Joseph the Hymnographer

^A in any way. Being forced to depart for the purpose of attending to the most serious matters in Constantinople, he earnestly begged the superior of the monastery to add Joseph as his companion on the journey, and at last he obtained his request.

Having arrived at Constantinople, Joseph, continually observing Gregory, strove to transfer every manner of his life into himself faithfully, and he led a life more angelic than human. But when Leo (not the Isaurian, as Octavius Caetanus has it in *Vita S. Josephi*, vol. II of the *Sancti Siculi*, p. 46, but the Armenian, as Godefroy Henschen and Daniel Papebroch rightly note according to the epochs of the time in *Acta SS.*, April 3, in the preliminary commentary on the *Life of St. Joseph*, § 1, p. 266, and in the annotations, p. 273), the most savage emperor of Constantinople, was raging with insane madness against holy images and their venerators, St. Gregory, opposing the emperor's fury, publicly defended the Catholic faith. Hence, some religious men who had fled to Gregory as to an athlete of the faith, urged him often to send St. Joseph to the Supreme Pontiff in Rome, to whom he might expound the calamities of the Church and the dangers of the faithful. Therefore, our Joseph, by the order of Gregory, set sail for Rome; but on the journey he was attacked by pirates, taken to the island of Crete, where he was thrown into chains and consigned to a dark prison. ^B But while exulting in his chains, he softened the languors of his companions with the honeyed power of his eloquence and confirmed them in the constancy of the faith. A bishop suffering from infirmity of spirit, who was already leaning toward contempt for images in order to escape from his labors, he so fortified that he rendered him prepared to pour out his blood for the faith of Christ and the veneration of images. He released countless numbers from the snares of the devil and confirmed those wavering in the faith, some of whom attained the palm of martyrdom.

While he was leading his life thus fruitfully, although bound in chains, on the night of the Lord’s Nativity, after spiritual canticles had been prolonged until cockcrow, St. Nicholas of Myra made himself visible to him and announced to Joseph that the iconoclast emperor was now dead; that it was necessary for him to return to Constantinople so that he might confirm the faithful in Christ with heavenly wisdom. Then he placed a leaf of a book into his mouth, in which these words were read: "Hasten as a merciful one, and be quick as a pitiable one for our assistance, for you can if you wish." When he had sung these very sweetly, he felt himself filled with heavenly sweetness, and freed from his shackles, and caught up through the air, he was instantly translated by St. Nicholas to Constantinople. When he had there lamented Gregory, who was already deceased, he retired to the church of St. John Chrysostom, where he instructed the peoples who were flowing into the church with heavenly wisdom, and he built a monastery for the convenience of all, which a numerous band of religious men immediately filled. ^C Having received a relic as a gift from St. Bartholomew, he built a church for his veneration, and there the holy apostle appeared visibly many times to Joseph while he was sleeping, and explained to him certain hidden mysteries and the most difficult passages of the Sacred Scriptures; he crowned him with heavenly blessings and charisms, so that he might soothe the circle of the earth with the sweetness of his songs; he blessed Joseph with heavenly benediction and poured into his tongue the fluids of heavenly wisdom abundantly. From that time on, he composed songs overflowingly filled with that nectar and fashioned with such elegance that they permeate the minds of the auditors and readers with wondrous sweetness and bend them with the utmost ease wherever they wish: so much so that one might think that the melody of the inhabitants of heaven flows from these same singers. Hence, his hymns are deservedly translated by the Greek Church into the sacred places of divine psalmody and are sung to the praise of those in heaven. He recalled many who had lapsed into heresy to the Catholic faith, and having snatched many from the allurements of the age, he added them to the monastic life.

But while he was sedulously toiling in these things, the Emperor Theophilus (not Constantine Copronymus, as in the cited correction of Henschen and Papebroch), who himself was also hostile to the holy images, disrupted the labors of the famous man, and cast Joseph into exile because he was preaching with evangelical freedom; in which he endured the hardships of exile with a brave spirit, until he was recalled to Constantinople by the Emperor Michael. Then, having spurned the honors offered to him of his own accord, he accepted the custody of the ecclesiastical furniture, that he might obey Patriarch Ignatius—for he, weighing the holiness and doctrine of Joseph, desired to employ him in dealing with the affairs of the Church, which he obtained by the bestowed office: therefore, in the most difficult matters he often consulted Joseph, and hung sweetly upon his lips. He was also most acceptable to his successor, Photius, who treated Joseph with such estimation that he called him Father of Fathers and a man of God: he venerated him as an angel, to whom he entrusted the affairs of the Church, and exhorted all the primates of the Church to honor the same as a most holy Father, and to reveal the secrets of their own minds to him; which they performed more gladly, for they experienced him as one imbued with prophetic light, by which he probed the inner recesses of hearts: Joseph, however, was directing all to the straight way of the Lord. At last, most famous everywhere for his virtues and most renowned for his holiness, he was warned by an angel that the day of his death was at hand; therefore, having cast aside all cares, he prepared himself more fervently for it, and at length flew away to heaven, into which the Mother of God and all the inhabitants of heaven, whose praises he had sung, received him with the highest honor, on April 3, in the year 883. ^D

If you desire more of such a man, consult his *Life* written by John the Deacon, in Octavius Caetanus, in the *Lives of the Sicilian Saints*, vol. II, p. 43, first edited by him under the name of an anonymous writer, from a Greek manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Savior of Messina, rendered into Latin by Augustine Floritus of the Society of Jesus; thereafter Henschen and Papebroch issued the same into the light under the name of John the Deacon, in *Acta SS.*, April 3, p. 269; (where they also edited the *Life of St. Joseph* from *Synaxaria* manuscripts, p. 266;) the same was also edited, translated into Latin from a very ancient codex of the Vatican Library by Louis Marracci of the Congregation of Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, by Hippolytus Marracci, his brother, a priest of the same Congregation, in his *Marian [works] of St. Joseph*, who also exhibited to the readers those things which are held about Joseph in the *Menaea* and *Menologies* of the Greeks. Concerning him also Joseph Perdicarus, in the *Lives of the Sicilian Saints*, p. 282; Hieronymus Bascape *Sacred Ephemerides*, April 3.

^A

NOTITIA.

Also at page 31; Simon Wangnereckius in his *Prolegomena to the Marian Piety of the Greeks*, n. 22; who distinguishes two Joseph the Hymnographers, of whom one is the brother of St. Theodore the Studite and bishop of Thessalonica, and the other is our own Sicilian; and he considers that the canons which bear only the name of Joseph in the Greek *Menaea* should be attributed to the latter; and Henschenius and Papebrochius adhere to this opinion in their *Preliminary Commentary to the Life*, § 2, n. 10 and 11. See also Jacob Goar in his *Glossary to the Greek Ritual*, Marracci cited in the *Marian Library*, part 1, p. 822; Joannes Nadasi in his *Celestial Year* for April 5; Leo Allatius in his *Dissertation on the Ecclesiastical Books of the Greeks*, 1; Franciscus Carrera in the *Sicilian Pantheon*, p. 75; Rocco Pirri in the *Notice of the Syracusan Church*, p. 139; Thomas Strotism in *Controversy on the Conception*, part 1, lib. II, cap. 19, p. 163, and cap. 20, p. 165; Michael Angelus Mancharusus in the *Syracusan Calendar*; Caetanus cited in the *Isagoge to Sicilian History*, c. 36, n. 24, 25, and others.

Joseph wrote: Countless hymns, from which he received the name of Hymnographer. In the ecclesiastical books of the Greeks, Caetanus, cited in his *Animadversions to Vol. I of the Sicilian Saints*, p. 18, n. 20, and Perdicarus, loc. cit., p. 291, testify that there are contained 305 hymns (which they also call canons) arranged by the days and the circuit of the year to be sung by the Greek Church, namely: 96 Canons in the *Paracletice*. This is a Greek book which provides something to be recited daily in the choir, distinct from other books which are used at set times, from Leo Allatius, *On Greek Books*, dissert. 1, p. 68. 35 Canons in the *Triodion*. This book contains matters to be recited in the choir from Septuagesima until the Saturday of Holy Week, from the aforementioned Allatius, dissert. 1, p. 69; and Marracci in his *Mariale* presents 36 from p. 301 to 322, from the same book. 5 Canons in the *Pentecostarion*. This is a Greek book which contains matter to be recited in the choir from Easter until the octave of Pentecost, from the aforementioned Allatius, pp. 77 and 78. 1 Canon in the *Horologion*, which is the same as the Latin *Diurnale*, from the same aforementioned Allatius. 168 Canons in the *Menaea*. There are twelve codices, distinct according to the twelve months of the year, in which are contained the praises of God, the Theotokos, and the saints to be sung daily at the canonical hours, from the aforementioned Allatius, p. 78. But I think it should not be omitted that, from the same page 81, the hymns of St. Joseph are to be placed before all others of the Greeks that are found in these *Menaea*. Indeed, the writers of his *Life* maintain that all poets and writers flourishing after him drew everything that they have of charm and elegance from the hymns of Joseph, as if from a celestial gold mine. From all these books and other manuscript codices, that most celebrated man and renowned worshipper of the Theotokos, Hippolytus Marracci of Lucca, collected all the Greek hymns which St. Joseph sang in praise of the Theotokos, and having had almost all of them rendered into Latin by his brother Ludovicus Marracci, he published them, illustrated with notes, under this title placed thereon: *The Mariale of St. Joseph the Hymnographer, Sicilian, Syracusan, monk of the Order of St. Basil, in which all the works of the same St. Joseph concerning the most august Queen of heaven and earth, the Virgin Mary Mother of God, which could be found, are collected from Greek manuscript codices, rendered into Latin, and illustrated with notes, now published for the first time by the study and labor of P. Hippolytus Marracci, of Lucca, of the congregation of Clerics Regular of the Mother of God, Rome, at the press of Ignatius de Lazaris, 1661, in 8vo.* Marracci himself also adds, in the notes on p. 423, that many hymns are found in the manuscript codices of the Barberini library which are missing in the published Greek *Menaea*; and on pages 488 and 494 he says that in the Greek manuscript *Triodion* of the same library, n. 118, there exist some hymns which are not found in the printed *Triodion*. Among Octavius Caetanus, in the *Lives of the Sicilian Saints*, these are found translated into Latin by Augustinus Floritus of the Society of Jesus, namely: A fragment of an ancient ode to St. Marcianus, Bishop of Syracuse. Vol. I, p. 7. A hymn to the holy pontiff Pancratius, ib. p. 15. A hymn to the martyr St. Nicon, ibid. p. 45. A hymn to St. Euplius, ibid. p. 110. A second hymn to St. Euplius, ibid. p. 112. A hymn to St. Fantinus from the Greek manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Philippus of Fragala, ibid. p. 164. A hymn to St. Gregorius, Bishop of Agrigento. Ibid. p. 218. A hymn to St. Leo, Bishop of Catania, vol. II, p. 26. Finally, in Laurentius Surius, *Lives of the Saints*, August 24, p. 254, and in Aloysius Lipomanus, *Lives of the Saints*, August 24, p. 891, there exists a discourse by Simon Metaphrastes inscribed: *A Panegyric by the humble and least Joseph on the holy apostle Bartholomew*. Octavius Caetanus in his *Animadversions to Vol. I of the Sicilian Saints*, p. 134, n. 6, and in the *Animadversions to Vol. II*, p. 18; Josephus Perdicarus in *Lives of the Sicilian Saints*, p. 294; Henschenius and Papebrochius in *Annotations to the Life of St. Joseph*, p. 274, think this is a product of our Joseph. But these same men, in the *Preliminary Commentary to the same Life*, § 2, n. 11, from Allatius in his *Dissertation on Greek Books*, p. 11, consider it to be our Joseph's. Canons on St. Nicholas are preserved in Greek in manuscript at Rome in the Barberini library.

THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER

(Acta Sanctorum Bolland., April, vol. I.)

GODEFROID HENSCHEN’S PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

Regarding Roman affairs and the times of his exile.

1. That Saint Joseph, the writer of sacred hymns or canons, is mentioned in the printed Menaea and many manuscripts—in the Synaxaria of Clermont, Chiflet, Mazarin, and others, two of which are preserved in the monastery of Grottaferrata—who call him the “Hymnographer,” and provide an encomium for him, some shorter, some longer; scarcely any without flaws, sprinkled with the carelessness of scribes. Only the Synaxarion which we have named first here, from Clermont, because it was borrowed from the library of our Clermont College in Paris, is for the larger part authentic. We have therefore deemed it worthy to insert it here before others in this introduction, so that we may have a more expedited course toward those questions which are debated concerning the life of this Saint; [doubts] having no other foundation than that some overly bold person presumed to interpolate the Life, written by an author almost contemporary, by the addition of a single word; and reading “Leo the Iconoclast,” without paying enough attention to the fact that the reign of Leo the Isaurian is separated by a full century from the times of the patriarchs Ignatius and Photius, under whom, as the progress of the Life indicates, Joseph should have served as *skeuophylax* in the Church of Constantinople. We have noted that a completely similar error crept into the Greek Menologion on May 23rd regarding St. Michael, Bishop of Synnada, and on January 5th regarding the Life of St. Gregory of Arethusa, p. 290. The aforementioned encomium of St. Joseph is as follows:

This man was from the province of Sicily, born of parents Ploutinos and Agathe. Upon the plundering of his homeland, having been kept safe together with his mother and brothers, he came to the Peloponnese. Departing from there, he arrived in Thessalonica. At the age of fifteen, he was tonsured in a certain monastery, and he was passing through all of Holy Scripture; hence he received the ordination of the presbyterate, and together with Gregory the Decapolite, he descended upon Constantinople. When, however, the heresy of the Iconoclasts again appeared, under the reign of the impious Armenian Leo, the Orthodox exhorted the holy Gregory to depart for Rome to notify those there of what had occurred. He set sail, but barbarian ships intercepted him and carried him off as a prisoner to Crete. ^A On one of the nights, as one appeared to him, having the appearance of something holy, he said, “I am here from Myra,” and holding a book, he urged him to take it. He, having taken it, read and chanted: “Hasten, O Merciful One, and speed as one full of pity to our aid, for You can do it when You will.” And when it was sung, it was early in the morning. For then, since Theophilus, the champion of the heresy, had been removed from us, the Church of God had regained the beauty of the holy icons; and the venerable Joseph, having been freed from prison, was saved and made his way to Constantinople. ^B Being in the territories of Thessalonica, he found a relic of the holy apostle Andrew [in other Synaxaria it is said to be a relic of Bartholomew], and took it, and built a temple in his name; and he remained in great anxiety, having adorned his festivals with melodies, and with tears and groaning he asked to attain the object of his yearning; accordingly, he did attain it. For he saw in the night a certain fearful man, in the apostolic habit, taking an Gospel from the holy altar, and placing it upon his chest, and deeming him worthy of a blessing. And from that time he received the gift of hymnody; and thus without weariness and with ease he enlightened the whole Church with sacred hymns; from thence it is sung by the mouths of all, and is desirable and beloved to all, becoming so not only to the common people and the rulers, but also to the emperors themselves. ^C And while struggling much for the Orthodox faith concerning the icons, he was exiled to Cherson by the impious Armenian [Theophilus], having been condemned by a man named Bardas, though he had successfully refuted him. And after his death, having been brought back from Cherson by Empress Theodora, who championed the Orthodoxy, he became the guardian of the holy vessels of the Great Church of God, while the divine Ignatius was patriarch. After his departure, he was cherished and extolled by Photius; for he was the one declared patriarch after him. Having endured well in these things, and having lived holily and innocently

^A in his ministry, he fell asleep in the Lord. It is said, moreover, that his holy soul, being escorted by the holy martyrs and angels, ascended into the heavens.

For a certain man, having a useful servant, and because the servant had fled, went to Saint Theodore the Revealer [Phanero-tes] and implored him to reveal his servant to him. Having stayed there for a considerable time and having learned nothing, he was planning to depart. But at dawn, while a soul-profiting discourse was being read, he dozed off for a short time, and he saw the martyr saying to him: "Why are you sorrowful? Since the poet Joseph has died this night, his soul has been escorted by all of us, whom he honored with canons and hymns, and has been gathered unto God; and now I am here with you." Having said this, he then revealed: "Go to such and such a place"—having named the place—"and you will find the servant you seek."

2. The Holy Father Joseph the Hymnographer was from the Sicilian province, and his parents were Plutinus and Agatha. During the depopulation of his homeland, he was saved with his mother and brothers, went to the Peloponnese, and from there transferred himself to Thessalonica. At the age of fifteen, he was tonsured in a certain monastery, where he ran through the entire holy Scripture with such profit that he merited being ordained a presbyter, and he went to Constantinople with Gregory the Decapolite. After the heresy of the Iconoclasts, under Leo the Armenian, had again raised its head, the orthodox besought Saint Gregory to send Joseph to Rome, to announce to the faithful living there what had happened. He sailed there, therefore; but having been intercepted by barbarian ships, he was carried off as a prisoner to Crete. And one night, someone stood by him, bearing a pontifical appearance, and said: "I have come here from Myra." And taking up a book, he ordered him to receive it. Joseph received it and read these words: "Make haste, O Merciful One, and hasten, O Compassionate One, to our help; for you can, if you will." And what he sang then, he saw fulfilled in the very deed, when, after Theophilus was removed from the living, the holy Church received the adornment of the holy images. ^B Meanwhile, the divine Joseph was freed from prison and led safely to Constantinople.

3. He had found, while still in the regions of Thessalonica, a relic of the holy apostle Bartholomew. Taking this, therefore, he built a chapel in his name, and he began to turn over in his mind with much anxiety how he might adorn his festival by composing holy canticles, supplicating with tears and sobs that he might merit to be made a fulfiller of this desire of his. And indeed, he was made a fulfiller of his desire. For at night, he caught sight of a certain reverend man standing at the side of the epistle [lectern], who seemed to take the Gospel from the holy table and, placing it upon Joseph's breast, to bestow his blessing upon him. From then on, he possessed the grace and the facility for composing hymns so readily that some supposed he did not bring forth the holy melodies from himself, but that they were received from elsewhere and committed to memory, and that he rendered them and provided them to those asking. Thus, he was adorned and illuminated by his hymns, and he began to be celebrated by the mouths of all, and to be held as lovable to all, not only to the uneducated, but even to the princes and emperors themselves.

4. He also suffered much for the sake of the orthodox faith, being relegated to Cherson by the impious Armenian, at the condemnation of that man whom they called Bardas, because he had chided him with nobility. After his death, he was liberated from Cherson by that noble empress Theodora, who celebrated the orthodoxy; and he was made the guardian of the sacred vessels of the Great Church of God, with the divine Ignatius attaining the patriarchal seat. Furthermore, after his passing from this life, he was also in the greatest favor and esteem with Photius (for this man was declared patriarch after Ignatius). ^C Among these things, long filling the span of his life, and having lived holily and innocently in his own office, he fell asleep in the Lord. It is said, moreover, that his holy soul, with holy martyrs and angels escorting it, was carried up into heaven. For a certain man, having a useful servant—and since this one had fled—went to Saint Theodore, commonly called the Revealer [Phanerotes], intending to ask that he reveal his servant to him. After he had passed no small amount of time there, since he had learned nothing about the fugitive, he wished to depart; and he would have departed, had not the day already broken while he was held back by the spiritual discourse that was happening, and he dozed off for a while. And behold, he sees the martyr, and hears him saying this to him: "Why are you sorrowful? Since the poet Joseph died this night, his soul has been escorted by all of us, whom he honored with his canons and hymns, and has been established before the sight of God. But now I am here, to show you what you wish. Go to that place (and he named the place); there you will find your servant, whom you are seeking."

