Of Pantaenus the priest of the Alexandrians, and of the most wise Ammonius, the ancient commentators from before the [first] councils, who understood the entire six days of creation in reference to Christ and the church. Therefore the more ancient of the ecclesiastical commentators, I mean Philo the philosopher and contemporary of the apostles, and the great Papias, the disciple of John the evangelist, the Hierapolitan ..... and those with them spiritually contemplated the things concerning paradise by referring them to the church of Christ. They called those who practiced innocence according to God "children," as Papias also shows in the first book of the Expositions of the Dominical Oracles and Clement of Alexandria in the Paedagogus. He says these things, I think, alluding to Papias who was then bishop of Hierapolis in Asia and who flourished at the same time as the divine evangelist John. For this Papias in his fourth book of the Expositions of the Dominical <Oracles> spoke of the enjoyments through foods in the resurrection... and Irenaeus of Lugdunum in the fifth book Against Heresies says the same thing and brings forward the aforementioned Papias as a witness of the things said by him. ..... Nor indeed Papias the bishop of Hierapolis and martyr, nor Irenaeus the holy bishop of Lugdunum (Stephen accepts), in what they say that the kingdom of heaven is the enjoyment of certain sensual foods. Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, who became a hearer of John the Theologian, and a companion of Polycarp, wrote five books of the Dominical Oracles. In which, making an enumeration of the apostles after Peter and John, Philip and Thomas and Matthew, he listed among the disciples of the Lord Aristion and another John, whom he also called the Presbyter. so that some think that the two small and catholic epistles that bear the name of John are by <this> John, because the ancients approved only the first one. And some, being mistaken, thought the Apocalypse was also by this man. And Papias is also mistaken about the millennium, from whom also Irenaeus.

11.2 Papias in the second book says that John the Theologian and James his brother were killed by the Jews. The aforesaid Papias related, having received it from the daughters of Philip, that Barsabas, who is also Justus, when tested by the unbelievers, drank a viper’s poison in the name of Christ and was preserved unharmed. He relates also other miracles and especially that concerning the mother of Manaem who was raised from the dead; and <concerning> those who were raised from the dead by Christ, that they lived until Hadrian.

12.1 After Domitian, Nerva reigned for one year, who having recalled John from the island, permitted him to live in Ephesus. At that time he alone of the twelve disciples was surviving, and having composed the gospel according to him, he was deemed worthy of martyrdom. 12.2 For Papias, the bishop of Hierapolis, having been an eyewitness of this man, asserts in the second book of the Dominical Oracles that he was killed by the Jews; fulfilling, clearly, with his brother, the prophecy of Christ concerning them and their own confession and assent regarding this. For the Lord said to them: "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?" And when they had eagerly nodded and agreed, He said, "You shall drink my cup, and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized." And reasonably so; for it is impossible for God to lie. 12.3 And thus also the very learned Origen in his commentary on Matthew (T. xvii. 6) confirms that John was martyred, indicating that he had learned this from the successors of the apostles. And indeed also the very learned Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (iii, 1) says:

