Arimathean Joseph

St Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Jesus, probably ever since Christ's first preaching in Judea (John 2: 23), but he did not declare himself as such "for fear of the Jews" (John 19: 38). On account of this secret allegiance to Jesus, he did not consent to His condemnation by the Sanhedrin (Luke 23: 51), and was most likely absent from the meeting which sentenced Jesus to death (Mark 14: 64). The Crucifixion of the Master quickened Joseph's faith and love, and suggested to him that he should provide for Christ's burial before the Sabbath began. Unmindful therefore of all personal danger, a danger which was indeed considerable under the circumstances, he boldly requested from Pilate the Body of Jesus, and was successful in his request (Mark 15: 43-45). Once in possession of this sacred treasure, he — together with Nicodemus, whom his courage had likewise emboldened, and who brought abundant spices — wrapped up Christ's Body in fine linen and grave bands, laid it in his own tomb, new and yet unused, and hewn out of a rock in a neighbouring garden, and withdrew after rolling a great stone to the opening of the sepulchre (Matthew 27: 59, 60; Mark 15: 46; Luke 23: 53; John 19: 38-42). Thus was fulfilled Isaiah's prediction that the grave of the Messiah would be with a rich man (Isaiah 53: 9). The Greek Church celebrates the feast of St Joseph of Arimathea on July 31st, and the Catholic Church on March 17th. Additional details are found concerning Joseph in the apocryphal Acta Pilati. There is also apocryphal legend telling of Joseph accompanying the Apostle Philip, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene and others on a preaching mission to Gaul. Lazarus and Mary stayed in Marseilles, while the others travelled north. At the English Channel, Philip sent Joseph, with twelve disciples, to establish Christianity in the most far-flung corner of the Roman Empire, the British Isles. The year AD 63 is commonly given for this event, with AD 37 sometimes being put forth as an alternative. Comprehensive coverage of this is found in the book The Grail Church (1995).

Death of the Holy Thorn

The Holy Thorn at Glastonbury before it was vandalised by those who serve darkness.

Joseph of Arimathea came to Britain after the crucifixion two thousand years ago bearing the Holy Grail - the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. He visited Glastonbury and thrust his staff into Wearyall Hill, just below the Tor, planting a seed for the original thorn tree. Roundheads felled the tree during the English Civil War, when forces led by Oliver Cromwell waged a vicious battle against the Crown.

However, locals salvaged the roots of the original tree, hiding it in secret locations around Glastonbury.

It was then replanted on the hill in 1951. Other cuttings were also grown and placed around the town - including its famous Glastonbury Abbey.

Experts had verified that the tree - known as the Crategus Monogyna Bi Flora - originated from the Middle East.

A sprig of holy thorns was taken from the Thorn tree by Glastonbury's St Johns Church and sent to the Queen.

The 100-year-old tradition would normally see the thorns sit on Her Majesty's dinner table on Christmas Day

Avon and Somerset Police launched an investigation after locals found that vandals had hacked off the branches of the iconic tree. They were dumped next to the trunk which is protected by a metal cage.

Locals wept openly after the desecration had happened at the foot of the tree, on the town's Wearyall Hill opposite its world-famous Tor, as they struggled to contain their emotion.

Katherine Gorbing, curator of Glastonbury Abbey, said: "The mindless vandals who have hacked down this tree have struck at the heart of Christianity. It holds a very special significance all over the world and thousands follow in the footsteps of Joseph Arimathea, coming especially to see it. It is the most significant of all the trees planted here and can be linked back to the origins of Christianity. When I arrived at the Abbey this morning you could look over to the hill and see it was not there. It's a great shock to everyone in Glastonbury - the landscape of the town has changed overnight."

Glastonbury Mayor John Coles rushed to the tree site after he heard the news.

Mr Coles, 66, said: "I'm stood on Wearyall Hill looking at a sad, sad, sight. The tree has been chopped down - someone has taken a saw to it. Some of the main trunk is there but the branches have been sawn away. I am absolutely lost for words - I just do not know why people would want to do this. This tree was visited by thousands of people each year and is one of the most important Christian sites. It is known all over the world."

Deputy Mayor William Knight, 63, added: "This is absolutely mindless. We are all devastated."

The Holy Thorn was cut down and vandalised by those on the Left-hand Path as Christmas approached in 2010. The following Easter an attempt was made to burn what remained. Both attacks were viewed as an anti-Christian act by those investigating the outrage, and also by the wider public.

A third offence was committed ten months ago when Glastonbury's Holy Thorn was "removed by the landowner," according to the town council.

The historic tree of religious significance was "destroyed" last week, in what was thought to be an act of vandalism. Glastonbury Town Council said in a statement on 28 May 2019 that the tree on Wearyall Hill was intentionally removed by the owner of the land. The statement reads: 

"It has been brought to the attention of the town council that the Holy Thorn on Wearyall Hill was removed by the landowner and a Conservation Society member as it was considered by them to be dangerous."

