ST. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, CONFESSOR, February 22nd

Collect

O GOD, who for giving sepulture to the the Body of Jesus, didst reward blessed Joseph with courage to be a stalwart Confessor of the Faith : deliver us from that respect of persons whereby this thy servant, for fear of the Jews, was at first hindered from serving his Master except in secret ; and make us brave by filling us with holy fear. Through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

For the legend

ACCORDING to the holy Evangelist Mark, this Joseph was an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God. Saint Matthew telleth us that he was a rich man of Arimathea. Saint Luke saith of him that he was a good man, and a just, and consented not to the counsel and deed of the other elders of the Sanhedrin in condemning the Lord to death. Saint John saith that he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews. This last Evangelist addeth further that he was possessed of a garden nigh at hand, outside the walls of Jerusalem, and in which was a new sepulchre, wherein was never a man yet laid.

WHEN even was come on the Day of the Crucifixion of the Lord, this same Joseph cast aside his unworthy fears, and professed Jesus openly, in the he went boldly to Pilate and craved the Body of Jesus. He also it was that brought the winding sheet, and with the help of the same Beloved Disciple John, and the Saints Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Nicodemus, did anoint the most holy Body unto burial, and lay the Same in the sepulchre in the garden. Whereby was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Messias : He made his grave with the rich man.

SOME would have it that Joseph of Arimathea came afterward to Britain, and planted his staff there, which same grew and bloomed, and became the sacred thorn of Glastonbury ; and it is known to be a fact that in this very place there was in very early days a church dedicated to God under his name. In the Eastern Church his feast is kept on July 31st, but in the Western Church on March 17th or February 22nd, both of these being in honour of the enshrinement of relicks in different places.

A Homily by St. John Chrysostom (Homilia 88 in Matt.)

JOSEPH went and begged the Body of Jesus. Now this Joseph, who had hitherto concealed his discipleship, was after the death of Christ become very bold. He was not an obscure person, not one who could be hidden, for being one of the counsellors, he was highly distinguished ; from which circumstance one may see his special courage.

FOR he exposed himself to death, and took upon himself the enmity of all, because of his love for Jesus, in that he dared to beg the Body of the Same, and desisted not until he had obtained his desire. But he not only took his Lord's Body, and gave it a costly burial ; he also laid it in his own new tomb ; in all which things he did shew not only love but courage.

LET us imitate this good example. He with others for Jesus' dead Body expended a great sum of money, and exposed their lives ; but we, for Jesus living in his members, neither feed him when hungry, nor clothe him when naked ; but seeing him in the guise of beggary, we do pass him by!

From the Anglican Breviary