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Memorial of Josaphat, bishop and martyr

Second Reading from the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours for November 12, Memorial of Josaphat, bishop and martyr

Saint Josaphat was born in the Ukraine of Orthodox parents about the year 1580. Embracing the Catholic faith, he became a Basilian monk. Ordained to the priesthood and chosen bishop of Polock, he worked faithfully for the unity of the Church. Enemies plotted his death, and he was martyred in 1623.

From the Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam Dei by Pope Pius XI

(AAS 15 [1923], 573-582)

He gave his life for the unity of the Church

In designing his Church God worked with such skill that in the fullness of time it would resemble a single great family embracing all men. It can be identified, as we know, by certain distinctive characteristics, notably its universality and unity.

Christ the Lord passed on to his apostles the task he had received from the Father: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. He wanted the apostles as a body to be intimately bound together, first by the inner tie of the same faith and love which flows into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and, second, by the external tie of authority exercised by one apostle over the others. For this he assigned the primacy to Peter, the source and visible basis of their unity for all time. So that the unity and agreement among them would endure, God wisely stamped them, one might say, with the mark of holiness and martyrdom.

Both these distinctions fell to Josaphat, archbishop of Polock of the Slavonic rite of the Eastern Church. He is rightly looked upon as the great glory and strength of the Eastern Rite Slavs. Few have brought them greater honor or contributed more to their spiritual welfare than Josaphat, their pastor and apostle, especially when he gave his life as a martyr for the unity of the Church. He felt, in fact, that God had inspired him to restore worldwide unity to the Church and he realized that his greatest chance of success lay in preserving the Slavonic rite and Saint Basil's rule of monastic life within the one universal Church.

Concerned mainly with seeing his own people reunited to the See of Peter, he sought out every available argument which would foster and maintain Church unity. His best arguments were drawn from liturgical books, sanctioned by the Fathers of the Church, which were in common use among Eastern Christians, including the dissidents. Thus thoroughly prepared, he set out to restore the unity of the Church. A forceful man of fine sensibilities, he met with such success that his opponents dubbed him "the thief of souls."

Responsory: John 17:11, 23, 22

Jesus said: Holy Father, protect those you have given me
with the power of your name,
--that they may be perfectly one;
then the world will know that it was you who sent me.

The glory which you gave me,
I have given to them.
--That they may be perfectly one;
then the world will know that it was you who sent me.

Prayer

Lord,
fill your Church with the Spirit
that gave Saint Josaphat courage
to lay down his life for his people.
By his prayers
may your Spirit make us strong
and willing to offer our lives
for our brothers and sisters.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Let us praise the Lord.
--And give him thanks.

Posted by billw at November 12, 2002 06:53 AM