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Saint Josaphat Kuncevich accused of violent forced union with Rome

The video presents a critical perspective on Saint Josaphat Kuncevich, the Eastern Catholic bishop murdered by an Orthodox mob in 1623. It argues that Josaphat employed violent measures to compel union with Rome rather than dying as a peaceful martyr. Specific allegations include the removal of Orthodox priests, the closure of Orthodox churches, and legal proceedings against those who refused to submit to papal authority.

The video cites a Catholic official who supported the union but condemned Josaphat's methods, stating it never occurred to him that people would be forced to join by such violent measures. The narrative highlights the arrest and imprisonment of an Orthodox priest for refusing Rome's authority shortly before Josaphat's death. In the aftermath, 19 townsmen were executed by beheading, dozens more were sentenced to death in absentia, and the city lost its rights and privileges.

The speaker contends that Catholics defend the Crusades as defensive warfare against Muslim invasion while condemning Orthodox Christians for resisting religious persecution, characterizing this as a double standard. The discussion centers on whether Josaphat's actions constituted legitimate ecclesiastical discipline or persecution, and how historical memory shapes contemporary Catholic-Orthodox relations.

The video references historical events surrounding the Union of Brest and the suppression of Orthodox resistance in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Key moments

  1. 0:00 Josaphat Kuncevich was an Eastern Catholic bishop murdered by an Orthodox mob in 1623 after rumors spread that he wanted to destroy Eastern traditions and make everyone Latin.
  2. 0:30 Josaphat removed Orthodox priests, shut down Orthodox churches, and took legal action against those who refused to submit to Rome.
  3. 0:30 A Catholic official who supported the union criticized Josaphat, saying it never occurred to him that Josaphat would make people join by such violent measures.
  4. 0:30 An Orthodox priest was arrested and imprisoned for refusing to submit to Rome's authority shortly before Josaphat's death.
  5. 0:30 After Josaphat's death, 19 townsmen were executed by beheading, dozens more were sentenced to death in their absence, and the city was stripped of its rights and privileges.
  6. 1:02 Catholics defend the Crusades as fighting back against Muslim invasion but condemn Orthodox Christians for resisting religious persecution, showing a double standard.
22 opinions in the discussion 22 participants, 3 replies to each other The opinion with the most support Josaphat Kuntsevych took part in the persecution and torture of Orthodox Christians. Enough said. Read the discussion
455 comments at the source Original on Instagram

Discussion · 22

Opinions are anonymous retellings of real comments from the original discussion. The same colour marks the same participant.

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  • opinion#3594

    Josaphat Kuntsevych took part in the persecution and torture of Orthodox Christians. Enough said.

  • opinion#3593

    unity can't exist without truth, so any "unity" with rome they keep pushing is false

    • opinion#3596

      Fine, start with yourself then, the Russia and Ukraine war is a Christian on Christian massacre

    • opinion#3597

      So true. They literally split off from the true church and now they're whining about unity. WE ALREADY HAD IT. And they act like such victims

  • opinion#3591

    Just submit to Rome fr, problem solved lmao 😂

    • opinion#3598

      why should they if they don't buy what the latins are selling, submitting would mean admitting the roman church is right and they don't accept that, they're firm on no compromise and there's nothing wrong with that lol.

  • opinion#3585

    Imagine thinking the Orthodox issue was about keeping eastern traditions instead of latin ones, rather than about keeping the Orthodox Faith against latin ecclesiastical schism and heresy.

  • opinion#3587

    Rome's "unity" is the same relativism driving the Religion of the Future. Catholics don't grasp that many beliefs across their wider communion can't be reconciled with each other. The Syromalabar rite's commemoration of Nestorius and Theodore of Mopsuestia alone is enough to be anathema under the canons of multiple ecumenical councils, and the few Catholics outside that rite who know about it are either indifferent or even encourage it. And that's only scratching the surface. May God have mercy on us all.

  • opinion#3581

    May 22 1622 Letter of Leo Sapiega to Josaphat Kuntsyevich

  • opinion#3589

    You can know them by their words, it was never about Christianity, it was always about Rome.

