It is a false rumour which has reached you to the effect that I have translated the books of Josephus and the volumes of the holy men Papias and Polycarp. I have neither the leisure nor the ability to preserve the charm of these masterpieces in another tongue.
The growth of this heresy is described for us by Irenaeus, bishop of the church of Lyons, a man of the apostolic times, who was a disciple of Papias the hearer of the evangelist John.
[AD 439] Philip of Side
Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, who was a disciple of John the Divine, and a companion of Polycarp, wrote five books of Oracles of the Lord, wherein, when giving a list of the Apostles, after Peter and John, Philip and Thomas and Matthew he included among the disciples of the Lord Aristion and a second John, whom also he called `The Elder.' So some think that this John is the author of the two short and catholic Epistles, which are published in the name of John; and he gives as the reason that the primitive (fathers) only accept the first epistle. Some too have wrongly considered the Apocalypse also to be his (i.e. the Elder John's) work. Papias too is in error about the Millennium, and from him Irenaeus also.
Papias in his second book says that John the Divine and James his brother were killed by the Jews. The aforesaid Papias stated on the authority of the daughters of Philip that Barsabas, who is also called Justus, when challenged by the unbelievers drank serpent's poison in the name of the Lord, and was shielded from all harm. He makes also other marvelous statements, and particularly about the mother of Manaim who was raised from the dead. As for those who were raised from the dead by Christ, (he states) that they survived till the time of Hadrian.
[AD 455] Prosper of Aquitania
[ Note from Dr. TC Schmidt : My translation. The volume containing this passage can be found here http://www.dmgh.de/. Checked MGH Auctores antiquissimi (Auct. ant.) Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII. (I) volume 9 page 419]
Epitome of Chronicles Section 550 106AD
Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, who was a disciple of John the Divine, and a companion of Polycarp, wrote five books of Oracles of the Lord, wherein, when giving a list of the Apostles, after Peter and John, Philip and Thomas and Irenaeus wrote that John the Apostle remained until the times of Trajen, after whom were Papias Bishop of Heirapolis, Polycarp of Smyrna and Ignatius of Antioch.
[AD 543] John of Scythopolis
[ Note from Dr. TC Schmidt : LTF translation. This and the following fragment are not from Maximus the Confessor as Migne, Lightfoot, and Holmes have stated. See Rorem & Lamoreaux John of Scythopolis and the Dionysian Corpus: Annotating the Areopagite Oxford 1998 [checked] for a discussion of the dates of John’s writings and his relationship with Maximus the Confessor.]
Scholia on The Celestial Hierarchy of Dionysius the Areopagite 2.5 (PG 4 p48)
Those who practised guilelessness towards God they used to call children, as Papias also shows in the first book of the Expositions of the Lord, and Clement of Alexandria in the Paedagogue.
[ Note from Dr. TC Schmidt : LTF translation. The scholia itself is not on Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 7.2 as Lightfoot and Holmes have said, but it is on 7.3.5. The break in the text concerns John's discussion of Apollinarius and is unrelated to Papias.]
Scholia on The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of Dionysius the Areopagite 7.3.5 (PG 4 p176)
This he says, darkly indicating, I suppose, Papias of Hierapolis in Asia, who was a bishop at that time and flourished in the days of the holy Evangelist John. For this Papias in the fourth book of his Dominical Expositions mentioned viands among the sources of delights in the resurrection.... And Irenaeus of Lyons says the same thing in his fifth book against heresies, and produces in support of his statement the aforesaid Papias.
[AD 614] Andrew of Caesarea
[ Note from Dr. TC Schmidt : LTF translation. Checked PG 106 p220. For a brief discussion of Andrew's dates see Di Berardino Parology: The Eastern Fathers from Chalcedon to John of Damascus. 2006]
On the Apocalypse Preface
With regard however to the inspiration of the book (i.e. the Apocalypse) we hold it superfluous to speak at length; since the blessed Gregory (I mean, the Divine) and Cyril, and men of an older generation as well, Papias, Irenaeus, Methodius and Hippolytus, bear testimony to its genuineness.
On the Apocalypse 12.34, Aremenian version
[Aremenian translation by Dr. Robert Bedrosian ]
And Papias has thus word for word: "some of them, that is, the divine Angels of old, he gave (authority) to rule over the earth and commanded (them) to rule well." And then says the following: "And it happened that their arrangement came to nothing."
[Rev. 12:9] And the great dragon was thrown (down), the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown to the earth, and his angels were thrown (down).
And Papias, in his discourses, put it this way: Heaven did not countenance his earthly plans, since communication between light and darkness is impossible. He [satan] fell to earth to dwell here, and people came to where he lived. However, he did not let them enjoy their natural passions, rather, he beguiled them into many evils. But Michael and his forces who are overseers of the world helped humanity, as Daniel learned. They established laws and made the prophets wise. All this constituted a battle against the dragon [satan] who [always] set obstacles for humanity. And this struggle extended to Heaven , to Christ. Then Christ came, and the law which had been impossible for others [to fulfill] He realized in His own body, according to the Apostle. He caused sin to retreat and condemned satan, and by His death He spread His righteousness over everyone. Once this happened, the victory of Michael and his forces was realized, and the dragon was unable to resist any longer. This was because the death of Christ made a laughing-stock of him and hurled him to earth. Christ spoke about this, saying: "I saw satan fall from heaven like a bolt of lightning". The Doctors of the Church (the vardapet s) understood this to refer not to his first fall, but to his second which occurred because of the crucifixion. This [second] fall was not one which occurred in a particular place as the first [fall] had, but rather concerned the expectation of future judgement and punishment . For he had failed in battle, as Anton [St. Anthony] himself confessed in a psalm he wrote about this: "The enemy's weapons were completely destroyed." For Christ had judged him and he fell absolutely. The Doctors of the Church teach that until this fall he [satan] had hopes of returning to his former glory, but afterwards he fell completely. On this [topic] Irenaeus takes the words of the martyr Justin as follows...