The Synaxis of Joseph the Betrothed, David the King and James the Brother of the Lord

Feast · synaxis

• the Sunday after the Nativity; 26 December in years when the Nativity itself falls on a Sunday (Eastern Orthodox Church)

The Byzantine rite keeps Joseph on no day of his own. He is commemorated inside the afterfeast of the Nativity together with David the King and James the Brother of the Lord — the household of the Incarnation named in one breath. Rome has no equivalent and commemorates him alone on 19 March, so the two halves of the church remember him by two different logics rather than on two different dates.

After The Typikon, ch. 48, the Menaion — the Sunday after the Nativity, at 26 December, «Въ недѣ́лю по ржⷭ҇твѣ̀ хрⷭ҇то́вѣ па́мѧть соверша́емъ ст҃ы́хъ и҆ првⷣныхъ і҆ѡ́сифа ѡ҆брꙋ́чника, дв҃да цр҃ѧ̀, и҆ і҆а́кѡва бра́та бж҃їѧ», p. 351.