Extracts
Fragments in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3, 39:
3, 39, 1
“Of Papias there are five books in circulation, which bear the title Explanation of
the Sayings of the Lord. Irenaeus remarks on these as the only ones written by him,
writing very much as follows: ‘These things, too, Papias, a man of ancient times,
who was a hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp, attests in writing in the
fourth of his books. He wrote five books.’ ”
3, 39, 2
“So much for Irenaeus. Papias himself, however, in the introduction to his
treatises, makes it clear that he was never a hearer or an eyewitness of the
Apostles. He shows, in fact, by the language he uses, that he received the doctrines
of the faith through acquaintances of the apostles.”
3, 39, 3
“I shall not hesitate to set down for you along with my interpretations whatever I
learned from the presbyters and recall clearly, being thoroughly confident of their
truth. Unlike most people, I do not delight in those who talk a great deal, but in
those who teach the truth; nor in those who relate the commandments of others,
but in those who relate the commandments given by the Lord to the faith, and
which are derived from Truth itself.”
3, 39, 4
“And then too, when anyone came along who had been a follower of the
presbyters, I would inquire about the presbyters’ discourses: what was said by
Andrew, or by Peter, or by Philip, or by Thomas or James, or by John or Matthew,
or by any other of the Lord’s disciples: and what Aristion and the Presbyter John,
the disciples of the Lord, say. It did not seem to me that I could get so much profit
from the contents of books as from a living and abiding voice.”
3, 39, 5
“Here it is worth noting that he twice mentions the name John: the first in
connection with Peter and James and Matthew and the rest of the Apostles, clearly
referring to the evangelist; but the other John he mentions after an interval, and
groups him with others outside the number of the Apostles, placing Aristion before
him; and he distinctly calls him a presbyter.”
3, 39, 6
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