Joseph the Confessor

Joseph Isofiran - Archbishop of Thessalonica , brother of St. Theodore the Studite , lived in the 9th century.

Supporter of icon veneration .

Together with his brother, he worked under the leadership of Rev. Platon in the Sakudion Monastery For the ascetic life, the Monk Joseph was unanimously elected archbishop of the city of Soluna. Together with his brother, he spoke out against the illegal marriage of Emperor Constantine VI , for which, after suffering, he was imprisoned in a dungeon on a deserted island.

Emperor Michael I of Rangave freed St. Joseph from imprisonment. Under the emperor Leo V of Armenians (813-820), the saint again suffered with his brother, Rev. Theodore, for the veneration of holy icons. He was subjected to torture in prison, but the saint was unshakable in his faith. The iconoclast emperor demanded that he sign the iconoclastic confession of faith. For his refusal, the saint was thrown into another stinking dungeon.

Under Emperor Michael the Tongue-Tied, Saint Joseph, along with other monks who suffered for the veneration of icons, was freed.

The last years he spent in the Studii monastery , where he died in 830.

Saint Joseph is known as a spiritual songwriter. They composed Tripes and poems of the Lenten Triodion , canon penitential on the Week of the Prodigal Son and other chants. He wrote a few words for the holidays, of which the most well known is “The Word to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the Lord” (“Λόγος είς τόν τίμιον καί ωοποιόν Σταυρν”).