Apostle Joseph of Arimathea: uncle of the Mother of God, or the cup of the Grail

Exclusive. On the second Sunday after Easter, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine together with the holy myrrh-bearing women of Joseph of Arimathea and righteous Nicodemus. These two faithful disciples of Christ undertook the impressive task of burying the God-man. Joseph boldly stood before Pontius Pilate, asking for the body of Jesus to be buried. He and Nicodemus carried the body of our Lord from Golgotha ​​to the coffin and anointed it for burial. They were brave because their actions were a death sentence: they were targeted by the Jewish leaders. Joseph of Arimathea was the man who donated his prepared grave to bury the Lord Jesus after the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. A number of historical legends connect him both with Glastonbury (England), where he is supposed to have founded the oldest Christian oratory, and with the legend of the Grail.

Apostle Joseph of Arimathea: uncle of the Mother of God, or the cup of the Grail

The story of Joseph, the secret disciple of the Lord Jesus, is told in all four Gospels. Joseph was a wealthy man from Arimathea in Judea. He was a rich Israelite (Mt. 27:57), "a good and righteous man" (Luke 23:50), "who himself sought the kingdom of God" (Mark 15:43). The evangelists Mark and Luke also call a member of the Sanhedrin, or high council among the Jews. He became a disciple of Jesus Christ, probably from the time of the Savior's first sermon in Judea (John 2:23), but he did not declare himself as such "for fear of the Jews" (John 19:38). Because of this secret loyalty to the Lord Jesus, he did not agree to His condemnation by the Sanhedrin (Luke 23:51).

The scriptures mention many positive aspects about Joseph. Luke describes Joseph of Arimathea, as well as the elder Simeon, the God-receiver, who blessed Joseph the Betrothed and the Virgin Mary when they brought the baby Jesus to the temple. Joseph of Arimathea was also waiting for the Kingdom of God. He acted at the right time, in the right way, and in the right measure to glorify God.

The Teacher's crucifixion revived Joseph's faith and love and prompted him to take care of Christ's burial before the beginning of the Sabbath. Therefore, unmindful of any personal danger, a danger which was indeed considerable under the circumstances, he boldly asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, and the procurator granted his request (Mark 15:43-45). Having once taken possession of this sacred treasure, he, together with Nicodemus, who was also encouraged by his courage and who brought abundant incense, wrapped Christ in burial shrouds. He placed the body of the Lord in his own tomb, new and as yet unused, and hewn out of the rock in a neighboring garden, and pushed it aside, rolling a large stone against its opening (Matt. 27:59, -60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:53 In. 19: 38-42). This is how the prediction of the great Isaiah came true that the grave of the Messiah would be with a rich man (Isaiah 53:9). This is one of many prophecies confirming the identity of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Son of God.

The Orthodox Church celebrates a separate feast of Joseph of Arimathea on July 31, and the Catholic Church on March 17.

It is known from the collection of early Christian sources that Joseph was a just, pious and very pious person; he came from the line of King David, born in Arimathea, otherwise called Rameph, and then Ramula. This was a city formerly assigned to the Levites, and situated near Sophim on Mount Ephraim, not far from the borders of the tribes of Benjamin and Dan; and also known as the birthplace of the prophet Samuel, who lived, died and was buried here.

His appearance in the world is attributed to approximately eight years before the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And at the age of about seventeen years (about 10 AD), he wished to study the laws and customs of the three main religious groups, which at that time strongly influenced the religious and political life of the Jewish people: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes.

At last he renounced the last two, and adhered to Pharisaism itself, but he did not indulge in the vices which were too clearly manifested among them, especially hypocrisy; for he was indeed just in all his dealings, pious without boasting, and very charitable in private life: insomuch that he received the praise of the rich and the blessing of the poor wherever he went, and was more renowned for his continual kindness.

Having heard the preaching of Christ, Joseph of Arimathea became a great admirer of the preaching of our Savior, so much so that, rejecting the Levitical laws that were then taught in the Jewish faith, he became a sincere convert and followed Christ in all the journeys that He made in the land of Judea and in Galilee, to spread the Gospel.

But when the Lord Jesus was betrayed by Judas and was crucified on the cross, it was Joseph of Arimathea, who was a rich man, who went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered the body to be delivered; and when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in the rocks, and then he rolled a great stone against the door of the tomb and went away.

