Papias

views updated May 29 2018

Papias (c.60–130 CE). Christian bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor. His work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord, known only from quotations in Irenaeus and Eusebius, contained oral traditions and legends. The most important of these concern the writing of the gospels: Matthew ‘composed the sayings (logia) in Hebrew, and everyone translated them as best he could’; Mark was ‘the interpreter of Peter’ who set down ‘accurately though not in order’ Peter's memories of Jesus' words and activities.