A third ancient source, Irenaeus, also provides further information about the traditions, especially that of Papias, and possibly adds a third related tradition to the sources.

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.

" The benefit of historical immediacy, as argued by D. H. Fischer is one of the key determinants of historicity, and the church father Papias is a very early source in regard to testimony that the Matthew wrote his gospel first.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Other early premillennialists included Pseudo-Barnabas, Papias, Methodius, Lactantius, Commodianus Theophilus, Tertullian, Melito, Hippolytus of Rome, Victorinus of Pettau and various Gnostics groups and the Montanists.

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.

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

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.

This means that early writers, like Papias, Clement, Ireneas, and Justin Martyr would have quoted them, and the message of the Agrapha must not conflict with the teachings of Jesus contained in the Canonical Gospels.

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.

An early tradition within the Roman Catholic Church, first visible in the writings of Papias, identify her sons James and Joses / Joseph referred to in scripture as the " brothers of Jesus " as his biological cousins, Mary of Clopas being the sister ( or sister-in-law, or even cousin ) of Mary the Mother of Jesus.

In one fragment, Papias cites an older source who says, " When Mark was the interpreter possibly " translator " of Peter, he wrote down accurately everything that he recalled of the Lord's words and deeds.

This source claims multiple authorities of antiquity, not merely Papias ; this is taken as evidence against the view that the testimony of the Fathers is based solely upon the witness of Papias.

* Papias – great concierge of the imperial palaces, responsible for the opening and closing of the palace gates each day.

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.

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 ".

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.

As stated above, some scholars identify the work that Papias attributed to Matthew with the hypothetic Q document that would explain the many similarities between the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke that are not accounted for in the presumedly earlier Gospel of Mark.

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.

It has been argued, because Papias does not cite an authority for his assertions concerning Matthew but does concerning Mark, that Matthew was already fully accepted at the time of his writings.

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

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.

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.

Earlier church fathers were also associated with apostles: Clement with Peter ( associated closely with Rome ) and with Paul ( as the Clement Paul wrote about in Philippians 4: 3 ), Papias and Polycarp with John ( associated with Asia Minor ).

A small number of other authors, now only known in fragments, such as Papias and Hegesippus, were more concerned with the apostolic continuity of the individual churches and their histories.

: 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Though unrivaled, the tradition has been discounted on various grounds, particularly on the alleged unreliability of Papias, from whom some would derive the whole tradition.

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

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.

Apart from Papias ' comment, we do not hear about the author of the Gospel until Irenaeus around 185 who remarks that Matthew issued a written Gospel of the Hebrews ( Against Heresies 3. 1. 1 ) Pantaenus, Origen and other Church Fathers also believed Matthew wrote the Gospel of the Hebrews ( Church History 5. 10. 3, 6. 25. 4 ) None of these Church Fathers asserted that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Greek.

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.

Papias, Irenaeus, Origen, Eusebius, Epiphanius and Jerome all agree that the original Matthew was written in Hebrew.