The Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe celebrates Saint Joseph of Arimathea, the spiritual protectortranslated

His Holiness Father Joseph, Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe, celebrates his spiritual protector on Friday, on the day of honoring Saint and Righteous Joseph of Arimathea.

Saint and Righteous Joseph of Arimathea is honored by the Orthodox Church on July 31. He was a secret disciple of the Savior Jesus Christ and the one who, together with Nicodemus, took down the Lord's Body from the Cross, wrapped it in a clean shroud and placed it in a new tomb.

Biography of the hierarch His Holiness Father Joseph was born on February 19, 1966, in Vișeu de Jos, Maramureș county.

He graduated from the "Gheorghe Șincai" High School in Baia Mare and the "Andrei Șaguna" Faculty of Theology in Sibiu, and between 1994 and 1998 he pursued doctoral studies at the "St. Serghie" Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris.

On October 19, 1993 he was ordained a deacon, and on October 26 of the same year he was ordained a celibate priest, on behalf of the chapel of the Faculty of Theology in Alba Iulia.

He was a clergyman and trainer at the Faculty of Theology in Alba Iulia and a professor of Church History and Patrolology at the Theological Seminary.

On April 17, 1994, he was ordained a monk, receiving the name...