The Apostolic Fathers · AD 70–130
Clopas (Cleopas?)
fl. AD 30 (death unrecorded) · Brother of Joseph (per Hegesippus) · Father of Symeon · Galilee / Jerusalem
The Apostolic Fathers
Who Clopas (Cleopas?) was
“Mary the wife of Cleophas” stood by the cross (John 19:25); Hegesippus makes Clopas the brother of Joseph, so that his son Symeon, second bishop of Jerusalem, was the Lord’s cousin. Whether the Cleopas of the Emmaus road (“art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem…?”) is the same man under a hellenized spelling has been argued since the fathers — the names are formally distinct, the identification natural, the certainty unavailable. He stands in the archive as the patriarch of the desposynoi, the Lord’s kin who anchored the Palestinian churches for eighty years.
Common questions
When was Clopas active?
Clopas (Cleopas?) is dated fl. AD 30 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Clopas in the Apostolic Fathers (AD 70–130).
Which early sources mention Clopas?
Clopas (Cleopas?) is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from John the Evangelist, Hegesippus and The Constitutions' compiler. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Clopas from?
The archive associates Clopas (Cleopas?) with Galilee / Jerusalem.
Who were Clopas’ contemporaries?
The archive links Clopas (Cleopas?) to 4 other figures, including Symeon, son of Clopas, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, James the Just and Mary of Clopas. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Scripture record
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
John 19:25 (his wife at the cross)
c. AD 90Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.John the Evangelist · read ↗
Hegesippus, via Eusebius III.11
c. AD 180They all with one consent pronounced Symeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the Gospel also makes mention, to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the Saviour; for Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph.Hegesippus · III.11 · source text
Apostolic Constitutions VII.46 ('Simeon the son of Cleopas')
c. AD 380Upon whose death the second was Simeon the son of Cleopas.The Constitutions' compiler · Apostolic Constitutions VII.46 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 30 · Crucifixion, Resurrection and Pentecost, AD 30–33
- AD 44 · Persecution under Herod Agrippa I, AD 44
- AD 49 · The Council of Jerusalem, AD 49
- AD 57 · Paul writes Romans, AD 57
- AD 62 · James the Just stoned, AD 62
- AD 64 · The Great Fire and Nero’s persecution, AD 64
- AD 70 · The fall of Jerusalem, AD 70
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Clopas, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.