5. The aforementioned Synaxarion states everything correctly and in order, except regarding what pertains to the authors of the exile to Cherson, and also the time of that very exile. For although Leo the Armenian is read to have had a certain Bardas, his relative, as the minister and accomplisher of his own cruelty against the orthodox monks, yet this man could not have claimed for himself any part in vexing Joseph, since he [Joseph] was driven to Rome under the very beginning of the persecution, in the 2nd year of Leo, and remained a captive in Crete until the year 820. Theophilus, therefore, whom the authors call impious throughout on account of the revived iconoclasm, ought to be written and understood here; under whom Bardas, the brother of the Augusta Saint Theodora, a lascivious and wicked man, acting toward his brother-in-law, who was most hostile to the orthodox monks, could easily have given effect to the relegating of Joseph, who chided his vices too freely. Thus, certainly, the author who compiled the Synaxarion of Grottaferrata judged, and the Acts of the Life agree perfectly well, ^D although, without any mention of Bardas, they confer the entire blame upon that worst emperor of that time, namely Theophilus. In the said Synaxarion it is thus written: "Ir-

- ^A vidi autem quidam cum eum calumniati ^A essent de iis, quæ adversus Bardam Cæsarem dicta fuerant, in Chersonem relegarunt, unde post aliquod tempus Constantinopolim regressus, sacrorum Magnæ Dei ecclesiæ vasorum custos factus est, Ignatio patriarcha.

6. Gravis errores of others' Synaxaria we do not touch upon here; we only say that in none of them is the name of Leo the Isaurian noted—the name that so tormented our Octavius Cajetanus in his annotations upon these, that when he saw it followed that Joseph must have lived at the very least 170 years, he frankly confessed that such an advanced age, amidst so many upheavals of affairs, and so many hardships and exercises of the ascetic life, was a business that gave him trouble. Everything, nevertheless, that is subsequently said in the Life, he arranged in such a way that the worst emperor, mentioned above, under whom Joseph was cast into exile, beyond doubt he marks as having been Constantine Copronymus, the son of Leo the Isaurian, and his successor in empire just as in impiety; and the orthodox emperors, under whom he was recalled to Constantinople, he interprets as Constantine and Irene. And so that these might agree with the Menæa, which say he was ejected on the occasion of Bardas; he concludes again that Joseph was driven out under Michael Balbus, and seems to have been restored by St. Theodora. He also doubts whether Leo the Isaurian, whom Theophanes writes died on the 14th day of the Kalends of July, should rather be said to have died on the Lord's Nativity, or whether news of his death was brought to the holy Joseph only six months and as many days later. All of which he could easily have discerned, if, from the indicated day of death, he had known to understand Leo the Armenian, who is much later than the Isaurian; and if he had considered the phrase "from Isauria," inserted into the Acts, as suspect, on account of the silence of all others and the enormous distance of time.

7. In like manner, the same Cajetanus could not without difficulty see the vanity of his conjecture by which he asserted that Syracuse was Joseph's fatherland, because in the Acts it is said: "Joseph’s fatherland, rendered more glorious by the Blessed parents, [sprang] from so happy a seed, and by Dionysius, who formerly reigned in it in the greatest luxury." For granted that Dionysius had Syracuse as his royal city, he nevertheless ruled over the whole island, and the Acts do not speak of any peculiar city of his. It cannot truly seem plausible, in such silence of all historians, that while Irene and Constantine were reigning, barbarian pirates, not very strong at that season, could have held a most fortified city, which the same, having achieved domination of the rest of Sicily under Michael Balbus, could not—just as they could not make Tauromenium their own for 55 years—until the year 878 arrived, when on the 21st day of May, victory over it fell to them, and confirmed possession of the entire island, with great calamity to the most afflicted Church: which is described by Theodosius the monk, who was present, in a letter to Leo the archdeacon, translated from the Greek manuscript into Latin and printed at Roccha Pyrrhus in the *Notitia Ecclesiæ Syracusanæ*. This same Pyrrhus meanwhile asserts that Joseph was both a monk of the Basilian order and a Syracusan; the former he was persuaded of from his own [opinion], the latter from the conjecture of Cajetanus: and he adds that his feast is celebrated at Syracuse on the 3rd of April, at least after Cajetanus began to seek out the holy Sicilians from the Greek Menæa and propose them to be venerated by his islanders: for we do not think that his cult at Syracuse is ancient, or founded upon any tradition of the elders concerning Joseph.

§ II. Vitae scriptores. Canones compositi, tempus mortis.

8. Because we said above that there were certain other circumstances expressed in the Synaxaria than those noted in the Life (such as that Saint Joseph was tonsured a monk in the fifteenth year of his age, that he was saved with his mother and brothers when his fatherland was invaded by the Saracens, that he had an almost extemporaneous faculty for composing canons, that the place of exile was Cherson, that before his exile the saint was subjected to chains and beatings, that finally the vision of his glorious leading into heaven, on the occasion of a fugitive sought in the temple of Saint Theodore Phanerotes or "The Manifestor," occurred to that virtuous man who deserved to be his witness to others): these, I say, circumstances omitted in the more prolix Acts, make it credible to us that the epitome of the Life (which we provided above from the Claromontane, and which other mss. almost all follow) is the very one which, written by Theophane, a disciple of Saint Joseph, John, deacon and orator of the Great Church of God, had before his eyes in order to expound it more fully and ornamentally, with many additions of what was desired. This, thus augmented and ornamented in part, and in part—with the minutiae of the aforementioned circumstances omitted—freely described, we received from a Greek codex of the Vatican Library, which bears the name of the author as we have said: and we collated it with a transcript of another codex, described by Daniel the monk and sacristan in the monastery of the Most Holy Savior of Messina without the author's name, from chest 20, no. 52.

9. That first version, rendered into Latin by P. Augustino Florito of our society, was published among the *Lives of the Sicilian Saints* in the year 1657; afterward, Ludovico Maracci of Lucca, of the Congregation of Clerics of the Mother of God, adorned another version of the same Life, together with the Canons for all the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Theotokia scattered throughout all the liturgical books of the Greeks and bearing the name of Saint Joseph as author; all of which Hippolytus Maracci, brother of the aforementioned Ludovico by bonds of blood and profession of religion, illustrated with erudite commentaries, calling them the *Mariale of Saint Joseph the Hymnographer*, and published at Rome in the year 1661. This version, adhering more closely to the words of the Greek context, we have preferred both to that former one, and to the other [made] by a certain philologist of our province.

^A laborious. But the excerpts from Maracci’s booklet, prepared in sheets for our custom and for the press, were lost to us at Amsterdam, when, after the sad collapse of the Blaeu printing house, we were collecting our baggage to be taken back to Antwerp: nor, when the loss was first noticed, was anything more readily available than to take the version of Floritus from Octavius Cajetanus, and to revise it anew according to the Greek context, changing here and there a few things where the matter seemed to demand it.

10. Our Simon Wangnereckius, in his Prolegomena to the Marian piety of the Greeks, excerpted from the twelve volumes of the Menaia and the seven remaining volumes of the Greek Church, no. 22, deals with the two holy Josephs, both of them hymnographers and confessors among the Greeks: of whom one was the brother of St. Theodore the Studite and bishop of Thessalonica, to be remembered on July 14, and he had this remarkable quality in the composing of his canticles, that his name, often omitted in the title, he always most accurately signed, through the Acrostic or the first letters of the strophes, about the last ode of his last canon: the other, by chance forty years younger, is this one of ours, to whom he thinks those canons should be ascribed, which have only the bare name of Joseph attached. But because the canons of this latter one, of whom we are now speaking, Joseph, are almost all bound to some acrostic, the aforementioned Wangnereckius thinks that that extemporaneous facility of dictating, which we saw praised above from the Menaia, ought to be extended to them, as being composed more laboriously. ^B Why is this so laborious, that it could not have been done extemporaneously by one who was practiced? Certainly, no one who has experienced it can doubt that the canons of the Greeks, bound by poetic meter, could move—without great exertion of mind to find certain letters at the beginning of each strophe—to be constrained by him to whom it was free to begin individual strophes, not connected to one another in order, from whatever word he liked; when we rendered some of such canons into Latin, the same law of acrostics being preserved, and that in a version bound to express the sense of the Greek words. But whether all those canons which Maracci inserted into his Mariale, and which Cajetanus asserts are to be found above three hundred in the ritual books of the Greeks, are of this latter Joseph, or whether some should be left to the former, there is no leisure nor is it worth the effort to examine more solicitously.

