1. JOSEPHUS
STUDITA (i. e. monk of the convent of Studium, CONFESSOR (THESSALONICA. His parents Photinus and Theoctista, appear to have been resident at or
near Constantinople : and Joseph and his brother Theodore were monks in the convent of Studium
(Anonym. De Monasterio Studii, apud Pagi, Critice in
Baronii Annales, ad ann. 814, c. xvi.), of which Theodore was afterwards abbot, and
which was then eminent for the reputed sanctity of its inmates In a eulogistic notice of
Joseph in the Menologium Basilianum (pars iii. p. 167, fol. Urbin. 1727),
Joseph is said to have lived in the time of the emperor Theophilus, and to have been elected
archbishop of Thessalonica with unanimous approval, on account of his recognised excellence of
character. It appears, however, that his appointment was long antecedent to the reign of
Theophilus; and that it was by no means unexceptionable ; for when his quarrel with the
patriarch Nicephorus had brought him into trouble, he had to defend himself against the charge
of having improperly thrust himself into his see; and his defence seems to admit that the
objection was not altogether groundless (Baron. Annales Eccles. ad ann.
808, xvii. &c.). In what year he became archbishop is not clear; but in ibid. ad ann. 809, viii. xlvi.;
Theophan. Chronog. p. 409, ed. Paris, p. 325, ed. Venice, p. 752, ed.
Bonn; Cedren. Compend. p. 478, ed. Paris, vol. ii. p. 36, ed. Bonn). The
occasion of this severe treatment was his refusal to communicate with the patriarch Nicephorus
of Constantinople, because the latter had restored to the office of oeconomus or steward of
the great church at Constantinople, the presbyter Joseph, who had officiated at the marriage
of the emperor Constantine VI. with the harlot Theodote or Theodata, in CONSTANTINUS VI.]; but it is probable that the
quarrel was embittered by the iconoclastic controversy, and that the ejected prelate was
regarded as a confessor for the truth rather than a sufferer in a squabble about an
individual.
Soon after the accession of the emperor Michael I. Rhangabe, Joseph recovered his liberty
and his see (Theophan. Chronog. p. 419, ed. Paris, p. 333, ed. Venice, p.
770, ed. Bonn; Zonaras, Annales, lib. 15. c.17). When the iconoclastic
party, under the patronage of Leo V. the Armenian, regained the ascendancy, Joseph was among
the champions and sufferers in the cause of images. He was confined in an island, apparently
one of those in the Propontis, in one of which he had been before confined in Epistola, apud Baron. Annales, ad ann. 815. 11.816. xliv. &c.). It is mentioned in the life of
St. Nicetas, the Bithynian confessor, that Joseph attended at his funeral, which may be fixed
in Acta Sanctor. April, vol. i. pp.
253, 265, and Appendix, p. xxxii.). Nothing seems to be known of him
after this, unless we accept as true the statement of the