Saint Joseph the Hesychast – Handmade Hagiography – Mount Athos

Description

Handmade Hagiography On natural linden wood by the hands of the hagiographer, the saintly monk Father Vasileios, who is buried in the Holy Cell of Agios Anthony of the Holy Monastery of Philotheus.
An exceptional iconography depicting Saint Joseph the Hesychast, entirely hand-crafted.

This specific iconography has been crafted by the Agiorite Father Vasilios, based on Byzantine iconography standards. The depiction of the Saint has been painted entirely by hand. Coating the hagiography with pure beeswax ensures that the colors of the image remain unchanged over time.

The canonization of Elder Joseph the Hesychast was announced by the Holy and Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on March 10, 2020. his memory is commemorated on August 16.

Elder Joseph the Hesychast was born in 1898 in the village of Lefkes in Paros. When little Francis – that was his secular name – left to become a monk, his mother told her relatives: “I knew he would become a monk from birth. When I gave birth to my Francis and I was still in bed with the baby next to me, I saw the roof of the house open and a winged and very handsome young man, who I could barely see from his great glow, came down and stood beside my baby and began to uncover him in order to take him. When I protested saying, “What are you doing, good? Are you going to take my baby from me?” He insisted that this is what he came for and that is the decision. And to assure me, he even showed me in a notebook written a command, that he absolutely must take the little one. When I resisted, Angel gave me a precious jewel in the shape of a cross and took my baby. From then on, I believed, said his mother Mary, that one day Francis would follow Christ.”

At the age of 23, he decided to become a monastic after the following vision: “One night I saw in my sleep that I was passing outside the palace and immediately two officers of the palace guard took me and took me to the palace. I did not understand why, and that is why I protested. Then they kindly answered me not to be afraid, but to go up, for it is the will of the King. We went up to a very splendid palace, superior to any earthly one, they put on a white and precious uniform and said to me, “from now on you will serve here.” And then they took me to worship the King.

After a special course in January 1938 he moved to the steep caves of Mikra Agia Anna until 1947, while in 1951 he moved to the Kalyvi of the Annunciation until his repose. He was a man of prayer and practiced fasting and vigil to the fullest.  In fact, the Virgin Mary herself, for whom his love was “beyond description” since only mentioning Her name was crying, had informed him days before that she would take him to Her feast day, the Fifteenth of August. Elder Joseph actually passed away on the day of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in 1959, saying: “Everything is over, I am leaving, I am departing, bless.”