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Joseph of Arimathea: Difference between revisions
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== The Biblical account == | == The Biblical account == | ||
When [[Jesus]] dies on the cross, the Gospels suddenly introduce an individual who has never been mentioned before: Joseph of Arimathea. We are told he was a secret disciple of Jesus who lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God. He also was a prominent member of the council who did not consent to the conspiracy to cause Jesus’ death. | When [[Jesus]] dies on the cross, the [[Gospels]] suddenly introduce an individual who has never been mentioned before: Joseph of Arimathea. We are told he was a secret disciple of Jesus who lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God. He also was a prominent member of the council who did not consent to the conspiracy to cause Jesus’ death. | ||
As soon as Jesus was dead, Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. He also happened to have an empty tomb nearby the place of the [[crucifixion]]. Pilate, knowing that the crucifixion took a long time, was astonished that Jesus was already dead. Pilate sent for the centurion who was in charge of the execution. When Pilate confirmed that Jesus was dead he released the body to Joseph. | As soon as Jesus was dead, Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. He also happened to have an empty tomb nearby the place of the [[crucifixion]]. Pilate, knowing that the crucifixion took a long time, was astonished that Jesus was already dead. Pilate sent for the centurion who was in charge of the execution. When Pilate confirmed that Jesus was dead he released the body to Joseph. | ||
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When the Roman soldier Longinus pierced Jesus’ side with a [[Spear of Longinus|lance]], Joseph raised the cup and caught the sacred blood which flowed from the wound. (According to John 19:34, there flowed therefrom water and blood.) Joseph preserved the cup and its contents, and the Grail became his guardian and comforter. | When the Roman soldier Longinus pierced Jesus’ side with a [[Spear of Longinus|lance]], Joseph raised the cup and caught the sacred blood which flowed from the wound. (According to John 19:34, there flowed therefrom water and blood.) Joseph preserved the cup and its contents, and the Grail became his guardian and comforter. | ||
[[File:2009CB7500 2500.jpg|thumb|Ivory panel depicting the crucifixion of Christ (c. 860–870, France). Joseph of Arimathea is shown on the left holding up the Holy Grail to catch the blood issuing from the side of Jesus.]] | [[File:2009CB7500 2500.jpg|thumb|Ivory panel depicting the crucifixion of Christ (c. 860–870, France). Joseph of Arimathea is shown on the left holding up the Holy Grail to catch the blood issuing from the side of Jesus. This and other similar carvings show that the belief that Joseph caught the blood of Jesus can be traced back centuries before the first Grail romances.]] | ||
== Earlier sources for the Grail romances == | == Earlier sources for the Grail romances == | ||
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J. Bale’s Illustrium maioris Britanniae scriptorum summarium, published in 1548, references an earlier work similar to that of Helinandus. | J. Bale’s Illustrium maioris Britanniae scriptorum summarium, published in 1548, references an earlier work similar to that of Helinandus. | ||
<blockquote>A British hermit of unknown name, born in Wales and living there, who after the manner of the bards of that region had devoted his entire life to the study of the science of the stars and of history, assembled the notable events that had taken place in his fatherland and wrote them down with no mean labour. He wrote chiefly of the famous British King Arthur and his Round Table. He also had much to tell of [[Lancelot]], Morgan, Percival, Gauvain, Bertram and other valiant men.... The work is known in a language unknown to me. ''The Holy Grail, Book I''. I have seen fragments of the work. According to Vincent it was famous in the time of Ina, King of the West Saxons, somewhere around 720.<ref>Ibid., p. 30.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>A British hermit of unknown name, born in Wales and living there, who after the manner of the bards of that region had devoted his entire life to the study of the science of the stars and of history, assembled the notable events that had taken place in his fatherland and wrote them down with no mean labour. He wrote chiefly of the famous British King Arthur and his [[Round Table]]. He also had much to tell of [[Lancelot]], Morgan, Percival, Gauvain, Bertram and other valiant men.... The work is known in a language unknown to me. ''The Holy Grail, Book I''. I have seen fragments of the work. According to Vincent it was famous in the time of Ina, King of the West Saxons, somewhere around 720.<ref>Ibid., p. 30.</ref></blockquote> | ||
