| Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky | |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan of Kiev | |
| Church | Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church |
| Appointed | 5 April 1614 |
| Reign ended | 5 February 1637 |
| Predecessor | Ipatii Potii |
| Successor | Rafajil Korsak |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1608 (Priest) |
| Consecration | June 1611 (Bishop) by Ipatii Potii |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | John Rutski |
| Born | 1574 Korsak |
| Died | 5 February 1637 (aged 62–63) Dermaniu, in Volhynia |
Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky (also spelled Josyf Rutsky) (Ukrainian: Велямин Йосиф Рутський) - (1574-1637) was a Greek-Catholic Metropolitan bishop of Kyiv from 1613 to 1637. He worked to build the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the first few decades after the Union of Brest of 1596; he also reformed the Basilian monks.[1]
Baptised John (Jan or Ivan), Rutski was originally a Calvinist and converted to Eastern Catholicism the late 1590s. He studied at Prague in 1592 and, from 1593-1596, studied philosophy at Wurtzburg and completed a theology degree at St. Athanasius Greek College in Rome in 1603. He was sent to Vilnius by Pope Clement VIII in 1605 and entered the Basilian Monastery of the Holy Trinity there in 1607 where he took the monastic name Josef. He was named archimandrite of the monastery by Metropolitan Adam (Hipacy) Pociej (Potii) in 1611. On Pociej's death in 1613, Rutski was consecrated Metropolitan of Kiev. He was assisted by Josaphat Kuncevyc, with whom he worked beginning at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. After becoming metropolitan, Rutski consecrated Josaphat as coadjutor of the Archbishop of Polotsk with the title of Bishop of Vitebsk.[2][3]
In 1617, Metropolitan Rutski united a number of monasteries into the Congregation of the Holy Trinity of the Order of Saint Basil the Great.
He died February 5, 1637 and is buried in Vilnius. His cause for beatification was begun in 1937.