Joseph the Confessor

Joseph the Confessor - Archbishop of Thessaloniki, brother of the Monk Theodore Studit , lived in the 9th century.

Saint Joseph, Archbishop of Thessaloniki was brother of Saint Theodore the Studite (November 11), and together they pursued a life of asceticism under the guidance of Saint Platon (April 5) in the monastery at Sakkudion, Bithynia. For the ascetic life the Monk Joseph was unanimously elected archbishop of the city of Thessalonik. Together with his brother he spoke out against the illegal marriage of Emperor Constantine VI, for which, after the torment, he was imprisoned in a dungeon on a deserted island.

Emperor Michael I Rangabe liberated St. Joseph from prison. Under Emperor Leo V the Armenian the bishop and his brother were again punished for venerating the holy icons. In prison he was tortured, but the prelate was unshakable in his faith. The inonoclastic emperor demanded that he subscribe to the iconoclastic confession of faith. For the refusal the saint was thrown into another, foul dungeon.

Under the Emperor Michael II (The Stammerer), St. Joseph, along with other monks who suffered for the veneration of icons, were liberated.

He spent his last years in the Studion Monastery, where he retired in 830.

St. Joseph is known as a spiritual song-writer. He composed the triodia and stichera of the Lenten Triodion, a canon for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son's Week and other hymns. HHe wrote several sermons for feastdays, of which the best known is the Sermon on the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. ("Λόγος είς τόν τίμιον καί ζωοποιόν Σταυρόν").

Literature

 * Joseph the Confessor // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 ext.). - St. Petersburg., 1890-1907.
 * Orthodox Church of America - St. Joseph the Bishop of Thessalonica, and brother of St. Theodore of Studion

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Categpry:Year of death unknown