Nov 12: John Bunyan Is Arrested and Archbishop Josaphat Is Killed

Host 1 Welcome to This Day in Church History on this day November 12th

Host 2 we see a pattern of well faith forged in fire today. We are looking at a bishop who was dragged into a river by an angry mob and a preacher who fashioned a flute out of a prison chair leg.

Host 1 Right. Both were punished for refusing to compromise. It's a deep dive into the cost of conviction. So our mission today is to explore how these intense divisions often forge, you know, remarkable endurance. Let's start with the year 1623. We are looking at Josaphat Kuntsevych.

Host 2 Oh, the Greek Catholic Archbishop of Polotsk.

Host 1 Exactly. He was murdered by a mob in Vitebsk, which is in modern Belarus.

Host 2 To really understand that violence, you have to picture the religious landscape of 17th century Eastern Europe. You were caught between two dominant religious spheres, because Josaphat was actually born Orthodox, but he was drawn toward communion with Rome, following the Union of Brest in 1596.

Host 1 Right. And let me pause you there because the Union of Brest can sound, you know, a bit academic.

Host 2 Yeah, it does.

Host 1 Think of it almost like a corporate merger where half the employees furiously refuse to recognize the new CEO. In this case, the Pope. It brought many Ruthenian Orthodox bishops into the Catholic fold, but those who refused remained Orthodox.

Host 2 Which set the stage for bitter local divisions.

Host 1 Right.

Host 2 And Josaphat was the one trying to enforce this merger on the ground.

Host 1 Right.

Host 2 He reformed monasteries, held synods. just aggressively promoted the union. But the spark that ignited the fatal riot was his order to arrest an Orthodox priest.

Host 1 A priest who was operating in secret. right

Host 2 exactly yeah

Host 1 the backlash was intense i mean his opponents actually called him the soul snatcher and after killing him they threw his body into the western Dvina River

Host 2 such a brutal image

Host 1 it just is his followers later recovered his remains and his relics actually rest in saint peter's basilica now but here is what i am struggling to understand

Host 2 what's that

Host 1 if his opponents gave him a nickname like soul snatcher and tossed him in a river how do modern reference books suggest him as a patron of ecumenical endeavor it feels i don't know contradictory

Host 2 well it is a fascinating paradox

Host 1 right

Host 2 because he is venerated as a patron saint of Ukraine today right and the idea of him as a patron of church unity comes from his ultimate goal he was trying to heal the schism between east and west even though his methods sparked tragic local conflict his intent was unity it highlights the complex human realities of historical church divisions.

Host 1 that makes sense.

Host 2 yeah

Host 1 it's a striking reminder of how dangerous the pursuit of

Host 3 formity can be, I guess, which, you know, brings us to a transition in our timeline.

Host 4 Right. Moving from mob violence in Eastern Europe to state sanctioned legal suppression in England.

Host 3 Exactly. It's the same underlying theme of enforcing religious conformity, just using a different mechanism. So in the year 1660, a dissenting preacher named John Bunyan was arrested.

Host 4 Yes, at a farmhouse in Bedfordshire. And by dissenting, we mean Bunyan belonged to a Protestant group that refused to conform to the strict rules of the Church of England.

Host 3 Right. Because after Oliver Cromwell's rule ended, the Church of England regained power and aggressively cracked down. Bunyan was arrested just as he was about to start a sermon.

Host 4 Under an old Elizabethan law, actually.

Host 3 Yeah. How did an old law suddenly apply? Was it just a convenient excuse to silence him?

Host 4 Oh, precisely. The law essentially made it a crime to conduct religious services outside the official church. The authorities dusted it off to suppress the dissenting voices that had grown under Cromwell.

Host 3 Wow.

Host 4 Even the local magistrate hesitated to jail him, but Bunyan was uncompromising. He reportedly told the magistrate, if you release me today, I will preach tomorrow.

Host 3 That kind of defiance cost him years in the county jail in Bedford and while he was locked up I mean he had to support his family so he made shoelaces

Host 5 making shoelaces in a 17th century prison

Host 3 yeah but he also kept his mind sharp he preached to fellow inmates he kept a tin violin he made himself and he even fashioned a flute out of a chair leg to play music

Host 5 That's an incredible image of resilience. Now, you often hear that his famous book, The Pilgrim's Progress, was written during this long 1660 imprisonment.

Host 3 That's what I always thought. Yeah.

Host 4 Well, historical scholarship provides a crucial correction here. Many experts now believe he actually started writing it during a second, much shorter arrest in 1675.

Host 3 Oh, interesting. That changes the timeline a bit, but certainly not the impact of his time behind bars.

Host 4 No, not at all.

Host 3 Before we wrap up, we have two other fascinating footnotes from November 12th. First, in 1035, Canute the Great, King of England and Denmark died.

Host 4 The church restore, yeah? you can still find his bones in Winchester Cathedral today.

Host 3 And second, in the year 1615, the Puritan pastor and writer Richard Baxter was born. Although we should note plainly that this exact date is disputed by some older biographical dictionaries.

Host 6 Yeah, though most do agree on November 12th.

Host 3 Right.

Host 6 Looking at both Yosefat and Bunyan today, there is a lingering thought to consider. You see that so often in the church's story, faith finds its strongest, most enduring voice not in times of comfort, but in the quiet of a prison cell.

Host 6 or amidst fierce dangerous disagreements.

Host 3 Thanks for tuning in. See you back here tomorrow.