is the blog of an Orthodox Christian and is published under the spiritual patronage of St. John of San Francisco. Topics likely to be discussed include matters relating to Orthodoxy as well as other religious confessions, politics, economics, social issues, current events or anything else which interests me. © 2006-2024
Saturday, November 12, 2011
A Feast Not Kept: Josephat of Polotsk
I don't usually have a major issue with those considered saints by the Western Church. But Josaphat Kuntsevych? Sorry, I can't go there. I don't hang icons on my wall of murderers and those who violently repress the Orthodox Church. In fairness there was much intolerance in those days. Modern concepts of religious liberty were completely alien to that era and religious minorities were routinely persecuted. Josephat was backed by the power of the state, and he wielded that power ruthlessly in pursuit of what he believed to be the "true faith." The man was many things, and probably not all of them were evil. But a saint and martyr for Christian unity? Ummm... no.
John, can you give me some non-polemical material to read on this? I know Josaphat died at the hands of a mob but I've otherwise only read hagiographies and anti-Unia polemics. It'd be nice to have some other historical accounts. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteM. Jordan Lichens,
ReplyDeleteYou raise a very interesting point. Almost everything (at least on the web) is either Roman Catholic hagiography or Orthodox polemics. The only exception I have found thus far was an outstanding website on Eastern European church history about five years ago. It provided several pages dedicated to what was probably the most detailed discussion of the events surrounding the Unia and the history of the UGRCC and the Orthodox in the Ukraine that I have ever read. Sadly the website disappeared several years ago and several attempts to locate it using web wayback and similar sites have failed.
The website discussed Josephat in considerable detail and was well sourced. It also framed him in the context of his times. I think the author was trying to paint as sympathetic a picture as he could while not denying that Josephat was extremely heavy handed in his treatment of the Orthodox. Alas I can't remember who ran the site, but I am guessing he was an academic. Some of the pages were in Polish.
Perhaps Dr. Tighe might have some recommendations for a balanced reading. But as of right now the available material online is almost entirely heavily biased one way or another.
Wikipedia is an excellent example. The main article on Josephat is almost entirely from the 1913 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia! It is rather akin to an article on the battle of Waterloo that fails to mention the British Army or the Duke of Wellington. Most of the Orthodox material I have come across is no better, being long on polemics (often almost hysterical in tone) and short on historical detail.
In ICXC
John
John,
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'll take a peak for Dr. Tighe's scholarship on this. It was in reading the Wikipedia article that I realized that I've not read a single balanced thing on the man and thus my request to you. The few articles I've found are either referencing the Catholic Encyclopaedia entry or are rather long on polemics and site no sources. So, it was a shot in the dark on my end, but I do appreciate your help.
I do trust you to be fair and appreciate you taking a peak on this. Thanks again!
MJL
Alas, I know of no such "balanced" account. That is not to say that none exists, but I have certainly not found any.
ReplyDelete