Category:Mary - wife of Clopas

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Mary - Hebrew Miriam. Mary, the wife of Cleopas is mentioned (John 19:25) as standing at the Cross in company with Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Jesus. By comparing Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40, we find that this Mary and "Mary the mother of James the little" are one and the same person, and that she was the sister of our Lord's mother. She was that "other Mary" who was present with Mary of Magdala at the burial of our Lord (Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47); and she was one of those who went early in the morning of the first day of the week to anoint the Body, and thus became one of the first witnesses of the Resurrection (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1).

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) / Mary of Cleophas
---excerpt from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)

This title occurs only in John 19:25. A comparison of the lists of those who stood at the foot of the Cross would seem to identify her with Mary, the mother of James the Lesser and Joseph (Mark 15:40; cf. Matthew 27:56). Some have indeed tried to identify her with the Salome of Mark 15:40, but St. John's reticence concerning himself and his relatives seems conclusive against this (cf. John 21:2). In the narratives of the Resurrection she is named "Mary of James"; (Mark 16:1; Luke 224:10) and "the other Mary" (Matthew 27:61; Matthew 28:1). The title of "Mary of James" is obscure. If it stood alone, we should feel inclined to render it "wife of (or sister of) James", but the recurrence of the expression " Mary the mother of James and Joseph" compels us to render it in the same way when we only read " Mary of James". Her relationship to the Blessed Virgin is obscure. James is termed ' of Alpheus", i.e. presumably "son of Alpheus". St. Jerome would identify this Alpheus with Cleophas who, according to Hegesippus, was brother to Saint Joseph (Hist. eccl., III, xi). In this case Mary of Cleophas, or Alpheus, would be the sister-in-law of the Blessed Virgin, and the term "sister", adelphe, in John 19:25, would cover this. But there are grave difficulties in the way of this identification of Alpheus and Cleophas. In the first place, St. Luke, who speaks of Cleophas (Luke 24:18), also speaks of Alpheus (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). We may question whether he would have been guilty of such a confused use of names, had they both referred to the same person. Again, while Alphas is the equivalent of the Aramaic, it is not easy to see how the Greek form of this became Cleophas, or more correctly Clopas. More probably it is a shortened form of Cleopatros. by HUGH POPE

-- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Cleophas - (in the spelling of this word h is inserted by mistake from Latin MSS.), rather Cleopas, which is the Greek form of the word, while Clopas is the Aramaic form. In John 19:25 the Authorized Version reads, "Mary, the wife of Clopas." The word "wife" is conjecturally inserted here. If "wife" is rightly inserted, then Mary was the mother of James the Lesser, and Clopas is the same as Alphaeus (Matthew 10:3; Matthew 27:56).

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) / Cleophas
---excerpt from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)

According to the Catholic English versions the name of two persons mentioned in the New Testament. In Greek, however, the names are different, one being Cleopas, abbreviated form of Cleopatros, and the other Clopas. The first one, Cleopas, was one of the two disciples to whom the risen Lord appeared at Emmaus (Luke 24:18). We have no reliable data concerning him; his name is entered in the martyrology on the 25th of September. (See Acta Sanctorum, Sept., VII, 5 sqq.) The second, Clopas, is mentioned in John 19:25, where a Mary is called Maria he tou Klopa, which is generally translated by "Mary the wife of Clopas". This name, Clopas, is thought by many to be the Greek transliteration of an Aramaic Alphaeus. This view is based on the identification of Mary, the mother of James etc. (Mark 15:40) with Mary, the wife of Clopas, and the consequent identity of Alphaeus, father of James (Mark 3:18), with Clopas. Etymologically, however, the identification of the two names offers serious difficulties: (1) Although the letter Heth is occasionally rendered in Greek by Kappa at the end and in the middle of words, it is very seldom so in the beginning, where the aspirate is better protected; examples of this, however, are given by Levy (Sem. Fremdwörter in Griech.); but (2) even if this difficulty was met, Clopas would suppose an Aramaic Halophai, not Halpai. (3) The Syriac versions have rendered the Greek Clopas with a Qoph, not with a Heth, as they would have done naturally had they been conscious of the identity of Clopas and Halpai; Alphaeus is rendered with Heth (occasionally Aleph). For these reasons, others see in Clopas a substitute for Cleopas, with the contraction of eo into w. In Greek, it is true, eo is not contracted into w, but a Semite, borrowing a name did not necessarily follow the rules of Greek contraction. In fact, in Mishnic Hebrew the name Cleopatra is rendered by Clopatra, and hence the Greek Cleopas might be rendered by Clopas. See also, Chabot, "Journ. Asiat.", X, 327 (1897). Even if, etymologically, the two names are different they may have been borne by one name, and the question of the identity of Alphaeus and Clopas is still open. If the two persons are distinct, then we know nothing of Clopas beyond the fact recorded in Saint John; if, on the contrary, they are identified, Clopas' personality is or may be closely connected with the history of the brethren of the Lord and of James the Lesser. (See Brethren of the Lord; James the Lesser.)

Schegg, Jakobus der Bruder des Hern (Munich, 1883); Nicoll, Alphaeus and Klopas in The Expositor (1885), 79 sqq; Wetzel, Alphaeus u. Klopas in Theolog. Stud. u. Krit. (1883), 620 sq.; Jaquier in Vig, Dict. de la Bib., s.v. Alphee; also commentaries on Saint John. R. BUTIN