Fragments of Papias 2

1Five books by Papias are extant, bearing the title Expositions of the Oracles of the Lord. Irenaeus also mentions these as the only [works] written by him, in the following words: “These things Papias, who was a hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp, an ancient worthy, witnesses in writing in the fourth of his books. For there are five books composed by him.” So far Irenaeus.

2Yet Papias himself, in the preface to his discourses, certainly does not [claim] that he was a hearer and eyewitness of the holy Apostles. Rather, he shows by the language he uses that he received the matters of the faith from those who were their friends:

3“But I will not scruple also to give a place for you along with my interpretations to everything that I carefully learned and carefully remembered in time past from the elders, guaranteeing its truth. For, unlike the many, I did not take pleasure in those who have very much to say, but in those who teach the truth; nor in those who relate foreign commandments, but in those (who record) such as were given from the Lord to the Faith and are derived from the Truth itself. And again, whenever a person came (in my way) who had been a follower of the Elders, I would inquire about the discourses of the elders—what was said by Andrew, or by Peter, or by Philip, or by Thomas or James, or by John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and what Aristion and the Elder John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I did not think that I could get so much profit from the contents of books as from the utterances of a living and abiding voice.”

4Here it is worth while to observe that he twice enumerates the name of John. The first he mentions in connection with Peter, James, Matthew, and the rest of the Apostles, evidently meaning the Evangelist; but the other John he mentions after an interval and classes with others outside the number of the Apostles, placing Aristion before him, and he distinctly calls him an Elder. Thus he makes it quite evident that their statement is true who say that there were two persons of that name in Asia, and that there are two tombs in Ephesus, each of which even now is called the tomb of John. It is important to notice this, for it is probable that it was the second, if one will not admit that it was the first, who saw the Revelation which is ascribed by name to John. Papias, of whom we are now speaking, confesses that he had received the words of the Apostles from those who had followed them, but says that he was himself a hearer of Aristion and the Elder John. At all events, he mentions them frequently by name and besides records their traditions in his writings. So much for these points, which I trust have not been uselessly adduced.

5It is worth while, however, to add to the words of Papias given above other passages from him, in which he records some other wonderful events likewise, as having come down to him by tradition. That Philip the Apostle resided in Hierapolis with his daughters has already been stated; but it must be noted here how Papias, their contemporary, relates that he had heard a marvellous tale from the daughters of Philip. For he relates that in his ti[me] a man rose from the dead, and again he gives another wonderful story about Justus, who was surnamed Barsabas: how he drank a deadly poison and yet, by the grace of the Lord, suffered no inconvenience. Of this Justus the Book of Acts records that, after the ascension of the Saviour, the holy Apostles put him forward with Matthias and prayed for the right choice, in place of the traitor Judas, to make their number complete. The passage is somewhat as follows: “And they put forward two, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias; and they prayed, and said.”

6The same writer has recorded other notices as having come down to him from oral tradition: certain strange parables of the Saviour and teachings of his, and some other statements of a rather mythical character. Among these he says that there will be a period of some ten thousand years after the resurrection, and that the kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this earth. These ideas, I suppose, he got through a misunderstanding of the apostolic accounts, not perceiving that the things recorded there in figures were spoken by them mystically.

7For he evidently was a man of very limited capacity, as one may say, judging from his own statements. Yet it was owing to him that so many church fathers after him adopted a like opinion, urging in their own support the antiquity of the man, as, for instance, Irenaeus and whoever else they were who declared that they held like views. Papias also gives in his own work other accounts of the words of the Lord on the authority of Aristion, mentioned above, and traditions of the Elder John. To these we refer the curious; for our present purpose we will merely add to his words, which have been quoted above, a tradition which has been set forth through these sources concerning Mark, who wrote the Gospel:

8“And the Elder said this also: Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately everything that he remembered, without, however, recording in order what was either said or done by Christ. For neither did he hear the Lord nor did he follow him; but afterwards, as I said, (attended) Peter, who adapted his instructions to the needs of his hearers but had no design of giving a connected account of the Lord’s oracles. So then Mark made no mistake, while [he] thus wrote down some things as he remembered them; for [he] made it his one care not to omit anything that he heard, or [to] set down any false statement therein.”

9Such, then, is the account given by Papias concerning Mark. But concerning Matthew, the following statement is made [by him]:

10“So then Matthew composed the oracles in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as he could.”

11The same writer employed testimonies from the First Epistle of John, and likewise from that of Peter. And he has related another story about a woman accused of many sins before the Lord, which the Gospel according