The cross is the turning point of all history, when our Lord gave his life only to rise again on the third day. The secret disciples were the heroes that day. "Fear of the Jews" (the Jewish leadership of which he was a part) still prevented Joseph from confessing his loyalty to the Lord (cf. John 7:13); but the death of Christ and everything that happened around His death finally convinced Joseph that the time had come to stand up for the Crucified One.

We may never know all that the secret disciples did to serve and glorify our Lord. Christ used his secret disciples in ways we could not imagine. It is hard for us to imagine that such disciples of the Lord Jesus will appear among the Sanhedrin. Joseph of Arimathea took action when the public disciples who spent time with Christ became discouraged. Let's consider its role in more detail.

Crucifixion was a unique Roman punishment for treason. Preaching about a kingdom that was not Rome (and thus criticizing the Roman government) was treason and led to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The Roman authorities wanted traitors to "suffer eternally", so crucifixion victims were denied traditional burial rituals in order to worsen their fate in the afterlife. The victim remained on the cross for several weeks until the vultures pecked at the flesh. The bones were simply thrown into the nearest ditch for wild dogs and jackals.

Joseph, risking himself and his reputation, went to the Roman ruler Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. Nicodemus, also a Pharisee, who came to the Lord at night to ask questions about the Kingdom of God, accompanied Joseph. Two men were given custody of the Lord's body and immediately began preparing the body for burial. According to the Jewish custom, they wrapped the body in strips of linen cloth and mixed it with myrrh and aloe. However, it was the "day of preparation"—the sixth day of the week, just before the Jewish Sabbath—and it was already late. Therefore, Joseph and Nicodemus hurriedly put Jesus in Joseph's tomb, located in the garden near the place of Jesus' crucifixion.

It should be mentioned separately that Roman magistrates were notorious for taking bribes. Joseph, being a wealthy man, could offer such a bribe that would have been a recognizable plot feature to Mark's audience. It was for this reason that it was necessary to appeal directly to Pilate with a request for the burial of the executed, a more successful request would be from the influential relatives of the Crucified. And we must give credit to Pontius Pilate that he gave the body of the Lord Jesus to St. Joseph without a bribe, it is possible that this was the beginning  transfiguration of the procurator of Judea.

That's exactly how Joseph was. He was a relative of his grandfather, the righteous Joakim (nephew or brother) and, accordingly, proved to be almost an uncle of the Virgin Mary.

This story may come from a tradition according to which an older relative of the crucified man was required to deal with the body. The earthly "father" of Jesus (Joseph the Spouse) was no longer around, which is why another Joseph, a righteous man from Arimathea, voluntarily undertook this task. And all this only confirms that he had to be in some important way connected with the Lord Jesus in the system of family-family relations.

What happened to Saint Joseph later? The New Testament is silent about him. Starting from the 125nd century, a lot of interesting details have accumulated around the figure of Joseph of Arimathea, in addition to the references in the New Testament. Joseph is mentioned in apocryphal and non-canonical accounts such as the Acts of Pilate, a text often appended to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus and the story of Joseph, and mentioned in the writings of early church historians such as Irenaeus (189-170), Hippolytus (236-155), Tertullian (222-260) and Eusebius (340-XNUMX), who added details not found in the Gospel accounts. There is information about missionary activity in England.

There is a semi-legend that after the Lord's Resurrection, the Jewish elders seized Joseph, imprisoned him and sealed the door to his cell after first posting a guard. Joseph warned the elders: "The Son of God, whom you hung on the cross, is strong enough to deliver me from your hands. All your misdeeds will come back upon you."

When the elders returned to the cell, the seal was still in place, but Joseph was gone. Later, the elders discover that Joseph has returned to Arimathea. Changing their minds, the Jewish elders wished to speak more politely to Joseph about his actions and sent him a letter of apology through seven of his friends. Joseph returned from Arimathea to Jerusalem to meet with the elders, where they questioned him about the escape. According to the apocryphal "Gospel of Nicodemus", Joseph testified to the Jewish elders, specifically to the high priests Caiaphas and Annas, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, and pointed out that others rose from the dead at the resurrection of Christ (cf. Mt. 27: 52-53).

