www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall icon of St. Josaphat of Polotsk

does anyone know of a site online thats sells icons and has one of saint josaphat? i cant find one anywhere. thanks

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Finding an icon of St. Josaphat of Polotsk is quite difficult to do.

But, if all else fails, you can write to St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, 2233 W. Rice Street, Chicago, IL, 60622, and ask someone to photograph the icon in the icon screen.

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

Mateusz,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I contacted Basilian Press ( www.pathcom.com/~baspress [pathcom.com] ) in Toronto, Canada. They sell holy cards and icon prints of Saint Josaphat.
There is a really nice icon print that I believe is the best: the icon depicts St. Josaphat ascending to heaven while two angels above him are holding a martyr's crown. Saint Josaphat is dressed in monastic vestments holding a staff. Below Saint Jospahat is the Pochayiv monastery. The print comes in two sizes.
I suggest e-mailing or calling them and asking if they can fax you a copy of the icon prints they sell.
I hope this helps.

God bless you.
griego

http://www.stnicholaschurch.ca/content_pages/fotogalleries/icons/icons.htm

http://www.saintjosaphatseminary.org/staff-rectors.html

http://www.saintjosaphatseminary.org/staff-rectors.html

Dear Friends,

Believe it or not, I've been asked by an Orthodox priest for an icon of St Josaphat.

He says he honours him privately as a "local saint."

This priest was never a Catholic and is a university professor.

Interesting, no?

Alex

Dear Griego,

The book, "St Josaphat Kuntsevych" has a number of BxW icons of him.

One problem, as noted in the book, is that there is a whole body of Josaphat iconography that depicts him as a Latin bishop - something that Josaphat would have resisted in his day.

The icon you mention is, unfortunately, a "uniate triumphalist" icon and was intended as such (inclusion of the Pochaiv Lavra).

At the Pochaiv Lavra, the Basilian Fathers actually tried to introduce the canonization Cause of St Job of Pochaiv (canonized by the Orthodox Met. of Kyiv, Dionisy Balaban in 1654) at Rome itself.

The Cause was going along nicely until the monastery reverted back to the Orthodox. Count Nicholas Pototsky actually gave a large sum of money in support of the Cause.

And the Basilians accepted icons of St Job of Pochaiv.

When the Cause failed, those icons were renamed for . . . St Josaphat.

A Basilian calendar that I had depicted one such icon in this way.

I'm just wondering if the icon you describe is a St Job icon renamed for St Josaphat.

St Josaphat was never in Pochaiv, as I understand.

The one time he was in Kyiv he had to have a personal body-guard to be taken out of the Orthodox city without being attacked.

Alex

Dear Alex,

Are you refering to the book written by Fr. Demetrius E. Wysochansky? I currently have that book, having checked it out of a seminary library.

Yes, many of the icons that I have seen of Saint Josaphat depict him in Latin vestaments-with red cap even!

The icon that I described above came be seen on page 282.

I too have not read of any association that Saint Josaphat had with the Pochaiv monastery.

I am fascinated by your statement that the Basilians renamed icons of Saint Job as that of Saint Josaphat. I am curious to see the icon that you mentioned.
The icon I mentioned above though is that of Saint Josaphat. He is depicted holding the staff of a bishop. Saint Job was hegumen of the Pochaiv monastery but not a bishop.

In the Byzantine tradition, abbots (if they have the rank of Archimandrite) are given a staff/zhezl. Saint Job is often depicted with one; see http://www.skete.com/moreinfo.cfm?Category=53&Product_ID=537

I am searching for a particular icon of Saint Josaphat...

He is depicted from the waist up, wearing a black klobuk, and holding a scroll in his left hand with his right hand in blessing.

I first saw this icon years ago in the refectory of Holy Transfiguration Ukrainian Catholic monastery in Redwood Valley, CA.

I am interested in obtaining a copy of this icon or even a scanned image of it. (Would it be disrespectful to scan an icon?)

Have any of you seen this icon as well?

griego

Dear Mateusz, I have an authentic 19th century icon of St. Josaphat of Polotsk, in good condition including discription, if you still looking for it, just let me know