Understanding "የጌታ ወንድሞችና እኅቶች" in the Holy Bible: EOTC Perspective II

In Part I of this essay, we explored the term "ወንድሞቹስ" in Matthew 13:54-55, where the Bible says: "እናቱስ ማርያም ትባል የለምን? ወንድሞቹስ ያዕቆብና ዮሳ ስምዖንም ይሁዳም አይደሉምን?" We clarified that this term refers to the children of Mary, the wife of Cleophas, not Mary, the mother of Christ. In this essay, we will explore this focus in depth.

The Holy Bible mentions only two apostles named ያዕቆብ (James): "የዘብዴዎስ ልጅ ያዕቆብ" (James, the son of Zebedee) and "የእልፍዮስ ልጅ ያዕቆብ" (James, the son of Alphaeus) (Matt 10፡ 2-5). St. Mark distinguishes James, the son of Alphaeus, as "James the Less (ታናሹ ያዕቆብ)," to set him apart from James, the son of Zebedee “…ያገለግሉት የነበሩ መግደላዊት ማርያም የታናሹ ያዕቆብና የዮሳም እናት ማርያም ሰሎሜም ነበሩ::”(Mark 15:40-41). There is no third James among the apostles. If there were, Saint Mark would not have needed to specify James the Less (ታናሹ ያዕቆብ) to differentiate him from James the son of Zebedee. The terms "ታናሽ" and "ታላቅ" are used to differentiate between two, not three.

In Galatians 1:19, St. Paul writes: "ከጌታ ወንድም ከያዕቆብ በቀር ከሐዋርያት ሌላ አላየሁም," indicating that the James he met was James the Less, who is the Son of Alphaeus. This is because, James, the son of Zebedee, who was the brother of John had already been martyred by Herod (Acts 12:2፣ Mark 1:19, 3: 17, 10:35 ). This reinforces that there is no third James among the apostles.

In comparing Mark 15:40-41 “ሴቶችም ደግሞ በሩቅ ሆነው ይመለከቱ ነበር፤ ከእነርሱም በገሊላ ሳለ ይከተሉትና ያገለግሉት የነበሩ መግደላዊት ማርያም የታናሹ ያዕቆብና የዮሳም እናት ማርያም ሰሎሜም ነበሩ።”  and John 19:25, “ነገር ግን በኢየሱስ መስቀል አጠገብ እናቱ ፣ የእናቱም እኅት የቀለዮጳም ሚስት ማርያም ፣ መግደላዊት ማርያም ቆመው ነበር” we find that Mary, the wife of Cleophas (or Alphaeus), is also the mother of James the Less. Though Cleophas and Alphaeus are written differently, they refer to the same person. Using multiple names for the same person was a common practice in Hebrew culture as stated in Exodus 18:6, Judges 6:32, John 1:43, etc.

However, the Virgin Mary is never referred to as the mother of James, Jose, and Jude anywhere in the Bible.

In summary, the "brothers of the Lord—የጌታ ወንድሞች" mentioned in the scriptures are the children of Cleophas (Alphaeus) and Mary, the sister of the Virgin Mary, making them cousins of Christ. It was customary for the Jews to refer to cousins as brothers, a tradition also observed in Ethiopia, which embraced the Judaic faith before Christianity.