Characteristics of a man of God

One of the main characteristics of this archpriest and teacher was his poverty. Some sources mention that his ministry to the Church was without payment. One of the Russian scholars said that he had no income from teaching in school; he used to earn his living from the labour of his children. Money never tempted him.

Because of his intact reputation, Cyril the second, Patriarch of Jerusalem (1845-1872), asked him to teach Arabic at the clerical school in Jerusalem (Al-Mousalabah). When he declined, the Patriarch offered him a tempting salary - twenty-five pounds - in addition to an apartment, and priestly wages. He declined in spite of his need. He said that "I was called to serve the parish in Damascus; He who called me will satisfy me."

He was a true worshiper, fervent in his faith, exceedingly patient, righteous, meek, quiet, humble, compassionate, and a friendly person; he hated to talk about himself, he felt embarrassed by the praise of others, not knowing how to answer them. He was wise and patient in his pastoral care; he used to confute the scholars by speaking their language and to convince the simple people by using their language. When a few simple-minded people left the Church for an insignificant reason, Patriarch Methodios asked him to bring them back. After he met them he did not manifest any resentment from their behaviour, but he treated them with kindness, showing them some small icons; they came back repentant after he had touched their hearts.

As a scholar, he was the professor among the teachers, the star of the East, and the working intellectual. Many unorthodox contemporary people testify that he was one of the great Christian scholars of his epoch. "In the Orthodox Church, he was a very distinctive person in his knowledge; there was no one like him, except George Lian."

As a churchman, he was considered a great theologian, a pride of Orthodoxy, an hieromartyr and an example in righteousness and godliness. Those are the characteristics of Archpriest Joseph the Damascene: He is one of God's people.


His library and his writings

We have no knowledge of the size of his library, because it either bursted (sic) into flames or was looted during the calamities of 1860, when he received the crown of martyrdom. His nephew, Joseph Abraham Al-Haddad mentioned that Father Joseph possessed about 1827 books (or probably 2827 books) in the year 1840.

His writings were numerous: he compared the book of Psalms, the Breviary, the Liturgikon, and the book of Epistles to their original Greek. He translated into Arabic the catechetical book of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow. In copying the manuscripts, he used to compare them with other manuscripts and correct them; his versions were accurate like "the unforged silver coin." He edited the translation of Deacon Abdallah Al-Fadel Al-Antaki of Saint Basil's book on Genesis as well as 30 sermons of Saint Gregory the Theologian. With the following colophon, he used to finish the manuscripts: "This book was copied from an old manuscript, and compared to it completely." And with his seal and signature he used to imprint it. All the Orthodox printing offices, like Saint George in Beirut the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Arabic printing houses in Russia. . . relied on Father Joseph in editing, comparing and proof reading their books. In theology, literature and scholarship his seal was a seal of trust. In translating from Greek to Arabic, and from Arabic to Greek, he joined efforts with Yanni Papadopoulos. He made a great contribution in editing the Arabic translation of the Bible, which is known as the Edition of London. All the drafts, prepared by Mr. Fares Al-Shidiak and Mr. Lee, had to be corrected by Father Joseph, by comparing them to the Greek and Hebrew languages.

In his literary contribution, he showed in his stamina faithfulness and correctness; his complaint was always the misreading of printing houses. We have no knowledge about his own writings, except for a few articles. Apparently, he did not consider himself worthy to keep pace with the great Fathers of the Church; he confined himself to translating, editing, and presenting their writings to the faithful as a pure, intact and unblemished heritage.


Father Joseph versus the Melkites

During the epoch of Father Joseph, the problem of dealing with the Melkites - they were recently part of the Orthodox Church - was the most difficult and most painful impediments which faced the children of the Orthodox Faith. At that time, all the endeavors were directed toward getting the schismatics back to the church. In dealing with this issue, some followed the way of political and administrative pressure, others followed the way of reaching mutual agreement. Father Joseph belongs to the second group.

He hated violence, he did not concede to have connections with the Ottoman Empire to knock down and oppress the Melkites. This is unprofitable style; it strengthens separation, and weakens unity.

The measure of his success is unknown to us, but what happened in 1857, and the following years, show that his vision was more correct than others. In that year, when the Melkite Patriarch Clement forced the Western calendar upon his Church, many took offense at this procedure, and decided to go back to the Mother Church. A group of them, under the leadership of Shibli Al-Demashki, George Anjouri, Joseph Fouraeig, Moses Al-Bahri, Sarkis Dibanah and Peter A1 Jahel contacted Father Joseph who embraced them, strengthened them and struggled to enlighten them for 3 consecutive years. He prefaced a book written by Shibli Al-Demashki about the protestations of this group. The title of the book was: Christian Law is Far Above The Astrological Considerations; it was printed in the publishing house of the Holy Sepulcher in 1858. The size of the group started to grow rapidly, until it was said that had not the martyrdom of Father Joseph taken place during the massacre of 1860, he would have succeeded in bringing back the rest of the Melkites to the Orthodox Faith.