Born in Sicily, to pious and virtuous parents, Plotinus and Agathia. After the death of his parents, he moved to Thessaloniki, where he became a monk. As a monk, he was an example to all in fasting, extreme abstinence, constant prayer, psalm singing, vigils and labor. The Bishop of Thessaloniki ordained him a hieromonk. The famous Gregory the Decapolis, having visited Thessaloniki, loved Joseph with all his heart and soul because of his rare character, and took him with him to his monastery in Constantinople. When the flames of the iconoclastic heresy flared up again under Leo the Armenian, this Joseph was sent to Rome to call the Pope and the Roman Church to fight for the true faith. But on the way, he was captured by pirates and taken to Crete, where heretics kept him in prison for 6 years. Joseph rejoiced that he had been deemed worthy to suffer for Christ, and he constantly thanked God for it, considering the iron chains on him as ornaments of gold. In the sixth year, on Christmas morning, the evil Emperor Leo was killed at matins in the church. At that very hour, St. Nicholas appeared to Joseph in prison and said to him: “Rise and follow me!” Joseph felt as if he had been lifted into the air; and suddenly he found himself before Constantinople. All the Orthodox rejoiced at his arrival. He sang canons and sticheras to many saints. He had the gift of clairvoyance, which is why Patriarch Photius appointed him a spiritual father and confessor to the clergy, recommending him as: “a man of God, an angel in the flesh, the father of fathers.” In old age he gave up his spirit to the Lord, whom he had faithfully served with both work and song. He died peacefully on Maundy Thursday, 883.

Holy Martyr Februta. Venerable Zosimus. Venerable Martyr Nikita. Easter Lent.