After the Ascension of our Savior, Joseph of Arimathea led a secluded life for about six months, and then he came to the apostles again and was appointed by Saint Peter as one of the seventy-two apostles.

There is a tradition that almost immediately he went to Rome to try to protect Christians from the persecution that was just beginning. At sea he faced many and terrible dangers; for the ship in which he sailed was wrecked in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, and about six hundred of the passengers who escaped were forced to sail all night; and at dawn, by the providence of God, a Kyrenian ship appeared to them, and he and about eighty others who saved those who had suffered a disaster. And then Joseph of Arimoteia succeeded. But terrible persecution was ahead. Returning home, and giving a detailed account to the twelve apostles of the special service he had rendered for the defense of Christian liberty in Rome, he was appointed and ordained to preach the Gospel in England.

Again, after sailing with great difficulty and encountering many dangerous storms, through the Mediterranean, he finally landed at Barrow Bay in Somersetshire, and then went on and came to Glastenbury, where, having stuck his pilgrim's staff in the ground, it immediately turned into a flowering bush. , known as Glastonbury thorn (Crataegus monogyna, or "Biflora") is a species of hawthorn that blooms twice a year in winter and spring or, under the right conditions, at Christmas and Easter. The Glastonbury thorn is said to bloom every year at Christmas, and the flower is in the churchyard of St John's Church, Glastonbury; used each year to decorate the table for Queen Consort Camilla's Christmas breakfast. There in the church of St. John there is a stained glass window commemorating Joseph of Arimathea

He came to Glastenbury about three years after the Ascension of our blessed Redeemer, being then forty-four years of age, and wrought such wonderful miracles there, that he soon converted more than a thousand souls to Christ.

Besides, as Eusebius, Sozomen, and Ruffin, the three most faithful ecclesiastical writers, relate, he baptized in the city of Wells, which is four miles from Glastenbury, eighteen thousand persons in one day; so pious, zealous and holy was the life of Joseph of Arimathea that, although he found the inhabitants of this island very barbaric and superstitious, nevertheless, with beneficial persuasions, he persistently convinced them to change their mistakes and turn to the saving path of Christ.

Joseph of Arimathea, by his pious life and good behavior, having won the favor of a certain Ethelbert, a king who ruled at that time in the western part of England, and many other nobles whom he converted to the Christian faith, founded the most famous abbey at Glastonbury; which was the first Christian church in the world, and thanks to large donations secured for it later by Christian rulers and magnates, it became one of the richest monasteries in Christendom.

In the ancient city of Glastenbury, St. Joseph of Arimathea remained forty-two years until the day of his death, so that he was eighty-six at the time of his death; and then his person was so honored, that six kings of those places honored his body by bearing it on royal shoulders to the grave; which was made in the altar of Glastonbury Abbey, and a majestic tomb was erected over it with the following inscription: "here rests the body of that noble disciple, recorded in the Scriptures and mentioned by the Evangelists, St. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, because he begged the body of our Blessed Savior after His crucifixion to redeem the lost people from eternal destruction, and buried it in His own made tomb. He died in 45 AD. at the age of 86".

Medieval interest in Joseph centered on two themes: Joseph as the founder of British Christianity (before it took hold in Rome). Queen Elizabeth Tudor liked to mention this in polemics with Catholics. In the 12th century, Joseph was associated with various legends about King Arthur and the Holy Grail.

In the poem "Joseph of Arimathea" by Robert de Boron, we see the first origins of this Grail legend. According to his account, Joseph was present at the dinner and secretly kept the cup. When he and Nicodemus removed the body from the cross, drops of Christ's blood fell into the cup. Then the Savior appeared in a vision to Joseph with the image of the cup and instructed him to keep it.

But what is still more remarkable is the white thorn, otherwise called the holy thorn, which to this day is known throughout Europe for blooming on Christmas morning, blossoming at noon, and withering at night; and the reason is the same as above; for it was the staff of Joseph of Arimathea, which he stuck in the grove, and it immediately took root where that famous thorn grows, and thereby declared that place to be the resting-place of his master.

And although the times of superstition have long passed, thousands of people of different denominations come every year to see this wonder, which seems supernatural and contrary to the course of nature, and makes us exclaim together with the great ancestor of our hero, King David the Psalmist: "Lord, how strange your ways!".

Ivan Verstyanuk, columnist