The ''History of Joseph the Carpenter'' (''Historia Josephi Fabri Lignari'') is a compilation of traditions concerning

Mary (mother of Jesus) Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

, and the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first ...

, probably composed in Byzantine Egypt in Greek in the late sixth or early seventh centuries, but surviving only in Coptic and Arabic language translation (apart several Greek papyrus fragments). The text bears witness to the belief in the

perpetual virginity The perpetual virginity of Mary is a Christian doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ. In Western Christianity, the Catholic Church adheres to the doctrine, as do some Lutherans, Angli ...

of Mary. It is one of the texts within the

New Testament apocrypha The New Testament apocrypha (singular apocryphon) are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cite ...

concerned with the period of Jesus' life before he was 12.

The text is framed as an explanation by

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

on the

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...

concerning the life of

, his stepfather. Agreeing with Mary's continued virginity, the text proclaims that Joseph had four sons ( Judas, Justus, James, and Simon) and two daughters (Assia and Lydia) by a previous marriage. A Morte de São José - Pedro Alexandrino de Carvalho

A Morte de São José - Pedro Alexandrino de Carvalho

After this basic background, the text proceeds to paraphrase the

Gospel of James The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, ...

, stopping at the point of Jesus' birth. The text states that Joseph was miraculously blessed with mental and physical youth, dying at the age of 111. His oldest sons (Justus and Simon) get married and have children, and likewise his two daughters get married and live in their own houses. Joseph's death takes up a substantial portion of the text. He first lets out a significant prayer, including in his last words a series of lamentations about his carnal sins. About 50% of the work is an extension of the death scene, in which the angel of death, as well as the archangels Michael and

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ� ...

, appear to him. At the conclusion of the text, Jesus affirms that Mary remained a virgin throughout her days by addressing her as "my mother, virgin undefiled." The text says "And the holy apostles have preserved this conversation, and have left it written down in the library at Jerusalem."

Age and surviving versions

Some information indicates the text was written in Egypt in the fifth century. Two versions survive, one in

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet, t ...

, the other in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, with the Coptic version likely being the original. Much of the text is based on material in the Gospel of James. There exists also Ethiopic,

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and Syriac manuscripts. James H. Charlesworth (1985), ''The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha'', Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company Inc., Volume 2, (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2), pp. 443-444. Quote: "Significant variants rein B (Syr. 235 'olim'' Ancien fonds 144of the Bibliothéque Nationale, of the 13th cent., and of paper), in C (Syr. 234 'olim'' Ancien fonds 143, Colbert 5137. also of the Bibliothéque Nationale, of the 13th cent., and of paper), and in D (BM Add. 12174 of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docu ...

, of the 12th cent., and of

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anim ...

) The first English translation of the Ethiopic manuscript was published by

E. A. W. Budge Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27 July 185723 November 1934) was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. He made numerous trips ...

in 1896 (''The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great'', vol. 2, pp. 555-584), while the first English translation of the Greek manuscript was published by W. A. Craigie (''The Narrative of Zosimus Concerning the Life of the Blessed'', ANF 10, pp. 220-224). A translation of the Syriac manuscript into French was edited by François Nau in 1899 (''Légende inédite des fils de Jonadab, fils de Réchab, et les Îles fortunées'', '' Revue sémitique'', pp, 136-146). The first translation of the Syriac manuscript into English has been published by James H. Charlesworth in 1985.

Correlation with third-century apocryphon

The early third-century apocryphal " First Apocalypse of James" from the

Nag Hammadi library The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the " Chenoboskion Manuscripts" and the "Gnostic Gospels") is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyr ...

states: Jesus speaking to James, "For not without reason have I called you my brother, although you are not my brother materially."(First) Apocalypse of James
/ref> This adds an additional record of Mary's relationship to Jesus' brothers, allowing the explanation of her perpetual virginity.

References

Bibliography

Complete text at NewAdvent.org

Online text for the ''History of Joseph the Carpenter''
* Alin Suciu
"New Fragments from the Sahedic Version of Historia Josephi Fabri Lignari"
''Le Muséon'' 122 (2009) 279–289. {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Joseph The Carpenter Joseph, History of Saint Joseph (husband of Mary) 5th-century Christian texts Texts in Coptic

Contents

Age and surviving versions

Correlation with third-century apocryphon

See also

References

Bibliography