Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 18
18 Papias the bishop PL 23, 637
Papias, the pupil of John, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia, wrote only five volumes, which he entitled Exposition of the words of our Lord, in which, when he had asserted in his preface that he did not follow various opinions but had the apostles for authority, he said “I considered what Andrew and Peter said, what Philip, what Thomas, what James, what John, what Matthew or any one else among the disciples of our Lord, what also Aristion and the elder John, disciples of the Lord had said, not so much that I have their books to read, as that their living voice is heard until the present day in the authors themselves.” It appears through this catalogue of names that the John who is placed among the disciples is not the same as the elder John whom he places after Aristion in his enumeration. This we say moreover because of the opinion mentioned above, where we record that it is declared by many that the last two epistles of John are the work not of the apostle but of the presbyter.
He is said to have published a Second coming of Our Lord or Millennium. Irenæus and Apollinaris and others who say that after the resurrection the Lord will reign in the flesh with the saints, follow him. Tertullian also in his work On the hope of the faithful, Victorinus of Petau and Lactantius follow this view.
859 Papias, Joannis auditor Hierapolitanus in Asia episcopus, quinque tantum scripsit volumina, quae praenotavit, Explanatio sermonum Domini. In quibus cum se in praefatione asserat, non varias opiniones sequi, sed Apostolos habere auctores, ait: Considerabam, quid Andreas, quid Petrus dixissent, quid Philippus, quid Thomas, quid Jacobus, quid Joannes, quid Matthaeus, vel alius quilibet discipulorum Domini: quid etiam Aristion, et Senior Joannes, discipuli Domini loquebantur. Non enim tantum mihi libri ad legendum prosunt, quantum viva vox, usque hodie in suis auctoribus personans. Ex quo apparet in [ Al. ex] ipso catalogo nominum, alium esse Joannem, qui inter Apostolos ponitur, et alium Seniorem Joannem, quem post Aristionem enumerat. Hoc autem diximus, propter superiorem opinionem, quam a plerisque retulimus traditam, duas posteriores Epistolas Joannis, non Apostoli esse, sed Presbyteri. Hic dicitur mille annorum Judaicam edidisse δευτέρωσιν, quem secuti sunt Irenaeus, et Apollinarius, et caeteri qui post resurrectionem aiunt in carne cum sanctis Dominum regnaturum. Tertullianus quoque in libro de Spe fidelium, et Victorinus Petabionensis, et Lactantius hac opinione ducuntur.
860 Παπίας Ἰωάννου ἀκροατὴς, Ἱεραπολίτης τῆς Ἀσίας Ἐπίσκοπος, πέντε μόνους συνέταξε λόγους, οὓς καὶ ἐπέγραψε, Ἔκθεσις λόγων Κυρίου. Ἐν οἷς λέγων ἐν προοιμίοις μὴ ἀκολουθεῖν ποικίλαις φήμαις, ἀλλὰ τοὺς Ἀποστόλους ἔχειν ἡγουμένους, ἔφη· « Κατενόουν τί Ἀνδρέας, τί Πέτρος, εῤιήκασι, τί Φίλιππος, τί Θωμᾶς, τί Ἰάκωβος, τί Ἰωάννης, τί Ματθαῖος, καὶ οἳ λοιποὶ τοῦ Κυρίου μαθηταὶ, τί δὲ Ἀριστίων, καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτερος Ἰωάννης, μαθηταὶ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐλάλησαν. Οὐδὲ γάρ με τοσοῦτον βίβλοι εἰς ἀνάγνωσιν ὠφελοῦσιν, ὅσον ζῶσα φωνὴ, ἥτις ἄχρι τοῦ παρόντος τῶν συγγραψαμένων ἀκμάζει. » Δηλοῦται δέ ἐξ αὐτοῦ καταλόγου τῶν ὀνομάτων, ἄλλον εἶναι Ἰωάννην Ἀποστόλον, καὶ ἄλλον εἶναι πρεσβύτερον Ἰωάννην, ὅντινα ὔστερον μετὰ τὸν Ἀριστίωνα καταριθμετῖαι. Ταῦτα δὲ εἰρήκαμεν διὰ τὰ προαναφερόμενα, ἐν οἷς εἴπομεν, τὰς δύο ὑστέρας Ἐπιστολάς μὴ εἶναι Ἰωάννου τοῦ ἀποστόλου, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου. Οὗτος λέγεται χιλίων ἐνιαυτῶν Ἰουδαϊκὴν ἐκδεδωκέναι' δευτέρωσιν, ᾧ ἠκολούθησαν Εἰρηναῖος, καὶ Ἀπολλινάριος, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ, οἵτινες μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν φάσκουσιν ἐν τῷ σώματι μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων τὸν Κύριον βασιλεύσειν. Καὶ Τερτυλλιανὸς δὲ ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ τῇ περὶ τῆς Ἐλπίδος τῶν πιστῶν, καὶ Βικτωρῖνος Πεταβῖνος, καὶ Λακτάντιος ταυτῇ τῇ δοκήσει εἵλκυνται.