Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared
tombA sepulchre, or sepulcher, is a type of tomb or burial chamber. In ancient Hebrew practice, sepulchres were often carved into the rock of a hillside.The word is sometimes confused with "sepulture", the act of burying a dead person....
for the burial of
JesusJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
after Jesus'
CrucifixionThe crucifixion of Jesus is an event that occurred during the first century A.D. in which Jesus was arrested, tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged and finally executed on a cross...
. A native of
ArimatheaArimathea, according to the Gospel of Luke , was "a city of Judea". It was the home town of Joseph of Arimathea, who appears in accounts of the Passion for having donated his new tomb outside of Jerusalem for the body of Jesus....
, he was apparently a man of wealth, and probably a member of the
SanhedrinThe Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Land of Israel.The Talmud states:GEMARA. Whence is this derived? — R...
, which is the way
bouleutēs, literally "counsellor", in and is most often interpreted. According to
MarkThe Gospel of Mark is the second of the four Canonical Gospels, but is believed by most contemporary scholars to be the first gospel written, on which the other two synoptic gospels, Matthew and Luke, were partially based....
15:43, Joseph was an "honourable counsellor, who waited (or "was searching") for the
kingdom of GodThe Kingdom of God or Reign of God is a foundational concept in the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam....
". In he was secretly a
discipleIn the History of Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...
of Jesus: as soon as he heard the news of Jesus' death, he "went in boldly unto
PilatePontius Pilate was the Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea from AD 26–36. Typically referenced as the fifth Procurator of Judea, he is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized his crucifixion.Pilate appears in all four canonical Christian Gospels...
, and craved the body of Jesus." The Scholars Version notes this act as "unexpected… Is Joseph in effect bringing Jesus into his family?"
Pilate, reassured by a
centurion-Military:* Centurion, professional officer of the Roman army* Centurion tank, British battle tank* HMS Centurion, name of several ships and a shore base of the British Royal Navy-Transport:* Centurion Engines, German series of aircraft engines...
that the death had really taken place, allowed Joseph's request. Joseph immediately purchased fine linen (Mark 15:46) and proceeded to Golgotha to take the body down from the cross. There, assisted by
NicodemusNicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, who, according to the Gospel of John, showed favour to Jesus. He appears three times in the Gospel: the first is when he visits Jesus one night to listen to his teachings ; the second is when he states the law concerning the arrest of Jesus...
, he took the body and wrapped it in the fine linen, sprinkling it with the
myrrhMyrrh is a reddish-brown resinous material, the dried sap of a number of trees, but primarily from Commiphora myrrha, which is native to Yemen, Somalia, the eastern parts of Ethiopia, and Commiphora gileadensis, which is native to Jordan...
and
aloeAloe, also written Aloë, is a genus containing about four hundred species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe"....
s that Nicodemus had brought (
JohnThe Gospel of John , is the last of the four canonical gospels. This non synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth...
19:39). The body was then conveyed to a new tomb that had been hewn for Joseph himself out of a rock in his garden nearby. There they laid it, in the presence of
Mary MagdaleneMary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala is described, both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament apocrypha, as one of the most important women in the movement of Jesus. As a follower, Mary was one of many women who accompanied Jesus and the twelve apostles during his travels...
, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and other women, and rolled a great stone to the entrance, and departed (Luke 23:53, 55). This was done speedily, "for the
SabbathShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from sundown Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night...
was drawing on".
Joseph of Arimathea is venerated as a
saintSaints, individuals of exceptional holiness, are significant in many religions, particularly Christianity.-General characteristics :Though the term is mostly used for Christians considered holy or virtuous, many religions use similar concepts to elevate people worthy of respect, e.g. see Hindu...
by the
CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
, Lutheran,
Eastern OrthodoxThe Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members...
and some Anglican churches. His feast-day is March 17 in the West, July 31 in the East. The Orthodox also commemorate him on the Sunday of the
MyrrhbearersThe term Myrrhbearers refers to the women who came to the tomb of Christ early in the morning and were the first witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus...
—the second Sunday after
PaschaEaster is the most important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day from his crucifixion...
(Easter)—as well as on July 31. He appears in some early
New Testament apocryphaThe New Testament apocrypha are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. These writings often have links with those books which are regarded as "canonical"...
, and a series of legends grew around him during the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
, which tied him to
BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
and the
Holy GrailAccording to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers...
.
Role in the Gospels
Christians interpret Joseph's role as fulfilling
IsaiahIsaiah is the main figure in the Biblical Book of Isaiah, and is traditionally considered to be its author. He was an 8th-century BC Judean prophet. Part of his message was: "The land will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word."...
