408 The NEW .and C.oIvIPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORI) TOSEPH of ARIMATHEA, an HEBREW DISCIPLE. )O. S E P H of Arintatlleá, or of :Rana- tha, Rama, or Ramula, a cuy between Jappa and Jerufalem, was a Jewifh fenator, and privately a difciple of Jesus CHRIST: he was not confenting to the defigns of the refl. of the Jews, _particularly of the members of the Sanhedrin, who condemn- ed and put JESUS CHRIST to death: but when our Saviour was dead, he went boldly to Pilate, and defined the body of JESus in ordér to bury it. This he obtained; and., accordingly, he buried it after an honour- able manner, in a fepulchre newly made itt a garden, which was upon the fame Blount Calvary where JESUS had been crucified. After he had placed it there, he clofed the entrance of it with a hone cut particularly for this purpofe, and which exallly filled the open part. The feftival of Jofeph of Arimathea is obferved by the Greek church on the thirtyrll of July. C L E O P H A S, an HEBREW CONVERT. At T E are told by the ancient fathers, V V who mention Cleophas, that he was brother to Jofeph, and both of them- the fops ofJacob. He was the father of Simeon, bifhop of Jerufalem, of St. James the Lefs, of St. Jude, and of Jofeph, or Jofes. Cleophas married Mary, lifter to the bleffed virgin ; fo that he was uncle to JESUS CHRIST ; and his forts were coufin- ,germans to our Saviour. Cleophas, his wife, andfous, were fome of the faithful difciples of Jesus CHRIST, and of the number who looked upon him as the Re- deemer and Salvation of Ifael. But Cleo- phas did not fufliciently underhand the myfiery of the crofs, and what JESUS had fo often told his difciples ; that it was ex- pedient he fhould die and return to his Father. Cleophas having beheld our Sa- viour expire upon the crofs, loft all hopes of feeing the kingdom ofGod eftablifhed by his means upon earth, expelling, with many of the Jews, a temporal prince and deliverer. This difciple departed from Jerufalem two days after our Saviour's death; that is to fay, on the very day ofhis refurreéì.ion : and as he was going to Emmaus with ano- ther difciple, while they were entertaining themfelves with what had gaffed during the £earl, particularly with refpeél to Jesus CrIRIST, our Saviour joined them in the form of a traveller.. Ecclefiaflical hiflorians do not particu- larly tell us what were the afíons of St. Cleophas, during the remainder of his life, after the time our Saviour appeared to him and the reft of his difciples after his re- furreélion : but Ufuardus and Ado affirm, that he fuffered martyrdom; and was buried in the fame houfe where he had received Jesus CHRIST at his table. The Greeks, who kyle him an apoftle, make mention of him on the thirteenth, or rather on the thirtieth of Oélober. PH I L E MON, a GENTILE CONVERT. rrHIS eminent difciple was a rich ci- tizen of Coloffe, and probably a na- tive of that place. He was converted, to- gether with his wife, to the Chriflian faith, by Epaphras, a difciple of St. Paul; for St. Paul himfelf never preached in Coloffe,' though he wrote an epíftle to the brethren there. We read, that Philemon had made a church ofhis houfe ; and all his domeftics, as
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=