Apostolic Fathers
Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord (fragments)
Papias of Hierapolis · c. 110 – 130
Historical Context
Bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor and a hearer of 'the elders' who had known the apostles. His five-book work survives only in quotations by Irenaeus, Eusebius, and later writers.
Summary
Papias preferred 'the living voice' of oral tradition to books and preserves the earliest external notices about the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, John the Elder, the daughters of Philip, and the martyrdom of James. His fragments are the chief window onto the sub-apostolic memory of the New Testament.
Major Themes
- Oral tradition
- Origins of the Gospels
- Chiliasm (early millenarianism)
- Living voice of the elders
Important Quotations
“Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered.”— Fragment in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39
Related Church Fathers
Primary Sources
Further Reading
- Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses