Papias

“ And Papias, of whom we are now speaking, confesses that he received the words of the apostles from those that followed them, but says that he was himself a hearer of Aristion and the presbyter John. At least he mentions them frequently by name, and gives their traditions in his writings. These things we hope, have not been uselessly adduced by us. ”

“ Eusebius [3] speaks of Papias as a man most learned in all things, and well acquainted with the Scriptures. In another passage [4] he describes him as of small capacity. The fragments of Papias are translated from the text given in Routh’s Reliquiæ Sacræ, vol. i. [5] ”

“ John preclude Papias from having believed him to be the author of a Gospel Had he known of such a document he would surely have mentioned it as much as Matthew and Mark, and Eusebius would not have failed to reproduce the testimony.
Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, seems to have been a fair average specimen of the early Christian. Probably he was very devout and pious, but most certainly he was not strong in intellect, and was ready to give credence to old wives' tales concerning the Christ or his Apostles. ”

“ Now Papias has himself expressed the high value he attached to tradition, and his eagerness in seeking information from the Presbyters. The statements regarding the Gospels composed by Matthew and Mark, quoted by Eusebius, are illustrative at once both of the information collected by Papias and of that cited by Eusebius. How comes it, then, that nothing whatever is said about the fourth Gospel, a work so peculiar and of such exceptional importance, said to be composed by the Apostle whom Jesus loved? ”

“ But at its last occurrence in the extract of Papias, where it is applied to the second John, this is apparently not the case. Here it seems to be an official title, designating a member of the order of the presbyterate. Though modern critics have stumbled over this two-fold sense of the word [Greek: presbuteros] in the same context, it would create no difficulty to the contemporaries of Papias, to whom 'the Presbyter John' must have been a common mode of designation in contradistinction to 'the Apostle John,' and to whom therefore the proper meaning would at once suggest itself. ”

“ The leading object of Papias therefore was not to substitute a correct narrative for an imperfect and incorrect, but to counteract a false exegesis by a true. But where did he find this false exegesis? The opening passage of Irenæus supplies the answer. This father describes the Gnostic teachers as 'tampering with the oracles of the Lord ( [Greek: ta logia Kuriou] ) , showing themselves bad expositors of things well said' ( [Greek: exêgêtai kakoi tôn kalôs eirêmenôn ginomenoi] ) [160:1] . Here we have the very title of Papias' work reproduced. ”

“ No fact is known inconsistent with c. 60–135 as the period of Papias’s life. Eusebius (iii. 36) calls him “bishop” of Hierapolis, but whether with good ground is uncertain.
Papias uses the term “the Elders,” or Fathers of the Christian community, to describe the original witnesses to Christ’s teaching, i.e. ”

“ The first notice of a Gospel of St. Matthew is in the well-known words of Papias, a writer who in early life might have seen St. John. The works of Papias are lost—a misfortune the more to be regretted because Eusebius speaks of him as a man of very limited understanding, πανυ σμικρος τον νουν. Understanding and folly are words of undetermined meaning; and when language like that of Irenæus could seem profound it is quite possible that Papias might have possessed commonplace faculties which would have been supremely useful to us. ”

“ Papias gathered his information partly from the persons whom he calls
"the Elders," partly from their disciples. (2) The Greek word which we
render "the Elders" is presbyter. We cannot use this Greek word itself,
because it would be understood to mean, as it does still in the
Reformed Churches, leaders of a Christian community. But such an office
is no guarantee that its holder could give what Papias needed--reliable
memoranda of the Life of Jesus based as far as possible on personal
observation; such a guarantee could only be given by persons of great
age. Papias was born about 70 ”

“ Before passing on there is one other point to mention: Andrew of Cæsarea, in the preface to his Commentary on the Apocalypse, mentions that Papias maintained "the credibility" [———] of that book, or in other words, its apostolic origin. (1) His strong millenarian opinions would naturally make such a composition stand high in his esteem, if indeed it did not materially contribute to the formation of his views, which is still more probable. Apologists admit the genuineness of this statement, nay, claim it as undoubted evidence of the acquaintance of Papias with the Apocalypse. ”

