Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky


Joseph Velamin-Rutski - was a Greek-Catholic Metropolitan bishop of Kiev–Galicia from 1613 to 1637. He worked to build the Greek Catholic Church in the first few decades after the Union of Brest of 1596; he also reformed the Basilian monks.

Early life

The family name of Joseph Velyaminov-Rutski lived in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, had Ruthenian origins and was noble and Calvinist. Joseph's father Feliks Velyaminov belonged to Rurik dynasty; he escaped Moscovy while the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Ivan Velyaminov was born in 1574 and, according to a use of noble families, was named after the estate where he was born, Ruta, thus he was named Ivan Velaminov-Rutski.
At 17 he moved in Prague where he studied under the Jesuits and converted to the Catholic Church of Latin Rite against the will of his parents. From 1593-1596, Rutski studied philosophy at Wurtzburg. After the death of his father, his mother, who remained a Calvinist, opposed Rutski's desire to enter in religious live, and stopped to support his studies. But Rustki continued his studies in the St. Athanasius Greek College in Rome, where he was authorized by Pope Clement VIII to change from the Latin Rite to the Byzantine Rite. Rutski completed his studies in 1603.

Metropolitan of Kiev

Jan Rutski was sent to Vilnius by Pope Clement VIII in 1605 and entered the Monastery of the Holy Trinity there in 1607 where he took the monastic name Jazep. After was named archimandrite of the monastery, in 1611 he was appointed coadjutor bishop of Kiev and consecrated as bishop by Metropolitan Hypatius Pociej in June 1611. On Paciej's death in 1613, Joseph Velamin-Rutski became Metropolitan Joseph IV of Kiev. He was assisted by Josaphat Kuncevyc, with whom he worked beginning at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. After becoming metropolitan, Rutski consecrated Jasaphat as coadjutor of the Archbishop of Polotsk with the title of Bishop of Vitebsk.
In 1617, Metropolitan Rutski united a number of monasteries into the Congregation of the Holy Trinity of the Order of Saint Basil the Great.
He died February 5, 1637 and is buried in Vilnius. His cause for beatification was begun in 1937.