[1] This Gospel is lost, but Clement of Alexandria[2] while describing the Nicolaitanes, quotes a sentence ascribed to Matthias urging asceticism: "we must combat our flesh, set no value upon it, and concede to it nothing that can flatter it, but rather increase the growth of our soul by faith and knowledge".
The Gospel of Matthias was mentioned by Origen of Alexandria;[3] by Eusebius,[4] who attributes it to heretics; by Jerome,[5] and in the Decretum Gelasianum[6] which declares it apocryphal.
This lost gospel is probably the document whence Clement of Alexandria quoted several passages, saying that they were borrowed from the traditions of Matthias, Paradoseis, the testimony of which he claimed to have been invoked by the heretics Valentinus, Marcion, and Basilides.
A fictional copy of the gospel is used in the HBO series Carnivàle, where it describes the show's mythological creatures, the Usher of Destruction and Avatara.
The Gospel of Matthias also serves as a core finding in the book, "The Secret of Altamura" and as the central fact in "The Paletti Notebook" by Dick Rosano.