11. Meanwhile, we accept the distinction designated by the aforementioned Wangnereckius, namely that those canons which bear the bare name of Joseph without another title are of this Joseph of ours: whom Leo Allatius also seems to understand in his dissertation on Greek books, when he calls him Joseph the Melodist. To the Bishop of Thessalonica can be imputed others which are called τοῦ κυροῦ Ἰωσήφ, of the Lord Joseph: for this title of honor denotes some higher rank. We admit, however, that this conjecture does not appear so firm that various things cannot be opposed to it, which render the judgment ambiguous. Besides these two, there does not seem to have been a third Joseph, who is named in the title of the Ms. Typicon, preserved in Rome in the Barberini Library and praised by Leo Allatius, page 11 of the aforementioned dissertation, when it is said that that Typicon contains ^C “an ecclesiastical constitution of all the feasts of the whole year, according to the tradition of the holy Fathers, namely St. Sabbas, and the Studite, and especially the Holy Mountain; and also a part of the tradition of our most holy Father Joseph, possessor of the holy monastery which is called of the Divine Nicholas τῶν κασούλων.” For if that Joseph ordered his own office for his monastery, whose patron was St. Nicholas, who, reading the Paracleticon of the Greeks (in which the ordinary office of the whole week is contained varied according to the eight tones) and in it observing the canon according to the 5th day of the week (for on individual weekdays there are two canons, and on the 5th day the first is about the apostles) along with the kathismata and troparia pertaining to the same, [to be] about St. Nicholas: who, I ask, reading and observing these things, will not judge this Joseph τῶν κασούλων to be the author of those eight canons about St. Nicholas? And yet the acrostics of these canons also have the name 'Iωσήφ joined underneath in this way: Ἦχος α'. Σολ, Νικόλαε, πρῶτον εἰσφέρω μέλος. 'Iωσήφ. And similarly in others, except in the canons of the second and eighth tone, which nevertheless are manifestly of the same author. That he should not, therefore, be distinguished from our Joseph, both that similarity of style could persuade, and that we may prudently opine that our [Joseph], having been freed from Cretan captivity by a miracle of St. Nicholas, had bestowed upon the monastery which he erected in Constantinople the patronage of St. Nicholas, in that desert place, to which, placed not far from the temple of St. John Chrysostom, ^D “it is said he transferred his seat and the school of his cares, no. 24, and there distributed a multitude of disciples” in huts perhaps extemporaneous, whence might be said [to be] the monastery of St. Nicholas of the Huts [Casularum], by a word, like many other Constantinopolitan [ones], 'Ρωμαϊκῇ · although the Acts nowhere make mention of a monastery called by St. Nicholas, and a later saint added the oratory dedicated to the apostle St. Andrew, because of his relics placed there, as is said no. 25.

12. The Acts nowhere set forth the year of the Christian era and of his age in which this Joseph, of whom we speak, died: they only say, no. 37, that he lived a long life, and because of the heavy labors in it, he should be considered to have endured a long-lasting martyrdom. But no. 34 they had said that, when the great and venerable day of the Lord’s Passion was at hand, he offered and committed his disciple, and the possessions of the church described in a libellus, to Photius the patriarch, expressing nothing further: by which act he declared that he had signified his imminent end; soon a most violent fever, which brought to him the end of living, and (as far as can be gathered from the context) was of very few days, [occurred]. Hence, therefore, the spirit

of those eight years, which he spent in exile from his fatherland, during which Photius held the patriarchate before he was deprived of that dignity in the year 888, was not a few years prior to his death. And seeking the year which had the Preparation Day [Good Friday] on such a date that it was neither after the third day of April, on which we believe St. Joseph died, nor so long before it that a greater interval of time must be posited between that day and the day of his death; no year occurs as more opportune than 883, which had the Preparation Day on the 29th of March, and the fourth day of the Paschal week on the 3rd of April. For if Joseph had died in the year 880, he would have died on the very day of Pascha; but such a notable circumstance of so festive a day, if it were true, the author of his Life would by no means have omitted to express.

13. Furthermore, from his age one may conjecture that, having already been initiated as a presbyter when the persecution began under Leo the Armenian (that is, in the year 814 of the common era), he was judged suitable for a Roman embassy, and thus, being at least thirty years old, he had not been far from a hundred when he passed from this mortal life to the immortal heavens. By the same reasoning, one may understand that incursion of the Barbarians into Sicily, which drove Joseph with his mother and brothers into the Peloponnese at that mournful time when, after the murder of Leo the Armenian, and with Michael occupied against the rebel Thomas and postponing every other care to this task, Crete, Sicily, and the Cyclades were severed from the Roman Empire, as Leo Grammaticus writes. Indeed, those Barbarians, who until that time had been content to engage in piratical excursions, then acquired firm footholds for a new dominion in those same islands. But that it is also said there were Barbaric ships, which intercepted the course of [the ship] sailing to Rome and carried off Joseph as a captive to Crete, we understand it in such a way that the Barbarians did not yet hold that island, but that the pirates, hired by the ministers of Leo the Armenian for this crime, concerned themselves with dragging those who had fled from Constantinople—the worshippers of the holy images—back into the hands of the Iconoclasts; and that they specifically intended to capture Joseph, whom it could not at all be kept secret was sailing as a Roman legate: for it is manifest from the Acts that it was not the Saracens, but the Iconoclasts, in whose custody he was held captive in Crete for almost six entire years.

OF JOHN, DEACON OF THE GREAT CHURCH OF GOD AND ORATOR, SERMON ON THE LIFE OF OUR HOLY FATHER JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER.

1. Anyone’s life, provided it is adorned with virtue, invites the soul that loves virtue to imitate it, and compels the lover of beauty to emulate it with all his strength: but if speech also embellishes the life, and practical action is intellectually united with theory for one who yearns for perfection, it stirs such a seeker through these two things toward the expression of accuracy. Although a life alone is sufficient for one who runs toward the goal of the heavenly calling, [to attain] the kingdom

of heaven and eternal beatitude, yet a discourse joined to the life by mutual connection is seen as a Lydian stone, well assaying the character of others, and presenting a common archetype to those wishing to be adorned by the grace that shines within him in a certain way. Such, I affirm, was Joseph, most noble in his labors, incomparable in his virtues, who, according to the ability granted him by the Spirit, interwove melodic hymns in honor of the saints who preceded him.

^B 2. It was not right for the lover of the word—even if one might be confused by the abundance of his virtue—to pass him by; but what he did in many other cases, it was altogether fitting that he should receive the same from our humility. For although, according to the Hymnographer, "praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner," nevertheless a prompt and eager mind and a fervent affection will draw him who is celebrated by praises to accept these meager and poor offerings of ours; for he will not demand an equal return from our insignificance. For in the same proportion that lives differ and are separated from one another, so too must the discourse be divided and distributed. I shall speak, therefore, in an unharmonious manner of him who harmoniously composed the deeds of others. But he, knowing that the same grace does not attend me as it attended him who wrote, will accept the naked promptness of the affection, since not even one who possesses remarkable beauty of face from nature labors over external cosmetics and applications; but he who is otherwise, paints the beauty of form and colors it with surrounding ornaments.

^C 3. Now, the life of this blessed man was indeed worked out by a certain Theophanes, who was deemed worthy of the sacred priesthood and was enrolled in the catalogue of monks. But many things were passed over by him, because he finished the work in haste. Yet in those areas where he diminished the life of this blessed man, he raised us up to the amplitude of the narration. But what praise, finally, could be found worthy enough for such a life? And what tongue could be strong enough to recount his achievements? For it was fitting, truly fitting, that there should be present the tongues of those who were worthily praised by him, so that by them a return of grace might be fulfilled for him through discourses recounting his deeds. Nevertheless, we shall not be silent, as far as we are able, in recounting his affairs.

^D 4. The fatherland, therefore, of this great man is that which bears the palm of happiness among the islands, the illustrious Sicily, I say—which Dionysius, who once reigned in it with vigor, did not render as glorious as did the parents of this great man, who bestowed a great name upon their fatherland through this blessed offspring. His mother was the noble Agatha, and his father was called the celebrated Plutinus; both, indeed, were zealous for virtue and studiously intent upon fulfilling the divine will, and through their excellent child they inherited a great name. For it was fitting that this great fruit of virtue should be the work of prayer. For the father abounded in the faith that is in

^A God, and the mother, refusing to rejoice in the goods of this life, directed her soul to God alone, prudently and temperately crossing the sea of the present life, so that both flourished like that vine of the Psalmist, and by the ripe fruits of virtue drew many to their imitation. For they did not (as those who live for the world are wont to do, and who, serving the flesh, follow the common law of nature) look to pleasures or pursue delights, but were content with only necessary things, and those without which the body of our humility cannot subsist; they distributed to the hands of the poor what was superfluous, lest perhaps, by using these superfluities for pleasure and luxury, they might be excluded from participation in God, who, in order to reward them for their charity and fervent love towards Him, ^B bestowed upon them the illustrious Joseph in place of any other reward. Joseph, whose parents, even though they were shining with such beauty of life, thought they would accomplish something great if only they could in some way imitate him.

5. For he did not nourish the first stages of his childhood softly and elegantly, nor, as adolescents are wont to do, did he direct his soul to these small and fleeting things; but although he was still a child, he yet showed a certain gravity and maturity which we are by no means accustomed to see in children. While his tongue was still stammering a little, he was learning or teaching divine words. But because he was inscribed among children as an old man incomparable in mind and judgment, by this his prudence was silently shown. His soul shone forth in command of his affections; indeed, his knowledge and learning were clearly recognized by those who lived familiarly with him. For when this admirable man would take up some branch of study, he was seen to surpass everyone by the grace of ^C nature and the intensity of his diligence, by the royal cubit, according to the proverb, and quite rightly. For he did not make progress only in abundance of words and power of speaking, but before words he zealously offered many species of virtue, from which a more fortunate path was opened to him for the very abundance of speech. For at sunset, bread alone sufficed for him for all the delights of the table, and water alone was used for drink; for this reason, he was enlarged in the eloquence of speech. For a soul accustomed to be free for writing and praying, so that in both capacities mind and intellect are enlightened, and the burden of this body is bound and macerated, does not easily have a fall into evil affections; it is wholly borne toward God, and, mingled with His divine love and beautifully adhering to it, it becomes dry to the hearing of human disciplines.

