View source for Cleopas

{{Short description|1st-century Christian and saint}}
{{redirect|Cleophas|the given name|Cleophas (given name)}}
{{Distinguish|Clopas}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
|name=Cleopas the Apostle
|birth_date=1st century BC
|death_date= 1st century
|feast_day= 25 September (Roman Catholic)<br />30 October (Eastern Orthodox)<br />10 November (Coptic Orthodox)
|venerated_in= [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<br />[[Oriental Orthodox Church]]<br />[[Catholic Church]]
|image=Michelangelo Caravaggio 016.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption=Cleopas from the ''[[Supper at Emmaus (Caravaggio, London)|Supper at Emmaus]]'' by [[Caravaggio]], London, 1601
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|titles=Apostle
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'''Cleopas''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|l|iː|oʊ|p|ə|s}};<ref>[https://www.adultbiblestudies.com/files/uploads/AdultBibleStudiesGuidetoPronunciation.pdf ''Cleopas'']. Adult Bible Studies</ref> [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]: Κλεόπας, [[Romanization|romanized]]: ''Kleopas''), also spelled '''Cleophas''', was a figure of early [[Christianity]], one of the two disciples who encountered Jesus during the [[Road to Emmaus appearance]] in {{bibleverse||Luke|24:13–32|NIV}}.

==Etymology==
Some writers claim that the name [[Clopas]] in John 19:25 ("[[Mary of Clopas]]", "Κλωπᾶς") is a Hellenized form of a claimed [[Aramaic]] name "Qlopha" (קלופא), and that Cleopas' name ("Κλεόπας") is an abbreviated form of "Cleopatros" (Κλεόπατρος), a Greek name meaning "glory of the father" (best known in the feminine form [[Cleopatra (disambiguation)|Cleopatra]]).<ref>Richard R. Losch ''All the people in the Bible: an A-Z guide to the saints'' 2008 Page 279 "Clopas (Κλοπας) is the Hellenized form of the Aramaic Qlopa (קלופא), while Cleopas (Κλεοπας) is a common abbreviated form of the Greek name Cleopatros (Κλεοπατρος)."</ref>

[[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] traditions hold that [[Clopas]], believed to be the brother of [[Saint Joseph]], is the same person as Cleopas.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2682 |title=St. Cleophas |publisher=Catholic Online}}</ref> Others consider that Clophas, Cleophas and [[Alphaeus]] are all the same name.<ref>An American commentary on the New Testament: Issues 13–18 Alvah Hovey – 1890 "They argue that Alphaeus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Cleophas; that Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and the mother of James and Joses (Mark 15 ... The evidence is not entirely satisfactory that Alphaeus and Cleophas are the same name."</ref>

==Account in the Gospel of Luke==

Cleopas appears in {{bibleverse|Luke|24:13–31|NKJV}} as one of two disciples walking from [[Jerusalem]] to [[Emmaus]]. Cleopas is named in verse 18, while his companion remains unnamed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.websters-dictionary-online.org/definitions/Cleopas?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=Cleopas&sa=Search#922 |title=Dictionary - Definition of Cleopas |access-date=4 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229202004/http://www.websters-dictionary-online.org/definitions/Cleopas?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744:v0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID:9&ie=UTF-8&q=Cleopas&sa=Search#922 |archive-date=29 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

This occurs three days after the crucifixion, on the same day as the [[Resurrection of Jesus]]. The two travelers have heard the tomb of Jesus was found empty earlier that day, but have not yet believed the women's testimony. They are discussing the events of the past few days when a stranger asks them what they are discussing. "Their eyes were kept from recognizing him." He rebukes them for their unbelief and offers them an interpretation of scriptural prophecies concerning the Messiah. They ask the stranger to join them for the evening meal. When he breaks the bread "their eyes were opened" and they recognize him as the resurrected Jesus. Jesus immediately vanishes.

Cleopas and his friend hasten back to Jerusalem to carry the news to the other disciples, and learn Jesus has also appeared to [one of] them. The same event is recorded in {{bibleverse|Mark|16:12–13}}.

