Genealogy of Jesus - Desposyni

Desposyni (Greek δεσπόσυνοι, desposynoi, “those of the master”) is a term used uniquely by Africanus to refer to the relatives of Jesus. The Gospels mention four brothers of Jesus—James, Joses, Simon, and Jude—along with sisters, named by Epiphanius as Mary and Salome. These and their descendants were prominent in the early Church down to the 2nd century.

Since ancient times, it has been debated precisely how these siblings were related to Jesus, or rather to Joseph and Mary, with her perpetual virginity at issue. There are three principal views on who these siblings were, named for their respective proponents:

• The Helvidian view—subsequent children of Joseph and Mary.
• The Epiphanian view—children of Joseph by a previous marriage.
• The Hieronymian view—first cousins of Jesus, and that Joseph was himself a virgin.

There is no suggestion in ancient sources that Jesus himself had any physical children, but the theory that a bloodline of Jesus, through Mary Magdalene, survived down through the ages has been popularized in recent decades, most notably in the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.