Podlasie is an area in modern eastern Poland that, in the 18th-century, was governed by the Russian Empire.
Russian sovereigns sought to bring all Eastern-rite Catholics into the Orthodox Church.
Catherine II suppressed the Greek Catholic church in Ukraine in 1784.
Nicholas I did the same in Belarus and Lithuania in 1839.
Alexander II did the same in the Byzantine-rite Eparchy of Chelm in 1874, and officially suppressed the Eparchy in 1875.
The bishop and the priests who refused to join the Orthodox Church were deported to Siberia or imprisoned.
The laity, left on their own, had to defend their Church, their liturgy, and their union with Rome.
On 24 January1874soldiers entered the village of Pratulin to transfer the parish to Orthodox control.
Many of the faithful gathered to defend their parish and church.
The soldiers tried to disperse the people, but failed.
Their commander tried to bribe the parishioners to abandon Rome, but failed.
He threaten them with assorted punishments, but this failed to move them.
Deciding that a show of force was needed, the commander ordered his troops to fire on the unarmed, hymn-singing laymen.
Thirteen of the faithful died, most married men with families, ordinary men with great faith.
We know almost nothing about their lives outside of this incident.
Their families were not allowed to honour them or participate in the funerals, and the authorities hoped they would be forgotten.
They were
![[Holy Martyrs icon]](martyr10.jpg "??kb jpg icon of the Holy Martyrs of Pratulin, author unknown; please do not write to ask about the image")