Papias and His Books

Five books of Papias are in circulation, which bear the title Exposition of the Lord’s Sayings. Irenaeus mentions these as the only ones he wrote, in these words: “Papias too, a man of old, who heard John and was a companion of Polycarp, bears witness to these things in writing in the fourth of his books; for he composed five books.” So Irenaeus. [a] But Papias himself, in the preface to his treatises, makes it clear that he was by no means a hearer and eyewitness of the holy apostles. He tells us that he received the things of the faith from those who had known them, in these words: “I will not hesitate to set down for you, along with my interpretations, all that I once learned well from the elders and remembered well, and I vouch for its truth. For unlike most people I took no pleasure in those who say a great deal, but in those who teach the truth; not in those who recall other people’s commandments, but in those who recall the commandments given by the Lord to faith and coming from the truth itself. And if ever anyone came who had been a follower of the elders, I would inquire into the words of the elders: what Andrew or what Peter said, or what Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew, or any other of the Lord’s disciples, had said, and what Aristion and John the elder, the Lord’s disciples, are saying. For I did not suppose that what comes out of books would help me as much as what comes from a living and abiding voice.” [c]

Here it is worth noting that he counts the name John twice. The first John he lists with Peter, James, Matthew and the rest of the apostles, plainly meaning the evangelist. The other John he places after a break in his sentence, among others outside the number of the apostles, putting Aristion before him; and he plainly calls him an elder. This also shows the truth of the account of those who have said that two men in Asia bore the same name, and that there are two tombs at Ephesus, each of which is still called John’s today. We must pay attention to this, for it is likely that the second, unless someone prefers the first, saw the Revelation that circulates under John’s name. [e] And Papias, whom we are now discussing, acknowledges that he received the words of the apostles from those who had followed them, but he says that he himself heard Aristion and John the elder. At any rate he mentions them often by name and sets down their traditions in his writings. We hope these remarks have not been made to no purpose.

It is worth adding to the words of Papias already given other passages of his, in which he tells certain marvels and other things as having come to him from tradition. That Philip the apostle lived at Hierapolis with his daughters has been shown above. But it must be noted now that Papias, who lived in their time, mentions that he received a wonderful story from Philip’s daughters. He tells of a dead man raised to life in his time; and again of another marvel concerning Justus, surnamed Barsabbas: that he drank a deadly poison and, by the Lord’s grace, came to no harm. [f] This is the Justus whom, after the Savior was taken up, the holy apostles put forward with Matthias and prayed over, for the lot that would fill up their number in place of Judas the traitor. The book of Acts tells it this way: “And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias; and they prayed and said…” [g]

The same writer sets down other things as having come to him from unwritten tradition: some strange parables and teachings of the Savior, and some other things more like myths. Among them he says that there will be a thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, when the kingdom of Christ will be set up in bodily form on this very earth. I suppose he took up these ideas by misunderstanding the apostles’ accounts, not seeing that what they said in figures was spoken in a hidden sense. [h] For he was clearly a man of very small understanding, as one may judge from his own words. Yet he was responsible for a great many churchmen after him holding the same opinion as he did, since they relied on the man’s antiquity: Irenaeus, for example, and anyone else who has come forward with the same views.

In his own work Papias also hands on other accounts of the Lord’s words from Aristion, mentioned above, and traditions from John the elder. We refer those who are eager to learn to these. But now we must add to his words already quoted a tradition he sets out about Mark, who wrote the Gospel, in these words: “And the elder used to say this: ‘Mark, having become Peter’s interpreter, wrote down accurately, though not in order, all that he remembered of what was said or done by the Lord.’ For he had not heard the Lord or followed him, but later, as I said, he followed Peter, who used to give his teaching as the need arose, but not as making an orderly arrangement of the Lord’s sayings. So Mark did nothing wrong in writing down some things just as he remembered them. For he took care of one thing: to leave out nothing he had heard and to state nothing falsely in it.” This is what Papias tells about Mark. [i] About Matthew he says this: “So Matthew put the sayings together in the Hebrew language, and each person interpreted them as he was able.” The same writer uses testimonies from the first letter of John and likewise from Peter’s. And he sets out another story, about a woman accused before the Lord of many sins, which the Gospel according to the Hebrews contains. We have had to note these things too, in addition to what has been set out. [k]