St Joseph of Arimathea (I)

Saint Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of Jesus Christ. As a member of the Sanhedrin, he took no part in the counsel and plotting of the Jews that ended in the sentence of crucifixion being passed on the Saviour. After the death of Jesus Christ the “noble counsellor” boldly went to Pilate and begged the Lord’s holy body. Together with Nicodemus, another secret disciple of the Saviour, he “took down His incorrupt body from the Tree and wrapped it in pure linen,” carried it to the garden of Gethsemane, and “laid it in a new tomb” prepared for himself, in the presence of the Mother of God and the myrrhbearing women.