Greetings in that Divine and Most Precious Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
From the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Southern US
According to Luke 1:5, St. Elizabeth was from the daughters of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. According to Mathew 1, St. Joseph, and therefore St. Mary, were from the tribe of Judah. Since St. Elizabeth and St. Mary were close relatives how is it that they are from two different tribes?
Intermarriage between Israelites from various tribes was common. The children from such marriages were counted to belong to the tribe of their father. St. Mary's and St. Elizabeth's mothers were sisters but St. Mary's father was from the tribe of Judah while St. Elizabeth's father was from the tribe of Levi.
More specifically from the Ethiopian Synaxarium:
On this day died the pure and righteous woman Hannah, the mother of our Lady, the holy
Virgin Mary, the God-bearer. This holy woman was a native of the city of Jerusalem, and
she was the daughter of Matat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, of the sons of Aaron the
priest, and of the tribe of Levi. Matat had three children, and the name of the eldest was
Mary; the name of the second was Sofia, and the name of the third was Hannah. And
Mary married and brought forth Salome, the midwife who received our Lady Mary when
she brought forth Christ our God. And Sofia married and brought forth Elisabeth, the
mother of John the Baptist, and this holy woman Hannah married the righteous man
Joachim, who was of the tribe of Judah, and she brought forth our Lady Mary. Our Lady
Mary and Salome and Elisabeth were sisters. Now the history of the strife of this holy
woman Hannah we know of nothing whatsoever which we can record, but we know and
we are convinced that she was the most honored of women because she was held to be
worthy to become the mother of the mother of God in the flesh. And had she not
possessed many virtues, and great righteousness, which was superior to the righteousness
of every other woman, she would never have been worthy of this act of grace. Now this
righteous woman was barren, and she used to pray and to entreat God continually to give
her children, and God gave her a beautiful daughter, one to be revered, and she and all her
people rejoiced, that is to say our Lady Mary. Therefore it is meet for us to honor her, and
to celebrate a festival to her, because of the exalted gift, which God gave her
On this day died the holy and righteous woman Saint Elisabeth, the mother of John the
Baptist. This holy woman was from the city of Jerusalem, and the name of her mother was
Sophia, and name of her father was Matat, the son of Levi, and son of Melki, of the tribe of
Aaron, of the tribe of Levi; and he begot three daughters. By kin she was the daughter of
the sister of the mother of our Lady Mary, the mother of God in the flesh. The name of the
eldest was Mary, and she it was who was the mother of Salome, who received our Lady
Mary when she brought forth the Wonder. The name of the second was Sophia, and she it
was who was the mother of this Saint Elisabeth. The name of the youngest was Hannah,
who brought forth our Lady Mary; Salome, and Elisabeth, and our Lady Mary were sisters;
and Zachariah the priest married this righteous woman Elisabeth. And the Holy Gospel
saith concerning them that they were righteous and pure, both of them, and that they
walked in all the Law of God blamelessly, and that this righteous woman was barren. And
because of the frequent entreaties of this woman and her husband, their petition reached
God together, and God gave them a son, Saint John the Baptist, so that He might make
manifest their righteousness and their love for God, and the greatness of their Faith in
Him. Because God did not grant them their petition early in their lives, this did not cause
doubt or sorrow, on the contrary, they were persistent in their petitioning, and at length
when they had become old in their days, and were barren, they produced a son, so that
[men] might know the Divine Power. And moreover, when the time arrived wherein our
holy Lady the Virgin Mary conceived the Word of God Who existeth for ever, John, being
in his mother’s womb, preached Him, and he bowed before Him, even as his mother saith,
“The child leaped in my womb with joy and gladness when our Lady Mary came to me
That is sisters in the Oriental sense, cousins would be the modern interpretations. Many English versions of the Scriptures use the word "relative".
stay blessed,
habte selassie
