Sunday, November 12, 1623. Josaphat Kuntsevych, Bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Church (Ukrainian Catholic Church, was martyred in Vitebsk, Belarus.

On this day in 1623 Josaphat Kuntsevych, Bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Church (Ukrainian Catholic Church, was martyred in Vitebsk, Belarus, which was the part of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.

He had been ordained in as an Eastern Catholic priest in 1609.  Living in a region in which the Orthodox Church had been strong, he faced opposition in his clerical duties but movement towards union with Rome was building in the area and as there was building assent to the Union of Brest.  In 1620 this began to be opposed when Cossacks intervened in the region.  In 1623, Josaphat, by then a Bishop, ordered the arrest of the sole remaining priest who was offering Orthodox services in Vitebsk which resulted in his murder by some Orthodox townspeople.  Some have suggested that, however, Lithuanian Protestants were secretly the instigators of the action.

His body is in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and he is recognized as a martyr by the Church.

This points out a lot of interesting aspects of history that in the United States, and indeed many places, are poorly understood.  For one thing, there have been repeated efforts to reunite the East and West in Apostolic Christianity, and on several occasions they've been highly successful.  The seeming final breach between the East and West did not really come until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and indeed at that time the East and West were largely reunited. Following the return of the schism, over the next 500+ years various churches in the East have returned to communion with Rome.  The Schism should have completely ended following the Council of Florence, in which the Eastern Bishops agreed to reunion, but resistance at the parishioner level precluded it, just as can be seen to be a factor here.  Resistance higher up, sometimes violent, has also had an impact, however, as at least in one occasion Russian Orthodox Bishops affecting a reunion were murdered.  At the present time, it seems clear that the Metropolitan of Constantinople, the senior Bishop of the Eastern Orthodox, would end the schism as to his church but for fear of parishioner and cleric level resistance.

Rodrigo de Arriaga professed vows to become a Jesuit Priest.  He was one of the leading Spanish Jesuits of his day.

Saturday, June 30, 1973. Rescued at sea.

After 117 days at sea on a life raft, following the sinking of their yacht, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey were rescued by the South Korean fishing vessel Weolmi.

A solar eclipse was seen over most of Africa, lasting over four minutes. An equally long one will not be seen until June 25, 2150.

Iraqi Defense Minister Gen. Hammad Shihab was wounded at a banquet by those in the government who had invited him.  The Minister of Defense, Hammad Shihab, was killed in the same coup attempt.

Vasyl Velychkovsky, age 70, Ukrainian Catholic Priest who had been imprisoned for 13 years, died one year after being allowed to immigrate to Canada due to injuries sustained as a prisoner.  He has since been beatified.

Start of Great Lent on the Old Calendar.

 

Transfiguration of Our Lord Ukrainian Catholic Church. Go fund me for chaplain.

Transfiguration of Our Lord Ukrainian Catholic Church

Support Our Chaplains:

At the request of Bishop Benedict, please consider supporting our military chaplains in Ukraine:

GoFundMe for Greco-Catholic Chaplains

Car for chaplain

Thursday, August 17, 1922. Flying boats, watermelons, and medals.

On this day, the Sampaio Correia, a H-16 Curtiss Flying boat, prepared to make the long journey to Brazil from New York for an expedition in Rio De Janero.

 Secretary of War Weeks presided over the awarding of medals to a collection of Army officers.

Watermelon boats were photographed delivering their loads to transportation at dockside.

Forest fires raged in Minnesota, leaving six dead and hundreds homeless.

Byzantine Catholic Priest Vladimir Abrikosov was arrested by Soviet authorities for persuading Russians to become Catholic.  He was at first sentenced to death, but was ultimately expelled.

The Bureau of Prohibition warned establishment owners that they could be held criminally liable for breaking the prohibition laws if they allowed their patrons to bring alcohol in themselves is flasks.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Holy Protection Byzantine Catholic Church, Denver, Colorado.

Churches of the West: Holy Protection Byzantine Catholic Church, Denver ...: 

Holy Protection Byzantine Catholic Church, Denver Colorado

This is Holy Protection Byzantine Catholic Church in Denver Colorado.

Many people, when they hear the word "Catholic", immediately have what, in the English speaking world, are frequently referred to as "Roman Catholics" in mind.  In fact, however, "Roman" Catholics are Latin Rite Catholics whose churches use the Roman Rite.  Roman Catholics make up the overwhelming majority of Catholics, and indeed the majority of Catholics, on earth.

They aren't the only Catholics however.   The Roman Rite itself is just one of several Latin, or Western, Rites.  There are also several Eastern Rites, of which the Byzantine Rite is one.

The Byzantine Catholic Church, which is also called the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church, uses the same liturgical rite as the Greek Orthodox Church and shares the same calendar.  It dates back to the conversion of the Rusyn people in the Carpathians to Christianity in the 9th Century.  That work, done by St. Cyril and St. Methodius brought to the Rusyn people the form of worship in the Eastern Rite.  They Rusyn church initially followed the Orthodox Churches following  the schism of 1054, but in 1645 the Ruthenian Church started to return to communion with Rome, resulting in the Rutenian Byzantine Catholic Church, which is normally called the Byzantine Catholic Church in the United States.

Immigration from Eastern Europe brought the Church into the United States. Originally a strongly ethnic church, in recent decades it has become multi ethnic and its strongly traditional character has caused it to obtain new members from both very conservative Latin Rite Catholics as well as very conservative former Protestants.  Indeed, while this church is very small, it has been growing and now has a Byzantine Catholic outreach to Ft. Collins, Colorado, where it holds services in Roman Catholic Churches.