St. Joseph the Betrothed

  Orthodox Life magazine 1978 (6) pages 3–6

St. Joseph the Betrothed

The Holy and Righteous Joseph was of the royal lineage of King David as is attested to by the Apostle Matthew in the genealogy with which he begins his Gospel.  Very little is known of the life of St. Joseph.  Nonetheless, as St. John Chrysostom points out we know that which is most important about his life: Joseph was just (Mt. 1:9).  There is some difference of opinion among ancient Christian writers as to whether or not St. Joseph was married in his youth.  Some say that he was married and that the "brethren" of the Lord mentioned in the Gospel were his sons by this earlier marriage.  Thus, for example St. Cyril of Alexandria (†444) writes:  "We do not consider the brethren of the Lord to be brothers born to the holy Mary; they are His brethren only in so far as they were born of His (alleged) father Joseph."  St. Epiphanius of Cyprus concurs with this opinion.  Other ecclesiastical writers, among them the blessed Jerome, however categorically maintain that it is "more pious to believe that the Virgin Son was born to a union of virgins."  St. John Chrysostom held that the "brethren" of Christ were the children of Cleopas, Joseph's younger brother.  It is quite possible in accordance with ancient patriarchal custom, that Cleopas himself and his family lived in the home of his eldest brother under his care.  Thus it may be that there is some foundation for believing that the "brethren" of the Lord included children of Cleopas and his wife Mary.

Depsite his royal lineage, St. Joseph was by profession a carpenter.  Many centuries had passed since the time when David's descendants were deprived of the throne and consigned to the common lot of men — to eat their bread by the sweat of their brow, living honorably by the labor of their hands.  From the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, which was based on part on information contained in the writings of Hegesippus, a Church writer of the second half of the second century, we know that at the end of the first century descendants of the "brethren and sisters" of the Lord were still alive.  These descendants were dispersed throughout the world and were known as "δεσπόσυνοι", i.e. "children of the Lord," as attested to by Junilius Africanus (†c.550).  The grandsons of St. Jude, who were pointed out as descendants of David, troubled even the Emperor Domitian, who, like Herod, feared the coming of the Messiah.  When the evocator (a military official) brought them before the emperor, he asked, "Are you indeed descended from David?"  The poor men replied in the affirmative.  The the emperor's question as to how much money and possessions they had, the relations of our Savior replied that they had assets totaling one thousand denarii (approximately $1,500.00), [in 2026 one thousand denarri is $4000 USD.] and moreover not in cash, but as the value of the thirty acres of land which both of St. Jude's grandsons worked with their own hands, payed taxes on, and subsisted by.  Perceiving the callouses on the hands of Jude's grandsons, Dometian could not in any way consider them rivals and scornfully gave them leave to go.  In this exact manner we can envision Joseph as well.

It was the lot of this just man, of royal lineage yet very lowly station in life, to receive the loftiest calling of God — to become the protector of the virginity of the all-holy Virgin Mary and the foster father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The blessed Jerome has this to say: "In His boundless wisdom, God always employs the simplest of means.  What was the best way to effect the incarnation of the Son of God?  To reveal openly the all-holy Virgin's virginal state would have meant to bring attention to the greatness of the Lord Jesus prematurely, without proper preparation.  And a threefold purpose was accomplished by Joseph's betrothal to the Virgin: quiet obscurity was assured for Christ until the appointed moment, an unsullied impervience to slander was assured for the all-holy Virgin and masculine defense was provided for her and the divine Infant.  All of this was accomplished by the sacred betrothal of St. Joseph to the Virgin Mothers."

According to the witness of St. John Damascene, St. Joseph was already an elderly man when he was entrusted with the protection of the all-holy Virgin Mary.  And with all reverence and pious fear he served her as the Mother of God and Sovereign Lady and Mistress of the whole world.  Assured by the angel that appeared to him in a dream that He Who was to be born of the Virgin Mary was the divine Infant Emmanuel, the Messiah incarnate of the Holy Spirit, Joseph began to serve Christ and His all-holy Mother.