  • opinion#3588

    @aubrey.corrigan let's widen the divide between the Orthodox and Rome. Thank you for bringing up Josaphat as a clear example of Rome going completely astray from the Apostle's Orthodoxy.

  • opinion#3577

    Out of the 23 Eastern Churches in communion with Rome, 5 only ended up under Roman authority because they were coerced into it through persecution, political pressure, and violence.

  • opinion#3579

    I think it would be amazing if, instead of dwelling on our differences, we focused on our union in loving Jesus and in loving one another. One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I'm sorry, but all the hate and spite in these comments only pushes us further from God. God calls us to forgive and show mercy to our brothers and sisters. Hatred is a sin that has to be confessed to a priest.

  • opinion#3595

    Depends what you call winning. Surviving hundreds of years of persecution and oppression while holding onto the core of the faith counts as a win to me, and it's a big part of why people get drawn to orthodoxy. The huge rise in converts is another win too.

  • opinion#3578

    Let me be clear about where I'm coming from. My own family has carried the weight of intergenerational trauma from how my race was dehumanized and attacked as a nation here in the US, so I know what it is to feel anger over the killing of people from the past that I love. I'm no Pope, not even a priest, but for whatever it's worth, my brothers, I am TRULY SORRY for this immense and utterly INEXCUSABLE tragedy. I beg you all, my brothers, to find it in your hearts to forgive us for causing you and your loved ones such a terrible loss.

  • opinion#3583

    There's no real proof of that; it's already been shown that Josaphat was innocent.

  • opinion#3586

    Very convenient of you to leave out the Union of Brest and why those "Orthodox" churches were being closed down. You make it sound like Catholics just showed up destroying Orthodox churches and persecuting priests. No. In 1596, 8 of the 9 Orthodox Bishops, the vast majority of the leadership, signed the Union to return to Rome, and they officially did. Their parishes and churches, which were THIER property, became Eastern Catholic churches, and any priests who refused to join were stripped of their titles. They wanted to stay with schismatics. So it wasn't "persecution", it was rebellion against what THIER OWN leadership had decided. You make it sound like they were destroying churches and killing Orthodox Christians, which they weren't. And none of it justifies a mob lynching Josaphat.

  • opinion#3592

    So he was just doing his job by removing bad priests and shutting down churches that weren't run the right way. Oh, and that somehow makes it okay for a mob to drag him out and kill him. Right, just submit to Rome. Keep in mind, you're the ones who walked out.

  • opinion#3590

    There are always 2 sides to every side... as a Catholic I know every side has done their fair share of sins... may we handle our differences in a Godly way instead of killing each other. We have bigger fish to fry, Christians shouldn't be destroying each other.

  • opinion#3580

    I don't know much about Josaphat so no objections there. But claiming there's a double standard because we "ignore" Catholic-on-Orthodox violence is dishonest, as if the Orthodox haven't routinely persecuted Catholics too. The Massacre of the Latins in 1182 left tens of thousands of Catholics slaughtered in the streets of Constantinople. If we're going to say Josaphat's death was justified, then the same logic applies to Constantinople, since that was just Catholics getting vengeance for what came earlier. The Cassock Uprising, where Cassocks repeatedly seized churches and persecuted Eastern Rite Catholics. Catholics were suppressed under Catherine the Great, and later by the Synod of Polotsk, a state-backed Synod that dissolved the Treaty of Brest and forced Eastern Catholics into Russian Orthodoxy. Under Tsar Alexander II this continued, with multiple accounts of slaughter when Catholics refused to convert or let their parishes be dissolved. Then the Balkan Massacres of 1941 and so on. Neither side should pretend the Catholics or the Orthodox are clean handed. Both have committed atrocities and deepened the division.

  • opinion#3582

    That's because they're taught a completely different version of history, while modern Protestant denominations aren't taught any history at all. Most Roman Catholics don't even know Rome tried to crusade against the churches of the east something like 3 times.

  • opinion#3584

    Fellows, are we seriously still dragging on the schism in this day and age, with Islamic barbarism invading the west and satanic modernism infesting our society from within? Our only hope is the freedom given by Jesus Christ, and yet we still dare to divorce his Bride over petty squabbles from centuries ago.