Πανταίνου τοῦ τῆς ̓Αλεξανδρέων ἱερέως, καὶ ̓Αμμωνίου τοῦ σοφωτάτου, τῶν ἀρ- χαίων καὶ πρὸ τῶν [πρώτων ξοδδ] συνόδων ἐξηγητῶν, εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν πᾶσαν τὴν ἑξαήμερον νοησάντων. Οἱ μὲν ουν ἀρχαιότεροι τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν [ἐκκλησιῶν ξοδ] ἐξηγη-τῶν [ἐξηγητικῶν ξοδ], λέγω δὴ Φίλων ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ τῶν ἀποστό-λων ὁμόχρονος, καὶ Παπίας ὁ πολύς, ὁ ̓Ιωάννου τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ φοιτητής, ὁ ̔Ιεραπολίτης ..... καὶ οἱ ἀμφ' αὐτοὺς πνευματικῶς τὰ περὶ παραδείσου ἐθεώρησαν εἰς τὴν Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίαν ἀναφερόμενοι. Τοὺς κατὰ θεὸν ἀκακίαν ἀσκοῦντας παῖδας ἐκάλουν, ὡς καὶ Παπίας δηλοῖ βιβλίῳ πρώτῳ τῶν κυριακῶν ἐξηγήσεων καὶ Κλήμης ὁ ̓Αλεξαν-δρεὺς ἐν τῷ Παιδαγωγῷ. Ταῦτά φησιν αἰνιττόμενος οιμαι Παπίαν τὸν ̔Ιεραπόλεως τῆς κατ' ̓Ασίαν τότε γενόμενον ἐπίσκοπον καὶ συνακμάσαντα τῷ θείῳ εὐαγγελιστῇ ̓Ιωάννῃ. ουτος γὰρ ὁ Παπίας ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ αὐτοῦ βιβλίῳ τῶν <λογίων> κυριακῶν ἐξηγήσεων τὰς διὰ βρωμάτων ειπεν ἐν τῇ ἀνα-στάσει ἀπολαύσεις ... καὶ Εἰρηναῖος δὲ ὁ Λουγδούνου ἐν τῷ κατὰ αἱρέσεων πέμπτῳ λόγῳ τὸ αὐτό φησι καὶ παράγει μάρτυρα τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ εἰρη- μένων τὸν λεχθέντα Παπίαν. ..... οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' οὐδὲ Παπίαν τὸν ̔Ιεραπόλεως ἐπίσκοπον καὶ μάρτυρα, οὐδὲ Εἰρηναῖον τὸν οσιον ἐπίσκοπον Λουγδούνων (σξιλ. ἀπο-δέχεται Στέφανος), ἐν οις λέγουσιν αἰσθητῶν τινων βρωμάτων ἀπόλαυ-σιν ειναι τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν. Παπίας ̔Ιεραπόλεως ἐπίσκοπος, ἀκουστὴς τοῦ θεολόγου ̓Ιωάννου γενόμενος, Πολυκάρπου δὲ ἑταῖρος, πέντε λόγους κυριακῶν λογίων εγραψεν. ἐν οις ἀπαρίθμησιν ἀποστόλων ποιούμενος μετὰ Πέτρον καὶ ̓Ιωάννην, Φίλιππον καὶ Θωμᾶν καὶ Ματθαῖον εἰς μαθητὰς τοῦ κυρίου ἀνέγραψεν ̓Αριστίωνα καὶ ̓Ιωάννην ετερον, ον καὶ πρεσβύτερον ἐκάλε-σεν. ως τινας οιεσθαι, οτι <τούτου> τοῦ ̓Ιωάννου εἰσὶν αἱ δύο ἐπιστολαὶ αἱ μικραὶ καὶ καθολικαί, αἱ ἐξ ὀνόματος ̓Ιωάννου φερόμεναι, διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἀρχαίους τὴν πρώτην μόνην ἐγκρίνειν. τινὲς δὲ καὶ τὴν ̓Αποκά-λυψιν τούτου πλανηθέντες ἐνόμισαν. καὶ Παπίας δὲ περὶ τὴν χιλιον-ταετηρίδα σφάλλεται, ἐξ ου καὶ ὁ Εἰρηναῖος.

11.2 Παπίας ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ λόγῳ λέγει, οτι ̓Ιωάννης ὁ θεολόγος καὶ ̓Ιάκωβος

ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ ̓Ιουδαίων ἀνῃρέθησαν. Παπίας ὁ εἰρημένος ἱστόρησεν ὡς παραλαβὼν ἀπὸ τῶν θυγατέρων Φιλίππου, οτι Βαρσαβᾶς, ὁ καὶ ̓Ιοῦστος δοκιμαζόμενος, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπίστων ἰὸν ἐχίδνης πιὼν ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Χρι-στοῦ ἀπαθὴς διεφυλάχθη. ἱστορεῖ δὲ καὶ αλλα θαύματα καὶ μάλιστα τὸ κατὰ τὴν μητέρα Μαναΐμου τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστᾶσαν· περί <τε> τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάντων, οτι εως ̓Αδριανοῦ εζων.

12.1 Μετὰ δὲ ∆ομετιανὸν ἐβασίλευσε Νερούας ετος εν, ος ἀνακαλεσά-μενος

̓Ιωάννην ἐκ τῆς νήσου ἀπέλυσεν οἰκεῖν ἐν ̓Εφέσῳ. μόνος τότε περιὼν τῷ βίῳ ἐκ τῶν ιβʹ μαθητῶν καὶ συγγραψάμενος τὸ κατ' αὐτὸν εὐαγγέλιον μαρτυρίου κατηξίωται. 12.2 Παπίας γὰρ ὁ ̔Ιεραπόλεως ἐπί-σκοπος, αὐτόπτης τούτου γενόμενος, ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ λόγῳ τῶν κυριακῶν λογίων φάσκει, οτι ὑπὸ ̓Ιουδαίων ἀνῃρέθη· πληρώσας δηλαδὴ μετὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ περὶ αὐτῶν πρόρρησιν καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ὁμολογίαν περὶ τούτου καὶ συγκατάθεσιν· εἰπὼν γὰρ ὁ κύριος πρὸς αὐτούς· ∆ύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον, ο ἐγὼ πίνω; καὶ κατανευσάντων προθύμως καὶ συνθεμένων· Τὸ ποτήριόν μου, φησίν, πίεσθε, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα, ο ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι, βαπτισθήσεσθε. καὶ εἰκότως· ἀδύ-νατον γὰρ θεὸν ψεύσασθαι. 12.3 ουτω δὲ καὶ ὁ πολυμαθὴς ̓Ωριγένης ἐν τῇ κατὰ Ματθαῖον ἑρμηνείᾳ (τ. χῃι ξ. 6) διαβεβαιοῦται, ὡς οτι μεμαρτύρηκεν ̓Ιωάννης, ἐκ τῶν διαδόχων τῶν ἀποστόλων ὑποσημαι-νάμενος τοῦτο μεμαθηκέναι. καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ ὁ πολυΐστωρ Εὐσέβειος ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησιαστικῇ ἱστορίᾳ (ιιι, 1) φησί·