In the angel's announcement to Joseph concerning the birth of Christ the Savior we can discern yet another important trait of the righteous Joseph's personality: the angel, informing St. Joseph of the Lord's birth, speaks of this unheard of event as if it were something not at all alien to Joseph's thoughts, and indeed Joseph himself understood the angel without doubting.  From this the holy Fathers of the Church St. Irenaeus fo Lyons and St. Ephraim the Syrian concluded that St. Joseph, being exceptionally well acquainted with the Sacred Scriptures, could this meditate upon and grow accustomed to the holy verses which state that "a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son" (Is. 7:14).  And it is precisely to the righteous Joseph's podvig of love for the Sacred Scriptures, and because "having hands convered with callouses, he had a spirit refined and elevated with the knowledge of the Scriptures and by living in accordance therewith," that the holy Fathers credit the Lord's selecting him and his readiness for this selection.

Although he took no part in the incarnation itself, nevertheless, on the strength of his being chosen, being betrothed to the Virgin Mary and being called the father of the Lord, after the birth of the Savior St. Joseph fulfilled all the duties of a father toward the Savior.  He gave Him the name foretold by the angel (cf. Mt. 1:25), fled with the divine Infant and His all-pure Mother into Egypt when danger threatened them, and chose their place of residence when that danger had passed.

The holy family settled in Nazareth, the city in which St. Joseph had lived earlier, before the birth of Christ.  There St. Joseph returned to his wood working, and Church tradition tells us that the Lord Himself, the King of Heaven and earth, learned this lowly trade from His foster father, for the Lord chose to be born and to live, until the beginning of His preaching activity, not in wealth and splendour, but in humble poverty.  And the holy Gospel says of these years, that the Lord "was subject unto them," i.e. to Joseph and the Virgin Mary.

St. Joseph lived to a profound old age and reposed, as St. Epiphanius of Cyprus testifies, when more than a hundred years old.  The most ancient tradition, dating from the time of the apostles, states that Christ the Savior, Who was known as the some of Joseph, Himself heard the righteous one's confession, the account of his entire life, before He departed to preach the Gospel, and closed his eyes and buried him in the royal sepulchre in the valley of Jehosaphat near Jerusalem.  The soul of the righteous Joseph departed peacefully to his ancestors, bearing to them the joyful news that the long-awaited Messiah, Christ the Lord, the "choice Portion of all the nations" (Hagg. 2:7), Who was to come to free and save the human race, had already come to earth and was preparing to break down the gates of death and hades.

In Bethlehem there was once a church dedicated to St. Joseph near the Basilica of the Nativity of Christ.  At first, the Church celebrated his memory on December 26, the second day of the celebration of the feast of the Nativity of Christ.  But now he is commemorated on the Sunday following the Nativity, and also with the other forefathers and ancestors of the Lord on the two Sundays preceding the Nativity of Christ.

sources:
1) Lives of the Saints, vol 8 (Munich: St. Job of Pochaev Monastery 1956), pp. 110-113.
2) "The Immaculate Mother of Christ our God and the "Brethren' of the Lord," by Protopresbyter Pavel Kalinovich, Pravoslavny Put' (Orthodox Way), 1955 pp. 153–158.
Translated form the Russian by Michael Amelchenya

Prayer 
to the Holy and Righteous Joseph
The Betrothed of the All-Holy Theotokos

O holy and righteous Joseph!  While yet on earth thou didst have boldness before the Son of God Who was well pleased to call thee His father, in that thou was the betrothed of His mother, and to be obedient unto thee.  We believe that as thou dost dwell now in the heavenly mansions with the choirs of the righteous, thou art hearkened to in all that thou dost request of our God and Savior.  Wherefore, fleeing to thy protection and defense, we beg and humbly entreat thee:  as thou thyself was delivered form a storm of doubting thoughts, so also deliver us, that are temptest-tossed by the waves of confusion and passions; as thou didst shield the all-immaculate Virgin from the slanders of men, so shield us from all vehement calumny; as thou did keep the incarnate Lord form all harm and affliction, so also by thy defense preserve His Orthodox Church and all of us from all afflliction and harm.  Thou knowest, O saint of God, that even the Son of God had bodily needs in the days of His incarnation, and thou didst attend unto them; wherefore we beseech thee: tend thou to our temporal needs through thine intercession, granting us every good thing which is needful in this life.  Especially do we entreat thee to intercede that we may receive remission of our sins from Him Who wast called thy Son, the only-begotten Son fo God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and be worthy of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven, that abiding with thee in the heavenly mansions, we may every glorify the One God in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.