Brotherr Joseph Munoz-Cortez

 

On October 31, 1997, an Orthodox Spaniard from Chile, Joseph Muñoz-Cortez, was brutally tortured in Athens. For 15 years he was the keeper of the miraculous myrrh-streaming Montreal Iveron Icon of the Mother of God.

Predictions of the crown

When brother Joseph last visited the skete on Mount Athos in 1996, Father Clement predicted to him that 1997 would be a fateful year in his life. This prophecy came true exactly. In addition, a year before his death, it was revealed to him what would happen to him, but even then he did not turn off the path.

Here is what he wrote about this in a private letter to Matushka Maria Potapova dated December 25, 1997. Dmitry Mikhailovich Gortinsky, choir director of the Savior Ascension Church in Sacramento, California:

“... What I will describe was, according to Joseph himself, not at all a dream, but completely awake. He woke up at night and felt that he was bound hand and foot. His mouth was also tied up, and he could neither speak nor shout. He tried to free himself, but could not, and only prayed to himself. He knew that this was an unclean force and she kept him like that all night. Joseph himself told this in Spanish to my wife a year ago, and she then translated it for me, and now she told it again so that I could write it down accurately. "

Everything described happened on October 31, 1996, exactly one year before his martyrdom.

Death in Athens

Joseph's Way of the Cross ended in Athens - not far from Athos, where he once began. For some reason, it seems to me that this is not an accident: as if a circle was closed, which was destined to close in just that way.

Joseph went to Greece on October 12, 1997. On the eve of his departure, he talked with Elena Sergeevna Golitsyna-Navarre, one of the founders of the House of Icon society, created specifically to help the image travel the world. Joseph told her that he would go to Athos along with the icon, which he would carry without the icon case, in a special suitcase lined with cotton wool. As a rule, during such trips, the image streamed a little myrrh, and therefore he could travel calmly without attracting undue attention to himself.

Usually Joseph did not take the miraculous icon on such trips. He guarded the shrine with great trepidation and responsibility, and in such cases left it with the confidants. But that visit had one distinguishing feature. Initially, Muñoz Cortez was going to visit the Athos Christmas Skete - the same one where the miraculous image was painted. There he wanted to meet with Father Chrysostom, who became the head of the hermitage after the death of Elder Clement.

However, Joseph did not take into account that in Thessaloniki, where it was necessary to obtain permission to visit the Holy Mountain, at that time the largest exhibition of Athos icons was held, a lot of people gathered there, and he simply did not manage to draw up the documents.

Joseph, who flew to Greece on October 13, 1997, went to the island of Aegina, where the relics of St. Nectarios of Aeginsky, and left the icon there. From there, he called Elena Golitsyna-Navarre, and on October 16 he met at the Athens airport a Russian priest Alexander Ivashevich from South America, whom he wanted to help in acquiring church utensils.

Father Alexander thought that the icon was in Canada. He knew that Joseph was going to go to Aegina for a couple of days before returning to Canada, but he could not even imagine that it was supposed to be a trip to get the icon - after all, Joseph did not say anything about it.

On the eve of the tragedy, they together visited the monastery of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the island of Andros. When the monks opened the doors of the temple, right in front of them in the vestibule on one of the ancient frescoes of the Mother of God, tears flowed from her eyes. The monks explained that such signs occur immediately before some fateful events in the Church. Joseph very calmly said that he felt that something terrible would happen to him very soon, but he did not know what exactly.

On October 30, Muñoz Cortez accompanied Father Alexander to the airport, and we can only guess what happened after that.

It is only known that Joseph was killed by three people. As the experts who carried out the investigation later reported, the "work" was carried out very professionally, everything was done in such a way as to cause the victim the greatest suffering. They beat me on the head, on the neck, broke the Adam's apple, tore apart my cheeks with ropes, and then left to die alone, hiding through the balcony. A certain guest musician in the next room heard groans, but did not come to the rescue….

“We, - recalls Father Victor, - at the trial were shown terrible pictures showing horrific traces of torture. It is impossible to forget! "

The news of the death came as a shock to those who knew Brother Joseph.