's prediction that the grave of the
MessiahMessiah literally means "anointed "...
would be with a rich man (
IsaiahThe Book of Isaiah is a book of the Bible traditionally attributed to the Prophet Isaiah, who lived in the second half of the 8th century BC. In the first 39 chapters, Isaiah prophesies doom for a sinful Judah and for all the nations of the world that oppose God. The last 27 chapters prophesy the...
53:9). The skeptical tradition, which reads the various fulfillments of prophecies in the life of Jesus as inventions designed for that purpose, reads Joseph of Arimathea as a story created to fulfill this prophecy in Isaiah, although the gospel accounts do not claim a prophecy fulfillment at that point. The prophecy in Isaiah chapter 53, is known as the "
Man of SorrowsAmong the passages in the Hebrew Bible that have been identified by Christians as prefigurations of the Messiah, the Man of Sorrows of Isaiah 53 is paramount - the various theological traditions are discussed at that article...
" passage:
- He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
The Greek
SeptuagintThe Septuagint , or simply "LXX", referred to in critical works by the abbreviation ...
text:
- And I will give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death; for he practised no iniquity, nor craft with his mouth.
In the
QumranQumran is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank, just next to the Israeli kibbutz of Kalia...
community's Great Isaiah Scroll, dated at c. 100 BC, the words are not identical to the
Masoretic textThe Masoretic Text is a Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible . It defines not just the books of the Jewish canon, but also the precise letter-text of the biblical books in Judaism, as well as their vocalization and accentuation for both public reading and private study...
: :
- And they gave wicked ones his grave and [a scribbled word, probably accusative sign "eth"] rich ones in his death although he worked no violence neither deceit in his mouth.
Historical development
Since the 2nd century a mass of legendary detail has accumulated around the figure of Joseph of Arimathea in addition to the New Testament references. Joseph is referenced in apocryphal and non-canonical accounts such as the
Acts of PilateThe Acts of Pilate is a book of the New Testament Pseudepigrapha. Its date is uncertain, but scholars agree in assigning it to the middle of the fourth century. The text is found in the Gospel of Nicodemus, with additional material...
, given the medieval title
Gospel of Nicodemus and
The Narrative of Joseph, and in
early churchEarly Christianity is commonly known as the Christianity of the roughly three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus and the First Council of Nicaea in 325....
historians such as
IrenaeusSaint Irenaeus , was a Christian Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology...
(125 – 189),
HippolytusFor places named after the saint, see Saint-HippolyteSaint Hippolytus of Rome was one of the most prolific writers of the early Church. Hippolytus was born during the second half of the 2nd century, probably in Rome. Photius describes him in his Bibliotheca For places named after the saint, see...
(170 – 236),
TertullianQuintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian Berber author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy...
(155 – 222), and Eusebius (260 – 340), who added details not in the canonical accounts.
Hilary of PoitiersHilary of Poitiers was Bishop of Poitiers and is a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" and the "Athanasius of the West." His name comes from the Greek word for happy or cheerful. His optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is 13...
(300 – 367) enriched the legend, and Saint
John ChrysostomJohn Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
(347 – 407), the
Patriarch of Constantinople-Current Ecumenical Patriarch:The current Ecumenical Patriarch is His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.-General Introduction:...
, was the first to write that Joseph was one of the Seventy Apostles appointed in Luke 10.
During the late 12th century, Joseph became connected with the Arthurian cycle as the first keeper of the
Holy GrailAccording to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers...
. This idea first appears in
Robert de BoronRobert de Boron was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, originally from the village of Boron, in the present arrondissement of Montbéliard...
's
Joseph d'Arimathie, in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Britain. This theme is elaborated upon in Boron's sequels and in later Arthurian works. Later retellings of the story contend that Joseph of Arimathea himself travelled to Britain and became the first Christian bishop in the Isles.
Christian interpretations
According to Dwight Moody in
Bible Characters, seldom is anything mentioned by all four Evangelists. If something is mentioned by Matthew and Mark, it is often omitted by Luke and John. However in the case of Joseph of Arimathea, he and his actions are mentioned by all four writers: ,
Mark 15:43-46,
Luke 23:50-55 and
John 19:38-42.
Early apocryphal texts amplify both the characteristics of Joseph, and the involvement he had with the burial of Christ, in reference to Isaiah 53:9.
