In the new liturgical calendar, the feast day of Saint Josaphat is celebrated today, November 12. In the traditional calendar, he is commemorated on the 14th.
Today’s saint was a religious and a bishop who sacrificed his life for the unity of the Eastern and Western Churches. In today’s context of ecumenical dialogue, other paths are often pursued, and a concept of unity different from that aspired to by St. Josaphat is defended. Let us take a look at his life.
Josaphat Kuncewicz was born in 1580 in Volhynia, which belonged to Greater Poland at the time and is now in western Ukraine. He came from a respected family; his father, Gabriel, was a councilman. He was baptized in the Orthodox faith with the name John. Even as a child, he was said to be very pious and to have had a vision of God.