Saint Papias of Hierapolis was an early Father of the Church who learned from the Apostle John. He travelled extensively c. 100 AD, interviewing surviving witnesses of Jesus or those who knew the Apostles.
I’ve been studying the few fragments of his work that we have today.

Combined with the writings of Saint Irenaeus and Tertullian, what is striking is the lack of particular emphasis on written documents, especially as a separate entity. They refer to and cite from the New Testament regularly, but Papias for example says that in his mind...

...a living and surviving voice is preferable to books. Alongside Irenaeus and Tertullian, the emphasis is overwhelmingly on the living tradition of the Church, her teaching office through which the Christian religion is known. In fact Papias relates how Saint Peter...

...had no intention of ever writing down any of his teachings. Saint Mark, his companion, decided to write down and compile from memory “some individual items” by his own agency, which would become the Gospel named after him. They were taken from the sayings of Peter.

Papias relates sayings of Jesus not recorded in the Gospels, as well as other traditions like the death of the Apostle John, some of the actions of other early Christian leaders, etc. It is very sad that the vast majority of Papias’ work was lost centuries ago.

To Saint Papias, Saint Irenaeus and Tertullian, the written scriptures are important, but they are so by virtue of their existence within the Church, since it is she who holds the Apostolic Faith. The scriptures are written witnesses to that faith.

I did two threads on the views of Saint Irenaeus and Tertullian on tradition last year. Saint Irenaeus: https://twitter.com/patristicsfan/status/1194969978635730944

Here is Tertullian: https://twitter.com/patristicsfan/status/1195337392850456576