PAPIAS of HIERAPOLIS. — Lived around the year 130; author of a work in five books which also bore the title: Five Books of Exegesis of the Words of the Lord (Eusebius, Hist. ecc., III, 39, 1). The exegeses are based on the words (ἀγία) of Jesus in the written Gospels, but are expanded through the use of oral traditions transmitted to P. by the presbyters, i.e., the teachers who transmitted Christian oral tradition in a manner analogous to the rabbis.
P. declares that he would have been critical of the various forms of oral traditions (39, 4), but does not conceal a certain preference for oral tradition (39, 4), a fact that perhaps reveals some judgmental tendency in him. In fact, it can be observed that the millenarian traditions he accepts come from a Jewish environment (v. Gry, in Revue Bibl., 53 [1946], p. 197 ff). For now, according to Irenaeus, Haer., V, 33, 4, a disciple of the Apostle John, contemporary with Polycarp (d. in 156), the objections raised by Eusebius against Irenaeus’ statement (Hist. ecc., II, 39, 2-7) stem from the difficulty that in the preface P. mentions John twice (Eusebius, op. cit., II, 39, 4), which led Eusebius to distinguish between two Johns, one the Apostle and the other the Presbyter. P. would have listened only to the Presbyter. Eusebius’ hypothesis is untenable. In the preface, John is mentioned in his dual capacity as Apostle and Presbyter. But this does not mean that P. identified the Apostles with the presbyters (against Gutwenger). To Eusebius, P. is a man of small intellect (III, 39, 12), certainly because of his millenarianism. P. knew, in addition to the canonical Gospels, the Gospel of the Hebrews and the first Epistles of St. John and St. Peter (III, 39, 17), as well as the Apocalypse (frg. IV exegesis of Apoc. 12, 7).
It is said that P. identified the Apostles with the presbyters (against Gutwenger). To Eusebius, P. is a man of small intellect (III, 39, 12), certainly because of his millenarianism. P. knew, in addition to the canonical Gospels, the Gospel of the Hebrews and the first Epistles of St. John and St. Peter (III, 39, 17), as well as the Apocalypse (frg. IV exegesis of Apoc. 12, 7).
(from Acta Sanctorum Junii, VI, Antwerp 1718) Papebroch, Daniel — Engraved portrait by F. Diamser.
Thus erroneous is the thesis of Gutwenger that P. wrote before the publication of this work. Important are the traditions of the presbyters that P. included in his book regarding the origin of the Gospel of St. Mark (Eusebius, op. cit., III, 39, 15) and of St. Matthew (III, 39, 16). P. exerted influence on St. Irenaeus.