Ina, ruler of Wessex from 688 to 728, was a promoter of Christianity who united the British church with the Roman church. | Ina, ruler of Wessex from 688 to 728, was a promoter of Christianity who united the British church with the Roman church. | ||
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Although the above fragments are inconclusive, there is other evidence that the legends may have basis in fact. | Although the above fragments are inconclusive, there is other evidence that the legends may have basis in fact. | ||
[[File:Glastonbury Abbey Lady Chapel east end.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|The Lady Chapel at Glastonbury Abbey, finished in 1186. It is built on the site of the earliest wattle church at Glastonbury, said to be the burial place of the Virgin Mary. The original church was encased in boards and covered with lead in the seventh century. A stone church was later built enclosing the structure, but all of this was destroyed in the fire of 1184.]] | |||
== Local traditions connecting Joseph of Arimathea with Glastonbury == | == Local traditions connecting Joseph of Arimathea with Glastonbury == | ||
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Tradition says the weary pilgrims were welcomed to Glastonbury by King Arviragus, a first-century king of the Silurian dynasty in Britain. They began building huts for themselves on the island to which Arviragus gave them title. | Tradition says the weary pilgrims were welcomed to Glastonbury by King Arviragus, a first-century king of the Silurian dynasty in Britain. They began building huts for themselves on the island to which Arviragus gave them title. | ||
According to Hardyng’s ''Chronicle'' (a fifteenth-century document based on a much earlier work), Arviragus granted “twelve hides” of land—somewhere around 1,900 acres—tax-free to Joseph and his company in a place called Yniswitrin, a marshy tract later called the Isle of Avalon.<ref>Ibid., | According to Hardyng’s ''Chronicle'' (a fifteenth-century document based on a much earlier work), Arviragus granted “twelve hides” of land—somewhere around 1,900 acres—tax-free to Joseph and his company in a place called Yniswitrin, a marshy tract later called the Isle of Avalon.<ref>Ibid., pp. 39, 41.</ref> | ||
Partial confirmation of this royal charter was found in the official ''Domesday Book'', the record of a massive economic survey made for tax purposes by order of William the Conqueror in 1086. It says: | Partial confirmation of this royal charter was found in the official ''Domesday Book'', the record of a massive economic survey made for tax purposes by order of William the Conqueror in 1086. It says: | ||
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They say that he had been to England many times before on business—that he was a tin merchant. The tradition is strongest in Cornwall, a mining county in the extreme southwest of England. It lingers also in the Mendip Hills not far from Glastonbury, in Gloucester, and in the West of Ireland. | They say that he had been to England many times before on business—that he was a tin merchant. The tradition is strongest in Cornwall, a mining county in the extreme southwest of England. It lingers also in the Mendip Hills not far from Glastonbury, in Gloucester, and in the West of Ireland. | ||
[[File:Glastonbury Tor 3.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Much of the valley around modern-day Glastonbury would have been under water when Joseph and his band sailed up the river Brue. Glastonbury Tor was a landmark rising up from the marshy ground and visible for many miles. Crowning the Tor, a tower is all that remains of a fourteenth-century chapel dedicated to St. Michael.]] | |||
== Connection with the tin trade == | == Connection with the tin trade == | ||
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<blockquote>They that inhabit the British promontory of Belerium, by reason of their converse with merchants, are more civilized and courteous to strangers than the rest are. These are the people that make the tin, which with a great deal of care and labour they dig out of the ground; and that being rocky, the metal is mixed with some veins of earth, out of which they melt the metal, and then refine it; then they beat it into four-square pieces like to a dye, and carry it to a British isle near at hand, called Ictis.<ref>G. Booth, trans., ''The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian'', vol. 1 (London: J. Davis, 1814), pp. 310–11.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>They that inhabit the British promontory of Belerium, by reason of their converse with merchants, are more civilized and courteous to strangers than the rest are. These are the people that make the tin, which with a great deal of care and labour they dig out of the ground; and that being rocky, the metal is mixed with some veins of earth, out of which they melt the metal, and then refine it; then they beat it into four-square pieces like to a dye, and carry it to a British isle near at hand, called Ictis.<ref>G. Booth, trans., ''The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian'', vol. 1 (London: J. Davis, 1814), pp. 310–11.</ref></blockquote> | ||
