St. Joseph the Song Writer was born in Sicily into a pious Christian family. His parents, Plotinus and Agafia, fled from the barbarian invasion and moved to the Peloponnese. At the age of 15, Saint Joseph went to Thessalonica and entered a monastery. He was distinguished by piety, diligence, meekness and was loved by all the brethren of the monastery. Subsequently, the monk was ordained a presbyter.
St. Gregory the Decapolite (November 20) visited the monastery and noticed a young monk. He took him with him to Constantinople and settled with him at the church of the Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus. It was during the reign of Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820), a time of fierce iconoclastic persecution. The Venerable Gregory and Joseph fearlessly defended the veneration of holy icons. They preached in the squares of the city, visited the homes of the Orthodox, defending them against heretics. The situation of the Church of Constantinople was extremely difficult: not only the emperor, but also the patriarch were iconoclasts.
At that time, the Roman bishops were in unity with the Universal Church, and Pope Leo III, who was beyond the control of the Byzantine emperor, could have provided great help to the Orthodox. The Orthodox monks chose St. Joseph as their envoy to the pope, as he was the most steadfast and eloquent. St. Gregory blessed him to go to Rome and inform him about the situation of the Church of Constantinople and the danger threatening Orthodoxy.
During the journey, the Monk Joseph was captured by Arab robbers, bribed by the iconoclasts, and sent to the island of Crete. There they handed it over to the iconoclasts. The Monk Joseph was imprisoned. Bravely enduring all the hardships, he supported other prisoners. Through the prayers of the monk, one Orthodox bishop, who had begun to hesitate, was so strengthened in spirit that he courageously accepted a martyr's death.
The Monk Joseph spent six years in prison. On Christmas Night in 820, he received a vision from St. Nicholas of Myra, who informed him of the death of the iconoclast persecutor Leo the Armenian and the cessation of the persecution of holy icons. The saint gave the monk a scroll and said, "Take this scroll and eat it." It was written in the scroll: "Hasten, O Generous One, and be Merciful to our help, for you can, if you will." The monk read the scroll, ate it, and said: "Since this word is sweet to my throat" (Ps.118:103). St. Nicholas ordered him to sing these words. After that, the shackles themselves fell off the monk, the doors of the prison opened, and he freely came out of it and was taken into the air and placed near Constantinople on the highway leading to the city. In Constantinople, St. Joseph no longer found St. Gregory the Decapolite alive, but met only with his disciple, Blessed John (April 18), who also died soon after. St. Joseph built a church in the name of St. Nicholas and transferred the relics of St. Gregory and St. John there. A monastery was founded at the church.
St. Joseph also received from a virtuous man a portion of the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew. He built a church in the name of the holy apostle and wanted to solemnly honor his memory, but lamented that there were no hymns praising the memory of the holy apostle, and he himself did not dare to compose them. For forty days, the Monk Joseph prayed with tears, preparing for the feast of the memory of the apostle. On the eve of the feast, the Apostle Bartholomew appeared to him at the altar, placed the holy Gospel on his chest and blessed him to write church hymns with the words: "May the right hand of Almighty God bless you, and may the waters of heavenly Wisdom be poured out on your tongue, may your heart be a temple of the Holy Spirit, and may your songs delight the universe." After this miraculous apparition, St. Joseph wrote a canon to the Apostle Bartholomew and from then on began composing church hymns in honor of the Mother of God, the saints, and in their company, in honor of St. Nicholas, who freed him from prison.
During the renewal of the iconoclastic heresy under Emperor Theophilus (829-842), St. Joseph suffered a second time from heretics. He was in exile in Kherson for 11 years. In 842, during the reign of the Holy Queen Theodora (February 11), who restored the Orthodox veneration of holy icons, St. Joseph was appointed a vessel guard at St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople. But for boldly exposing the brother of Queen Varda in illegal cohabitation, he was again sent into exile and returned only after the death of Varda, in 867.
Patriarch Photius (857-867, 877-886) restored him to his former position and appointed him the confessor of the entire Constantinople clergy.
Having reached a great old age, the Monk Joseph fell ill. Just before Easter, on Good Friday, the Lord informed him in a dream of his approaching death. The monk made an inventory of the church property of St. Sophia Cathedral, which was in his official care, and sent it to Patriarch Photius. For several days he prayed fervently, preparing for death. In his prayers, the monk asked the Church for peace, and his soul for God's mercy. Having received communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, the Monk Joseph blessed all who were with him and joyfully passed away to God (+883). The faces of the Angels and saints, whom the Monk Joseph glorified with his hymns, triumphantly conducted his soul to the World Above.
About the spirit and power of the monk's hymns, his biographer, Deacon John of the Church of Constantinople, wrote about 890: "When he began to write poetry, his ears were struck by the wonderful sweetness of sound, and his heart was struck by the power of thought... Wonderful relaxation is found here by those who strive for a perfect life... The writers, having abandoned other poems, began to draw treasures for their songs from this one treasury – from the writings of St. Joseph, or rather, they draw them daily. Finally, all nations translate them into their own language in order to enlighten the darkness of the night with songs and, chasing away sleep, continue their vigils until the sun rises... If anyone reads the life of a saint celebrated on any given day by the Church, he will see for himself the dignity of St. Joseph's song and recognize the life of the one being glorified. Truly, while the life and deeds of almost every saint are decorated with praises, is not the one who so worthily and perfectly knew how to glorify them worthy of immortal glory? May some saints praise his meekness, others his wisdom, others his deeds, and all together may they praise the grace of the Holy Spirit, who has so generously and immeasurably enriched him with her gifts."