Josaphat Kuntsevych (c. 1580 – 12 November 1623) was a monk and archeparch (archbishop) of the Ruthenian Catholic Church, who on 12 November 1623 was killed by an angry mob in Vitebsk,[b], in the eastern peripheries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Belarus). He is “the best-known victim” of anti-Catholic violence related to implementing the Union of Brest,and is declared a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church.
His death reflects the conflict among Orthodox and Catholic Christians that had intensified after the Ruthenian Orthodox Church (Kiev Metropolitanate) confirmed its communion with the Roman Catholic Church through the 1596 Union of Brest.
