Haer._, xxx.

13.] [Footnote 6: Now _Kuryetein_, or _Kereitein_.] We have seen that in general the family of Jesus were little inclined toward him.[1] James and Jude, however, his cousins by Mary Cleophas, henceforth became his disciples, and Mary Cleophas herself was one of the women who followed him to Calvary.[2] At this period we do not see his mother beside him.

It was only after the death of Jesus that Mary acquired great importance,[3] and that the disciples sought to attach her to themselves.[4] It was then, also, that the members of the family of the founder, under the title of "brothers of of the Lord," formed an influential group, which was a long time at the head of the church of Jerusalem, and which, after the sack of the city, took refuge in Batanea.[5] The simple fact of having been familiar with him became a decisive advantage, in the same manner as, after the death of Mahomet, the wives and daughters of the prophet, who had no importance in his life, became great authorities.
[Footnote 1: The circumstance related in John xix.

25-27 seems to imply that at no period of the public life of Jesus did his own brothers become attached to him.] [Footnote 2: Matt.xxvii.

56; Mark xv.