Mary of Cleophas or (See CLOPAS; ALPHAEUS; JAMES.) In John 19:25, "there stood by Jesus' cross His mother, and His mother's sister Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." In Mark 15:40, "Mary Magdalene, and Mary of James the Little and of Joses, and Salome." In Matthew 27:56, "Mary Magdalene, and Mary of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children" (i.e. Salome). Thus "Mary of Cleophas" is the same as "Mary of James the Little and of Joses," and was sister of the Virgin Mary. The names of the two sisters being alike may be explained by the fact that many manuscripts distinguish the Virgin Mary as Mariam, Mary of Cleophas and the other Mary's as Maria (as we distinguish Mary and Maria); it was a favorite name for mother's to give to children, from the famous Miriam, Moses' sister.

Mary was probably the Virgin's older sister or half-sister; she married Cleophas and by him had four sons, James (the apostle), Joses ("Joseph" Vaticanus manuscript, "John" Sinaiticus manuscript), Jude (the apostle), and Simon, and three daughters. She is first named at the cross, again in the evening of the same day "sitting over against the sepulchre" with Mary Magdalene (Matthew 27:61), having previously "beheld where He was laid" (Mark 15:47). She, with the women which came with Jesus from Galilee, "prepared spices and ointments" on the sabbath eve (Luke 23:55-56), and when the sabbath was past "came to see the sepulchre" (Matthew 28:1) and "to anoint Him" with the "sweet spices they had bought" (Mark 16:1), and then "saw the vision of angels which said He was alive" (Luke 24:23).

Cleopus being mentioned only to designate Mary and James implies he was dead when Jesus' ministry began. Joseph too was dead, for he is never mentioned after Luke 2. The widowed sisters then joined in the one house at Nazareth, and their children came to be regarded as "brethren" (Matthew 12:47; Matthew 13:55-56), there and at Capernaum (John 2:12). Her retiring disposition may be the cause of the non-mention of" Mary of Cleophas" until the crucifixion. Her sons were certainly older than Jesus, else they would not have dared to interfere with Him by force (Mark 3:21). John, by our Lord's direction, took His Virgin mother at the crucifixion to his own home in Jerusalem. Further residence with nephews who had so misunderstood her divine Son would have been less congenial to the bereaved virgin mother than residence with the beloved disciple.

Mentioned in John 19, is probably the mother of Saint James the Less.

(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 Less, and Clopas is the same as Alphaeus ( Matthew 10:3 ; 27:56 ).

See CLEOPAS.

CLEOPHAS.—This form appears in some Latin MSS [Note: SS Manuscripts.] , and is retained in the Vulgate (though against the evidence of Codex Amiatinus) in both Luke 24:18 and John 19:25. It was adopted by the early English versions (Wyclifite, Tindale), and passed into the Authorized Version of 1611. It still stands there in John 19:25 for Clopas (wh. see), but in Luke 24:18 it was replaced in 1629 by Cleopas (wh. see).

C. T. Dimont.

The whole glory

This name occurs but once, John 19:25 : it is really 'Clopas;' the word 'wife' which is added in the A.V. is probably correct. By comparing together the following passages, Matthew 27:56,61 ; Matthew 28:1 ; Mark 15:40,47 ; Mark 16:1 ; and Luke 24:10 , it appears probable that 'the other Mary,' and 'Mary the mother of James (or James the less) and Joses' allude to the same person, and she may have been the wife of Clopas. In John 19:25 this Mary is said to be the sister of the Lord's mother, if we allow the word 'and' to separate the persons, which is the most obvious sense; and it is natural that as this is the only place where we read of the Lord's mother having a sister, it should say who she was. Thus there would be three Marys mentioned in the verse, and not four. That the Lord's mother should have a sister also called Mary may appear improbable, but the MSS vary, and there may have been a slight difference, as in the two modern names of Mary and Maria.

(clee' oh fuhss) KJV spelling of Clopas (John 19:25 ). The husband of Mary, one of the women who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus. He has sometimes been identified with Cleopas, but no convincing evidence for such an identification exists. See Mary .

The husband of Mary, John 19:25 , called also ALPHEUS, which see. The Cleopas mentioned in Luke 24:18 , probably was a different person.