Gospel of Nicodemus
The
Gospel of Nicodemus, a text appended to the
Acts of Pilate, provides additional, though even more mythologized, details. After Joseph asked for the body of Christ from Pilate, and prepared the body with Nicodemus' help, Christ's body was delivered to a new tomb that Joseph had built for himself. In the
Gospel of Nicodemus, the Jewish elders express anger at Joseph for burying the body of Christ in the following exchange:
The Jewish elders then captured Joseph, and imprisoned him, and placed a seal on the door to his cell after first posting a guard. Joseph warned the elders:
Once the elders returned to the cell, the seal was still in place, but Joseph was gone. The elders later discover that Joseph had returned to Arimathea. Having a change in heart, the elders desired to have a more civil conversation with Joseph about his actions and sent a letter of apology to him by means of seven of his friends. Joseph travelled back from Arimathea to Jerusalem to meet with the elders, where they questioned by them about his escape. He told them this story;
According to the
Gospel of Nicodemus, Joseph testified to the Jewish elders, and specifically to chief priests
CaiaphasYosef Bar Kayafa , also known simply as Caiaphas in the New Testament, was the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest between AD 18 and 37. In the Mishnah, Parah 3:5 refers to him as Ha-Koph , a play on his name for opposing Mishnat Ha-Hasidim...
and
AnnasAnnas [also Ananus or Ananias], son of Seth , was appointed by the Roman legate Quirinius as the first High Priest of the newly formed Roman province of Iudaea in 6 AD; just after the Romans had deposed Archelaus, Ethnarch of Judaea, thereby putting Judaea directly under Roman rule.Annas officially...
that Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven and he indicated that others were raised from the dead at the resurrection of Christ (repeating Matt 27:52-53). He specifically identified the two sons of the high-priest Simeon (again in Luke 2:25-35). The elders Annas, Caiaphas, Nicodemus, and Joseph himself, along with
GamalielGamaliel the Elder , or Rabbi Gamaliel I, was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid first century. He was the grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder, and died twenty years before the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem...
under whom
Paul of TarsusPaul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, ...
studied, travelled to Arimathea to interview Simeon's sons Charinus and Lenthius.
Other medieval texts
Medieval interest in Joseph centered on two themes, that of Joseph as the founder of
British ChristianityCeltic Christianity or Insular Christianity is a term referring broadly to the Early Medieval Christian practice that developed in Britain and Ireland before and during the sub-Roman period. During this period, the Roman withdrawal and the Anglo-Saxon invasion sharply reduced contact between the...
(even before it had taken hold in Rome), and that of Joseph as the original guardian of the Holy Grail.
Joseph and Britain
Legends about the arrival of Christianity in Britain abounded during the Middle Ages. Early writers do not connect Joseph to this activity, however.
TertullianQuintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian Berber author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy...
(AD 155-222) wrote in
Adversus Judaeos that Britain had already received and accepted the Gospel in his lifetime, writing of:
Tertullian does not say how the Gospel came to Britain before AD 222. However, Eusebius, (AD 260-340) Bishop of Caesarea and one of the earliest and most comprehensive of church historians, wrote of Christ's disciples in
Demonstratio Evangelica, saying that "some have crossed the Ocean and reached the Isles of Britain." Saint
Hilary of PoitiersHilary of Poitiers was Bishop of Poitiers and is a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" and the "Athanasius of the West." His name comes from the Greek word for happy or cheerful. His optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is 13...
(AD 300-376) also wrote that the Apostles had built churches and that the Gospel had passed into Britain.
HippolytusFor places named after the saint, see Saint-HippolyteSaint Hippolytus of Rome was one of the most prolific writers of the early Church. Hippolytus was born during the second half of the 2nd century, probably in Rome. Photius describes him in his Bibliotheca For places named after the saint, see...
(AD 170-236), considered to have been one of the most learned Christian historians, puts names to the
seventy disciplesThe Seventy Disciples or Seventy-two Disciples were early followers of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke . According to Luke, the only gospel in which they appear, Jesus appointed them and sent them out in pairs on a specific mission which is detailed in the text...
whom Jesus sent forth in Luke 10, includes Aristobulus of Romans 16:10 with Joseph, and states that he ended up becoming a pastor in Britain.
In none of these earliest references to Christianity’s arrival in Britain is Joseph of Arimathea mentioned. The first connection of Joseph of Arimathea with Britain is found in the 9th century
Life of Mary Magdalene by
Rabanus MaurusRabanus Maurus Magnentius , also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, the archbishop of Mainz in Germany and a theologian. He was the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis . He also wrote treatises on education and grammar and commentaries on the Bible...
(AD 766-856),
ArchbishopIn Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. In many Christian Churches, this means that they lead a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese, or in the Anglican Communion an Ecclesiastical Province, but this is not always the case. An archbishop is equivalent to a bishop in...
of
MainzMainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was a politically important seat of the Prince-elector of Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the...
