Dear Friends,
St Joseph is Patron of many things, and a Patron of the universal Latin Catholic Church. He is also Patron of Canada, along with St Anne, the Grandmother of God, and the Holy North American Jesuit Martyrs.
St Joseph simply does not have the kind of devotion in the East that he does in the West.
I don't know about the Ruthenian Church, but it isn't traditional to have a "patron of a Particular Church."
St Nicholas is highly venerated in the East to be sure. As one Latin writer once put it, St Nicholas is the "Patron of wolves and Ukrainians . . ."
He is the quintessential Bishop and embodies all the best qualities of a Hierarch. This is why he is always celebrated with the Apostles on Thursdays - he is the best example of the descendants of the Apostles, the bishops.
The Romanian Church originally decreed that St Nicholas' icon was to be on every iconostasis and soon all the Byzantine Churches adopted this rule.
The Melkites have adopted the Feast of the Dormition of St Joseph on March 19th.
I celebrate it in my family since we have Latin Catholic relatives with that name, living and dead.
I love the St Joseph Altars and have constructed one for this year at home. It has an icon of St Joseph etc.
St Joseph is seen and honoured on four feasts and their icons in the Eastern Church year - the Feast of the Nativity, the Afterfeast of the Nativity where he is honoured with two other relatives of Christ, St James the Brother of the Lord and St David the Prophet, the Feast of the Circumcision and the Feast of the Meeting in the Temple.
Again the difference in devotional emphasis relates to different understandings of St Joseph's role in the life of Christ and the Theotokos.
In the East, he was always understood, as we've discussed, as an elderly man, a widower, in fact, with four sons - all of whom became saints and followers of Jesus. His role was that of Guardian of the Mother of God, a role he took over from Joachim and Anna when she was 15 years old and was formally espoused to the elderly Joseph.
The West's Josephology sees Joseph as a virile but chaste young man who embodied all the qualities of the father in the human family - the hard-working breadwinner, the fatherly role model and guardian etc.
Some Western views see St Joseph as having been also immaculately conceived (not a problem for the East as a tradition) and assumed, body and soul, into heaven. There is also devotion to the Heart of Joseph, the St Joseph rosary and scapular etc.
There would be nothing wrong with celebrating the Dormition of St Joseph on March 19th, but most Eastern Churches do not observe it.
St John the Baptist is to the Eastern Church what St Joseph the Betrothed is to the Western Church.
The Forerunner's very Conception is honoured, meaning that he too was sanctified in the womb of his mother, St Elizabeth. He is also honoured every Tuesday as the fulfillment of the Prophets and as the Forerunner of the Lord.
And not only His martyrdom by beheading is solemnized with a fasting day, but there are feasts for the three findings of the precious relic of His head and feasts for a number of his miraculous icons, largely on Mt. Athos and the miraculous icon of St John the Baptist by St Andrei Rubleev - which is so touching that it can reduce one to tears!
Happy St Joseph's Day and may we all establish St Joseph Altars in our homes!
Alex