6. But the noble man had ^D knowledge, yet he progressed more in that science which leads to God than in human philosophy. But his course of life was not long without difficulty, since for great souls certain difficult and harsh things are born from the very first line of life. For a multitude of mixed barbarians, having besieged his fatherland and having subjected it to themselves, what kind of disaster did they omit, or what Iliad of evils did they not heap upon it? For some were taken away by the sword; others miserably sustained the loss of their possessions; some were made captive and carried off to foreign regions; others, to whom a philanthropic [God] looked—

with a more kindly and propitious eye, provided for their own salvation by flight, abandoning their homeland. Among these were the parents of this blessed man, who, while he was still a child, quickly set out for the Peloponnese, exiled, without money, deprived of all friends and kin. Yet this great man of ours was not captivated by love or affection for the Peloponnese along with them, becoming a stranger to his homeland, in such a way that he would not seek the heavenly city through a true pilgrimage, and would not find God through a most rigorous way of life and discipline of soul. Therefore, while his downy beard had not yet even begun to grow, he abandoned the land of Pelops and departed for Thessaloniki, the city that stands above all of Macedonia, so that he might not be bound by the attachment to his parents, nor be unable, through absolute self-control, to open himself to the true Lover and be carried away upon the wings of total freedom. And that such was the purpose of this noble man, and that his departure looked toward this alone, the result of the matter demonstrated. ^B

7. As soon as he reached Thessaloniki, he immediately surrendered himself to the care and guidance of a certain man who was excellent in abstinence and piety. Because of the preeminence of his virtue, this man had undertaken the care of the brothers who were practicing the sacred discipline of the great God and Savior, not out of any desire for authority, but having been spiritually constrained; the monastery is now called "Latou" from the miracle that occurred there. And in this place, this great man, having assumed the monastic habit and, from the very first down of youth, having divested himself of every carnal will, what virtue did he not attain? What form of asceticism did he not exercise to an outstanding degree? So that he was an example to those who beheld him, and an archetype of every diligence to those who wished to emulate him. For ^C he devised a new and unusual fast, so that he might both maintain his bond and keep his strenuous efforts hidden from others. His vigils were almost incredible to those who considered the frailty of the flesh. He restrained his tongue, so as not to inquire too curiously into the deeds of others. Indeed, he had applied himself to this care from childhood, and his voice could not be heard except by those who had attentively inclined their ears to listen to him—which is the beginning of philosophy, or rather, the ultimate perfection of philosophy. For if we have learned that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of God leads to the fulfillment of the commandments, and the most excellent of the commandments is "to set a gate upon one’s mouth," so that neither does the mind wander irrationally, nor does the reason—to which the guardianship of the inner house had been entrusted—abandon its post and, in the company of a silence-lover, ^D move discordantly into excessive talking, it is manifest, according to the divine David, that the keeping of the commandments of God is facilitated and broadens for him who does not stumble with his tongue. Having attained this, the great man easily had all the other virtues following after it. And as for his bedding, which was utterly neglected and simple, who was so inept toward noble things as not to be overwhelmed with admiration and wonder, as he magnified his unconquerable endurance of hardships? The ground was his bed, in which the weakness of his nature was put to the test, and a stone was his coveted pillow; his hymn was always very brief, and in proportion to his meal, in which often...

^A the unveilings of mysteries were described for his most pure mind.

8-9. Let others admire the torrent of tears flowing from his eyes, and the genuflections, which surpass all description, so that his knees had hardened into the nature of stone through the ^B ceaseless prayers to God and the all-night movements and vigils, and his eyelids and brows were hollowed out and denuded by the immense and constant rainfall of tears. Others again [admire] the excellence of his humility, by which he lowered his venerable head even to the ground before the lowest, and kept the same charity toward all, making no distinction, preserving always an immutable union toward everyone. Others [admire] his self-restraint and the unassailable nature of his mind: for, seeing the law of the flesh warring against and resisting the law of his mind, as the great Apostle says, he was entirely lifted up toward the law of God, so that the serpent—who, according to the great combatant of truth, Job, dwells at the navel of the belly ^C and stirs up the passions of lust in the loins of those who wander around external sensations—might find no entry into his mind.

10. Let others praise his unwearied and intense labor in chanting psalms and hymns, and let them glorify this noble combatant with divine praises. Others celebrate his incomparable eloquence in speech and writing, for, like a bee, he flew around the meadows of the Scriptures, and by picking out the most beautiful and best flowers with discernment, he distilled every kind of virtue within himself. Indeed, he had the most chaste Joseph as an exemplar of chastity and temperance; he imitated his severity in subduing the affections, not by defending himself and fighting against the Egyptian woman, but against sin, in accordance with the command of the divine Apostle, resisting even to blood: not by casting off his cloak to escape the hands ^D of the impudent woman inciting him to shameful acts, but by mortifying his whole flesh through self-control, so as to escape even the smallest assaults of him who steals in through the senses. And [he imitated] the simplicity and sincerity of Jacob, not by stealing his father’s blessings through his mother’s suggestion, nor by fleeing from Esau, who was hated even before he was born, but by obtaining the birthright of the blessing through the Church of God, by which he was loved and which he in turn loved, in order that he might bless God through the most sweet hymnody, which he composed in most sweet and festive meter for the firstborn of those enrolled in the heavens; [he did this by] supplanting the evil one and fleeing far from him, so that with an undisturbed mind he might praise God and be united to Him in an indivisible movement. [He imitated] Abraham’s disposition for departure and his readiness to obey Christ, not by wandering from the Chaldeans and making Palestine his dwelling, but by considering his relationship with his parents as secondary to his relationship with God, and by...

holding all these lower and humble things as nothing, he preferred a simple way of life itself to the concerns and businesses of others.

^B 11. But what need is there to examine each detail and compare him with them, according to a more mystical explanation of spiritual elevation? There is nothing praised in Scripture that he did not successfully accomplish; there is no one celebrated in ancient histories whom he did not emulate. And to sum up everything, his life was a heap and a storehouse of virtues, and however much anyone might strive zealously, even in the slightest, to imitate his deeds and virtues as a model, there was no way he could attain them. For this reason, he was once rebuked by the head of the monastery for the extreme harshness of his life; the superior said that fasting ought to be the slayer of passions, not of the body, because of the natural connection and affinity between them. Furthermore, having learned to yield in all things and in no way to contradict others who might offer him an occasion for humility, he performed what was commanded and undertook what was set before him, both doing and thinking everything for the glory of God. When that same superior, who presided over the others, realized this and found that this great man contemplated nothing human or earthly in his mind, he turned his attention with more intense zeal toward the nobility of virtue and the pursuit of all the best things. Thus, one day, as the brothers were gathered together—our one great man being absent—he prophesied in a most prophetic spirit, saying: "This young man is a true disciple of Christ, the true God, and a fulfiller of His will, and in him dwells the Holy Spirit, who will speak through his mouth sweet hymns that will resound throughout all the ends of the earth."

12. But such was this godly man, and such was the unique blending of his virtues, from which he composed a spiritual book, just as bees industriously fashion their wax, gathering and expressing every kind of learning. For his soul, having God as an inmate from the very beginning, meditates on and envisions His works, clinging tenaciously in its mind to His commandments. Since, moreover, the fortress of his soul was safely fortified by self-control, fasting, and vigils, it was entirely inaccessible to external distractions. Therefore, Joseph was a wonder to those who saw him; every other example was neglected, and there was no one who would turn their eyes to any other person to imitate, except to Joseph alone. For when he was seen, an image of virtue was also seen, and while he spoke, he emitted a voice sweeter than honey, and in comparison with his exhortations, any other book was held for little. For what was there in him that was not sweet and delightful? Was there a need to explain the deep obscurity of the Holy Scriptures? By the sweetness of his rhythm, he veiled the mythical Sirens; if he proposed a moral discourse, he calmed the passions along with his words. Graces were seated upon his mouth; the springs first stood flowing with streams, rather than his mouth overflowing with dogmas.

^A 13. Being such, and shining with such charisms of heavenly gifts, he did not greedily covet the rank of priesthood, nor pursue the dignity of the Spirit, nor steal away the honor that draws near to God before the time; but he was pursued by the rank, forcibly and unwillingly, and having been urged by all the brotherhood, and furthermore having accepted the request which the bishop of the city made, he was ordained presbyter. And it was possible then to see that form of virtue which did not admit of any intensification, to the extent that Joseph applied himself, stretching out and expanding, and competing even while in the flesh to dwell with the heavenly choir, that most noble man. For at that time his tear, flowing ceaselessly, imitated the channels of the rivers; at that time his knee, throughout the whole course of the night, as the discourse has already explained, being bent, had been transformed into the nature of stone; and his chest, frequently struck against the stone, had become calloused—yet the other [parts] were also affected; and having pained even the muscles around his chest, it did not allow his voice to issue forth unimpeded. Thus did the great man hold himself lovingly toward virtue, and so little did he care for his flesh, that he appeared completely loosed and free from it. ^B He was wholly fixed with the keenness of his mind upon God, for whom, together with Paul, he desired to be dissolved from the bond of the body, and to be joined to his Beloved and Lover.

14. Wherefore, since God also wished to reward him with the good things here (for it is good, indeed the best of all goods, to find someone running in the stadium of virtue who is like oneself, and to increase the course of the same virtue by the example of the other set before him), the divine Gregory arrived in the city of the Thessalonians—he who was so minded, great in his life, and renowned for his miracles, the boast of the Decapolitans, or rather the ornament of all cities; and when he had put in at the monastery ^C in which this noble athlete, the great Joseph, I say, was most strenuously battling against the invisible foes, seeing his stable and constant character, and recognizing the disposition of his soul from the divine grace and beauty shining forth upon his face (for the souls of the saints are quick and ready to recognize the dispositions of those who have the same zeal for virtue as they do, and as it were to revere them), he contracted a familiarity with him, and was joined to him both bodily and mentally, and did not wish to be separated from him; for by nature the like is naturally joined to the like. But the matter called him, and the divine Gregory was about to leave the Thessalonians; yet he postponed his journey, being hampered, as one might say, by his affection for the divine Joseph. Therefore, wishing for some necessities to travel to the queen of cities, but not ^D bearing even for a little while the separation from his fellow-zealot, he approached the head of the monastery, and set every stone in motion, and having offered countless pleas, he obtained Joseph as his travel companion; for he had already learned to yield and submit to Gregory on account of the preeminence of his virtue.

