Brother José (Joseph) Muñoz Cortés (a privately tonsure monk Ambrose; 13 May 1948, in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

– 30/31 October 1997, in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

) was an Orthodox

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

, and the keeper of a revered copy of the

Panagia Portaitissa The '' Panagia Portaitissa'' ( el, Παναγία Πορταΐτισσα; ka, ივერიის ღვთისმშობლის ხატი) also known as the ''Iviron Theotokos'' or ''Iverskaya'' in Russian, is an Eastern Orthodox icon ...

(

Iveron The Monastery of Iviron ( ka, ქართველთა მონასტერი, tr; el, Μονή Ιβήρων, Monḗ Ivirōn) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery in the monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece. History The monas ...

Icon), in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, Canada.

Early life

Muñoz was born in

into a pious

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

family of mainly Spanish descent, though he had an English grandmother who was an artist and from whom he may have inherited his artistic talent. When Muñoz was 12, he became acquainted with local Archbishop Leontius (Filippovich), and under his influence Muñoz was baptized into the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...

two years later, with his mother's consent. She asked to be buried next to her son.

Death

In October 1997, during one of his trips with the icon, Muñoz was tortured and murdered in a hotel room in

during the overnight hours of October 30 or 31. The icon was stolen, and has not been seen since. Muñoz had planned to return to Canada the following day to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the appearance of the miraculous myrrh on the icon.

Aftermath

Nicoulai Ciaru, a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

, was accused of the murder, and appeared in court on November 18, 1998 in

. The judicial process continued to November 23rd, and Ciaru was acquitted, due to the lack of evidence.

References

External links

José Muñoz-Cortes - The Chosen One of the Mother of God: Collection of Materials and Witnesses in EnglishGod's servant
Film about brother Joseph Jose Muñoz. 2005 year ''(on Russian)''

''(on Spanish)''

*https://web.archive.org/web/20081106075331/http://www.yalchicago.org/Portaitissa_Miracle_Icon.html *http://www.orthodoxhawaii.org/icons.html *http://www.annball.com/books/ofm7-2.shtml *https://web.archive.org/web/20081206174857/http://www.stjohndc.org/Russian/munoz/e_official/e_9806e.HTM {{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz Cortes, Jose 1948 births Chilean people of Spanish descent Eastern Orthodox Christians from Chile Members of the Russian Orthodox Church Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism Chilean expatriates in Greece Eastern Orthodox monks Academic staff of the Université de Montréal Icon painters 1997 deaths

Early life

Death

Aftermath

See also

References

External links