==Apocryphal books==
The [[Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew]], which was probably written in the seventh century, states that [[Mary of Clopas]] was daughter of Clopas and [[Saint Anne|Anna]]:

{{Blockquote|Jesus met them, with Mary His mother, along with her sister Mary of Clopas, whom the Lord God had given to her father Clopas and her mother Anna, because they had offered Mary the mother of Jesus to the Lord. And she was called by the same name, Mary, for the consolation of her parents.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0848.htm |access-date=19 June 2018}}</ref>}}

The most common interpretation is that "of Clopas" indicates the husband of Mary of Clopas and subsequently the father of her children, but some see "of Clopas" as meaning this Mary's father. Medieval tradition saw Clopas as the second husband of [[Saint Anne]] and the ''father'' of "Mary of Clopas".<ref>{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=St. Anne}}</ref>

[[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] traditions believed that Clopas is a brother of [[Saint Joseph]], and that he is the same person with Cleophas.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2682 |title=St. Cleophas |publisher=Catholic Online}}</ref>

==Traditions==
Cleopas has no further occurrence in the New Testament, but in tradition he has often been identified with [[Clopas]], another New Testament figure mentioned in [[John's Gospel]].<ref>[[N. T. Wright|Tom Wright]], ''Luke for Everyone''. SPCK, London. 2002</ref>

The historian, Bishop [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], quotes the earlier chronicler, [[Hegesippus (chronicler)|Hegesippus]], who wrote, c. AD 180, that he had years before interviewed the grandsons of [[Jude the Apostle]] and learned that Clopas was the brother of [[Saint Joseph|Joseph]], husband of the [[Virgin Mary]]: "After the martyrdom of James, it was unanimously decided that [[Simeon of Jerusalem|Simeon]], son of Clopas, was worthy to occupy the see of Jerusalem. He was, it is said, a cousin of the Saviour." Hegesippus noted that Clopas was a brother of Joseph.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, Book III], ch. 11.</ref> [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]] adds that Joseph and Cleopas were brothers, sons of "Jacob, surnamed Panther".<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Salamis|first1=Epiphanius|last2=Williams|first2=Frank|title=The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: De fide. Books II and III Sect 78:7,5|year=2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004228412|page=620|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKtzRNP0Z70C&q=panther|access-date=10 December 2016|language=en}}</ref>

According to the surviving fragments of the work ''Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord'' of the [[Apostolic Father]] [[Papias of Hierapolis]], who lived c.&nbsp;70–163 AD, Cleophas and Alphaeus are the same person: "Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, who was the mother of [[James the Just|James]] the bishop and apostle, and of [[Simeon of Jerusalem|Simon]] and [[Jude Thaddeus|Thaddeus]], and of one [[Joses, brother of James the younger|Joseph]]".<ref name=papias>{{cite book|author=Papias of Hierapolis|title=Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord. Fragment X|publisher=earlychristianwritings.com|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/papias.html|access-date=10 September 2015}}</ref> The Anglican theologian [[Joseph Lightfoot|J.B. Lightfoot]] regarded the fragment quoted above as spurious.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://philologos.org/__eb-jbl/brethren.htm|title=The Brethren of the Lord by J.B. Lightfoot|access-date=10 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618231826/https://philologos.org/__eb-jbl/brethren.htm|archive-date=18 June 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Papias |url=http://www.textexcavation.com/papias.html |website=textexcavation.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116063403/http://www.textexcavation.com/papias.html |archive-date=2015-11-16 }}</ref>

Cleopas is remembered on 30 October in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]],<ref>[http://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=763 ''Cleopas, Apostle of the 70'' – Online Chapel – Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]</ref> commemorated on 25 September in the latest official edition of the ''[[Roman Martyrology]]'',<ref>''[[Martyrologium Romanum]], ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Ioannis Pauli Pp. II promulgatum, editio [typica] altera, Typis Vaticanis, A.D. MMIV'' (2004), p. 536 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}}</ref> and on 10 November in the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]].

The entry in the Roman Martyrology now summarizes in substance Luke's account of the Emmaus encounter with Jesus.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Clopas}}
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04048b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Cleophas]

{{New Testament people}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Christian saints from the New Testament]]
[[Category:Followers of Jesus]]