[1580-1623]
In the 16th century, with the strong backing of the Polish–Lithuanian king, leaders of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church withdrew from the supervision of the Eastern Orthodox Church and aligned themselves instead with the pope in Rome. Not everyone supported this move.
In particular, the emerging Cossack people in the eastern part of the kingdom considered a state-enforced religious unification — to practice as an Eastern Orthodox was now illegal — to be an attempt to stamp out their culture. Josaphat Kuntsevych, a pro-union priest working in modern-day Belarus, got to see just how strongly the Cossacks felt.
When Josaphat called for the arrest of another priest who’d been holding Eastern Orthodox services in secret, a mob of townspeople rose up against him. They hit him on the head with a stick, then split his skull with an axe, then shot him in the face, then dragged his body — and the body of a poor dog who’d tried to protect him — through the city streets.
In retribution, 93 Orthodox were sentenced to death for his killing.