Ordained a Catholic priest in 1609, Saint Josaphat devoted his ministry to service and efforts to bring the local population back into communion with Rome.
Members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica on November 12-13 to celebrate the end of the Jubilee Year marking the 400th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Josaphat Kuncewycz.
Saint Josaphat was born around 1580 in the village of Volodymyr (now part of Ukraine), in the Volhynia region of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, at a time of tensions between Catholics and Orthodox churches.
In 1595, some Commonwealth bishops signed the Union of Brest, placing themselves under the jurisdiction of the Holy See and creating the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
Ordained a Catholic priest in 1609, Saint Josaphat devoted his ministry to service and efforts to bring the local population back into communion with Rome.
The Union of Brest, however, remained a controversial subject in the region and sparked intense political and religious struggles. Jehoshaphat was killed on November 12, 1623 by a mob during a visit to Vitebsk, a city in modern Belarus. He was stabbed to death and his body was thrown into a river to be recovered later.
He was declared blessed in 1643 and canonized in 1867 by Pius XI. On the 300th anniversary of the martyrdom, Pope Pius XI declared Saint Josaphat patron of the meeting between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Reflecting his broader desire for greater union between East and West, Pope John XXIII ordered that the saint’s incorrupt body be transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica, which was done on November 22, 1963. , under Pope Paul VI.
The November 12-13 event included the celebration of vespers at the saint’s tomb, located under the altar of St. Basil’s Chapel, on Saturday and culminated with the celebration of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on Sunday.
On Saturday, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), presided over vespers and concelebrated the divine liturgy together with Latin Rite Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius, President of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of ‘Europe.
During Saturday evening vespers, Father Robert Lyseyko, protoarchimandrite of the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, reflected on the role of the saint in forging unity between East and West.
“We call him the ‘apostle of unity’ for good reason. He is an apostle of unity from the moment he begins to seek unity with God in a life marked by deep prayer and renunciation, seeking not his own but what is God’s,” said the father Lyseyko.
Father Lyseyko also spoke about the importance of the saint’s life, especially in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“The example of St. Jehoshaphat is particularly relevant in our time, amid the evils and violence that surround us, as our people endure the trials of war. It encourages us to care for one another, prioritize salvation, and foster a spirit of conversion,” he said.
On Sunday, Shevchuk thanked those present for the saint’s commemoration, calling it an opportunity to heal “the contemporary wounds of Europe and Ukraine.”
During his homily, Grušas highlighted the saint’s life as a model for Christian unity.
“His life touched many people and nations, seeking to bring them all to unity in Christ. Faced with the current difficulties of today’s world, in Ukraine and elsewhere, linked to wars, migrations and many other crises, the life of Jehoshaphat gives us hope that the Lord will be able to use each of us as an instrument to establish his kingdom here on earth, from our own hearts and act in the world around us,” the archbishop said.
“St. Josaphat was a man who responded to this invitation from God to collaborate in the establishment of this unity and this peace. He chose his episcopal motto and mission “Ut unum sint”, “so that all may be one “, taken from the Lord’s prayer for his disciples at the Last Supper. He also considered it his mission in his ministry,” he continued.
In 2013, in a speech addressed to Ukrainian Greek Catholics on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the transfer of the body of Saint Josaphat, Pope Francis said: “The best way to celebrate Saint Josaphat is to love one another, to love and to serve the unity of the Church. »
