their szlachta representatives, Kuntsevych \\conduced\\ to the temporary detention of clergy reluctant to union. In this way, with the support of the king, in several months time Kuntsevych managed to convert most of the churches in the largest cities within his diocese into Uniate churches. A significant proportion of these objects, however, had to be closed because of lack of faithful or a lack of priests.

The following year, patriarcha jerozolimski nielegalnie (uznawany był jedynie Kościół unicki) wyświęcił dla Kościoła prawosławnego w Rzeczypospolitej nowych biskupów, including  Meletius Smotrytsky. Smotrytsky began to organize resistance against Kuntsevych's activities. In 1621, returning of the Sejm, Kuntsevych found that all cities in the archdiocese rebelled against him. The protests were suppressed with the help of the Polish army. In Vitebsk, the city council evicted the Uniates from the city and transferred all churches to the Orthodox. Similar events occurred in Orsha and Mogilev. Disuniates, in Vitebsk and Orsha, employed assassination of Kuntsevych \\dokonanych\\.

Kuncewicz had the support of civil authorities and used their help in spreading the union. His actions, especially after 1621, however, controversy arose in the Sejm and at the royal court. 12 March 1622 Lew Sapieha, wrote to Kuntsevych, accused him of unchristian attitude towards Disuniates, the use of rape and robbery \\gwałtem i rozbojem\\, which in his opinion, could have negative consequences for the state. Sapieha alleged that Kuncewicz, by forcibly closing the Orthodox churches and harshness toward Disuniates, not only did not gained new believers, but also discouraged earlier union supporters and exacerbated internal conflicts in the country. In 1623 Eastern Orthodox szlachta \\białoruska i ukraińska\\ addressed a letter to the king, which contained a complaint against Kuntsevych's conduct toward Disuniates. He was accused, among other things, of the destruction of Orthodox cemeteries and desecration of the remains of the dead. In the same year, in Vitebsk, Kuntsevych forced Orthodox clergy to transfer their churches and chapels to Uniates, and the faithful - to accept the union.

Martyrdom
In October 1623 Kuntsevych went to Vitebsk to once again attempt to regain control of the religious situation in the city. November 12, 1623 in the city was murdered by a mob of Orthodox townspeople. Kuntsevych's body thrown into the Daugava River. After six days, was fished out of the river and transported to the Uniate Cathedral in Polotsk.

In 1642 Pope Urban VIII beatified Kuntsevych, finishing a process started a year after Kuntsevych's murder. 225 years later, Pope Pius IX declared him a saint in the entire Catholic Church, the first ever derived from the Uniate Church. Kuntsevych is the patron saint of \\Ruthenia or Rus' (region)\\.

According to Dimitar Kenanov, Kuntsevych consciously acted in a manner to die a martyr's death, and thus to attain holiness. According to other sources, Kuntsevych did not discern the extent to which his activities, resulting from his sincere dedidcation to union cause, outraged the Eastern Orthodox population, thus he downplayed warnings prior to the exacerbated sectarian conflicts.

Aftermath of the murder
In the years immediately preceding the murder of Kuntsevych, the Disuniate szlachta repeatedly demanded at sejmiks the legalization of the Orthodox hierarchy in the country. Also, among government officials, clergy, and laity, disillusionment about the effects of union became increasingly common. In 1622, Bishop Giovanni Battista Lancellotti, apostolic nuncio, reported that a majority of Catholic bishops in Poland expressed skepticism about its conclusion. The murder of Kuntsevych changed the situation. A group of senators and szlachta, who previously were not interested in the progress of the union, became involved in its implementation. Sapieha, who was still critical of the activities of Kuntsevych in 1622, as chairman of the royal court sentenced 19 participants to death for the murder of the archbishop. Vitebsk, the location of the murder, lost all privileges, its town hall was demolished, and its Orthodox population deprived of estates and churches. Pope Urban VIII, Apostolic Nuncio, and Rutsky, advocated, to King Sigismund III Vasa, for severe treatment of Kuntsevych's killers. Also part of the Ruthenian szlachta changed to a less favorable attitude towards Orthodoxy because of the murderer of a hierarch. In the opinion of most historians, the murder of Kuntsevych had a significant influence on the subsequent rapid assent to the Union of Brest. stated that, after his death, union had become the prevailing confession in White Ruthenia. and Edward Likowski portrayed similar views. On the other hand, Tomasz Kempa presented a different assessment in 2005. In his view, while it is impossible to deny the fact of rapid assent to the Union of Brest at the expense of the Orthodox Church, this development had not been seen within the Uniate archdiocese of Polotsk to the same extent.

