Ammar AWAD - Saint Hieromartyr Joseph of Damascus (†1860)

Ammar AWAD*

PhD Candidate ”Dumitru Stăniloae” Faculty of Orthodox Theology, ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania

Abstract:

This article presents the life of St. Joseph of Damascus, a 19th -century saint from the Orthodox Church of Antioch who was declared a saint in 1993. St. Joseph is an example of a good shepherd, a defender of the right faith, and a man of prayer, knowledge, patience, and simplicity. St Joseph lived in Damascus and served the Orthodox Church there during one of the most difficult periods that Syria and the Antiochian Patriarchate experienced under the control of the Ottoman Empire. He was martyred in the massacre of 1860, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of believers in Syria and Lebanon, especially in Damascus. For the most part, the material in the article is a translation of the biography of St. Joseph in the Antiochian Orthodox Synaxarion published in Arabic. In addition, it includes some recently discovered testimonies about St Joseph which were included in the diaries of Russian bishop Porphyrius Uspensky about St. Joseph whom he met in the nineteenth century.

Keywords:

St. Joseph of Damascus, Antioch Patriarchate, pastoral care, Porphyrius Uspensky, 1860 massacre.

Bibliography:

  • ***. نشرة بطريركية الروم األرثوذكس، السنة ،2 العدد ،9 .1993 ***. Nashrat Baṭriarkīyat al-Rūm al-Urthūdhuks, 2nd year, Issue. 9, 1993.
  • املعلوف، عيسى أفندي إسكندر اللبناين. النعمة، السنة ،2 العدد ،1 ،2 اخلوري يوسف مهنا احلداد، .1910
  • Al-Ma‘alūf, ‘Aīsá Afandī Iskandar al-Lubnānī. Al-Ni‘a mah, 2nd year, Issue. 1, 2, Al-Khūry Yūsif Muhannā al-Ḥaddād, 1910.
  • بيطار، توما )األرمشندريت( . .2005 ة األرثوذكسية )السنكسار(، ّ سري القديسني وسائر األعياد الكنسي اجلزء .5 دوما )لبنان(: عائلة الثالوث القدوس – دير القديس يوحنا املعمدان.
  • Bīṭār, Tūmā (Arhim). 2005. Siyar al-qiddīsīn wa-sā’ir al-a‘yād fy al-Kanīsah al-Urthūdhuksīyah (al-sinaksār), vol. 5. Dūmā (Liban): ‘ā’ilat al-Thālūth alquddūs – dayr al-qyddīs Yūḥannā al-Ma‘madān.
  • انصيف، بسام )األب(. النشرة، السنة ،21 العدد 5& ،6 القديس الشهيد يف الكهنة يوسف الدمشقي، خواطر من رسائله إىل دميرتي شحادة، .2012
  • Nassif, Bassam (Fr.). Al-Nashrah, 21st year, Issue 5&6, Al- Qyddīs Al-Shahīd fy al-Kahanah Yūsif al-Dimashqī, Khawāṭir min rasā’ilihi ilá Dimītry Shḥadah, 2012.
  • بيرتوفا، يوليا. النشرة، السنة ،30 العدد ،3 القديس يوسف الدمشقي بعيين معاصره الروسي، .2022 Petrova, Yuliia. Al-Nashrah, 30th year, Issue. 3, Al-Qyddīs Yūsif al-Dimashqī bi‘aaynay mu‘aāṣirihi al-rūsī, 2022.
  • قندلفت، غطاس. احملبة، السنة ،5 العدد ،225 املراسالت، .1903 Qandalaft, Ghaṭṭas. Al-Maḥabbah, 5th year, Issue. 225, al-murāsalāt, 1903.