Ioseph 1 was a leader of the Paulicians; an illegitimate child abandoned by his mother, he was adopted by Gegnesios 1 and became a goatherd; after Gegnesios 1 died, his disciples were divided between Ioseph 1, known as the Bastard, and Gegnesios 1's son, Zacharias 1; both men claimed the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; they quarrelled and Ioseph 1 was almost killed when struck by a stone thrown by Zacharias 1; he is here called the Foolish (Ἀφρόνητος) by the source for these events, Peter of Sicily (Petros 1); subsequently both men tried to flee (from Mananalis) with their followers; they were stopped by the Arabs and questioned to see if they were fleeing to the Romans (πρὸς Ῥωμανίαν); Zacharias 1 ran away and his followers were killed; on learning this Ioseph 1, "the Foolish", pretended that they were heading for Syria to seek pasture and was allowed to proceed; as soon as the opportunity arose he and all his followers escaped and made their way to Episparis, whose inhabitants welcomed him with great honour as a disciple of Christ; later, the house where he and his followers were was surrounded by troops under Krikoraches 1, a local official; his followers were arrested but Ioseph 1 escaped, went to Phrygia and made his home in Antioch of Pisidia; he was allegedly leader of the sect for thirty years (cf. also Gegnesios 1) and proclaimed himself to be Epaphroditos, the disciple of St Paul sent by the Apostle to his disciples (cf. Ep. ad Phil. iv 23 subscr.); for this reason Petros 1 called him "Aphronetos" (Ἀφρόνητος), because he was illiterate and lacked judgement; his successor was Baanes 1; he is described as minister of the Philippians (alluding to his disciples): Peter of Sicily, 123-130, 163.

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