Papias of Hierapolis

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Papias von Hierapolis ( ancient Greek Παπίας Ἱεραπόλεως / ὁ Ἱεραπολίτης ) (around 60 to around 163 AD ) was one of the early church fathers as well as a bishop and theologian in Hierapolis (near today's Pamukkale , Turkey). His Five Books of Representing the Words of the Lord , which have only survived in fragments , were written around 100 AD. His work is the earliest source that reports on the authorship and development of the Christian Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible .

Life

His date of birth is estimated by many authors to be 70, but some to 60 or even 50. Others refuse to give life dates as speculative assumptions. Irenaeus of Lyon reported (around 180) that Papias was a friend and companion of Polycarps , the bishop of Smyrna. Like Polycarp himself, according to Irenaeus, Papias was a student of the apostle John . Eusebius of Caesarea adds that Papias was bishop of Hierapolis and contemporary of Ignatius of Antioch . Eusebius associates Papias with Clement of Rome and implies that Papias was active during the reign of Trajan (98-117), probably even before the martyrdom of Ignatius (107).

Papias mentions that he personally knew the daughters of Philip , who spent the last years of his life in Hierapolis, and that he heard from them about the apostles.

Sources of information from Papias

Papias names Aristion and John the presbyter as his most important informants , both of whom, like the apostles , he describes as disciples of Jesus:

Papias wrote:

But I do not hesitate to combine for you what I learned exactly from the presbyters and kept in my mind with the explanations, to vouch for their truth. For, like most, I did not enjoy those who talk a lot, but rather those who teach what is true; also not of those who have the strange commandments in mind, but of those who have the commandments given to faith by the Lord and come from the truth itself (commandments in memory).
But when anyone came to succeed the presbyters, I asked [Papias] about the teachings of the elders - what did Andrew or what did Peter say, or what did Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew or any other of the disciples have said of the Lord; and what do Aristion and the presbyter John , also disciples of the Lord, say . Because I was of the opinion that the books (reports) would not be of as much use to me as the (reports) of the living and lasting voice.

Richard Bauckham , who sees two different people in the two names given to John, reads from this formulation that the apostles, whose statements he learns from elders, are no longer alive at the time when Papias is collecting his material, but that the two disciples are no longer alive Aristion and Johannes have a special value for Papias as living eyewitnesses.

Werner de Boor , on the other hand, is of the opinion that both mentions of John are about the same person: “Both are 'old people' and both are 'disciples of the Lord'. So it will be the same person in both sentences of Papias. ”According to him, John the presbyter is identical to the apostle and evangelist John .

Writings of Papias

Papias wrote five books with the title Interpretation of the Words of the Lord (Greek λογίων κυριακῶν ἐξηγήσεις), which are only preserved fragmentarily in quotations from later church fathers.

Papias' work is dated to around 95–110 AD.

Later dates (around 120–160 AD) were accepted into the 20th century, but were based on two source interpretations that are now considered a misunderstanding. An interpretation that dated Papias' death at the same time as Polycarp's death around the year 164 was based on a passage in the Chronicon Paschale , the author of which, however, probably confused Papias with Papylas . The other unreliable interpretation that associated Papias with the reign of Hadrian (AD 117-138) was apparently based on a confusion between Papias and Quadratus .

His books are of theological importance primarily because they are based on the oral tradition of the apostles. Papias is the first extant source that names Mark as the interpreter of Peter and author of the Gospel attributed to him , and Matthew as the author of the Gospel of Matthew .

According to Eusebius of Caesarea , Papias wrote about Mark:

The presbyter also taught this: Mark wrote down precisely, but not properly, the words and deeds of the Lord that he remembered as Peter's interpreter. For he had not heard or accompanied the Lord; but later, as I said, he followed Peter, who arranged his lectures according to the needs, but not in such a way that he would have given a coherent presentation of the Lord's speeches. It is therefore by no means a mistake on the part of Mark if he recorded some things in the way that memory gave him. Because there was one thing he had to worry about: not omitting anything he had heard or not guilty of lying in the report. "

According to Eusebius of Caesarea, Papias wrote of Matthew:

“Matthew put the speeches together in Hebrew; but everyone translated the same as best he could. "

The opinions of later Christian authors of antiquity about Papias differed; some praised him, while Eusebius of Caesarea in particular criticized him for his chiliastic positions .