“I remember that at night I was called from California by priest Pavel Ivashevich (brother of Father Alexander) and told this terrible news,” recalls Archpriest Viktor Potapov. - I was shocked to the core. I knew Brother Joseph well enough, I knew how devoted he was to the Mother of God and how seriously he took his ministry. He loved martyrs and often said how good it would be to give his life for Christ. I think he was prepared for this, and I had no question why the Lord took him to Himself. "

After the death of Joseph, Father Victor found a prayer written in his hand in the sufferer's diary. According to the priest, this recording, dated 1985, is valuable because it sheds light on the state of his soul and shows us how hard it was for him to bear the difficult obedience of the keeper of the myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God. This prayer read:

“Lord Jesus Christ, who came to our earth for the sake of salvation and was voluntarily nailed to the Cross and endured passions for our sins, let me also endure my sufferings, which I accept not from my enemies, but from my brother. God! Do not charge him as a sin. "

Parishioners of St. John the Baptist in Washington, DC organized a fundraiser for a funeral and for a memorial at the cemetery of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York.

They buried Joseph Muñoz-Cortez in mid-November, two weeks after his death ...

Under a veil of secrecy

The trial of the murder took place about a year later. The Russian Church Abroad did not send its delegation to him, so Father Victor Potapov, his mother, a parishioner of the Washington church Maria Rey, and a French priest Michael de Castelbajac with his mother went to the trial in Athens on their own initiative.

During the first session, Romanian illegal Nikolai Ciaru, who had been in prison for a year awaiting trial, ended up in the dock. During the hearing, he cried and claimed that he did not kill Muñoz-Cortez.

During the break, Father Victor, his mother and Maria Rey managed to communicate with the accused, since the Greek order, as it turned out, did not interfere with this.

Here is what Father Victor told about the incident:

“Seeing that Maria Rei was freely talking with Chiaru, my mother and I hurried to join them. We urged him to speak the truth and asked: “Do you realize who Brother Joseph was? - the keeper of the myrrh-streaming Iberian icon, the chosen one of the Mother of God ”. He shrugged his shoulders. We got the impression that Chiaru did not know this. We gave him a reproduction of the Iberian icon and the image of the Guardian Angel, which was once painted by brother Joseph. Chiaru continued to cry and repeat: “I didn't kill him! I have nothing to do with it! " I must say that we ourselves began to doubt that we were talking to the killer.

A prominent Athenian lawyer who received spiritual guidance from the Athonite elders helped us a lot. He said that, in all likelihood, Chiaru is not a murderer, but a very important witness who led Joseph to the murderers!

During the break, we told the defendant's lawyer who Brother Joseph was, gave him literature about him and photographs. The judge was going to finish the hearings on one day, but thanks to our presence, after the break, announced the decision to extend them for one more day.

This gave our lawyer time to meet the forensic doctor who performed the autopsy. The doctor was shocked to find out who Joseph was. As it turned out, he did not know anything about him for a whole year. During the autopsy, this specialist drew attention to the absence of signs of decay. The next day the doctor gave testimony for 45 minutes, and his speech was a testimony of the martyrdom of the chosen one of the Mother of God.

The prosecutor told the court that DNA and fingerprints of another Romanian, Tundor Popa, who was serving a sentence in a Greek prison for other offenses, were found at the scene of the murder. At the second session, he was already considered the accused.

“Sitting in the hall, we were sorting out the rosary that belonged to brother Joseph, prayed and asked the Lord to justly bring the matter to completion,” says Father Victor. "The suspect was seated next to me, and it was clear that he was uncomfortable, so in the end he jumped up as if scalded and asked to be transplanted to another place."

True, the new accused did not admit anything either. When he was shown a photograph of Joseph, he said that he had never seen this person, and when the judge asked how his DNA and fingerprints ended up in the room where Joseph's body was found, he assumed that "this was the work of the police."

No real charges were ever brought against anyone in those days. Did the process come to any results later? This is unknown to those people who knew Brother Joseph with whom I had occasion to communicate, there is no mention of this in the available sources of information. There is only information that Chiaru was acquitted for lack of irrefutable evidence.

The mystery of the death of brother Joseph has not yet been revealed, although almost a quarter of a century has passed. In the same way, the fate of the icon is hidden from us. We know that Joseph took the image to the island of Aegina, but where and to whom he gave it there is unknown ...

* * *

“I remember the kindest person who loved children very much. He was completely devoted to the Mother of God, deeply venerated her. A man of prayer, generous, a man who made a firm promise that this icon would not be a source of wealth for him, and fulfilled this promise, ”says Father Victor.

Today many church people consider Brother Joseph to be a righteous and martyr. There are others who are confused by the mysteries in his story. Are we destined to find out the secret of the departure of Brother Joseph and the loss of the shrine he keeps? Or is this secret destined to remain hidden from us living in the earthly world?

Dmitry Zlodorev
Source: Foma.Ru