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Bible Encyclopedias
Cleopas
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Κλεόπας, contr. for Κλεόπατρος , of a renowned father), one of the two disciples who were going to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection, when Jesus himself drew near and talked with them (Luke 24:18), A.D. 29.. Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Ε᾿μμαούς, Emaus) make him (Κλεώπας, Cleophas) a native of Emmaus. It is a question whether this Cleopas is to be considered as identical with the CLEOPHAS (See CLEOPHAS) (q.v.), or rather Clopas of John 19:25, or the ALPHESUS (See ALPHESUS) (q.v.) of Matthew 10:3, etc. Their identity was assumed by the later fathers and Church historians (Thiess, Comment. 2, 230 sq.). But Eusebius (H. E. 3. 11) writes the name of Alphseus, Joseph's brother, Clopas, not Cleopas; and Chrysostom and Theodoret, on the Epistle to the Galatians, call James the Just the son of Clopas. Besides this, Clopas, or Alphaeus, is an Aramaic name, whereas Cleopas is apparently Greek. Again, as we find the wife and children of Clopas constantly with the family of Joseph at the time of our Lord's ministry, it is probable that he himself was dead before that time. On the whole, then, it seems safer to doubt the identity of Cleopas with Clopas, notwithstanding the similarity of names. (See Rus, Harmon. evang. III, 2:1272 sq.; Wieseler, Chronol. Synopse, p. 431; Clemens, in the Zeitschr. f. wiss. Theol. 3. 356 sq.)
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Cleopas'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/c/cleopas.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
