The relevant fragments of Papias ' lost work An Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord ( Logiōn kuriakōn exēgēsis, c. 110-140 ) are preserved in quotations by Eusebius.

John the Presbyter appears in a fragment by Papias, a 2nd century bishop of Hierapolis, who published an " Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord " ( Greek — Kyriakôn logiôn exêgêsis ) in five volumes.

These works and authors include Ignatius ( c. 107 ); Polycarp ( c. 107 ); Papias ’ elders ( c. 110-120 ); Hierapolis ' Exegesis of the Lord ’ s Oracles ( c. 120-132 ).

Papias of Hierapolis ( c 60-130 AD ) was an Early Christian Bishop of Hierapolis in Anatolia, whose book, " Expositions of the Oracles of the Lord ", in which he stated that " Matthew compiled the logia ( τὰ λόγια ) in the Hebrew language, and each person interpreted them as he was able ", survives only in quotations made by Irenaeus and Eusebius.

As a result, based on Eusebius ' mention that the writings of Papias contained a story " about a woman falsely accused before the Lord of many sins " ( H. E.

3. 39 ), he argued that this section originally was part of Papias ' Interpretations of the Sayings of the Lord, and included it in his collection of Papias ' fragments.

Papias tells us that the Gospel of the Hebrews also gives story of a woman accused of many sins before the Lord.

In his book Adversus Haereses, which survives in a Latin version, Irenaeus mentions " Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp " ( Book V, chapter xxxiii ), without indicating that this was another John than " John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.

Philip may be the last writer to quote Papias, and is best known for his statement that in the second book of the latter's five book treatise, Papias reported that the Apostle John was " killed by the Jews ".

According to Irenaeus, Papias was " a hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp, a man of primitive times ," who wrote a volume in " five books.

: Moreover, Papias himself, in the introduction to his books, makes it manifest that he was not himself a hearer and eye-witness of the holy apostles ; but he tells us that he received the truths of our religion from those who were acquainted with them apostles in the following words.

Jerome's attribution of the Second and Third Epistle of John echoes the text of these books, in which the writer refers to himself ho presbyteros, which can be translated as " the presbyter, " the elder ", " the ancient ", " the old ", the same word used by Papias.

This association is mentioned by a number of early Christian writers, including Papias, Origen, and Eusebius.

" Scholars have put forward several theories to explain Papias: perhaps Matthew wrote two gospels, one, now lost, in Hebrew, the other our Greek version ; or perhaps the logia was a collection of sayings rather than the gospel ; or by dialektōi Papias may have meant that Matthew wrote in the Jewish style rather than in the Hebrew language.

Papias does not identify his Matthew, but by the end of the 2nd century the tradition of Matthew the tax-collector had become widely accepted, and the line " The Gospel According to Matthew " began to be added to manuscripts.

A date past 110-115 is unlikely, as parts of the 1John and 2 John are quoted by Polycarp and Papias.

An alternative account of John's death, ascribed by later Christian writers to the early second century bishop Papias of Hierapolis, claims that he was slain by the Jews.

* Another account was preserved by the early Christian leader, Papias: " Judas walked about in this world a sad example of impiety ; for his body having swollen to such an extent that he could not pass where a chariot could pass easily, he was crushed by the chariot, so that his bowels gushed out.

About the origins of the Gospels, Papias ( as quoted by Eusebius ) Quoting John the Elder wrote:

This is what was related by Papias about Mark.

This hypothesis was based on an argument from authority: the claim by the 2nd century AD bishop Papias that he had heard that Matthew wrote first.

The demonstration, mainly by English scholars, of the impossibility of the late dates ascribed to the New Testament documents ( four Epistles of St. Paul and the Apocalypse were the only documents generally admitted as being of early date ), and the proofs of the authenticity of the Apostolic Fathers and of the use of St. John's Gospel by Justin, Papias, and Ignatius gradually brought Baur's theories into discredit.

Two possible patristic sources that may refer to eye witness encounters with Jesus are the early references of Papias and Quadratus, reported by Eusebius of Caesarea in the 4th century.

Bauckham states that by “ our times ” he may refer to his early life, rather than when he wrote ( 117 – 124 ), which would be a reference contemporary with Papias.

For this and other reasons, the Gospel of Matthew was composed in Greek and not Hebrew as suggested by Papias.

The demonstration, mainly by English scholars, of the impossibility of the late dates ascribed to the New Testament documents ( four Epistles of St. Paul and the Apocalypse were the only documents generally admitted as being of early date ), and the proofs of the authenticity of the Apostolic Fathers and of the use of St. John's Gospel by Justin, Papias, and Ignatius gradually brought Baur's theories into discredit.

" A similar claim comes out more clearly in a text by Irenaeus, but this testimony is later than ( and probably based on ) Papias.

Well into the 2nd century Christians held onto a strong preference for oral tradition as clearly demonstrated by writers of the time, such as Papias.

Before the 18th century, the belief of many, including the Church Fathers Papias ( c. 60-130 ), Irenaeus ( c. 130-200 ), Origen ( c. 185-254 ), Eusebius ( c. 260-340 ) Jerome ( c. 340-420 ), and Augustine of Hippo ( c. 354-430 ), had been that Matthew was the first gospel to be written.

This man, said in one document to be the author of two of the Epistles of John, was supposed to have been the teacher of the martyr bishop Papias, who had in turn taught Eusebius ' own teacher Irenaeus.

Eusebius held Papias in low esteem, perhaps because of his work's influence in perpetuating, through Irenaeus and others, belief in a millennial reign of Christ upon earth, that would soon usher in a new Golden Age.

Eusebius calls Papias ' a man of small mental capacity who mistook the figurative language of apostolic traditions '.

Eusebius also had low regard for the chiliast, Papias, and he let it be known that in his opinion Papias was " a man of small mental capacity " because he had taken the Apocalypse literally.

The works of Papias have not survived, but Eusebius quotes him as saying:

However, the exact identity of the " elder John " is wound up in the debate on the authorship of the Gospel of John, and scholars have differing opinions on that, e. g. Jack Finegan states that Eusebius may have misunderstood what Papias wrote, and the elder John may be a different person from the author of the fourth gospel, yet still a disciple of Jesus.

Advocates of an Aramaic original also refer to the patristic writings ( Papias, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Jerome ) that indicate Aramaic was the original written language of parts of the New Testament.

He appears in fragments from the church father Papias of Hierapolis as one of the author's sources and is first unequivocally distinguished from the Apostle by Eusebius of Caesarea.

After quoting Papias, Eusebius continues:

* The testimony of Eusebius is disputed, as his statement that Papias " was not himself a hearer and eye-witness of the holy apostles " is contradicted by a passage in Eusebius ' Chronicle which expressly calls the Apostle John the teacher of Papias.

Distinguishing between two persons called John, Eusebius could downgrade that book as the work of the Presbyter instead of the Apostle and also undermine Papias ' reputation as a pupil of an Apostle.

The Talmudic evidence for early Christian gospels, combined with Papias ' reference to the Hebrew " logia " ( Eusebius, Church History III.

In his work Redating Matthew, Mark and Luke Wenham wrote regarding the book of Matthew the following: " The fathers are almost unanimous in asserting that Matthew the tax-collector was the author, writing first, for Hebrews in the Hebrew language: Papias ( c. 60-130 ), Irenaeus ( c. 130-200 ), Pantaenus ( died c. 190 ), Origen ( c. 185-254 ), Eusebius ( c. 260-340 ), Epiphanius of Salamis ( c. 315-403 ), Cyril of Jerusalem ( c. 315-86 ) and others write in this vein.