Background
John Velamin was born in 1574 and, according to a use of noble families, was named after the estate where he was born, Ruta, thus he was named John Velamin Rutsky.
John Velamin was born in 1574 and, according to a use of noble families, was named after the estate where he was born, Ruta, thus he was named John Velamin Rutsky.
The family name of Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky is not known: his family lived in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, had possibly Ruthenian origins and was noble and Calvinist. From 1593-1596, Rutsky studied philosophy at Wurtzburg. After the death of his father, his mother, who remained a Calvinist, opposed Rutsky"s desire to enter in religious live, and stopped to support his studies.
But Rutsky continued his studies in the Saint Athanasius Greek College in Rome, where he was authorized by Pope Clement VIII to change from the Latin Rite to the Byzantine Rite.
Rutsky completed his studies in 1603. Rutsky 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.
After was named archimandrite of the monastery, in 1611 he was appointed coadjutor bishop of Kiev and consecrated as bishop by Metropolitan Ipatii Potii in June 1611. On Potii"s death in 1613, Rutski became 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.
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.