^A 15. When they arrived at Constantinople, they spent a short time in the temple of the glorious martyrs Sergius and Bacchus. There it was possible to see the holy Joseph, as a novice and recruit in virtue, rendering exact obedience to Gregory in all things and beginning every form of religious exercise from the start. For he considered as nothing the things he had already accomplished, but stretched himself toward those which lay ahead, simultaneously confirming what he had previously performed well through an extremely exact conformation to him—I mean the great Gregory—and, as if he were just beginning a life of beautiful and insatiable exercise, he proceeded to the contests with fresh zeal, imitating in his body the life of the incorporeal beings. He refused to delight in any physical things, but took pleasure only in invisible beauty. The sky was his roof, and instead of any sweet bed, he had the ground that was his companion and friend, whenever he wished to let his body—that fellow-worker of his toward virtue—rest. In this way, also having the divine Gregory as a mirror before his eyes, he arranged in his heart day by day the ascensions toward the life he saw him leading, modeling and conforming himself to his life. ^{B C} 16. Not much time passed—and (such are the judgments of God!) Leo the beastly, who had seized the scepter of the empire from Armenia, began to disturb the whole Church, and having long been hostile to the all-holy images, he stirred up the most violent war against them that had ever been waged. The ranks of the Christ-loving citizens, not persuaded by his will, were scattered, fleeing to various regions, some here and others there. Some fled to the Bosphorus, others sailed straight for Sicily, and others eventually fled to the mountain peaks to escape the swinish appetites of that singular, most savage beast. But not so did the noble champion and worshipper of the sacred images, Gregory, act. Instead, putting on the divine breastplate of faith, he went around the city on every side, preaching in the streets, teaching in the narrow lanes, and demonstrating boldness in the squares, telling the people not to obey the people-deceiving king, nor to give their ear even for a moment to his absurdities. And his words were like morning dew dripping into the hearts of the pious, a spiritual and saving remedy. ^D Therefore, the multitude of ascetics who were dwelling in the great city gathered together and brought a common petition to Gregory, resolving to send him as a legate (inasmuch as he was effective in speech and steadfast in labors) to Old Rome, so that he might signify to the pope and to those there the evils currently oppressing the city, so that...

support might come to the Church of God. For you see, they said, O Father, how our affairs have been turned into an Iliad of woes, and how the great flock of Christ is endangered, because there is no one to defend it. ^A

17. The great Gregory accepts the request, or rather, having sought it more than having been requested, he quickly concludes the discourse; and summoning the divine Joseph, "Now," he said, "my son, it is time to demonstrate your great eloquence, and to prove the increase of your love for God according to your strength." He, having always learned to be submissive, bows his head humbly, and without taking even the least of his necessary belongings, he boarded a ship and set sail for Rome. But it turned out that this was not the will of God, who often arranges wondrous things through adverse circumstances. What, then, happens, and what comes to pass? Barbaric pirate triremes arrived and seized all the vessels, and indeed that one also in which the great Joseph was being carried. He is therefore led captive into Crete; where, having arrived, he is cast into prison, bound with heavy chains. ^B But he rejoiced and exulted in his bonds to such a degree that he brought the sweetest consolation to the other prisoners, who were suffering from the evils that had befallen them and were afflicted by pains.

18. For bonds endured for Christ are sweet, even if for a time they bring sadness and anguish. Let us give thanks, he was saying, having before our eyes the example of the great Paul, who was adorned with an iron chain around his neck as if it were a necklace, and he rejoiced that he had been counted worthy to be scourged for the name of Christ. Moreover, Christ himself, the Lord of Paul, when he was reviled, did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to him who judges righteously, as the leader of the apostles, the great Peter, says. ^C But to some, because of the great weakness of the senses, the torments inflicted on the body seem harsh and painful. And how else is it possible to bear the yoke of Christ, unless someone passes through all the ages and powers blamelessly, becoming all things that he became for our sake—he who was God, and had power concurrent and joined with his will—and could have procured our salvation—ungrateful as we were—in another way? Yet, by inscribing what is laborious in virtue (through which the gates of heaven, previously closed to those who are being saved, are opened) through a life full of toils, as God and Lord he demonstrated salvation to all. ^D We must, therefore, face dangers for the sake of the theandric image of Christ and of his immaculate and most pure Mother, so that, by struggling even to the point of blood against the ruler of this age, we might find grace, as the holy Oracles say, for timely help. By these and countless other such sayings he encouraged those imprisoned for Christ, through whom, perhaps, being sent toward another destination, he reached Crete according to the ineffable plan of God, so that both the whole island and the mainland might know the life of the blessed man, and along with his life

^A his most eminent virtue and learning. This was brought to pass, with the Holy Spirit directing and governing him.

19. In that place he also found a certain man honored with the rank of the episcopacy, who, as he suffered according to the common lot of human nature and was tossed about by alternating and varied thoughts, was not far from the danger of turning his back upon those who hated God and insulted His image. Joseph took him up with his words, supported him with examples, and made him ready to die for the image of Christ; although He who knew the weakness of his soul did not permit him to be tempted beyond his strength. For, a little later, the divine Joseph having been transferred to the parts beyond, such an anchor did he reveal himself to be to that bishop, who was in danger during the wintertime of alternating thoughts. And when he happened suddenly upon another, a layman, who because he could not bear the sorrows arising from his calamity had agreed to betray the whole mystery of the ineffable ^B economy, and furthermore to trample underfoot the God-bearing image of Christ—what did he not say, among those things known to soften even stony hearts? What tears did he not shed from his eyes? Embracing him with submissive hands and pressing kisses upon his neck, he endeavored to move him from his resolve and to persuade him to lay down his life for Christ. And this indeed he accomplished, and how, I shall now narrate.

20. It was evening when he placed these marvelous exhortations in the heart of that man, but at daybreak a barbarian cohort arrived at the prison, bringing with them nose-pliers and squeezing instruments, and they asked the man if he had relaxed his resolve, if he had changed at all, or if he still persisted in the things judged but a little while before, denying Christ. But he, ^C shrinking from nothing at all, nor hesitating, but tearing his tunic and being laid bare, said, "I am ready, if it were possible, to die a thousand thousand times for the great God and Savior." Having said these things and adding nothing else, he cast himself into the hands of the torturers. Then, at the command of him who resided there in authority, he was hung upon the wood, and his whole body became mangled; whence his eyes flowed forth and his inward parts were poured out like water, to speak with David, and his whole interior composition was dissolved. And yet the soul of that noble man was still held in his body, and his tongue, weary from the toils and the excessive pains, still proclaimed Christ. But when those profane and inhuman satellites could not bear to look upon him in such a miserable state, as it seemed to them, they pierced him from every side, and lifting a great and massive stone, they let it drop upon his head; it was immediately shattered into pieces, and that strong and invincible soul winged its way to God.

^D 21. These were the secondary tasks performed by the champion of Christ, Joseph; for while in Crete, this noble fighter for Christ accomplished...

the labors of his journey through that region. While he was held captive, he consecrated such a victim to God, who was thus disposing of his affairs, and having successfully attained his vow, he satisfied his spirit, which was a friend to honor. For although he was in exile and in prison, he nevertheless always possessed a tongue free to proclaim piety and religion. He was oppressed by hardships, and he sent martyrs to God; he was burdened by chains, and he delivered many from the hands of the Tartarean assassin. ^A

22. But let us explain what his return to the imperial city was like. It was the night on which the Church is accustomed to celebrate the Nativity of Christ. Joseph, however, though his feet were bound in fetters and his neck weighed down by chains, spent that whole night in singing divine praises to Him who, for our sake, became ineffably similar to us; and he extended his sacred hymns until the cock's crow. ^B And behold, someone suddenly appeared before him [in a vision?], white-haired, clad in priestly vestments, bearing a grace that shone forth from his face, and he addressed him thus: "Having recently departed from the Myrene city of Lycia, I have come to you and to your charity, driven most swiftly by the haste of God, for whom you labor and struggle. I bring you welcome and festive news: he who harassed the Church of God and attempted to tear apart the sheep of Christ, has been deprived of his authority and, as an execrable and detestable person, has been reserved for future judgments until the day of revelation, as Paul says. ^C But it behooves you to reach the imperial city, that you may strengthen many with the grace granted to you by the Holy Spirit. But first, take this scroll and eat it." He seemed to have in his right hand a small book. Joseph was delighted by the elegance of its writing; and he read what was written therein inwardly in the throat of his soul most sweetly. These were the words written in that book: "Hasten as merciful, and hurry as the compassionate one, to our aid, for you can if you will." And when, at the command of that divine man, he had sung these words with the highest sweetness and pleasantness, he saw himself released from his fetters: the chains, indeed, with which his neck had been bound, were lying before his feet, and he heard Him saying: "Follow me." And, O miracle! O speed of aid! O ineffable and admirable wonders of God! He seemed invisibly to cut through the untouched air, ^D and, swift as the East Wind, to direct his course toward the greatest of all cities. With such wings God knows how to lead successfully those who make their heart fly toward Him.

23. Truly, the miracle urged Joseph to sing hymns to God, but what happened next urged him to lamentations and tears. For he had not yet been seen by all those who loved and longed for him, when he heard that divine Gregory, the common consolation of all, who was celebrated by the mouths of the true Churches and was the living...

example of virtues, overcome by many labors and worn out by countless afflictions, had emigrated to God, whom he desired. ^A Receiving this as the material for his lamentations and tears, he embraced his body with his hands; and as though he were still looking at him alive, he addressed such words to him, pouring forth rivers of tears from his eyes and watering those feet which had preached peace and good things, with which he had come: "How shall I be able to endure, O Father," he said, "to remain thus orphaned without you? By what plan shall I stay far from you in this earthly region? Who will soothe the anxieties of my heart with such sweet discourse? To whom shall I ever again expose the tempest of my thoughts, so that I might find Christ, who might threaten this turbulent sea of mortal life and say, ‘Be still, and be calm’? Why did you not send me ahead to your Lord, so that I might be able, through your hands, to breathe, and by means of your consolation escape the cruel hands of the most wicked demons who are stationed in the aerial region and act as taxgatherers? ^B Nevertheless, since you have run ahead, you who are noble in soul and tireless in labors, strengthen the weakness of my soul and, by your frequent intercessions, dispose me night and day toward the accomplishment of God’s will; so that, being humbled under His mighty hand, through such prayers as you pour forth - most brightly and without any intermediary - to the most blessed Trinity, I may traverse the sea of this life without offense and, having arrived at your harbor, may look upon you forever in an inseparable union."

