logion

noun

1. A traditional saying of a religious leader.

   “It is clear from Origen's wording that he is not referring to a logion of the original Montanist leaders, but to a statement made by later adherents of the New Prophecy. […] The logion is probably authentic.”

   “Influenced by scholarship on the sayings of Jesus and the redaction of the Gospels, [John] Wansbrough assumes that the Qu'rān was edited and constructed from a plethora of short texts that he terms "prophetic logia." These logia draw on monotheistic imagery and are related to forms familiar from the literature of prophetical expression. […] The goal of the critic is to identify these logia by examining the canonical text in which they have been edited and spliced together”

2. (specifically)A saying that is attributed to Jesus in ancient or reconstructed texts that was (originally) handed down without narrative context.

   “The Q materials are often thought to have almost exclusively consisted of logia.”

   “The Gospels are evidently independent in their use of their source in the Logia of Matthew; but they all give the logion the same place in their Gospels.”

   “It is in this context that the difficult logion in Matthew concerning the eye (vv. 22–23) is to be understood.”

   “The central key to unraveling the perplexities of the Thomas gospel is contained basically in the first three logia. According to logion 1, which is actually a statement by the apostle Thomas, not by Jesus, the one who finds the interpretation or meaning of Jesus' secret sayings will not taste of death.”