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== 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 (Turkey)|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.
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.