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Joseph the Confessor (d. Constantinople, 832) was a 9th-century Archbishop of Thessalonica and brother of Theodore Stoudites. He is commemorated as a saint on July 14 by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Life

Together with his brother Theodore Stoudites, Joseph pursued a life of asceticism under the guidance of Plato of Sakkoudion in the latter's monastery at Sakkoudion, Bithynia. Later Joseph was unanimously elected archbishop of the city of Thessalonica. Together with his brother he spoke out against the illegal marriage of Emperor Constantine VI (the "Moechian Controversy"), for which, after the torment, he was imprisoned in a dungeon on a deserted island.

Emperor Michael I Rangabe liberated Joseph from prison. Under Emperor Leo V the Armenian, when the second period of the Byzantine Iconoclasm began, the bishop and his brother were again punished for venerating the holy icons. In prison he was tortured, but the prelate was unshakable in his faith. The emperor demanded that he subscribe to the iconoclastic confession of faith. For his refusal the saint was thrown into another, foul dungeon.

Under Emperor Michael II, Joseph, along with other monks who had been persecuted for the veneration of icons, were liberated.

He spent his last years in the Stoudion monastery, where he retired in 830.

Joseph is known as a spiritual songwriter. He composed the triodia and stichera of the Lenten Triodion, a canon for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son's Week and other hymns. He wrote several sermons for feastdays, of which the best known is the Sermon on the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord ("Λόγος είς τόν τίμιον καί ζωοποιόν Σταυρόν").

Literature

• Joseph the Confessor // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron  : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 ext.). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
• Orthodox Church of America - St. Joseph the Bishop of Thessalonica, and brother of St. Theodore of Studion
• Pratsch, Thomas (1998). Theodoros Studites (759-826) — zwischen Dogma und Pragma: der Abt des Studiosklosters in Konstantinopel im Spannungsfeld von Patriarch, Kaiser und eigenem Anspruch (in German). Bern: Peter Lang. ISBN 9783631338773.

v t e Byzantine music
List of composers
Composers	Romanos the Melodist Andrew of Crete John of Damascus Cosmas of Maiuma Stephen the Sabaite Theodore the Studite Theophanes the Branded Kassia Joseph the Hymnographer Joseph the Confessor Leo VI the Wise Constantine VII Nikephoros Ethikos Gregorios Glykys John Koukouzelis Xenos Korones Joannes Glykys John Kladas John Laskaris Manuel Chrysaphes* Janus Plousiadenos
Theorists	Michael Psellos George Pachymeres Manuel Bryennios
Liturgy	Paschal troparion Octoechos
Forms	Aposticha Canon Cherubikon Byzantine Rite Kathisma Koinonikon Kontakion Akathist Troparion Sticheron
Theory	Petasti 72 equal temperament Byzantine Musical Symbols Echos Octoechos Nenano Neobyzantine Octoechos Hagiopolitan Octoechos Papadic Octoechos Nana (echos) Ison
Instruments	Byzantine lyra Cretan lyra Thaboura Organon
Scholars	Enrica Follieri Solon Hadjisolomos Peter Jeffery Kenneth Levy Oliver Strunk Miloš Velimirović Egon Wellesz
Performers	Greek Byzantine Choir Nikodimos Kabarnos Iakovos Nafpliotis Konstantinos Pringos Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas
Related	Akolouthiai Protopsaltes Cappella Romana Monastery of Stoudios Museum of Ancient Greek, Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Musical Instruments Only-begotten Son School of Ecclesiastic Music
*also music theorist Category

References

1. ^ Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Ἰωσὴφ ὁ Ὁμολογητής. 14 ΙΟΥΛΙΟΥ. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.

• 8th-century births
• 9th-century deaths
• 8th-century Byzantine monks
• 9th-century Byzantine monks
• 9th-century Byzantine bishops
• 9th-century Christian saints
• Saints of medieval Macedonia
• Saints of medieval Greece
• Christian hymnwriters
• Byzantine hymnographers
• Byzantine composers
• Byzantine Iconoclasm
• Studite monks
• Byzantine bishops of Thessalonica