The two Marys

There are whole bunch of Marys in the gospels, but I am only interest in two of them.

Is Mary Magdalene the same woman as Mary of Bethany (who is the sister of Lazarus and Martha)?

From what I can work out, Mary Magdalene is from Galilee, but the other Mary is Bethany, which is close to Jerusalem. MM is always associated with the other women who followed Jesus from Galilee to Jersualem. MM is also in company with the other Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, at the crucifixion and at the resurrection.

To me, that's my main reason why I think they are 2 different women, but I am not 100% sure.

Ok, I am also interested in the other Mary too. This mother of James and Joseph, is she the mother of an apostle known as James the Lesser?

I always thought mary of bethany was the prostitute as opposed to mary magdelene two differany marys which have been confused over the years,

gnostic said:

There are whole bunch of Marys in the gospels, but I am only interest in two of them.

Is Mary Magdalene the same woman as Mary of Bethany (who is the sister of Lazarus and Martha)?

From what I can work out, Mary Magdalene is from Galilee, but the other Mary is Bethany, which is close to Jerusalem. MM is always associated with the other women who followed Jesus from Galilee to Jersualem. MM is also in company with the other Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, at the crucifixion and at the resurrection.

To me, that's my main reason why I think they are 2 different women, but I am not 100% sure.

Ok, I am also interested in the other Mary too. This mother of James and Joseph, is she the mother of an apostle known as James the Lesser?

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There are many Mary's in the NT. Mary (Miryam), like Jesus (Yeshua), Judas (Yehuda) and James (Yaakov) were popular and very common names.

Mary Magdalene is from the Galilean town of Magdala (Magadan) on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. She most likely accompanied the apostles when they left Galilee for Judea.

Mary the sister of Lazarus is a different woman, she lives in Bethany near Jerusalem. Since Jesus knew Lazarus quite well (he wept at his grave, Lazarus is referred to Jesus as "the one you love") it might suggest that Jesus knew Lazarus and his family in Galilee and that they later moved to Judea, or that Jesus had met Lazarus during his travels. Mary the sister of Lazarus is sometimes confused with an unidentified female sinner who annoints the feet of Jesus while he is staying with the family.

Mary of Clopas is commonly identified as the wife of Clopas (Alphaeus) and so as the mother of James the less.
However, the actual relationship between this Mary and Clopas is not mentioned (although in the KJV she is called Mary the wife of Cleophas, the Greek simply calls her Mary of Clopas) she could just as easily have been the sister or daughter of Clopas.

Her relationship to Mary the mother of Jesus is also questionable. It says in John that at Jesus's crucifixion there were his mother, her sister, Mary of Cleophas. Now, you could read that as saying that Mary of Clopas is the sister of the Virgin Mary, or you could read it as a list; Mary + Mary's unnamed sister + Mary of Clopas. After all, a parent would be pretty daft to name two of their daughters Mary.

That's what I thought in regarding to MM and Mary of Bethany too. But I was wondering if I was missing something or not. MM is never mention together with Lazarus and Martha.

Is this Mary of Clopas also the mother of Joseph too?

gnostic said:

That's what I thought in regarding to MM and Mary of Bethany too. But I was wondering if I was missing something or not. MM is never mention together with Lazarus and Martha.

Is this Mary of Clopas also the mother of Joseph too?

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Jesus's father Joseph?

No. She would probably be of his generation.

Halcyon said:

Jesus's father Joseph?

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No, not him.

Mary mother of James and Joseph. She appear with MM in the Crucifixion (Matt 27:56, Mark 15:47) and the Resurrection (Mark 16:1).

gnostic said:

Is this Mary of Clopas also the mother of Joseph too?

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gnostic said:

Mary mother of James and Joseph. She appear with MM in the Crucifixion (Matt 27:56, Mark 15:47) and the Resurrection (Mark 16:1).

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Nobody really knows who all these people are, especially the Maries and the Jameses. One thing that makes you wonder about Mary the mother of James and Joses/Joseph is that James and Joses/Joseph are the names of two of Jesus' brothers, too.

But the traditional, unverifiable answer is that Clopas is the brother of that Joseph who was betrothed to the Virgin Mary, and Mary of Clopas is Clopas' wife. Which makes her the Virgin Mary's "sister", sort of -- or "sister-in-law-in-law."

Ok, I think I've sort it out in regarding to the mother of James and Joseph. Ok, she is wife of Clopas. And this James of Alphaeus is indeed is the lesser apostle.

I supposed I got rather confused with Halcyon's reply earlier, in regarding to Clopas-Alphaeus. But understand what he was saying after a 2nd look at his reply.