 |
|
"Martyrdom of Jozafat Kuncewicz in Vitebsk" by Józef Simmler |
History
About 500 years before Saint
Josaphat was born, the Church suffered a terrible split: Catholics in the west
and Orthodox in the east. When Josaphat was a young boy, a group of Orthodox
bishops tried to reunited with the pope. But many people fought against him.
Josaphat grew up to become a priest and he tried to convince his Orthodox
brothers and sisters that healing the Church was the right thing to do. After
he became bishop, he started to accomplish a log of good things, but some
Orthodox people decided to elect their own bishops because they didn’t like
Josaphat’s ideas about reuniting with the pope. People were angry and they
became violent. Josaphat was killed trying to protect his friends and servants
from an angry mob.
Activity
For centuries, popes have attempted
to reunify the Church, but the same problems keep people from being humble
enough to make it happen. Today, join Saint Josaphat in praying that the Orthodox
and Catholic Christians well reunite, that we all may be one Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment