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2.1 Five writings of Papias are extant in number, which are also entitled "Exposition of the Lord's Oracles." Irenaeus also mentions these as the only ones written by him, saying something like this: And these things also etc. (cf. Iren. V, 33, 4). 2.2 And so much for Irenaeus. But Papias himself, in the preface to his discourses, in no way makes it clear that he himself was a hearer and eyewitness of the holy apostles, but teaches that he received the things of the faith from those who were their acquaintances, through the words which he says: 2.3 And I will not hesitate to set down for you, along with my interpretations, as many things as I ever learned well from the elders and remembered well, vouching for their truth. For I did not rejoice, as most people do, in those who say many things, but in those who teach the truth, nor in those who relate strange commandments, but in those who relate the ones given by the Lord to the faith and coming from the truth itself. 2.4 And if anyone who had attended on the elders came, I inquired about the words of the elders: what Andrew or what Peter said, or what Philip or what Thomas or James, or what John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and the things which Aristion and the elder John, the Lord’s disciples, say. For I did not suppose that what came from books would profit me so much as what came from a living and abiding voice. 2.5 Here it is worthwhile to note that he lists the name John twice, the first of whom he counts with Peter and James and Matthew and the rest of the apostles, clearly indicating the evangelist, but the other John, after a break in the discourse, he places among others outside the number of the apostles, placing Aristion before him, and he clearly calls him an elder; 2.6 so that through these things the account of those who have said that two persons in Asia had the same name is proven true, and that there were two tombs in Ephesus, and each is still now said to be John’s. To these things it is also necessary to pay attention; for it is likely that the second, if one does not wish to attribute it to the first, saw the Revelation which is carried under the name of John. 2.7 And the Papias now being discussed by us confesses to have received the words of the apostles from those who had attended them, but says he himself was a hearer of Aristion and of the elder John. At any rate, having mentioned them often by name, he sets down their traditions in his writings. And let these things not have been said by us to no purpose. 2.8 It is worthwhile to add to the quoted sayings of Papias other words of his, through which he relates certain strange and other things, as having come to him from tradition. 2.9 That Philip the apostle resided in Hierapolis with his daughters has been shown through what was before (III, 31), but how Papias, having lived in the same times, mentions that he received a wonderful narrative from the daughters of Philip, must now be noted. For he relates a resurrection of a dead person which happened in his time, and again another strange thing that happened concerning Justus, who was surnamed Barsabbas, how he drank a deadly poison and suffered no harm because of the grace of the Lord. 2.10 And that this Justus, after the ascension of the Savior, the holy apostles put forward with Matthias and prayed over for the lot of filling up their number in place of the traitor Judas, the writing of the Acts relates something like this: And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And praying, they said. 2.11 And the same man has set forth other things as having come to him from unwritten tradition, both certain strange parables of the Savior and his teachings, and some other more mythical things. 2.12 Among these he says that there will be a period of a thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, when the kingdom of Christ will be established bodily on this earth; which also

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2.1 Τοῦ δὲ Παπία συγγράμματα πέντε τὸν ἀριθμὸν φέρεται, α καὶ ἐπιγέγραπται Λογίων κυριακῶν ἐξηγήσεως. τούτων καὶ Εἰρηναῖος ὡς μόνον αὐτῷ γραφέντων μνημονεύει, ωδέ πως λέγων· Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ κτλ. (ξφ. ιρεν. ῃ, 33, 4). 2.2 καὶ ὁ μὲν Εἰρηναῖος ταῦτα. αὐτός γε μὴν ὁ Παπίας κατὰ τὸ προοίμιον τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων ἀκροατὴν μὲν καὶ αὐτόπτην οὐδαμῶς ἑαυτὸν γενέσθαι τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων ἐμφαίνει, παρειληφέναι δὲ τὰ τῆς πίστεως παρὰ τῶν ἐκείνοις γνωρίμων διδάσκει δι' ων φησιν λέξεων· 2.3 Οὐκ ὀκνήσω δέ σοι καὶ οσα ποτὲ παρὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καλῶς εμαθον καὶ καλῶς ἐμνημόνευσα, συγκατατάξαι ταῖς ἑρμηνείαις, διαβεβαιούμενος ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀλήθειαν. οὐ γὰρ τοῖς τὰ πολλὰ λέγουσιν εχαιρον ωσπερ οἱ πολλοί, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τἀληθῆ διδάσκουσιν, οὐδὲ τοῖς τὰς ἀλλοτρίας ἐντολὰς μνημονεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τὰς παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου τῇ πίστει δεδομένας καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς παραγινομένας τῆς ἀληθείας. 2.4 εἰ δέ που καὶ παρηκολουθηκώς τις τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις ελθοι, τοὺς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἀνέκρινον λόγους· τί ̓Ανδρέας η τί Πέτρος ειπεν η τί Φίλιππος η τί Θωμᾶς η ̓Ιάκωβος η τί ̓Ιωάννης η Ματθαῖος η τις ετερος τῶν τοῦ κυρίου μαθητῶν, α τε ̓Αριστίων καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτερος ̓Ιωάννης, τοῦ κυρίου μαθηταί, λέγουσιν. οὐ γὰρ τὰ ἐκ τῶν βιβλίων τοσοῦτόν με ὠφελεῖν ὑπελάμβανον, οσον τὰ παρὰ ζώσης φωνῆς καὶ μενούσης. 2.5 Ενθα καὶ ἐπιστῆσαι αξιον δὶς καταριθμοῦντι αὐτῷ τὸ ̓Ιωάννου ονομα, ων τὸν μὲν πρότερον Πέτρῳ καὶ ̓Ιακώβῳ καὶ Ματθαίῳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀποστόλοις συγκαταλέγει, σαφῶς δηλῶν τὸν εὐαγγελιστήν, τὸν δ' ετερον ̓Ιωάννην διαστείλας τὸν λόγον ἑτέροις παρὰ τὸν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀριθμὸν κατατάσσει, προτάξας αὐτοῦ τὸν ̓Αριστίωνα, σαφῶς τε αὐτὸν πρεσβύτερον ὀνομάζει· 2.6 ὡς καὶ διὰ τούτων ἀποδείκνυσθαι τὴν ἱστορίαν ἀληθῆ τῶν δύο κατὰ τὴν ̓Ασίαν ὁμωνυμίᾳ κεχρῆσθαι εἰρηκότων, δύο τε ἐν ̓Εφέσῳ γενέσθαι μνήματα καὶ ἑκάτερον ̓Ιωάννου ετι νῦν λέγεσθαι. οις καὶ ἀναγκαῖον προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν· εἰκὸς γὰρ τὸν δεύτερον, εἰ μή τις ἐθέλοι τὸν πρῶτον, τὴν ἐπ' ὀνόματος φερομένην ̓Ιωάννου ̓Αποκάλυψιν ἑωρακέναι. 2.7 καὶ ὁ νῦν δὲ ἡμῖν δηλούμενος Παπίας τοὺς μὲν τῶν ἀποστόλων λόγους παρὰ τῶν αὐτοῖς παρηκολουθηκότων ὁμολογεῖ παρειληφέναι, ̓Αριστίωνος δὲ καὶ τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου ̓Ιωάννου αὐτήκοον ἑαυτόν φησι γενέσθαι. ὀνομαστὶ γοῦν πολλάκις αὐτῶν μνημονεύσας, ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ συγγράμμασιν τίθησιν αὐτῶν παραδόσεις. καὶ ταῦτα δ' ἡμῖν οὐκ εἰς τὸ αχρηστον εἰρήσθω. 2.8 Αξιον δὲ ταῖς ἀποδοθείσαις τοῦ Παπία φωναῖς προσάψαι λέξεις ἑτέρας αὐτοῦ, δι' ων παράδοξά τινα ἱστορεῖ καὶ αλλα, ὡς αν ἐκ παραδόσεως εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλθόντα. 2.9 τὸ μὲν ουν κατὰ τὴν ̔Ιεράπολιν Φίλιππον τὸν ἀπόστολον αμα ταῖς θυγατράσιν διατρῖψαι, διὰ τῶν πρόσθεν (ιιι, 31) δεδήλωται, ὡς δὲ κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ὁ Παπίας γενόμενος διήγησιν παρειληφέναι θαυμασίαν ὑπὸ τῶν τοῦ Φιλίππου θυγατέρων μνημονεύει, τὰ νῦν σημειωτέον. νεκροῦ γὰρ ἀνάστασιν κατ' αὐτὸν γεγονυῖαν ἱστορεῖ, καὶ αυ πάλιν ετερον παράδοξον περὶ ̓Ιοῦστον τὸν ἐπικληθέντα Βαρσαβᾶν γεγονός, ὡς δηλητήριον φάρμακον ἐμπιόντος καὶ μηδὲν ἀηδὲς διὰ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου χάριν ὑπομείναντος. 2.10 τοῦτον δὲ τὸν ̓Ιοῦστον μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἀνάληψιν τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀποστόλους μετὰ Ματθία στῆσαί τε καὶ ἐπεύξασθαι ἀντὶ τοῦ προδότου ̓Ιούδα ἐπὶ τὸν κλῆρον τῆς ἀναπληρώσεως τοῦ αὐτῶν ἀριθμοῦ, ἡ τῶν Πράξεων ωδέ πως ἱστορεῖ γραφή· Καὶ εστησαν δύο, ̓Ιωσὴφ τὸν καλούμενον Βαρσαβᾶν, ος ἐπεκλήθη ̓Ιοῦστος, καὶ Ματθίαν· καὶ προσευξάμενοι ειπαν. 2.11 καὶ αλλα δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς ὡς ἐκ παραδόσεως ἀγράφου εἰς αὐτὸν ηκοντα παρατέθειται, ξένας τέ τινας παραβολὰς τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ καί τινα αλλα μυθικώτερα. 2.12 ἐν οις καὶ χιλιάδα τινά φησιν ἐτῶν εσεσθαι μετὰ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν, σωματικῶς τῆς Χριστοῦ βασιλείας ἐπὶ ταυτησὶ τῆς γῆς ὑποστησομένης· α καὶ