“ It may, therefore, be said to be probable that Papias, the first one that mentions a Hebrew Matthew, speaks not from personal knowledge, but upon the authority of tradition only.↑ Since the first Epistle of John and the fourth Gospel are indisputably from the same hand (see above, chap. 24, note 18) , Papias’ testimony to the apostolic authorship of the Epistle, which is what his use of it implies, is indirect testimony to the apostolic authorship of the Gospel also.↑ On the authenticity of the first Epistle of Peter, see above, chap. ”

“ Il y a grande différence, dit le Pape; le Roi est un grand prince victorieux, je suis un pauvre prêtre serviteur des serviteurs de Dieu. Le Nôtre, charmé de cette réponse, oublia qui la lui faisoit, et frappant sur l'épaule du Pape lui répondit à son tour: Mon Révérend Pere, vous vous portez bien et vous enterrerez tout la Sacré College. Le Pape, qui entendoit le François, rit du pronostic. Le Nôtre, charmé de plus en plus de sa bonté, et de l'estime particuliere qu'il témoignoit pour le Roi, se jeta au cou du Pape et l'embrassa. ”

“ The historian might almost venture to say that the Papacy was not evolved, but created. It has assuredly, in its varying fortunes, reflected as faithfully as any other institution the changes of its human environment, yet for each new adaptation to favouring circumstances it has had to await the advent of a great Pope. Seven men, one might say, created the Papacy: Gelasius I., Leo I., Gregory I., Hadrian I., Nicholas I., Gregory VII., and Innocent III. Each one of these deepened the foundations and enlarged the fabric of the great religious principality. ”

“ Then came the first popes, mere heads of burial associations, the slow rise of the all-powerful papacy ever struggling to conquer the world, unremittingly seeking to realise its dream of universal domination. At the time of the great popes of the middle ages it thought for a moment that it had attained its goal, that it was the sovereign master of the nations. Would not absolute truth and right consist in the pope being both pontiff and ruler of the world, reigning over both the souls and the bodies of all men, even like the Deity whose vicar he is? ”

“ It has been observed, that in the Popes Families there has been Saints, even amongst their inferiour rank of their Servants; and yet there never was any of their Nephews Saints. I have turned over great Volumes of the Church-History, a purpose to see if amongst that great number of men, who are said to has performed Miracles, there were any one of a Nipotismo to be found amongst them: But truly I lost my pains; for the Popes, who have filled up the Roman Kalendar with thousands of Saints, have not yet been able to place one of their Nephews there. ”

“ Kings who once were tormented by Popes, are now blessed by Papesses; and if the former at most created a King or two, are not the Kings under most of the European throne canopies made by Papesses, and in fact, in neat pocket-form, until they gradually grow up from the baptismal font to be as tall as I or their throne? Do we not kiss their slippers oftener than that of the Holy Father, since their two arms were found by Professor Moskati at Padua long ago to be two fore-feet, to whose kid or silk shoes (hand-shoes) we every week press our lips? ”

“ The design which occurs to me is to write a study of the Papacy by taking a score of the outstanding Popes—which means, in effect, a score of the more significant or critical stages in the development of the Papacy—and giving an adequate account of the work and personality of each. The evolution of the Papacy has not, like the evolution of life in general, been continuous. ”

“ Having thus mentioned the title of patriarchs, I may explain here the use of another title which we hear much oftener,—I mean the title of pope. The proper meaning of [Pg 131] it is father; in short, it is nothing else than the word papa, which children among ourselves use in speaking to their fathers. This title of pope (or father) , then, was at first given to all bishops; but, by degrees, it came to be confined in its use; so that, in the east, only the bishops of Rome and Alexandria were called by it, while in the west it was given to the bishop or patriarch of Rome alone. ”

