Papias Of Hierapolis

Papias of Hierapolis

Bishop of Hierapolis ( Phrygia ) in the first part of the ^second century , Papias wrote a book in five books entitled / as it generally results Papias is considered " blessed "by the Church Catholic , and his memory is celebrated on February 22.

The piece of paper is lost. lI is almost impossible to date it accurately, which would be essential. The only evidence available is that of Irenaeus of Lyons ( Against Heresies 5, 33, 4), which qualifies as a former. He tells us that Papias had listened to the preaching of the apostle John and he was a friend of Polycarp of Smyrna.

Another interesting relationship: according to Eusebius of Caesarea , a historian of the ^fourth century , Papias believed in the Reign of Christ a thousand literal years (even if Eusebius was in complete disagreement with him) .- Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, III, 39.

It can be argued that a date with high caution would lead to 115 , a date low to 140 or even later. When we usually give the date of 130 , it is only average date that has no real foundation. Yet it must be noted that the date of the book is one thing, another thing that he brings the loggia.

Fragments Eusebians

Eusebius, our main source, devotes a chapter to Papias in his Ecclesiastical History (3, 39), but he did not appreciate. That, he said, a man of mediocre intelligence "as shown by its books." One can easily imagine what motivates the decision of Eusebius.

This is primarily a church father who said that for his personal training, he is wary of books and that they preferred the oral tradition "alive":

"If someone somewhere had been in the company of presbyters, I inquired of the words of the presbyters: what was said Andrew or Peter or Philip or Thomas, or Jacques, or John, or Matthew or some other disciples of the Lord and say what Aristion and the presbyter John, disciples of the Lord. I do not think that things that come my books were as useful as what has been a living word and sustainable ( , ' ). "

This sentence has blacken entire volumes of interpretations and comments - and it would take another even to summarize succinctly. Simply trying to identify the issue.

• Should identify the Matthew referred here with the evangelist?

Eusebius, however suspicious, do not hesitate. For Papias, it seems clear from the surviving fragments, that Matthew, the apostle. But he knew Papias the Greek Gospel of Matthew?

• Everything then depends on the exact meaning here given to the word logia.

If given the sense of narrative or history, these Logia of Jesus are very close to being a gospel. The sentence of Papias is then the only document proving the existence of an original Aramaic to Greek Gospel that we know.

If we give Logia simply meaning of words - with the secondary meaning of "collection of sayings Masterworks become quasi-religious language technology in the time - we would then present a collection of missing words attributed to Jesus. This would satisfy both those of modern scholars of the New Testament (probably the majority) who seek the solution of the problem of synoptic in one or another variant of the hypothesis known as "two sources", which implies that the gospels Matthew and Luke are dependent just such a collection (called Q source in the jargon). The sentence of Papias is regularly requested to support the legitimacy of the hypothesis. Some are even tempted to see the source Q itself in these Logia lost, but then raise new difficulties. Unless Papias does elevate itself.

• For the end of the cryptic phrase also poses problems. It would be explained if one could understand, "and everyone translated them as best he could." Some translators do not hesitate, but do not you stretch the meaning?

In any case, this means that at the time of Papias, there were at least different interpretations of these logia and for himself (or rather his source because it is unlikely to have understood Aramaic Papias) only the original apostolic faith deserves. The phrase is better understood if Papias knew no Greek Gospel. If he knew (he would still be reasonable to think), he attributed it to Matthew himself or one of those who interpreted the loggia "as he was capable?

Other traditions recorded by Papias

The book of Papias reported many other traditions, some of which come from the daughters of the Apostle Philip lived in Hierapolis. There was a story of resurrection of the dead who would arrive the time of Philip and the murder of Jean's brother Jacques, committed by Jews as the Justus said Barsabbas who have been drinking deadly poison without inconvenience (but then there must be a reminiscence of Mark's Gospel, xvi, 18). According to a scholium of Apollinaris of Laodicea (perhaps found in a text of Theophylact ), Papias knew a popular tradition on the death of Judas , who became so swollen he could not pass where a cart easy going and eventually crushed by that cart into his guts spilling into the street.

The millenarianism of Papias

Among these lessons and other weird things quite that make fabulous new tricks to Eusebius, it is this:

"... He says there will be a thousand years after the resurrection of the dead and the reign of Christ will be physically on this earth. I think after all this assumes understood through the stories of the apostles, and he did not appreciate the things said by them in figures and in a symbolic way ...

Furthermore, Eusebius makes Papias responsible for the fact that "a large number of Christian writers (...) have adopted the same opinions as himself, confident in its antiquity: this is what happened ... But for Irenaeus in his Adversus Haereses, it is in the final chapter on millennialism Irenaeus cites what he believes to be a teaching from the book John IV of Papias himself promoted presbyter:

"There will be days when the vines grow, which will each have ten thousand vines, each vine and ten thousand branches, and each branch ten thousand shoots, and each bud ten thousand clusters, and each cluster ten thousand grains, and each grain will hurry twenty-five mtrtes wine. And when the Saints will pick one of a cluster, another cluster him cry: I'm better, pick me and through me, bless the Lord! Similarly the grain of wheat will produce ten thousand ears, each ear will have ten thousand grains and each grain will chnices of five lovely meal, and it will be the same, relatively speaking, for other fruits for seeds and for grass. And all animals, using the food they receive from the earth, will live in peace and harmony with each other and will be fully subject to men (trans. A. Rousseau). "

Papias probably did not have the importance he gives to the unfortunate Eusebius, but this text is enough to make us regret the loss to the historian of a source that would have been valuable for understanding the ancient millenarianism.

There are a few other fragments, more or less firmly attributed to Papias, and which are not important (although it was used for discussions on the Epistles of John ). The other authors who speak of him ( Jerome , Philip of Side , etc..) depend on Eusebius and add little. As for the martyrdom of Papias, there is no doubt that confusion with homonyms.

Bibliography

• The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers, Full Text, Cerf, 2001. Also available online: Notes
  1. Eusebius fragments are from the edition of Gustave Bardy, in al. Christian sources.
  2. While other translations (in English, for example) are the equivalent of the French translation above whose end will be said cryptically, "another translation might be:" Matthew, using the Hebrew, arranged together logia and translated as anyone could do. "The issue is complex. Literally , it is the loggia but can we not extrapolate and understand the Hebrew logia and assembly? So, once done by Matthew assembling in Greek logia, or, as the first translation, we find (and sorry?) that everyone will be put to translations (now lost) is, according to the second translation, it is clear that c ' Matthew is making his own translation, as any translator could do is to say without rearrangements.

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