SAINT JOSEPH

The tradition of the Orthodox Church calls Saint Joseph him “The Righteous”. The Bible emphasizes that Joseph was the husband of Mary, according to the Law. However, the relationship between them was pure and had no actual marital content.

This is connected not with some special attitude of the Church towards the love of a man and a woman, which the Bible, like the Church, blesses entirely if it is in accordance with God’s plan for mankind, but exclusively with the essence of the Christian gospel.

According to Saint Paul and according to the faith of the Church, the Lord Jesus was the New Creation. He was not a mere continuation of the human race, but like the first man, Adam, was re-created by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary the Virgin. At the same time, and this is perhaps the most difficult thing, His personality is the Son of God Himself, the Second Hypostasis of the Most Holy Trinity, who received the human name “Jesus” in Christ.

This is how God entered history. And this is the incredible great role of Mary and Joseph. Mary is the Mother of Jesus according to the flesh, Joseph is His father according to the Law. It is important to remember that the Bible constantly emphasizes that the Law of God is above the ław of the flesh.

At the Divine Liturgy on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, a text from the Gospel of Matthew is read. The first twelve verses of the second chapter of the gospel narrative speak of the worship of the Magi. Following the star, they come to the ruler Herod, find out the birthplace of the future Messiah, as it is written in the prophecies of the Bible. Then they, following the star, find the Born Child and worship Him. They bring Gifts and, having received in a dream the news that the Ruler Herod decided to kill the newborn Christ, they leave for their country in their own way.

The gospel stories are extremely important for understanding the dramatic complexity of the time in which the Lord was born. Righteous Joseph is visibly present in them. It was he who was to take the “Baby and His Mother”, as it is said in Scripture, and flee to Egypt in order to save him from inevitable death as a result of the royal decree on the extermination of the Bethlehem newborns. Joseph was to return and settle in Nazareth, a region not subject to the power that could remain dangerous for Jesus. Through this decision of his, the Lord Jesus will forever be called “Jesus of Nazareth.”

He will order to write and put on His Cross the inscription: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” (John 19:19).

It is known that Joseph was one of those who surrounded the Lord Jesus in infancy, was with him at the moments of his growth. Joseph brought up the Lord, and, according to Scripture and Tradition, gave him his profession as a carpenter. It is thanks to this that for all time work in the Christian faith will be perceived as something very honorable. The last meeting with Joseph on the pages of the Gospel takes place when the Lord, at the age of twelve, visits God’s Temple in Jerusalem.

Joseph was the Guardian Angel of the Lord, like a good father, helper and first teacher in God’s Law. At the same time, in our Orthodox tradition, Joseph seems to be forgotten. He has no special veneration among the saints. His liturgical commemoration is celebrated on Sunday after the Nativity of Christ, together with King David and all those who are directly connected with the Lord by the bonds of genealogy and law.

This is a general commemoration, and not a personal solemn day of celebration, characteristic of most saints. And it is connected with the fact that it was thanks to Joseph, his genealogy, that Jesus was called the “Son of David”, and therefore the Messiah.

At first glance it seems that God Himself, through the mouth of Scripture and Tradition, seems to want to hide the presence of Joseph. However, it is not. Indeed, in Scripture, Joseph is mentioned by no means less often than the Virgin Mary herself. However, all these references are connected exclusively with the Lord.