Alphaeus (; ) is a man mentioned in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

seemingly as the father of two of the

Twelve Apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

: Matthew the EvangelistMark 2:14 and James, son of Alphaeus. However, Mark 2:14 in Codex Bezae uses the name Levi rather than Matthew. It is therefore highly probable that the Alphaeus in "James son of Alphaeus" and "Levi son of Alphaeus" are the same person. He is implied to be the father of Joseph or Joses, and in Church tradition he is the father of Abercius and Helena.

Identity

Identification with Matthew and James the Less

Usually, in the Western Catholic tradition, there are believed to be two men named Alphaeus. One of them was the father of the apostle James and the other the father of Matthew (Levi). Though both Matthew and James are described as being the "son of Alphaeus," there is no Biblical account of the two being called brothers, even in the same context where John and James or Peter and

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

are described as being brothers. Despite this, Eastern Church tradition typically states that Matthew and James were brothers. The apocryphal

Gospel of Peter The Gospel of Peter (), or the Gospel according to Peter, is an ancient text concerning Jesus Christ (title), Christ, only partially known today. Originally written in Koine Greek, it is a non-canonical gospel and was rejected as apocryphal by the ...

also refers to Levi as the son of Alphaeus.

Identification with Clopas

In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, Alphaeus was said to be the husband of Mary the daughter of Clopas. More recently, Alphaeus has been identified with Clopas, based on the identification from parallel Gospel accounts of Mary, the mother of James the third woman with

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

and Salome, wife of Zebedee beside the cross in Matthew with Mary of Clopas, the third woman in John's account. Post-medieval scholars and translators often take the name 'Mary of Clopas' to mean Mary was the wife of Clopas, not his daughter. Mary is called the wife of Cleophas in the King James Version. According to the surviving fragments of the work ''Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord'' of the Apostolic Father

Papias of Hierapolis Papias () was a Greeks, Greek Apostolic Father, Bishop of Hierapolis (modern Pamukkale, Turkey), and author who lived c. 60 – c. 130 AD He wrote the ''Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord'' () in five books. This work, which is lost apart fr ...

, who lived c. 70–163 AD, Cleophas and Alphaeus are the same person: "Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, who was the mother of James the bishop and apostle, and of Simon and Thaddeus, and of one Joseph" According to the Anglican theologian J.B. Lightfoot this fragment quoted above is spurious. The ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' suggests that etymologically, the names ''Clopas'' and ''Alphaeus'' are different, but that they could still be the same person. Other sources propose that ''Alphaeus'', ''Clophas'' and ''Cleophas'' are variant attempts to render the Aramaic ''H'' in Aramaic Hilfai into Greek as aspirated, or ''K''.

References

{{New Testament people People in the canonical gospels James, son of Alphaeus