Above:  Icon of the Martyrs of Podlasie

Image in the Public Domain

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THE MARTYRS OF PODLASIE (SHOT JANUARY 24, 1874)

Also known as the Martyrs of Pratulin

The Russian Empire, at its height, contained 100 ethnic groups.  The empire, not encouraging multiculturalism, pursued a policy of Russification instead.  As part of this effort the government sought to convert Eastern Rite Roman Catholics within its realm to the Russian Orthodox Church and used force to make this happen.  Bishops and priests who refused to submit either went to Siberia or to prison.  This strategy left members of the laity to defend their faith.

On January 24, 1874, Russian soldiers entered the Polish village of Pratulin, in the region of Podlasie, to seize the parish church for the Russian Orthodox Church.  A crowd of villagers gathered to protest this action.  The military commander ordered them to disperse and threatened them if they disobeyed.  To encourage submission he ordered the fatal shooting of 13 laymen, who were singing hymns.   These martyrs were:

1. Anicet Hryciuk (born in 1855),
2. Bartlomiej Orypiuk (born in 1843),
3. Daniel Karmasz (born in 1826),
4. Filip Geryluk (born in 1830),
5. Ignacy Franczuk (born in 1824),
6. Jan Andrzejuk (born in 1848),
7. Konstanty Bojko (born in 1826),
8. Konstanty Lukaszuk (born in 1829),
9. Lukasz Bojko (born in 1852),
10. Maksym Hawryluk (born in 1840),
11. Michal Wawryszuk (born in 1853),
12. Onufry Wasyluk (born in 1853), and
13. Wincenty Lewoniuk (born in 1849).

Then the soldiers buried the corpses without sacred rites.  The idea was to cause people to forget that these men had even lived.  The soldiers failed, obviously.  Pope John Paul II beatified the martyrs in 1996.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 24, 2016 COMMON ERA

THANKSGIVING DAY (U.S.A.)

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM COOKE AND BENJAMIN WEBB, ANGLICAN PRIESTS AND TRANSLATORS OF HYMNS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANDREW DUNG-LAC AND PETER THI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS IN VIETNAM

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Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy Martyrs of Podlasie

triumphed over suffering and were faithful even to death:

Grant us, who now remember them in thanksgiving,

to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world,

that we may receive with them the crown of life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you

and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:1-12

Psalm 116 or 116:1-8

Revelation 7:13-17

Luke 12:2-12

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 714

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