Editing Alphaeus (section)

==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 the Less|James]] and the other the father of [[Matthew the Apostle|Matthew]] (Levi).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1275|title=St. Alphaeus - Saints & Angels}}</ref> 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 the Apostle|John]] and [[James, son of Zebedee|James]] or [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Saint Andrew|Andrew]] are described as being brothers. Despite this, Eastern Church tradition typically states that Matthew and James were brothers.<ref name="Dmitry of Rostov">{{cite web| url=https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%96%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D1%81%D0%B2%D1%8F%D1%82%D1%8B%D1%85_%D0%BF%D0%BE_%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8E_%D1%81%D0%B2%D1%82._%D0%94%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE/%D0%9E%D0%BA%D1%82%D1%8F%D0%B1%D1%80%D1%8C/9 | title=Dmitry of Rostov ''Lives of the Saints''}}</ref><ref name="Prologue of Ohrid">{{cite web| url=http://westserbdio.org/en/prologue/657-october-9 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502033042/http://westserbdio.org/en/prologue/657-october-9 | url-status=dead | archive-date=2017-05-02 | title=Nikolaj Velimirović ''Prologue of Ohrid''}}</ref><ref name="ibn Kabar">{{cite web| url=https://stnoufer.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/the-lamp-that-lights-the-darkness-ibn-kabar.pdf | title=Shams ibn Kabar ''The Lamp that Lights the Darkness in Clarifying the Service''}}</ref> The [[New Testament Apocrypha|apocryphal]] [[Gospel of Peter]] also refers to Levi as the son of Alphaeus.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Walter Richard Cassels|Walter Richard]]|title=The Gospel According to Peter: A Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQtKAAAAMAAJ|publisher=[[Longman|Longmans, Green]]|date=1894|page=11|accessdate=2022-04-02}}</ref>

===Identification with Clopas===
In the [[Middle Ages]], Alphaeus was said to be the husband of Mary the daughter of Clopas.<ref>{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=St. Anne}}</ref> More recently, Alphaeus has been identified with [[Clopas]], based on the identification from parallel Gospel accounts of [[Mary (mother of James the Less)|Mary, the mother of James]] the third woman with [[Mary Magdalene]] and [[Salome (disciple)|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.<ref>John 19:25</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 bishop and apostle, and of Simon and Thaddeus, and of one Joseph"<ref name=papias>{{cite book|last1=of Hierapolis|first1=Papias|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> According to the Anglican theologian [[Joseph Lightfoot|J.B. Lightfoot]] this fragment quoted above is spurious.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://philologos.org/__eb-jbl/brethren.htm|title=The Brethren of the Lord by J.B. Lightfoot|access-date=2016-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618231826/https://philologos.org/__eb-jbl/brethren.htm|archive-date=2018-06-18|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>

The ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' 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 language|Greek]] as aspirated, or ''K''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1275|title=St. Alphaeus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online|website=Catholic Online|access-date=2016-10-10}}</ref>