From Diodorus’ description, the island of Ictis is almost certainly St. Michael’s Mount, an island near Land’s End in Cornwall. | From Diodorus’ description, the island of Ictis is almost certainly St. Michael’s Mount, an island near Land’s End in Cornwall. He continues: | ||
<blockquote>The merchants transport the tin they buy of the inhabitants to France; and for thirty days journey, they transport it on horses’ backs through France, to the mouth of the river Rhone.<ref>Ibid., p. 311.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>The merchants transport the tin they buy of the inhabitants to France; and for thirty days journey, they transport it on horses’ backs through France, to the mouth of the river Rhone.<ref>Ibid., p. 311.</ref></blockquote> | ||
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The traditions of Joseph in Cornwall and the mining districts do not point to any permanent resting place. The weight of evidence says his ministry was in Glastonbury, site of an ancient Christian abbey, home of Grail legends and, incidentally, only twelve miles from the site some archaeologists favor as Arthur’s castle—Cadbury. | The traditions of Joseph in Cornwall and the mining districts do not point to any permanent resting place. The weight of evidence says his ministry was in Glastonbury, site of an ancient Christian abbey, home of Grail legends and, incidentally, only twelve miles from the site some archaeologists favor as Arthur’s castle—Cadbury. | ||
[[File:Glastonbury Lake Village langing stage by Forestier 1911.jpg|thumb|upright=1. | [[File:Glastonbury Lake Village langing stage by Forestier 1911.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Artist’s reconstruction of Glastonbury Lake Village, which flourished from about 50 <small>B</small>.<small>C</small>. to about <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 80.]] | ||
== The first settlements at Glastonbury == | == The first settlements at Glastonbury == | ||
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<blockquote>In the upshot I see no reason to doubt that by 1190 a Celtic Joseph legend, preserved in Wales, had returned to the Abbey, and that this was the common source for [Grail romancer] Robert de Borron and the ''De Antiquitate interpolator''.<ref>Ashe, ''Quest for Arthur’s Britain''.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>In the upshot I see no reason to doubt that by 1190 a Celtic Joseph legend, preserved in Wales, had returned to the Abbey, and that this was the common source for [Grail romancer] Robert de Borron and the ''De Antiquitate interpolator''.<ref>Ashe, ''Quest for Arthur’s Britain''.</ref></blockquote> | ||
If the passage about Joseph is indeed a forgery, a more reliable passage admits the early Christian settlement of Glastonbury, but leaves the settlers unnamed. William of Malmesbury wrote that “there are also letters worthy of belief to be found at St. Edmund’s to this effect: ‘the hands of other men did not make the church at Glastonbury, but the very disciples of Christ, namely those sent by St. Philip the apostle, built it.’” | If the passage about Joseph is indeed a forgery, a more reliable passage admits the early Christian settlement of Glastonbury, but leaves the settlers unnamed. William of Malmesbury wrote that “there are also letters worthy of belief to be found at St. Edmund’s to this effect: ‘the hands of other men did not make the church at Glastonbury, but the very disciples of Christ, namely those sent by St. Philip the apostle, built it.’”<ref>Scott, ''The Early History of Glastonbury''.</ref> | ||
[[File:101004M-medres.jpg|thumb|Joseph and the boy Jesus sail up the Brue River to Glastonbury, from the banner of the parish church of Pilton, 6 miles east of Glastonbury.]] | |||
== Jesus in Britain == | == Jesus in Britain == | ||
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The first of these is found in Cornwall. In his ''Book of Cornwall'', Baring-Gould reports a “Cornish story ... to the effect that Joseph of Arimathea came in a boat to Cornwall, and brought the Child Jesus with him, and the latter taught him how to extract the tin and purge it of its [ore] wolfram[ite].... When the tin is flashed then the tinner shouts, ‘Joseph was in the tin trade.’”<ref>S. Baring-Gould, ''Book of Cornwall'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1899, 1906), p. 57.</ref> | The first of these is found in Cornwall. In his ''Book of Cornwall'', Baring-Gould reports a “Cornish story ... to the effect that Joseph of Arimathea came in a boat to Cornwall, and brought the Child Jesus with him, and the latter taught him how to extract the tin and purge it of its [ore] wolfram[ite].... When the tin is flashed then the tinner shouts, ‘Joseph was in the tin trade.’”<ref>S. Baring-Gould, ''Book of Cornwall'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1899, 1906), p. 57.</ref> | ||