The removal of the what was left of the Holy Thorn came just days after Glastonbury Town Council refused to support plans to build new homes at Wearyall Hill.

For two thousand years the sacred emblem had symbolised the arrival of Arimathean Joseph and Christianity to England. Its death sadly reflects the death of Christian England, and the almost complete vandalism of Christianity as embers of its remnant struggle to catch fire in a very bleak wind.

There is a full page photograph of the Glastonbury Thorn with the Tor in the background, taken soon after I became Bishop of Glastonbury, on page 33 of The Grail Church: Its Ancient Tradition and Renewed Flowering.

Fire | Water | Spirit

A wooden cross cast into the sea near the pier in the annual blessing of the waters in East Dorset.

Father Raphael performed the service on the beach every year from 1990 until his death. I saw him often walking along the sands, sometimes wandering in the shallow sea water, with black robes billowing and flapping incongruously in the hot summer sun or freezing winter wind.

He once told a local newspaper:

"I bless the waters for the harvest and for the safety of everyone who sails or swims in them.

"It is symbolic of Christ's baptism in the River Jordan which was part of his showing to the gentiles."

The Very Rev Arch Priest Father Raphael served as priest at the St Joseph of Arimathea Church at Cemetery Junction for more than fifteen years before his death following a heart operation in 2008.

He was just sixty-five.

Father Raphael was born David Norman in Northamptonshire, educated at Wellingborough public school, and later the Polytechnic of the South Bank in London, where he studied bakery and catering.

In his thirties he made the decision to become a priest and took up theological studies at Southampton University. He became a lay priest in the Anglican Church before joining the Greek Orthodox Church, and later the Celtic Orthodox Church with its strong Glastonbury connection. In that small town many years ago I also made the acquaintance of Father John of the Celtic Orthodox Church. 

Father Raphael was also a trained conjuror and member of the Magic Circle and performed on stage regularly during the 1970s, on one occasion on the same bill as pop group the New Seekers.

We communicated by smiling and a wave as the sea shore's waves lapped as he briskly made his way east or west, as the case might be. Sometimes I would encounter him atop the cliffs. Strolling. Contemplating A smile. A wave. St Joseph of Arimathea important to us both, as was the tradition of the Sacred Cup of the Last Supper brought to these Isles by the First Apostle of Great Britain. I speak of this extensively in my work The Grail Church, which I am confident Father Raphael absorbed.

John of Glastonbury, on the right in the photograph, is John Ives who is a church history scholar and former Anglican priest who moved to Orthodoxy in 1994. This was when I relocated from Hertfordshire to the English south coast where I established the Holy Grail retreat centre. By this time I was already into the third year of my episcopate, having been consecrated in South Hertfordshire on the feast of St Francis of Assisi in 1991. Having already made a friend in John Ives in Glastonbury, who was now a hieromonk supported by the idiorrhythmic monastery, I was delighted to discover him wafting through in my own residential area on the south coast. He moved to Orthodoxy after serving as an Anglican for several years.

"I learned about the Orthodoxy and then became an Anglican priest," he said. "But I left in 1994, mainly because they had started to ordain women. We don't believe we have that authority to make drastic alterations and so made the permanent move to this faith."

The Orthodox congregation (the Community of St Aristobolos), formerly part of the Celtic Orthodox Church worshipping in the Resurrection Chapel in St Peter's churchyard, was received into the Patriarchate of Constantinople (Istanbul) under the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in 2012, and therefore became part of mainstream worldwide Orthodoxy. This above photograph was taken on the Orthodox Good Friday (hence the liturgical violet and veiling of crucifixes). Sadly, the Anglican Church removed Father John due to wanting the chapel for more community based projects which had nothing to do with worship. He has now found a place elsewhere, but I rather liked the churchyard chapel, and deeply regretted the decision of St Peter's church to expel him from it.

Father John nevertheless continues to bless the sea, and I strongly support him with this endeavour.

    

Ordination, sacred priesthood ~~~ † ~~~ Ecclesia Vetusta, Glastonbury.

    

Sacré-Cœur de Jésus-Christ

This Sacré-Cœur de Jésus-Christ arrived for some slight restoration before it was situated on a plinth in the entrance hall to our Retreat. It came from the Maricolen Convent in Antwerp, and is probably the finest example of the Sacred Heart statue we have ever installed. Standing four feet high, it is a combination of carved wood with a fine skim of plaster. This has created an ethereal and lifelike effect. The halo is made of antique polished brass. Made in 1860, the statue is exceptionally heavy.

The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Ordo Carmelitarum Discalceatorum), is a Catholic mendicant order with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The order was established in the 16th century, pursuant to the reform of the Carmelite Order by two Spanish saints, Saint Teresa of Ávila and Saint John of the Cross. The heart of the Carmelite charism is prayer and contemplation. The Sacré-Cœur de Jésus-Christ statue, apart from careful storage in a temperature controlled atmosphere, has only ever been in the company of the Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo, Maricolen, Antwerpen.