Fragments of Papias 16

1Here begins the argument to the Gospel according to John.

2The Gospel of John was made known and given to the churches by John while he still remained in the body, as (one) Papias by name, of Hierapolis, a beloved disciple of John, related in his five exoteric (read: exegetical) books. But he wrote down the Gospel correctly at John’s dictation.

3A Vatican manuscript of the ninth century.

4XX

5For John, the last of these, surnamed the Son of Thunder, when he was already a very old man—as Irenaeus and Eusebius and a succession of trustworthy historians have handed down to us—about the time when terrible heresies had arisen, dictated the Gospel to his own disciple, the virtuous Papias of Hierapolis, to fill up what was lacking in those who before him had proclaimed the word to the nations throughout all the earth.

6Catena Patrum Graecorum in Saint John, published by B. Corder.