Hegesippus vs. the perpetual virginity of Mary

The notion that the brothers of Jesus were in fact something other than true siblings developed over time in the post-apostolic church . . . The second-century writer, Hegesippus [mentioned] James “the brother [αδελφος] of the Lord,” (Ecclesiastical History, 2.23) and Jude “who is said to have been the Lord’s brother [αδελφος] according to the flesh,”(Ibid., 3.22) as well as Simeon the son of Clopas whom Hegesippus calls “the cousin [ανεψιος] of the Lord.”(Ibid., 4.22) The fact that Hegesippus knows a distinction between these two relationships indicates that when he uses αδελφος he does with biological siblings in mind. (Eric D. Svendsen, Who is My Mother? The Role and Status of the Mother of Jesus in the New Testament and Roman Catholicism [Amityville, N.Y.: Calvary Press, 2001], 99)