The tradition that this was the disciple Matthew begins with the early Christian bishop Papias of Hierapolis ( about 100 – 140 AD ), who, in a passage with several ambiguous phrases, wrote: " Matthew collected the oracles ( logia — sayings of or about Jesus ) in the Hebrew language ( Hebraïdi dialektōi — perhaps alternatively " Hebrew style ") and each one interpreted ( hērmēneusen — or " translated ") them as best he could.

" In this connection, he attributes to Christ the saying about the vine with ten thousand branches, and the ear of wheat with ten thousand grains, and so forth, which he quotes from Papias of Hierapolis.

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.

Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor during the first half of the 2nd century, writes that Matthew composed the logia in the Hebrew tongue and each one interpreted them as he was able.

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 ).

Such a collection of sayings of Jesus are believed to be referred to by Papias of Hierapolis.

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.

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.

: PG 5: Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Melito of Sardis, Papias of Hierapolis, Apollonius of Ephesus, etc.

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.

Richard Bauckham states that while Papias was collecting his information ( c. 90 ), Aristion and the elder John ( who were Jesus ’ disciples ) were still alive and teaching in Asia minor, and Papias gathered information from people who had known them.

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.

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.

The earliest surviving references to the gospel tradition are quoted by Eusebius ( lived c. 263 – 339 CE ), and different but related traditions appear in the works of Papias ( wrote during the first half of 2nd century CE ) and the works of Clement.

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.

Papias ( circa AD 125 ) refers to a story of Jesus and a woman " accused of many sins " as being found in the Gospel of the Hebrews, which may well refer to this passage ; there is a very certain quotation of the pericope adulterae in the 3rd Century Syriac Didascalia Apostolorum ; though without indicating John's Gospel.

" 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.

According to Irenaeus, Polycarp was a companion of Papias, another " hearer of John " as Irenaeus interprets Papias ' testimony, and a correspondent of Ignatius of Antioch.

* 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.

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.

Papias () ( writing in the first third of the 2nd century ) was a bishop of the early Church.

This is what was related by Papias about Mark.

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.

Although in line with many stories in the Gospels and probably primitive ( Didascalia Apostolorum refers to it, possibly Papias also ), critics argue that it was " certainly not part of the original text of St John's Gospel.

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.

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

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 ".

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.

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

Clopas also appears in early Christian writings such as the 2nd century writers Papias and Hegesippus as a brother of Joseph, the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus, and as the father of Simeon, the second bishop of Jerusalem.

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

And these things are borne witness to in the fourth book of the writings of Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp .” ( 5. 33. 3 ) Apparently Irenaeus also held to the sexta -/ septamillennial scheme writing that the end of human history will occur after the 6, 000th year.

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.

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.

* Papias ' Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord in five books, mentioned by 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.

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

Papias uses a similar term meaning " remembered " ( apomnemoneusen ) when describing how Mark accurately recorded the " recollections of Peter ", and Justin also uses it in reference to Peter in Dial.

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.

On the question of the relationship of the Synoptic Gospels, Holtzmann in his early work, Die synoptischen Evangelien, ihr Ursprung und geschichtlicher Charakter ( The Synoptic Gospels: Their Origin and Historical Character ; Leipzig, 1863 ), presents a view which has been widely accepted, maintaining the priority of Mark, deriving Matthew in its present form from Mark and from Matthew's earlier " collection of Sayings ," the Logia of Papias, and Luke from Matthew and Mark in the form in which we have them.

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.

* Fragments of the writings of Papias, which have survived as quotations in later writers

* 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.

The double occurrence of John is explained by Papias ' " peculiar relationship " to John, from which he had learned some things indirectly and others directly.