“ The ideal of the Papacy was perhaps the noblest which has ever entered into the heart of man to conceive. According to it, the Pope was to be the High Priest of God and Vicar of Christ, higher than the kings of the earth. ”

“ But I may be told that nothing is to be dreaded in this country from Papists; that they have neither numbers, nor means, to accomplish their designs upon our institutions. Let us see whether this is so. I have stated, in a former page, the number of bishops, priests, seminaries, and Papists, in this country. I have also shown you, to a demonstration, that if the number of emigrant Papists should continue to increase for the next thirty years, as they have for the last eight, they will be a majority of the population of the United States, and the Pope our supreme temporal ruler. ”

“ So throughout the middle ages while one prince manœuvred against another first for equality, then for ascendancy, and at last for the supreme prize, the Pope of Rome, sometimes boldly, sometimes craftily, sometimes feebly—for the Popes were a succession of oldish men and the average reign of a Pope was not more than two years—manœuvred for the submission of all the princes to himself as the ultimate overlord of Christendom. ”

“ There is no body but wonders to behold how the Families of Popes daily decline, there being scarce two found that have continued one intire Age, or which remain in the same splendour wherein they were seen to shine, not only during the Reign of the Popes their Kinsmen, but for some lustres after ”

“ To have had a papist for our king;—a papist, if not born, yet from his infancy nursed up at Rome;—a papist, one of whose sons is advanced to the ecclesiastical dignity of a Cardinal, and both under the strongest obligations to support the interest of that church, whose superstitions, as well as political state principles, they have sucked in, and imbibed even from their infancy. ”

“ Therefore we will treat in this Book, of all the good and all the mischief, that the Nephews of the Popes have done to the Church, ever since Sixtus the Fourth. Their good actions shall be set out, that the Memory of the dead may be revived, and due Honour given to the living that deserve it. And their ill deeds shall not be forgotten, that they may be hated by all Mankind; and that the Nephews of the Popes to come, hearing the blame they undergo, may learn to esteem good actions, and avoid ill ones. ”

“ Pope (i. e. Papa) , a title originally given to all bishops of the Church, and eventually appropriated by Leo the Great, the bishop of Rome, as the supreme pontiff in 449, a claim which in 1054 created the Great Schism, and which asserted itself territorially as well as spiritually, till now at length the Pope has been compelled to resign all territorial power. The present Pope, Pius X., is the successor of 258 who occupied before him the Chair of St. Peter.
Pope, Alexander, eminent English poet, born in London, of Roman Catholic parents ”

“ In Paul III., we have the last representative of the Papacy of the Renaissance wavering between the grim menace of Germany and the unpleasantness of reform. In Sixtus V. and Benedict XIV. we study two of the great efforts of the new Papacy [Pg xi] to preserve the remaining half of its territory. In Pius VII., Pius IX., and Leo XIII. we see the Papacy meeting the successive waves of the modern revolution. ”

“ In the pope the world receives a vicar of Christ, a successor of St. Peter, and an infallible judge in matters of faith and morals. The Papacy was always conferred regularly by way of election—from the chief of the apostles, chosen by our Lord himself, to Pius IX., now reigning, who was selected by the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church on the 17th of June, 1846. Between these there have been two hundred and sixty popes, if we follow the number given by the Gerarchia Cattolica, which is published annually at Rome. ”

“ The history of the papacy is confusing to the general reader because of the multitude and abundance of the Popes. They mostly began to reign as old men, and their reigns were short, averaging less than two years each. ”

“ Pius, applied at first to faithful filial love, as in the case of Æneas, assumed a higher sense with Christianity, and from being an occasional agnomen, became the name of a martyr Pope, under Antoninus Pius, and thus passed on to be one of the papal appellations most often in use, called Pio at Rome, and generally left to the pontiffs, though the feminine Pia is occasionally used in Italy. ”