Josaphat Kotsylovsky
Blessed Josaphat Joseph Kotsylovsky was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishop and martyr.
Kotsylovsky was born 3 March 1876 in the village of Pakoszowka, of the Lemko Region. Kotsylovsky was of Lemko origin, and Ukrainian national orientation.
After graduating from the elementary folk school in Lesko he studied at the Sanok and Sambir gymnasia. From 1896 he studied at the law department of Lviv University. Soon he interrupted the studio and graduated from the school of artillery in Vienna, and of 1900 he was sent to serve in the Lviv garrison. After leaving the military service, and with the assistance of the Przemysl Bishop Kostyantyn Chekhovych, he began the philosophical and theological studies in Rome. He studied theology in Rome and graduated in 1907, later that year on 9 October he was ordained to the priesthood. Soon after, he was made vice-rector and professor of theology at the Greek-Catholic seminary in Stanislaviv.
On 2 October 1911 he entered the Order of Saint Basil the Great. On 23 September 1917 Kotsylovsky was ordained bishop in Przemyśl by Andrey Sheptytsky. As bishop, he worked to improve the church's educational system and supported monastic orders. He also took steps to combat the rising Russophile movement by appointing Ukrainian priests and funding Ukrainian language journals.
On 10 July 1941 he welcomed the Wehrmacht forces entering Przemyśl. On 4 July 1943 Kotsylovsky led a Mass in the name of the volunteers entering the 14th SS Division.
At the end of World War II, Communist Poland assisted the Soviet Union with the. In September 1945 the Polish security service arrested Kotsylovsky, then released him and arrested him again in 1946. They then handed him over to the Soviet security service. He died on 17 November 1947 in a prison camp near Kiev.
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 27 June 2001.
The relics of Josaphat Kotsylovsky are kept in the church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Stryi.
