The Desposyni (from the Greek δεσπόσυνοι, plural of δεσπόσυνος, meaning "of or belonging to the master or lord") is a term that, according to Sextus Julius Africanus, a writer of the early third century, refers to alleged blood relatives of Jesus who were then alive. According to the Gospel according to the Hebrews, some of these held, even at that relatively late stage, positions of special honour in the Early Christian Church.