. Rabanus states that Joseph of Arimathea was sent to Britain, and he goes on to detail who travelled with him as far as France, claiming that he was accompanied by "the two Bethany sisters,
MaryMary of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of John and Luke in the Christian New Testament...
and
MarthaMartha of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem...
,
LazarusLazarus is a name found in two separate contexts in the New Testament. Lazarus of Bethany is the subject of a miracle recounted only in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death...
(who was raised from the dead), St. Eutropius,
St. SalomeSalome , was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels, and who appears in more detail in apocryphal writings...
, St. Cleon,
St. SaturniusSaint Saturninus may refer to:*Saturninus , companion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, martyred in Carthage, feast day: 7 March*Saturnin of Toulouse , first bishop of Toulouse, France, feast day: 29 November*Saturninus Saint Saturninus may refer to:*Saturninus (died c. 203), companion of Saints...
, St. Mary Magdalen, Marcella (the maid of the Bethany sisters), St. Maxium or Maximin,
St. MartialSaint Martial was the first bishop of Limoges in today's France, according to a lost vita of Saturnin, first bishop of Toulouse, which Gregory of Tours quotes in his History of the Franks.-Life:...
, and
St. Trophimus or RestitutusAccording to Catholic lore, Saint Trophimus of Arles was the first bishop of Arles, in today's southern France.It was an early tradition of the Church that under the co-Emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus , Pope Fabian sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul, to preach the Gospel: Gatien to...
." An authentic copy of the Maurus text is housed in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University. Rabanus Maurus describes their voyage to Britain:
The route he describes follows that of a supposed
PhoeniciaPhoenicia what is now modern day Lebanon, was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and Palestine...
n trade route to Britain, as described by
Diodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus , was a Greek historian who flourished in the 1st century BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doing than is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca historica...
.
William of MalmesburyWilliam of Malmesbury , English historian of the 12th century, was born about the year 1080/1095, in Wiltshire. His father was Norman and his mother English...
mentions Joseph's going to Britain in one passage of his
Chronicle of the English Kings. He says
Philip the ApostlePhilip was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia. He was martyred by crucifixion in the city of Hierapolis...
sent twelve Christians to Britain, one of whom was his dearest friend, Joseph of Arimathea. William does not mention Joseph by name again, but he mentions the twelve evangelists generally. He claims that
Glastonbury AbbeyGlastonbury Abbey was a rich and powerful monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Since at least the 12th century the Glastonbury area was frequently associated with the legend of King Arthur, a connection promoted by medieval monks who asserted that Glastonbury was Avalon. The abbey was...
was founded by them; Glastonbury would be associated specifically with Joseph in later literature. Cardinal
Caesar BaroniusVenerable Cesare Baronio was an Italian Cardinal and ecclesiastical historian....
the Vatican Librarian and historian (d. 1609), recorded this voyage by Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha, Marcella and others in his
Annales Ecclesiatici, volume 1, section 35.
The accretion of legends round Joseph of Arimathea in Britain, encapsulated by the poem hymn of
William BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the...
And did those feet in ancient time"And did those feet in ancient time" is a short poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic Milton a Poem. The date on the title page of 1804 for Milton is probably when the plates were begun but the poem was printed c. 1808....
held as "an almost secret yet passionately held article of faith among certain otherwise quite orthodox Christians", was critically examined by A. W. Smith in 1989. In its most developed version, Joseph, a tin merchant, visited Cornwall, accompanied by his nephew, the boy Jesus. C.C. Dobson made a case for the authenticity of the Glastonbury
legenda.
Holy Grail
The legend that Joseph was given the responsibility of keeping the
Holy GrailAccording to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers...
was the product of
Robert de BoronRobert de Boron was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, originally from the village of Boron, in the present arrondissement of Montbéliard...
, who essentially expanded upon stories from
Acts of Pilate. In Boron's
Joseph d'Arimathe, Joseph is imprisoned much as in the
Acts, but it is the Grail that sustains him during his captivity. Upon his release he founds his company of followers, who take the Grail to Britain. The origin of the association between Joseph and Britain is not entirely clear, but it is probably through this association that Boron attached him to the Grail. In the
Lancelot-GrailThe Lancelot-Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend written in French. It is a series of five prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere...
Cycle, a vast Arthurian composition that took much from Boron, it is not Joseph but his son
JosephusJosephus, also called Josephe or Josephes, is the son of Joseph of Arimathea and an early keeper of the Holy Grail in some tellings of the Arthurian legend...
who is considered the primary holy man of Britain.
