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Cleopas (; Cleopas. Adult Bible Studies Ancient Greek: Κλεόπας, Romanization: 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 .
Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox traditions hold that Clopas, believed to be the brother of Saint Joseph, is the same person as Cleopas. Others consider that Clophas, Cleophas and Alphaeus are all the same name.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."
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 them. The same event is recorded in .
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".
Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox traditions believed that Clopas is a brother of Saint Joseph, and that he is the same person with Cleophas.
The historian, Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, quotes the earlier 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, husband of the Virgin Mary: "After the martyrdom of James, it was unanimously decided that 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. Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, Book III, ch. 11. Epiphanius adds that Joseph and Cleopas were brothers, sons of "Jacob, surnamed Panther".
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. 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 Jude Thaddeus, and of one Joseph". The Anglican theologian Joseph Lightfoot regarded the fragment quoted above as spurious.
Cleopas is remembered on 30 October in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Cleopas, Apostle of the 70 – Online Chapel – Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America commemorated on 25 September in the latest official edition of the Roman Martyrology, 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 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.
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