Person
Papias of Hierapolis
early second century
Bishop of Hierapolis, collector of oral tradition
Attested. The fragments are real. His reports about the gospels are secondhand and contested.
Papias wrote Expositions of the Lord's Oracles, now lost except for quotations. He claimed to prefer the living voice of elders to books, and he passed on traditions about Mark and Matthew. Eusebius thought him a man of small intelligence. Modern readers treat him as an early, not always reliable, witness to gospel origins.
Places
Councils
No council in this list names them as a participant.
Sources
No separate modern citation is attached to this biography. The confidence note is the atlas summary of the evidence.
Catalog editions
Further reading
- 1 Clement: reference
- 2 Clement: reference
- Ignatius to the Ephesians: reference
- Ignatius to the Magnesians: reference
- Ignatius to the Trallians: reference
- Ignatius to the Romans: reference
- Ignatius to the Philadelphians: reference
- Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans: reference
- Ignatius to Polycarp: reference
- Polycarp to the Philippians: reference
- Martyrdom of Polycarp: reference
- Didache: reference
- Epistle of Barnabas: reference
- Shepherd of Hermas: reference
- Epistle to Diognetus: reference
- Fragments of Papias: reference