Later authors sometimes mistakenly or deliberately treated the Grail story as truth – John of Glastonbury, who assembled a chronicle of the history of Glastonbury Abbey around 1350 claims that when Joseph came to Britain he brought with him a wooden cup used in the
Last SupperIn the Christian Gospels, the Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and disciples before his death...
, and two cruets, one holding the blood of Christ, and the other his sweat, washed from his wounded body on the Cross. This legend is the source of the Grail claim by the
Nanteos CupThe Nanteos Cup is a medieval mazer bowl, held for many years at Nanteos Mansion, Rhydyfelin, near Aberystwyth, Wales. Legend claimed it to be the Holy Grail....
on display in the museum in
AberystwythAberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. It is often colloquially known as Aber, and is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
; however, it should be noted that there is no reference to this tradition in ancient or medieval text. John further claims King Arthur was descended from Joseph, listing the following imaginative pedigree through King Arthur's mother:
Elizabeth I cited Joseph's missionary work in England when she told Roman Catholic bishops that the Church of England pre-dated the Roman Church in England.
Other legends
When Joseph set his walking staff on the ground to sleep, it miraculously took root, leafed out, and blossomed as the "Glastonbury thorn". The retelling of such miracles did encourage the pilgrimage trade at Glastonbury until the Abbey was dissolved in 1539, at the English Reformation.
The
mythemeIn the study of mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element, one that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways—"bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image—or linked in more complicated...
of the staff that Joseph of Arimathea set in the ground at
GlastonburyGlastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town has a population of 8,800...
, which broke into leaf and flower as the Glastonbury Thorn is a common miracle in
hagiographyHagiography is the study of saints. A hagiography, from the Greek and , refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of ecclesiastical and secular leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though...
. Such a miracle is told of the Anglo-Saxon saint Etheldreda:
Other legends claim Joseph was a relative of Jesus; specifically,
MaryMary , usually referred to by Christians as the Virgin Mary or Saint Mary, was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, identified in the New Testament as the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Muslims also refer to her as the Virgin Mary or Syeda Mariam which means Our Lady Mary...
's uncle. Other speculation makes him a
tinTin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead, like the two possible oxidation states +2 and +4...
merchant, whose connection with Britain came by the abundant tin mines there. One version, popular during the
RomanticRomanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution...
period, even claims Joseph had taken Jesus to the island as a boy. This was the inspiration for
William BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the...
's mystical hymn
Jerusalem"And did those feet in ancient time" is a short poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic Milton a Poem. The date on the title page of 1804 for Milton is probably when the plates were begun but the poem was printed c. 1808....
.
Another legend, as recorded in
Flores HistoriarumThe Flores Historiarum is a Latin chronicle dealing with English history from the creation to 1326 . It was compiled by various persons and quickly acquired contemporary popularity, for it was continued by many hands in many manuscript traditions...
is that Joseph is in fact the
Wandering JewThe Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the thirteenth century. The original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming...
, a man cursed by Jesus to walk the Earth until the
Second ComingIn most Christian theologies, the Second Coming of Christ is the return of Jesus from Heaven to earth, an event expected to fulfill aspects of Biblical Messianic prophecy, such as the general resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment of the dead and the living and the full establishment of the...
.
Arimathea
ArimatheaArimathea, according to the Gospel of Luke , was "a city of Judea". It was the home town of Joseph of Arimathea, who appears in accounts of the Passion for having donated his new tomb outside of Jerusalem for the body of Jesus....
itself is not otherwise documented, though it was "a city of Judea" according to Luke 23:51. Arimathea is usually identified with either
RamlehRamleh can refer to:*Ramla, which is a city in central Israel*Ramleh neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt*Ramleh , a UK noise rock group...
or
Ramathaim-ZophimRamathaim-Zophim , also called Ramah and Ramatha in the Douay-Rheims, a town that has been identified with the modern Neby Samwil , about 4 or 5 miles north-west of Jerusalem...
, where
DavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Bible. He is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet .The biblical chronology sets his life c.1037–970 BCE, his reign over Judah c.1007–1000 BCE,...
came to Samuel (
1 SamuelThe Books of Samuel are part of the Tanakh and also of the Christian Old Testament. The work was originally written in Hebrew, and the Book of Samuel originally formed a single text, as they are often considered today in Hebrew bibles.Together with what is now referred to as the Book of Kings,...
chapter 19).
External links
Catholic Encyclopedia 1908: "Joseph of Arimathea"
Qumran text of Isaiah 53
Joseph of Arimathea: The secret disciple of Jesus and his legacy today
Joseph of Arimethea: A Sunday School Course