Saint Hieromartyr Joseph of Damascus (†1860) 19th-century Pioneer of the revival of the Antiochian Church
Saint Hieromartyr Joseph of Damascus (†1860) 19th-century Pioneer of the revival of the Antiochian Church

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the life of St. Joseph of Damascus, a19th-century saint from the Orthodox Church of Antioch whowas declared a saint in 1993. St. Joseph is an example of agood shepherd, a defender of the right faith, and a man ofprayer, knowledge, patience, and simplicity. St Joseph livedin Damascus and served the Orthodox Church there duringone of the most difficult periods that Syria and theAntiochian Patriarchate experienced under the control ofthe Ottoman Empire. He was martyred in the massacre of1860, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands ofbelievers in Syria and Lebanon, especially in Damascus. Forthe most part, the material in the article is a translation ofthe biography of St. Joseph in the Antiochian OrthodoxSynaxarion published in Arabic. In addition, it includes somerecently discovered testimonies about St Joseph which wereincluded in the diaries of Russian bishop PorphyriusUspensky about St. Joseph whom he met in the nineteenthcentury.

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