The second is a Somerset County tradition describing how Jesus and Joseph came to Summerland on a ship from Tarshish and stayed in Paradise (a place name for areas around Burnham and Glastonbury).<ref>Dobson, ''Did Our Lord Visit Britain As They Say in Cornwall and Somerset?''</ref> | The second is a Somerset County tradition describing how Jesus and Joseph came to Summerland on a ship from Tarshish and stayed in Paradise (a place name for areas around Burnham and Glastonbury).<ref>Dobson, ''Did Our Lord Visit Britain As They Say in Cornwall and Somerset?'' p. 26.</ref> | ||
The third says that Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea stayed in the mining village of Priddy, north of Glastonbury, in the Mendip Hills of Somerset County. An old saying there is: “As sure as Our Lord was at Priddy...”<ref>Ibid.</ref> | The third says that Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea stayed in the mining village of Priddy, north of Glastonbury, in the Mendip Hills of Somerset County. An old saying there is: “As sure as Our Lord was at Priddy...”<ref>Ibid., pp. 5, 26.</ref> | ||
The fourth tradition places Jesus and Joseph in Glastonbury. | The fourth tradition places Jesus and Joseph in Glastonbury. | ||
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Summarizing the beliefs, Dobson says: | Summarizing the beliefs, Dobson says: | ||
<blockquote>[Joseph] gained his wealth as an importer in the tin trade, which existed between Cornwall and Phoenicia. On one of his voyages he took Our Lord with him when a boy. Our Lord either remained in Britain or returned later as a young man, and stayed in quiet retirement at Glastonbury. Here he erected for himself a small house of mud and wattle. Later Joseph of Arimathea, fleeing from Palestine, settled in the same place and erected a mud and wattle church.<ref>Ibid.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>[Joseph] gained his wealth as an importer in the tin trade, which existed between Cornwall and Phoenicia. On one of his voyages he took Our Lord with him when a boy. Our Lord either remained in Britain or returned later as a young man, and stayed in quiet retirement at Glastonbury. Here he erected for himself a small house of mud and wattle. Later Joseph of Arimathea, fleeing from Palestine, settled in the same place and erected a mud and wattle church.<ref>Ibid., p. 9.</ref></blockquote> | ||
The evidence that Joseph came to Glastonbury soon after the crucifixion, reviewed above, says that Joseph was in the tin trade. If so, it is likely that he went to Britain periodically and stopped at different mining centers. Thus, it is logical that each of the four traditions could be valid. | The evidence that Joseph came to Glastonbury soon after the crucifixion, reviewed above, says that Joseph was in the tin trade. If so, it is likely that he went to Britain periodically and stopped at different mining centers. Thus, it is logical that each of the four traditions could be valid. | ||
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But why would Joseph bring Jesus? If Joseph of Arimathea had been Mary’s uncle, it is a good possibility that he would have become Jesus’ legal guardian upon the passing of Joseph, his father. If Joseph had been Jesus’ guardian and also an official in the Roman-British tin trade, it is certainly possible he would have taken his nephew with him when he traveled on business. | But why would Joseph bring Jesus? If Joseph of Arimathea had been Mary’s uncle, it is a good possibility that he would have become Jesus’ legal guardian upon the passing of Joseph, his father. If Joseph had been Jesus’ guardian and also an official in the Roman-British tin trade, it is certainly possible he would have taken his nephew with him when he traveled on business. | ||
[[File:The Challace Well Glastonbury - geograph.org.uk - 167904.jpg|thumb | [[File:The Challace Well Glastonbury - geograph.org.uk - 167904.jpg|thumb|Chalice Well. According to one of the Glastonbury traditions, Joseph of Arimathea hid the Holy Grail in this well.]] | ||
== Joseph’s burial == | == Joseph’s burial == | ||
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A reputed sarcophagus of Joseph does exist today in Glastonbury. A fourteenth-century monk, Roget of Boston, recorded an epitaph attached to it found after it was exhumed in 1345. It read in Latin, “To the Britons I came after I buried the Christ. I taught, I have entered my rest.”<ref>Ibid., p. 94.</ref> | A reputed sarcophagus of Joseph does exist today in Glastonbury. A fourteenth-century monk, Roget of Boston, recorded an epitaph attached to it found after it was exhumed in 1345. It read in Latin, “To the Britons I came after I buried the Christ. I taught, I have entered my rest.”<ref>Ibid., p. 94.</ref> | ||
== See also == | |||
[[Druids]] | |||
[[Lost years of Jesus]] | |||
== For more information == | == For more information == | ||