What does Papias say about tradition?

After the departure of the apostles and the disciples who were eyewitnesses to the saving events of Christ’s life, Church Fathers like Papias, Irenaeus, and Clement of Alexandria were interested in preserving the oral tradition ― the “tradition of the fathers, the elders (presbyters)” ― which they held to date back to the apostolic era.

We know about Papias, the Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, from the writings of Irenaeus and Eusebius . Irenaeus’ testimony of him is considered more important than that of Eusebius since Irenaeus belongs to the same group of witnesses as Papias, although he came a little bit later.²¹⁰ St. Irenaeus wrote that Papias had heard St. John firsthand, was a

209 Oscar Cullmann, “‘Kyrios’ As Designation for the Oral Tradition Concerning Jesus (Paradosis and Kyrios),” Scottish Journal of Theology , 3 no. 2 (1950): p. 180.

210 Jean Daniélou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity. A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea, vol . 1 (Darton, Longman & Todd, 1964): p. 46.

companion of St. Polycarp, and compiled five books.²¹¹ Irenaeus praised his works highly and regarded Papias as having a direct lineage to the apostolic era.²¹² His works survived until the fourteenth century (if not later), but unfortunately not a single manuscript of his survives today.²¹³ Eusebius preserved for us a preface to Papias’ work entitled, “The Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord.”²¹⁴ In this preface, Papias (before the mid-2nd century) collected the memoirs of those still alive who had personally known the apostles. He says, “I shall not hesitate to set down for you together with my interpretations all that I have ever learned well from the presbyters and recall well, being confident of their truth ... if ever anyone came who had carefully followed the presbyters, I inquired as to the words of the presbyters, what Andrew or what Peter said, or what Philip or what Thomas or James or what John or Matthew or any other of the disciples of the Lord ... For I did not suppose that information from books helped me so much as that from a living and abiding voice.”²¹⁵