Papias of Hierapolis

From Textus Receptus

Detail from the Nuremberg Chronicle, showing Papias

Papias (Greek: Παπίας) was a Greek Apostolic Father, Bishop of Hierapolis (modern Pamukkale, Turkey), and author who lived c. 60 – c. 130 AD.^[2]^[3] He wrote the Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord (Greek: Λογίων Κυριακῶν Ἐξήγησις) in five books. This work, which is lost apart from brief excerpts in the works of Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 A.D.) and Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 320 A.D.), is an important early source on Christian oral tradition and especially on the origins of the canonical Gospels.

Life

Very little is known of Papias apart from what can be inferred from his own writings. He is described as "an ancient man who was a hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp" by Polycarp's disciple Irenaeus (c. 180).^[4]

Eusebius adds that Papias was Bishop of Hierapolis around the time of Ignatius of Antioch.^[5] In this office Papias was presumably succeeded by Abercius of Hierapolis.

The name Papias was very common in the region, suggesting that he was probably a native of the area.^[6]

Papias on Judas

In Papias’s five-volume book, now lost, Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord:

Judas did not die by hanging, but he survived after being taken down, before he had choked to death. The Acts of the Apostles signifies this as well: “falling headfirst he burst forth in the middle, and his intestines spilled out.” And Papias, the disciple of John, relates this very clearly in the fourth book of his Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord:

“But Judas went about in this world as a great model of impiety. He became so bloated in the flesh that he could not pass through a place that was easily wide enough for a wagon – not even his swollen head could fit. They say that his eyelids swelled to such an extent that he could not see the light at all; and a doctor could not see his eyes even with an optical device, so deeply sunken they were in the surrounding flesh. And his genitals became more disgusting and larger than anyone’s; simply by relieving himself, to his wanton shame, he emitted pus and worms that flowed through his entire body.

And they say that after he suffered numerous torments and punishments, he died on his own land, and that land has been, until now, desolate and uninhabited because of the stench. Indeed, even to this day no one can pass by the place without holding their nose. This was how great an outpouring he made from his flesh on the ground.” [Apollinaris of Laodicea, drawn from a number of sources]

Notes

References

1.
2. http://oyc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/canon_0.pdf
3. http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0070-0130,_Papia_Hierapolitanus,_Fragmenta_[Schaff],_EN.pdf
4. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 5.33.4. The original Greek is preserved apud Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 3.39.1.
5. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 3.36.2.
6. Huttner, Ulrich (2013). Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley. p. 216. ISBN 978-9004264281.

Bibliography

Dennis R. MacDonald, Two Shipwrecked Gospels. The Logoi of Jesus and Papias's Exposition of Logia about the Lord, Leiden, Brill, 2012.
Monte A. Shanks, Papias and the New Testament, Eugene (OR), Pickwick Publications, 2013 (with the annotated English translation of the fragments, pp. 105–260).

External links

Chronicon.net – Complete Fragments of Papias with new discoveries listed
Biblical Audio – 2012 Papias translation and audio version (based on Chronicon.net fragments)
Christian Classics Etheral Library – Fragments of Papias
Early Christian Writings – Fragments of Papias
Patristics In English Project – Fragments of Papias
Catholic Encyclopedia – St. Papias (including an explanation of why logia is not to be rendered as "sayings", but as "oracles")

The King James Version 2023 Edition New Testament is now complete and in print format here.

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^{List of New Testament Papyri}

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