Jakiv Susha


Jakiv Ivan Susha - was a Greek-Catholic Bishop of Kholm from 1652 to 1687, Protoarchimandrite of the Order of Saint Basil the Great

Life

He joined the Basilian monastic order in 1626 and then studied in Prussia and Olomouc, Moravia. After several postings he was brought to Kholm as a lecturer at the gymnasium and assistant to Bishop Metodii Terletskyi. When the bishop died in 1649, he became administrator and then bishop of the Kholm eparchy.
In the wake of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s uprising, Susha proved to be an exceptional diplomat. He negotiated with Cossack leaders, and in 1664–1666 he lived in Rome as delegate of the Uniate church to the papacy. There he persuaded the pope to name a new Uniate metropolitan of Kyiv, healed a serious rift in the Basilian order, and obtained an agreement prohibiting Catholics from changing their rite. He also led the drive to beatify Josaphat Kuntsevych.

Works

Susha's writings included biographies of Kuntsevych and Meletius Smotrytsky. A collection of his extensive correspondence was published in Rome in 1973–1974 in Litterae Episcoporum, vols 2–3.