What is "joasaph"

Joasaph is a masculine given name. Joasaph is another name for Josaphat, the legendary martyred prince in the story of Barlaam and Josaphat; according to E. A. Wallis Budge, this name Joasaph ultimately originated as a mistranslation of Bodhisattva. The Ethiopic form of the name is Yewasef. People with this name include:

• John VI Kantakouzenos (1292–1382), Byzantine emperor from 1347 to 1354, assumed the name Joasaph Christodoulos after his retirement to a monastery
• Joasaph I of Constantinople (fl. 1460s), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
• Joasaphus, Metropolitan of Moscow (died 1556), Metropolitan of Moscow from 1539 to 1542
• Joasaph II of Constantinople (fl. 1550s–1560s), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
• Joasaph of Belgorod (1705–1754), bishop of Belgorod
• Joasaph Bolotov (1760–1799), Russian Orthodox missionary in Alaska
• Joasaph (McLellan) (1962–2009), Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Archimandrite Joasaph (January 24, 1962 – December 18, 2009) was Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Born Francis R. McLellan Jr. in 1962, he attended the Boston public schools and Roxbury Latin, and graduated from Commonwealth School. He earned his B.Th from Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, New York, where he was English-language valedictorian. He received his M.A. and Ph.D degrees from Brown University in Slavic Language and Literature. He taught Russian at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and at Princeton University.

At the request of the late Metropolitan Laurus (Škurla), Joasaph was tonsured at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, becoming a priest on December 7, 2008. He was elevated to the rank of archimandrite shortly after being named Head of the Ecclesiastical Mission. As the head of the mission, Fr. Joasaph served at Ascension Convent on the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane Convent.