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had received as his lot the relics of the great apostle Bartholomew, he determined to build a temple for him as well, which would gush forth grace through many miracles. And he would frequently see the aforementioned apostle in his dreams, revealing to him the mysteries of the life to come and explaining all the enigmas and complex questions of the Holy Scriptures. Once, when he wished to hymn him with odes and canticles, he was held back from his zeal, saying in his heart: "Perhaps this intent of mine is not according to the will of the Apostle." And so, for forty days, this Moses of our own day afflicted his flesh with fasts and vigils so that he might receive the tablets of divine melodies; and having gathered his whole mind into one, and having closed his senses completely, he clung ^B affectionately and reverently to the Apostle’s relics and was deemed worthy of an ineffable vision. For before the day of the great apostle's commemoration, he saw a certain man, dressed in a linen garment—such as it is customary for those in Palestine to wear—standing before the holy doors of the temple and calling Joseph to himself. Then that man who had appeared, pulling back the holy veil of the table ^C from the other side, took the casket of the evangelical sayings of Christ and placed it upon his breast, adding these words: "May the hand of God bless you, and may seas of dogma circle your tongue, and may the Holy Spirit dwell in your heart, and may your melodies charm the whole world around. And let anyone who delights and enjoys these call them spiritual Sirens, on account of the grace of the inventions and arguments, and on account of the diction, which flows in every direction with a most sweet humor, like perfumes." He spoke, and that which had been seen vanished; but the word that had been spoken, once inserted and sown into the furrows of his heart, had brought forth a rich harvest of grain.

26. This was the first-fruits of the charism; this was the wealth of the great gift; this was the great and most precious offering of gratitude. Indeed, when he began to write the rhythmic melodies, he charmed the hearing with the clarity and sonority of his voice, while he ^D bewitched those who—

^A were languid, stirring them to seek their own delight by means of the clarity of his message. From this, even those straining toward virtue have perceived the very habit of virtue. And those who are in sorrow, taking these up, put to sleep the despondency and biting pain of their souls; those who are in high spirits, by another path, transitioned to tears of delight. As for those who write—for, having bid farewell to other labors, they have gathered, or rather are still gathering, a great profit from the divine Joseph’s compositions—all tongues, according to their tribes and the properties of their own dialects, as they set the exercises into practice, illuminate the entire night with them. And they turn its darkness, which draws one toward sleep, into solar outpourings of light by means of frequent lamps being lit; and, having bid sleep farewell, they adorn themselves with the songs, so that they are decorated with the canticles of this holy man.

27. Is there someone unbending and relentless and inept at shedding tears? ^C By reading and singing assiduously the sweetest melodies written by him for the Virgin and Mother of God, who ineffably conceived the Word, he will pour out seas of tears from his full eyes and, melted in mind, will enjoy the immaterial sense of the spiritual delights of compunction. These melodies are six hundred in number, which, composed of various modulations and intervals of sound, and with differences in intricate rhythms, distribute in a certain way the sweetness and scent of fragrance. Does someone wish to learn the life of the saint who is honored by the Church of God on the current day? Let him take up and read his most pleasing canticles, and in each one of those things which are sung, let him recognize the pattern of the saint's life. And truly the life of every one of the saints who is honored by him is brought to light and placed before the eyes. He himself, however, appears honored among all, and in the lives of others he is himself praised on account of the clarity and symmetry of his sweetest melody. Let some, then, glorify the life of the blessed one, and others the eminence of his knowledge; but let all equally, and through all things, glorify the grace of the Spirit ^D which is so poured out upon him that his sound has gone out into all the earth, and his God-resonant words of melody into the ends of all the world. For what need is there to speak further of others—how many he drew out of the abyss of unbelief and directed toward the knowledge of the holy Trinity; how many he persuaded to bid farewell to the world and the things in the world, and to embrace the solitary life; how many women he taught to preserve their virginity, that they might have their lamps burning continually and might go in with the Bridegroom Christ, as soon as the cry was raised in the middle of the night?

^A 28. But he is again driven into exile, as Satan, the deceiver, wagged his tail and stirred up the most wicked emperor of that time. For he who seeks to sift the faithful like wheat cannot be still, but he moves and agitates in every way those souls who incline toward him. Wherefore, war is again fanned against the Church, which is unshakable from every side, and the holy images of Christ and His saints are again cast out. When our magnanimous one, with all his might, was teaching the people to honor them and was proclaiming the dogmas of the catholic and orthodox faith, not in private or in a house, but in the squares with boldness, he was driven out of the city and into exile, where he was in great straits—though he himself, by his own disposition, willingly underwent even greater straits and afflictions. But not long after, when the evil ceased and the storm subsided, and the reins of empire were granted by God to orthodox emperors, he was again recalled in accordance with the will of God. But he did not obey, for in his exile he was tasting the sweetness of paradise for Christ’s sake.

29. But since they pressed him hard, as if an army were brought against him, and he had no power to resist—especially because he followed his fellow citizens with great love—he obeyed the frequent entreaties of the rulers. Finally, having abandoned the place of his exile, he set out for the city of Byzantium. And nevertheless, ^B since he refused to enjoy the delights of other honors, they persuaded him with difficulty to take charge of ecclesiastical affairs and to receive the sacred treasures of the Church into his keeping. And perhaps he would not have obeyed the princes, nor would he have accepted that ministry, had it not been for the divine Ignatius—a man adorned with very great virtue and burning with the most fervent zeal for Christ, who had recently accepted the helm of the patriarchate entrusted to him. This man, admiring the most excellent virtue of our Joseph, was eager to have him as a partner in his labors and a helper in necessary matters; and having found in the aforementioned ministry a pretext, he easily obtained what he desired. He would therefore engage in frequent conversations and discourses with him, and would learn from him those things of which he was ignorant. Furthermore, it was nothing new if any of the ineffable mysteries of divine Scripture were unknown to that man, ^C but to this great Father, both because of his great study and his eminent purity, they were known, and he would explain them with great sweetness and pleasantness—a gift which is among those commended by the great Apostle, and which seems to stand in need of no other gift.

30. But when even this great high priest was worn out by old age and weighed down by labors of all kinds, he departed to God. Succeeding him in the throne of the high priesthood was Photius, who held the primacy in the public councils in the rendering of his opinion, and on account of the copiousness of his speech [and his eloquence]...

and his fitness for composing and ordering affairs, from which he was allotted the beginning of the priesthood—not to mention everything concerning this man, nor to stray from my intended discourse into slanders on account of the matter—nevertheless, this man also held the great Father Joseph in equal honor, and kept him hidden in the center of his heart, calling him a man of God, ^A and attending to him as an angel, so far as it was lawful. Hence he entrusted to him the whole care of ecclesiastical matters, and called him Father of Fathers, and exhorted those who were worthy of the first ranks of the Church to entrust their thoughts to him; which indeed everyone performed, even before the recommendation of the patriarch.

For he was, according to the Song of Songs, utterly prudent in capturing the little foxes of sins, and in putting to death the sinners of the intelligible earth, as the divine David says, and indeed also to sustain and confirm the soul, and to raise up that which is rolling down toward carnal appetites like a ball—as if on a downward slope—and to make it elevated; but also to persuade one who lives in undisturbed leisure, and who is enlightened by the contemplations of the holy Trinity, not to slacken the divine wing, nor to be caught up in pride because of the snares in such contemplations (by which the trap-setter ^B leads many through the passion of conceit down into the pit of destruction), teaching him how the soul is established, and how the seeds of knowledge naturally scattered within us are in every way transmuted and increased according to the temperament and property to which each is naturally inclined, so that he may there stay his step, and rest.

31. And why should I not mention greater and more perfect things? This noble man used to gaze upon the eyes, and from that look alone, he would mystically prefigure by what passion each person was held; simultaneously, he would decline glory, lest someone perhaps should be esteemed above the many—he who was thought by all to be an angel—and lest he should shame the one who was sinning, and for that reason make him more prone to sin; for that which is for the time being hidden ^C is wont to be regarded as a work of shame, but that which has fallen into the ears of many is held to be contemptible by him who commits the sin.

32. But because it was necessary for him also, being a man and clothed in the body of humiliation—or rather, in the earthen vessel of the body, carrying about the great pearl of virtue—to depart to God, and to be immediately adorned by the unceasing brightness of divine contemplations, and to gather the reward for many sweats, he began to be slightly ill. By divine revelation, however, he learned of his departure, as an angel spoke to him in his sleep. The season ^D of the fasts, therefore, had passed, and...

the great and venerable Great Friday of the saving Passion was near ^A, when he took up the document in which all the possessions of the flock were recorded, and taking with him his disciple Theophanes, he entrusted both to the Patriarch Photius, without declaring anything further in words. Photius, however, was tossed about on every side by various thoughts, and pondered in his mind what this might mean, something he was not to understand for very long. For the signs preceding death (a most burning fever, in fact) were, in place of any voice, portending the end of this great man.

