Knowra Papias of Hierapolis Papias of Hierapolis Papias was a second-century Christian bishop and writer whose lost work on the sayings of Jesus survives in quotations by later authors. His fragments preserve early traditions about the Gospels and Jesus.
Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord : A lost five-book work by Papias that survives through quotations and summaries by later writers. This is the work from which most knowledge of Papias’s testimony derives.
Gospel of Mark : The earliest surviving canonical Gospel, traditionally associated with Mark, a companion of Peter. Papias reports that Mark accurately recorded Peter’s recollections, though not in order.
Papias on Mark : Papias’s report that Mark wrote accurately what he remembered from Peter’s preaching, though not in sequence. It offers an early account of the relationship between Mark’s Gospel and Peter’s testimony.
Gospel authorship : The study of who composed the four canonical Gospels and how their traditional attributions developed. Papias’s testimony became a major early source for arguments about Mark and Matthew.
Authorship of the Gospel of Matthew : The historical question of who composed the canonical Gospel of Matthew and how its traditional attribution arose. Papias’s statement is often invoked, but its wording may describe a source other than the surviving Gospel.
Eusebius of Caesarea : A fourth-century Christian historian whose Ecclesiastical History preserves excerpts about earlier Christianity. His account supplies the longest surviving discussion of Papias and his sources.
Gospel of Matthew : A canonical Gospel presenting Jesus’s life and teaching, traditionally attributed to Matthew. Papias’s statement about Matthew composing sayings in a Hebrew dialect is difficult to reconcile with the surviving Greek Gospel.
Papias on Matthew : Papias’s statement that Matthew arranged sayings in a Hebrew dialect, followed by varied translations or interpretations. Its meaning and relation to the canonical Gospel remain disputed.
Synoptic problem : The scholarly question of how Matthew, Mark, and Luke are literarily related. Papias’s account of Mark and Matthew is weighed against the Gospels’ textual relationships.
Authorship of the Gospel of Mark : The historical question of who composed the canonical Gospel of Mark and how its traditional attribution arose. Papias’s account is early testimony, not a direct statement from Mark or Peter.
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