Papias of Hierapolis
Greek Apostolic Father, Bishop of Hierapolis and author
- Lived
- 60–150
- Country
- Asia
Updated September 2026
About Papias of Hierapolis
Papias or Papias of Hierapolis was a Greek Apostolic Father, Bishop of Hierapolis, and author who lived c. AD 60 – c. 130. He is mainly known for gathering oral stories about Jesus and his disciples from John the Elder and the daughters of Philip. Papias compiled these in the Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord, of which brief excerpts appear in the works of Irenaeus of Lyons and Eusebius of Caesarea. A scholarly consensus dates his work to around 110 AD They are considered an important early source on Christian oral tradition and especially on the origins of the canonical Gospels.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.