So wrote Eusebius of Caesarea about Papias:

“But based on oral tradition, Papias also offers other stories, namely unknown parables and teachings of the Savior and also some strange reports. One of these is his assertion that after the resurrection of the dead there will come a thousand years in which the kingdom of Christ will visibly exist on earth. In my opinion Papias has ascribed this point of view to the accounts of the apostles communicated to him; He did not understand what the apostles spoke in pictures and parables. Although, as one can infer from his words, he must have been very limited intellectually, he has cause for very many later church writers who were seduced by the age of the man, such as Irenaeus and those who otherwise represent such ideas given to similar teachings. "

literature

Source edition
Secondary literature
  • Ulrich HJ Körtner: Papias from Hierapolis. A contribution to the history of early Christianity. Research on the religion and literature of the Old and New Testaments. Vol. 133. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1983, ISBN 3-525-53806-5 (older standard work).
  • William R. Schoedel: Papias. In: ANRW . Row II. Vol. 27.1. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1993, pp. 235-270, ISBN 3-11-010372-9 .
  • Josef Kurzinger : The statement of Papias von Hierapolis on the literary form of the Gospel of Mark. In: Biblische Zeitschrift 21 (1977), pp. 245-264, ISSN  0006-2014 .
  • Michael Oberweis: The Papias testimony of the death of Johannes Zebedäi. In: Novum Testamentum 38 (1996), pp. 277-295, ISSN  0048-1009 .
  • Armin Daniel Baum : Papias as a commentator on the evangelical sayings of Jesus. Considerations on the nature of his work. In: Novum Testamentum 38 (1996), pp. 257-276, ISSN  0048-1009 .
  • Armin Daniel Baum: Papias, the virtue of Viva Vox and the gospel writings. In: New Testament Studies 44 (1998), pp. 144-151, ISSN  0028-6885 .
  • Charles E. Hill: What Papias Said about John (and Luke). A "New" Papian Fragment. In: Journal of Theological Studies 49 (1998), pp. 582-629, ISSN  0022-5185 .
  • Armin Daniel Baum: Papias' presbyter on a 'hermeneut' of Peter. To Eusebius, Historia ecclesiae 3,39,15. In: Theologische Zeitschrift 56 (2000), pp. 21-35, ISSN  0040-5701 .
  • Armin Daniel Baum: An Aramaic primal matthouse in worship in Asia Minor. Papia's testimony to the origin of the Gospel of Matthew. In: Journal for New Testament Science 92 (2001), pp. 257-272, ISSN  0935-9257 .
  • Robert H. Gundry : The Apostolically Johannine Pre-Papian Tradition concerning the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. In: Robert H. Gundry: The Old Is Better. New Testament Essays in Support of Traditional Interpretation (= WUNT; 178). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2005, pp. 49-73, ISBN 3-16-148551-3 .
  • Richard Bauckham : Papias on the Eyewitnesses. In: Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Grand Rapids (MI) 2006, 2007, ISBN 0-8028-3162-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://oyc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/canon_0.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0070-0130,_Papia_Hierapolitanus,_Fragmenta_ [Schaff], _ EN.pdf
  3. ^ A b Richard Bauckham : Jesus and the Eyewitnesses , 2006.
  4. ↑ Ulrich HJ Körtner :  Papias of Hierapolis . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 25, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995, ISBN 3-11-014712-2 , pp. 641-644.
  5. ↑ Irenaeus : Adversus haereses V.33.4.
  6. ↑ Eusebius, Church History 5,20,6
  7. ↑ Irenaeus : Adversus haereses V.33.4.
  8. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea , Church history 3,36,2.
  9. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History 3,36,1–2.
  10. ↑ Eusebius, Church History 3,39,9.
  11. ↑ Eusebius, Church History 3,39,4.
  12. ↑ Werner de Boor in Wuppertaler Studienbibel, Das Evangelium des Johannes, 1st part: Chapters 1 to 10 , pages 18-20, R. Brockhaus Verlag Wuppertal, 1968.
  13. ↑ Eusebius, Church History 3,39,1.
  14. ^ Robert W. Yarbrough: The Date of Papias: A Reassessment. In: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. Volume 26, Number 2, 1983, pp. 181-191 ( PDF ).
  15. ↑ Enrico Norelli : Papia di Hierapolis, Esposizione degli Oracoli del Signore: I frammenti (= Letture cristiane del primo millennio. Volume 36). Paoline, Milan 2005, ISBN 88-315-2752-5 , pp. 38-54.
  16. ↑ Ulrich HJ Körtner :  Papias of Hierapolis . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 25, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995, ISBN 3-11-014712-2 , pp. 641-644.
  17. ^ Robert W. Yarbrough: The Date of Papias: A Reassessment. In: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. Volume 26, number 2, 1983, pp. 181–191, here p. 182 ( PDF ).
  18. ^ Robert H. Gundry : Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids (Mich.) 2000, ISBN 0-8028-2910-4 .
  19. ↑ Eusebius, Church history 3,39,15 f.
personal data
SURNAME Papias of Hierapolis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Church father, bishop and theologian in Hierapolis
DATE OF BIRTH before 70
DATE OF DEATH at 140