Ancient Church of Malabar: Narrative of Joseph of Arimathæa

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Narrative of Joseph of Arimathæa

അനന്തരം പീലാത്തോസിന്റെ അനുവാദത്തോടെ റാസക്കാരനായ യൌസെഫ് ഈശോയുടെ മൃതുദേഹം ഏറ്റെടുത്തു നൂറു റാത്തല്‍ ഓളം സുഘന്ധ കൂട്ടുമായി നികോധേമോസും അയാളുടെ കൂടെ വന്നിരുന്നു ജൂതന്മാരുടെ ആചാരം അനുസരുച്ചു കച്ചകളും പരിമള ദ്രവ്യങ്ങളും കൊണ്ട് ശരിരം പൊതിഞ്ഞു ,ഇശോയെ കുരിശില്‍ തറചിടത്ത് ഒരു തോട്ടവും അവിടെ ഒരു പുതിയ കല്ലറയും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു ശാബധം ആരംഭിച്ചിരുന്നത് കൊണ്ടും കല്ലറ അടുത്തായിരുന്നത് കൊണ്ടും അവര്‍ ഇശോയെ അവിടെ സംസ്കരിച്ചു ...........

Way Of The Cross


Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. He is mentioned in all four Gospels.


According to the Gospels, Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews in Judaea, who was a secret disciple of Jesus. When the Lord’s other disciples were hiding for fear of the authorities, it was he who boldly approached Pontius Pilate to ask for the Lord’s body, in order properly to bury it according to the practices of Jewish piety. The Gospels associate Joseph with Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin who was a secret disciple of the Lord, and who helped Joseph prepare Jesus’ body for burial. They reverently laid his body Joseph’s own tomb, saving it from further desecration.

Joseph of Arimathea is venerated as a saint by the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox and some Anglican churches. His feast-day is March 17 in the West, July 31 in the East and in Lutheran churches. The Orthodox also commemorate him on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers—the third Sunday of Pascha (second Sunday after Easter)—as well as on July 31.

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The Collect

Merciful God, whose servant Joseph of Arimathaea with reverence and godly fear prepared the body of our Lord and Savior for burial, and laid it in his own tomb: Grant to us, your faithful people, grace and courage to love and serve Jesus with sincere devotion all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away.

He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.

At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.

Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John 19:38-42

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Narrative of Joseph of Arimathæa, That Begged the Lord's Body; In Which Also He Brings In the Cases of the Two Robbers.(newadvent.org)


Chapter 1.

I am Joseph of Arimathæa, who begged from pilate the body of the Lord Jesus for burial, and who for this cause was kept close in prison by the murderous and God-fighting Jews, who also, keeping to thelaw, have by Moses himself become partakers in tribulation and having provoked their Lawgiver to anger, and not Knowing that He was God, crucified Him and made Him manifest to those that Knew God. In those days in which they condemned the Son of God to be crucified, seven days before Christsuffered, two condemned robbers were sent from Jericho to the procurator Pilate: and their case was as follows……

Chapter 2.

And on the following day, the fourth day of the week, they brought Him at the ninth hour into the hall of Caiphas. And Annas and Caiaphas say to Him: Tell us, why have you stolen our law, andrenounced the ordinances of Moses and the prophets? And Jesus answered nothing. And again a second time, the multitude also being present, they say to Him: The sanctuary which Solomon built in forty and six years, why do you wish to destroy in one moment? And to these things Jesus answered nothing. For the sanctuary of the synagogue had been plundered by the robber…

Chapter 3.

Having therefore done many and dreadful things against Jesus that night, they gave Him up to Pilate the procurator at the dawn of the preparation, that he might crucify Him; and for this purpose they all came together. After a trial, therefore, Pilate the procurator ordered Him to be nailed to the cross, along with the two robbers. And they were nailed up along with Jesus, Gestas on the left, and Demas on the right…

Chapter 4.

And I Joseph begged the body of Jesus, and put it in a new tomb, where no one had been put. And of the robber on the right the body was not found; but of him on the left, as the form of a dragon, so was his body..

Chapter 5.

After I had beheld these things, as I was going into Galilee with Jesus and the robber, Jesus was transfigured, and was not as formerly, before He was crucified, but was altogether light; and Angels always ministered to Him, and Jesus spoke with them. And I remained with Him three days. And no one of His disciples was with Him, except the robber alone..

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The Passing of Mary-

Joseph of Arimathea.


According to The Passing of Mary, a text attributed to Joseph of Arimathaea, Thomas was the only witness of the Assumption of Mary into heaven.The other apostles were miraculously transported to Jerusalem to witness her death .Thomas was left in India, but after her burial he was transported to her tomb, where he witnessed her bodily assumption into heaven, from which she dropped her girdle. In an inversion of the story of Thomas' doubts, the other apostles are skeptical of Thomas' story until they see the empty tomb and the girdle…

Then the apostles with great honor laid the body in the tomb, weeping and singing through exceeding love and sweetness. And suddenly there shone round them a light from heaven, and they fell to the ground, and the holy body was taken up by angels into heaven. Then the most blessed Thomas was suddenly brought to the Mount of Olivet, and saw the most blessed body going up to heaven, and began to cry out and say: O holy mother, blessed mother, spotless mother, if I have now found grace because I see thee, make thy servant joyful through thy compassion, because thou art going to heaven. Then the girdle with which the apostles had encircled the most holy body was thrown down from heaven to the blessed Thomas. And taking it, and kissing it, and giving thanks to God, he came again into the Valley of Jehoshaphat..

Then the blessed Thomas told them how he was singing mass in India—he still had on his sacerdotal robes..

He, not knowing the word of God, had been brought to the Mount of Olivet, and saw the most holy body of the blessed Mary going up into heaven, and prayed her to give him a blessing. She heard his prayer, and threw him her girdle which she had about her. And the apostles seeing the belt which they had put about her, glorifying God, all asked pardon of the blessed Thomas, on account of the benediction which the blessed Mary had given him, and because he had seen the most holy body going up into heaven. And the blessed Thomas gave them his benediction, and said: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity And the same cloud by which they had been brought carried them back..

The Passing of Mary-1

The Passing of Mary-2

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