Yan Matusevich


Father Yan Matusevich was a biritualist Belarusian Catholic priest, and dean of the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church.

Biography

Yan Matusevich was born in the village of Komenka, Minsk, USSR, into an Orthodox family with Uniate roots. After high school, he studied at the Belarusian State Theatre and Art Institute, in the directing department. In 1972, he entered into the Orthodox Seminary in Smolensk. From 1974 to 1979, Matusevich worked in Smolensk, and then in the village of Markovo, Maladzyechna, in the Minsk region. In 1979, Matusevich joined the Catholic Church. For the next 11 years, he was rector of the Catholic parish in Barun. In 1988, he became one of the first to preach in the Belarusian language, and Barun become a place of pilgrimage for intellectuals and young people from all over Belarus. On 12 November 1989, Barun celebrated Saint Josaphat and although Matusevich preached the Latin rite, the event is considered the first action of the Uniate Church in Minsk. Starting in 1990, he was the rector of the Greek-Catholic parish of Saint Joseph, in Minsk. Matusevich consecrated a cross in Kurapaty, the site of mass executions of citizens by the NKVD in the Belorusian SSR in the 1930s. In April 1989, he took part in the action of the Belarusian opposition, "Charnobylski Way". Matusevich was a board member of the Association of the Belarusian Language in Minsk, and a board member and one of the founders of the Belarusian Bible Society. He died in Minsk, Belarus, on 2 September 1998. The funeral service was held in the Church of Saints Simon and Helena and he was buried at Calvary Cemetery.