Mary of Clopas or Cleopas the wife of Clopas

Clopas

Clopas Clopas Clopas (also known as Cleophas (KJV or Clophas) is a figure of early Christianity. The name appears only once in the New Testament, specifically in John 19:25:...

 was one of various Mary

Mary (given name)

Mary is a feminine given name, the English form of the name Maria, which was in turn a Latin form of the Greek names Μαριαμ, or Mariam, and Μαρια, or Maria, found in the New Testament. Both New Testament names were forms of the Hebrew name מִרְיָם or Miryam.The usual meaning given by various...

s named in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

.

Mary of Clopas is explicitly mentioned only in , where she is among the women present at the Crucifixion of Jesus

Crucifixion of Jesus

The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...

:

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary [the wife] of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

The expression Mary of Clopas in the Greek text is ambiguous as to whether Mary was the daughter or wife of Clopas, but exegesis

Exegesis

Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...

 has commonly favoured the reading "wife of Clopas

Clopas

Clopas Clopas Clopas (also known as Cleophas (KJV or Clophas) is a figure of early Christianity. The name appears only once in the New Testament, specifically in John 19:25:...

" (as reflected in above translation). Hegesippus

Hegesippus (chronicler)

Saint Hegesippus , was a Christian chronicler of the early Church who may have been a Jewish convert and certainly wrote against heresies of the Gnostics and of Marcion...

 thought that Clopas as the brother of Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....

. Some have regarded Mary as the daughter of Clopas, who was in turn one of the husbands of Saint Anne

Saint Anne

Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...

.

In a manner very similar to the Gospel of John

Gospel of John

The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...

, the apocryphal Gospel of Philip

Gospel of Philip

The Gospel of Philip is one of the Gnostic Gospels, a text of New Testament apocrypha, dating back to around the third century but lost to modern researchers until an Egyptian peasant rediscovered it by accident, buried in a cave near Nag Hammadi, in 1945...

 also seems to list Mary of Clopas among Jesus' female entourage:

There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...

, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.

Adding to the confusion, the Gospel of Philip seems to refer to her as Jesus' mother's sister ("her sister") and Jesus' own sister ("his sister").

According to some interpretations, the same Mary was also among the women that on Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

 morning went to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body with spices. calls her "the other Mary" to distinguish her from Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...

, while uses the name "Mary of James", most probably derived from James the Less

James the Less

James the Less is a figure of early Christianity. He is also called "the minor", "the little", "the lesser", or "the younger", according to translation. He is often confused with James the Great and may or may not be James the Just.- Sources :...

. The Latin version of that name, Maria Iacobi, is often used in tradition. S. S. Smalley says that it is "very probable" that Mary of Clopas is Mary the mother of James

James the Less

James the Less is a figure of early Christianity. He is also called "the minor", "the little", "the lesser", or "the younger", according to translation. He is often confused with James the Great and may or may not be James the Just.- Sources :...

.

In Mary of Clopas appears immediately after the expression "His mother’s sister". Therefore, Mary is often seen as the sister of Jesus's mother, despite the awkwardness of having two sisters bearing the same name. However, other interpretations distinguish between two different persons, one being "His mother's sister" and the other being "Mary of Clopas". Still, other interpretations make Mary of Clopas not the sister but the cousin of Jesus' mother, as Hebrew or Aramaic had no specific word for cousin, or her sister-in-law, as Clopas was considered the brother of Joseph

Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....

.

In chapter 24 of the gospel of Luke

Gospel of Luke

The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...

, there is an account of Jesus appearing to two people walking on the road to Emmaus

Emmaus

Emmaus was an ancient town located approximately northwest of present day Jerusalem...

 after His resurrection. Luke 24:18 identifies one of the persons as "Cleopas" who is believed to be Mary's husband. Some biblical scholars speculate the other person with Cleopas on the road was his wife, Mary.

An early tradition within the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, first visible in the writings of Papias, identify her sons James and Joses/Joseph referred to in scripture as the "brothers of Jesus

Desposyni

The term Desposyni refers to alleged blood relatives of Jesus. The term was coined by Sextus Julius Africanus, a writer of the early 3rd century. Some scholars argue that Jesus' relatives held positions of special honor in the Early Christian Church...

" as his biological cousins, Mary of Clopas being the sister (or sister-in-law, or even cousin) of Mary the Mother of Jesus. Other traditions outside the Church make her the mother of the "brethren of the Lord

Desposyni

The term Desposyni refers to alleged blood relatives of Jesus. The term was coined by Sextus Julius Africanus, a writer of the early 3rd century. Some scholars argue that Jesus' relatives held positions of special honor in the Early Christian Church...

".

James Tabor

James Tabor

James D. Tabor is Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he has taught since 1989. He previously held positions at Ambassador College , the University of Notre Dame , and the College of William and Mary .-Background:Tabor was born in...

 suggests that she is, in fact, Mary, the mother of Jesus

Mary (mother of Jesus)

Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

 and that Clopas was her second husband.

In medieval legend the three Marys (Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome, and Mary of Clopas) were adrift in a boat that miraculously arrived off the coast of Provence

Provence

Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

, now called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the capital of the Camargue in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department by the Mediterranean Sea. Population: 2,478...

. In that legend Mary of Clopas is the mistress of her Egyptian

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 servant Sarah

Saint Sarah

Saint Sarah, also known as Sara-la-Kali , is the mythic patron saint of the Roma people. The center of her veneration is Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a place of pilgrimage for Roma in the Camargue, in southern France...

, venerated by Gypsies.

In the Roman Martyrology she is remembered with Saint Salome

Salome (disciple)

Salome , sometimes venerated as Mary Salome, was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in more detail in apocryphal writings...

 on April 24. In the Orthodox Church her feast day is commemorated on May 23

May 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

May 22 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 24All fixed commemorations below celebrated on June 5 by Old Calendarists-Saints:* Holy Myrrh-bearer Mary, the wife of Cleopas, aunt of Jesus...

.