After the murder of Kuntsevych, transfer of proprietary church privileges, from Disuniate confession to Uniate confession, in private and royal estates occurred more frequently than in the past. As a result, Orthodox bishops in the Commonwealth increasingly sought material support in the Tsardom of Russia. Job Boretsky, Orthodox metropolitan of Kiev, even considered immigrating to Moscow. Mironowicz claims that almost all parishes in Orthodox diocese of Polotsk were compelled to assent to the Union of Brest. Kempa believes, however, that the majority of adherents, who assented to the union during this period, returned to the Orthodox Church during the reign of a more tolerant Władysław IV Vasa, and many conversions were conjunctural in nature. Precise estimates of the increase in the number of Uniates is not possible, in his opinion, due to the lack of precise data.

According to a series of historians, Smotrytsky, facing increased pro-Uniate sentiments, abandoned Polotsk after the murder of Kuntsevych, and travelled to the Greek Orthodox patriarchates in the Ottoman Empire, at Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria. There, he observed internal disputes in the Orthodox patriarchates and felt complicit in the death of Kuntsevych, he assented to the union. He wanted to contribute to the unification of all Ruthenians around a common religion. This view is challenged by David Frick, in his biography of Smotrytsky, who showed, that, when Kuntsevych was murdered, Smotrytsky was already outside the Commonwealth, and his conversion had a more complex background.

Relics
In 1653 Kuntsevych relics were removed from Polotsk, in connection with the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667), and stored at different locations in Commonwealth, including the Basilian Zhyrovichy Monastery; in 1666, they were translated in solemn procession back to Polotsk. However, in 1705, Peter the Great occupied the town. After an unsuccessful desecration attempt which culminated in the, the relics were secretly transported to the Radziwiłł estate at Biała Podlaska. Until 1765 the relics were located in, then in the. The sanctuary in Biala Podlaska was an important center of devotion for Uniates Podlasie and ziemia chełmska After the cassation of Basilians in Biala Podlaska in 1864,, governor of Siedlce Governorate, Congress Kingdom of Poland, ordered his coffin buried in an underground chamber beneath the monastery and the entrance walled up. The relics were rediscovered in 1916 and transported to Vienna, Austria-Hungary, and from there to St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.

There was a proposal, circa 2012, to translate the relics of the martyr to Belarus. This proposal was criticized by Russian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev in an interview published by Zvyazda, a state-owned daily newspaper in Minsk, Belarus. Alfeyev claimed that such a step would not be conducive to the consolidation of the Belarusian population and would fail to arouse sympathy for Catholics; and that this is a revived evocation of old religious conflicts in the region.

Cult
popular piety

Rutsky notably promoted the cult of Kuntsevych. He entrusted Bishop, of the , to write the first biography of Kuntsevych. Contrary to expectations of the Uniate hierarchy, cult veneration extended to Kuntsevych expanded only among Catholics of both rites, but did not attract Orthodox christians. The beatification of Kuntsevych in 1642 did not change the situation.

The cult of Blessed Josaphat was diffused by the Basilian monasteries. The monks at Supraśl built a side altar dedicated to him. The figure of Kuntsevych was especially important for Basilian monasteries at Vilnius, Byteń,, Supraśl, and Kobryń, to which, circa 1614-1617, Kuntsevych, as archimandrite of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, sent a new generation of Uniate monks.

The Catholic Church celebrates his memorial on 12 November.

John Paul II called Kuntsevych an apostle of unity.