Joseph I was the first incumbent of theJosephite line ofChurch of the East, thus being considered the Patriarch of theChaldean Catholic Church from 1681 to 1696.

By 1660, the Church of the East had become divided into two patriarchates:

• the largest and oldestpatriarchal see was based at theRabban Hormizd Monastery ofAlqosh. It spread fromAqrah up toAmid andNisibis, covering in the South the rich plain ofMosul (it is known also asEliya line). Since the 15th century its Patriarchs were appointed through an hereditary system.
• the second patriarchal see was located inKhosrowa, nearSalmas (from 1672 inQochanis) and extended into the North East mountains (it is also known as theShimun line). This patriarchal line began in 1553 when MarYohannan Sulaqa was consecrated bishop by thePope in 1553, but soon it lost the connections with Rome. The last patriarch of this line recognized by theHoly See was Shimun IX Dinkha (died 1600) and later there were only few correspondences through missionaries. This See reintroduced in 1600 the heredity system for patriarchs' succession, a use unacceptable for Rome. This patriarchal line still survives in the denomination today known asAssyrian Church of the East.

Although the town ofAmid in 1553 has been the See of Yohanan Shimun VIII Sulaqa, the area of influence of theShimun patriarchs moved soon eastward, and by 1660 the area of Amid was under the Alqosh's patriarchate. In 1667 theCapuchinmissionary Jean-Baptiste de St-Aignan established there,^[1]: 29 teaching to omit the liturgical commemoration ofNestorius and to use the titleMother of God forSaint Mary.^[2]: 144

Yousip (Joseph) was born in Amid and educated by the priest 'Abd Al-Ahad.^[1]: 58 He was consecrated metropolitan bishop of Amid between 1669 and 1672, and shortly after in 1672 became Catholic.^[1]: 51 The reaction of Alqosh's patriarchEliya X (XI) Yukhannan Maraugin was very strong: he came personally to Amid, installed a traditionalist bishop named David and had Joseph to be twice imprisoned. Joseph was released only after payment of a ransom^[2]: 144 and had to leave for Rome. When Joseph returned in 1677, the bishop David fled to Egypt and theOttoman authorities recognized Joseph's independence and his government over thedioceses of Amid andMardin.

On June 23, 1681,^[3] arrived the formal recognition from Rome with the delivery of thepallium and the granting of the title"Patriarch of the Chaldean nation deprived of its patriarch". Thus into the Church of the East began a new patriarchal line infull communion with Rome.

Falling ill, in August 1694 Joseph I left Amid for Rome, and formally resigned in 1696. He died in Rome on Nov. 10, 1707.^[4]

The life of Mar Yousip I is mainly known by his biography written in the early 18th century by 'Adb Al-Ahad son of Garabet (bishop of Amid, died 1728) and later translated intoFrench in 1898 by J.P. Chabot.^[5]

• Frazee, Charles A. (2006) [1983].Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521027007.
• Wilmshurst, David (2000).The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913. Louvain: Peeters Publishers.ISBN 9789042908765.

• 17th-century Eastern Catholic archbishops
• Assyrians from the Ottoman Empire
• Chaldean Catholic Patriarchs of Babylon
• 1707 deaths
• 17th-century clergy from the Ottoman Empire
• Eastern Catholic bishops in the Ottoman Empire
• Expatriates from the Ottoman Empire in Italy
• People from Diyarbakır

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages where birth or death is being automatically determined
• Year of birth unknown