01 — Foundations
The origins and formation of St. Joseph of Damascus: Yusuf ibn Jirjis al-Haddad, “the smith,” born in Damascus in 1793 into the Arab Orthodox world of Ottoman Syria; his self-education, his mastery of Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew, and his labor as priest, scholar, and preacher of the Patriarchate of Antioch.
Tradition: Antiochian Orthodox (Arab New-Martyr of the Patriarchate of Antioch)
This section establishes who St. Joseph was before the day that made him a martyr. It sets him in his time and place — the Arab Orthodox community of nineteenth-century Damascus, under Ottoman rule and within a Patriarchate whose leadership was then Greek — and it traces the two things the sources most consistently record about him: that he was a self-made scholar of extraordinary learning, and that he was a preacher and priest wholly given to his people.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| yusuf-al-haddad-of-damascus.md | His name and family — “al-Haddad,” the smith; his birth in Damascus in 1793 (with the family’s Beirut origin noted); and the Arab Orthodox world of Ottoman Syria into which he was born. |
| priest-scholar-and-hymnographer.md | His self-education and learning; his ordination in 1817; his preaching in Arabic; and his catechetical, editorial, and liturgical work as a scholar-priest of the Mariamite cathedral. |
See Also
- The Antiochian Church in the 19th Century — the ecclesial and political world in which Joseph ministered
- Sources — the sources for his life and the survivals of his literary work
- St. John of Damascus — the city’s earlier great scholar-saint