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Papias (Greek: Παπίας), Bishop of Hierapolis<ref>[[Eusebius of Caesarea]] calls him "Bishop of Hierapolis"</ref> (modern Pamukkale<ref>Pamukkale is 22km from Laodicea and near Colossae (see Col. 4:13), in the Lycus river valley in Phrygia, Asia Minor and is not to be confused with Hierapolis of Syria.</ref>, Turkey(A.D. 70–155), was a 2nd century bishop of the early Church, who published an "Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord"<ref>http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.vii.html</ref> (Greek κυριακῶν λογίων ἐξηγήσις — Kyriakôn logiôn exêgêsis) in five volumes. This work is lost but survives in fragments quoted by [[Irenaeus of Lyons]] (d. 202) and [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] (d. 339).
His interpretations would have been a prime early authority in the exegesis of the sayings of Jesus, some of which are recorded in the [[Gospel of Matthew]] and the [[Gospel of Luke]], however the book has not survived and is known only through fragments quoted by later writers; [[Irenaeus of Lyons]]'s (d. 202) ''[[Against Heresies]]'' and later by [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] (d. 339) in ''[[Ecclesiastical History]]'', the earliest surviving history of the early Church.
:''But I shall not be unwilling to put down, along with my interpretations, whatsoever instructions I received with care at any time from the elders, and stored up with care in my memory, assuring you at the same time of their truth. For I did not, like the multitude, take pleasure in those who spoke much, but in those who taught the truth; nor in those who related strange commandments, but in those who rehearsed the commandments given by the Lord to faith, and proceeding from truth itself. If, then, any one who had attended on the elders came, I asked minutely after their sayings,--what Andrew or Peter said, or what was said by Philip, or by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the Lord's disciples: which things Aristion and the presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I imagined that what was to be got from books was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice.''<ref>http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm</ref>
== Biography ==
Little is known of his life. Papias has the credit of association with Polycarp, in the friendship of St. John himself, and of “others who had seen the Lord.” He is said to have been bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, and to have died about the same time that Polycarp suffered; but even this is questioned. Eusebius speaks of Papias as a man most learned in all things, and well acquainted with the Scriptures. In another passage he describes him as of small capacity.
== Dating Papias ==