33. And for him, the pain was an occasion for thanksgiving, and he said: "I bless you, O God, because I have been guarded under your intellectual wings; but keep me also until the departure of my spirit, and grant that I may pass through the dark air and the phantoms that dwell in the air without error or deception, lest the enemy rejoice over me because of the negligences committed in my life. Govern also your flock, O Word of God, and with your omnipotent right hand direct them unto the end of the age; bless the children of the Church; grant a stable tranquility to your Churches; adorn the royal priesthood with your graces; humble Belial under the feet of those who love you; expel every heresy from the Church like a deadly gangrene; and grant to my most wretched soul that it may be separated from this body without any fear. I know, O Lord, that your most immaculate Spirit has not rested in me because of the stains impressed upon my soul. But do you, because of your surpassing kindness, overlook my iniquities, and number me among the lot of the firstborn who are written in heaven." Having said these things, he blessed those who were present, and offered prayers for prosperous and happy things for those who were absent as well, and then, having received the immaculate sacraments, he gradually raised his hands toward heaven, as a friend of the lover of all, and with a joyful and smiling countenance, he commended his most pure spirit into the most immaculate hands of God. ^{B C}

34. At the same time, the swarms of monks gathering from every quarter were crowding the place with their assembly, and an innumerable multitude came together, composed of those for whom he had in every way cared. One was lamenting for his father, another for his foster-father, another for the diligent guardian of his own soul, and another was piteously mourning the one who had been his helper in harsh and most difficult affairs. All, however, accompanied with tears him who had become all things to all men, according to the great Apostle, so that he might win all. And the funeral rites were performed, and that which was worthy of the light was hidden beneath the earth with abundant lights, while the angels were rejoicing on high and, as it were, celebrating with their fellow-citizen and companion, and all who were below were groaning because he had always been most humane toward everyone. But the demons were shuddering at the ascent of his divine soul, and in the meantime, they were leaving the aerial regions and fleeing far away. And some who were returning from a long journey just then toward the place that had brought them forth, perceived an aerial wailing, perhaps of the evil ones mourning, because they could not endure the ascent

indeed, the entire air, and even the earth itself, was being sanctified by the deposition of his body.

^A 35. There was a certain man, a familiar of the saint, who adorned his discourse with his life and decorated his life with his discourse, and who was very much like him. At the moment when that blessed soul was departing, being far off, he heard a voice calling him: "Come out, and see miracles and divine mysteries." Having been awakened by the familiar voice—as it seemed to him—he went out and beheld a vision filled with both fear and joy. For the whole expanse of the heavens seemed to be rent asunder, and from that blessed bosom the ranks of the saints were seen coming forth, not all in the same manner. First, the highest of the apostles came forward with their whole assembly; after them appeared the martyrs following; next the prophets and the cohorts of those who had lived holy lives, and the most holy college of those who had been distinguished for sanctity and the high priesthood. The aforementioned man was watching what was happening, and he was completely filled with astonishment; but he could not grasp the wondrous spectacle that was taking place, and therefore he was perplexed within himself, saying, "Whatever is this that I see?" And then he seemed to hear that same voice again, saying to him, "Be sober, O man; behold, what you see is manifest. Listen to these things." And he saw four young men in number, who had wings upon their shoulders, holding in their midst—like a maiden ^B just recently having been born, radiating beauty and sweetness—and they were instructing those choirs of saints, saying: "Receive with you this blessed soul, which has sung to you many melodies, having also imitated your life." And he saw them all embracing her with great joy, with the Mother of God leading the way.

36. Indeed, the man was again in doubt: "Who is this, then, who enjoys such great glory and honor beyond description?" And he heard the angels who were carrying her saying to him with a clear voice: "This is Joseph, Joseph the beauty and ornament of the Churches, who in his own life most excellently imitated the life of the apostles and martyrs, and furthermore honored them all through the grace granted to him by the Holy Spirit. Having woven divine songs worthy of their wisdom and knowledge in their praise, he is now in turn honored by them; thus God has ordained this encounter at his first entry into heaven, so that no one of the saints who have existed from the ages might be absent, but that all might run together to perform the welcome for this noble zealot and imitator, and lead him to the ascent into the heavens." But look further, even to things more wonderful than these. As they said this, the whole heaven was emptied and depleted, and all the ranks of the heavenly powers went forth, and with great honor and reverence they received him. And the man who had been deemed worthy of this vision was no longer able to gaze upon what followed, being drenched on all sides by a fine sweat from great agitation

are these things? The admission and approach to the holy Trinity to worship it; standing with the angels before it; and the ineffable knowledge of it poured into him without an intermediary, on account of a communion without any veil.

^B 57. Nor indeed should any of this seem new, if he was deemed worthy of such honor in his ascent to heaven. For he is honored by those with whom it is always right that he be honored. For he zealously described and elaborated their lives; to be numbered with the apostles as an apostle; with the martyrs as a bloodless martyr, because he intensified his labor more by the renunciation of his life and by the endurance of the martyrdom of his own conscience, rejoicing; with the holy ones as holy, having kept his holy soul pure even to the very imagination; with those who foresee the future, as not being devoid of the gift of prophecy of future things; having more than all others (if I may grant some extra grace to this blessed man), in that he himself set the soul to all the others through melodious harmony, leading encomiastic chants in an orderly fashion. And he was deservedly privileged to be ushered with honor—conceded to no other—into the heavenly bridal chamber by all of them together. Therefore he both enjoys, and enjoys in communion with them, the honor and splendor communicated to him by the most holy Trinity, before whom he stands, and delighting in the beauty which surpasses every light, he is mindful of us who honor him, and he prays assiduously for us, that we too, having crossed the sea of this life, might find anchorage in the calmest harbor.

^C 38. But, O most faithful servant of God, quell and calm the most fierce war of the flesh within us, and obtain for us through your intercessions to God, that our mind be kept always immune from every perturbation of phantasms; for you possess great confidence and freedom, inasmuch as you laid down your blessed soul for his holy image, and honored his holy ones with your holy labors, with whom you intercede for us, who always ask to have you as a protector and guardian; and you irrigate our mind with splendor, informing it spiritually toward the mystical melody of the Spirit, ^D so that the outward song may be joined to the inward, and it may praise the most blessed God with sweetest song according to the hidden and intellectual music and modulation—in this place of sojourning figuratively and typically, but in the life to come intellectually and arcanely in Christ himself, who honored you and glorified you in the ages. Amen.

MARIALE OF SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER, SICILIAN, SYRACUSAN, OF THE ORDER OF SAINT BASIL, MONK

MARIALE Containing all the works of the same Saint Joseph concerning the most august Queen of heaven and earth, the Virgin Mother of God, which could be found, collected from Greek manuscript codices, rendered into Latin, and illustrated with notes, now published for the first time by the study and labor of Father Hippolytus Marraccius of Lucca, of the Congregation of Clerics Regular of the Mother of God. (Rome, by the press of Ignatius de Lazaris, 1661.)

TO THE EMINENT PRINCE, BENEDICT ODESCALCHI, CARDINAL OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, HIPPOLYTUS MARRACCIUS OFFERS FELICITATIONS.

S. Joseph the Hymnographer, a most illustrious luminary of the Greek Church—his *Mariale*, in which all the works of the same Saint Joseph concerning the most august Queen of heaven and earth, the Virgin Mother of God, which could be found, collected from Greek manuscript codices, rendered into Latin, and illustrated with notes, are contained—being about to lead forth into the public light of the world and into splendor, I commend it, most eminent Prince, with all my vows and with the whole endeavor of my heart, to your care and patronage; so that it, being sufficiently luminous in itself, might, illustrated by the most radiant brightness of your name and protection, serve the utility of the Christian commonwealth more worthily and more nobly. I do not offer you a vile and thin little work of my own wit, unworthy of the majesty of your purple and the height of your dignity; but a work altogether exquisite, and a monument of venerable antiquity, truly outstanding, which, emerging into the open from the hiding-places in which it has lain buried in deep oblivion for seven centuries and more, will, under the auspices of your most secure patronage and most famous name, assert itself into the light not unworthily. ^B Even if the dignity and merit of the offerer be lacking to it, it is a work of Joseph the Hymnographer who, not only by the kings of the earth but by the citizens of heaven, was honored in a wondrous way: indeed, since he was deemed worthy of an embrace by the most august Mother of God herself, out of her most indulgent piety, who, however great he may be, can consider it inglorious to bestow, by the authority of his own name and dignity, the grace of his protection and the favor of his patronage upon the work of such a man as it goes forth into the public light? Furthermore, it is a work concerning the Virgin Mother of God, who, since she is the Mother of the most high God and the Lady of all creatures, who—even if shining with exceptional dignity—would not judge it to be reposited in the sum of happiness and the greatest part of beatitude to be able to bestow some kind of patronage upon the things which pertain to her and which touch upon her worship and honor? Especially when it is altogether certain that whatever is bestowed upon his own Mother pertains to the glory of the most high God: and that the most august Parent of the God-man reciprocally compensates the patronage shown to her with the munificent exhibition of her own patronage. ^C Therefore, most eminent Prince, I do not doubt that you will most promptly and most willingly grant the grace of your suffrage and patronage to this Josephine and likewise Marian work, which I humbly offer to you; for although, as it comes from me, the lowest of mortals, it leads to an argument of your supreme kindness if you should deign only to look upon it; yet, as it is of Joseph, who is such and so great that he is most worthy of your favor and honor: and as it is concerning the Mother of God, who, through the countless graces bestowed upon you, has already drawn your whole affection to herself; she vindicates for herself your whole patronage, as if by her own right. You have happily accepted as a glorious inheritance the piety toward the Mother of God—always devoted to the Marian cult—transferred into you from your ancestors; and from the very use of reason bestowed upon you, you have embraced the most august Mother of God with so much study and benevolence that you have excelled many, even the most devoted, in her service. ^D Indeed, although in your Odescalchi family, which was born of old in the borders of the Germans and afterwards was splendidly propagated in Italy, I admire not a little the token of ancestral nobility and the brightness of an illustrious race, I admire more, however, the most devoted study and the most ardent affection of piety by which your ancestors declared themselves to be wholly addicted and emancipated to the Virgin Mother of God. But since the brevity of a dedicatory epistle must be observed, and the whole volume would not suffice if all the records of your lineage...