i, Author and Date.
ii, Title, Language, and later History. (a) Testimony of Greek writers. (0) Testimony of Syriac writers.
iii. Non-Syriac versions of the Diatessaron. (a) The Armenian version of St. Ephraem’s com-
mentary on the Diatessaron.
(b) Codex Fuldensis. (c) The Arabic version.
iv. Relation of the Diatessaron to the Old Syriac.
Literature.
i, AUTHOR AND DatE.— The Diatessaron, or Harmony of the four Gospels, was most probably compiled by Tatian, the disciple of Justin Martyr, towards the end of the 2nd cent. A.D., not long after the year 172 or 173, when Tatian returned from Rome to his native land of Mesopotamia. The scanty information that we possess regarding the early history of the author of this famous work is mainly derived from his no less celebrated Oratio ad Grecos (Aéyos mpds “EXAnvas), a work which was probably composed soon after his conversion to Christianity. e is described by Clement of Alexandria (Strom. iii. 81), Epiphanius (Her. 46. 1), and Theodoret (Her. Fad. i. 20) as a Syrian ; and this statement as to his nationality agrees with his own mention of the fact that he was born ‘in the land of the Assyrians’ (Oratio, 42, yevvndels uev év Tn Tov Acouplwy yn). We may infer from his own writings that he was a man of good birth and posi- tion, and, as such, not without the temptation to embark on a military or political career; but his mind was early attracted to that pursuit of learn- ing to which he devoted the greater part of his life. He spent many years in visiting the various schools, and in studying the different tenets, of heathen philosophy, and finally settled down in Rome, where, presumably through the influence of Justin, he embraced Christianity. Like the latter, he suffered persecution at the hands of Crescens ; but it seems probable that he remained in Rome as a teacher some years after the martyr- dom of Justin, in A.D. 165, among his pupils being Rhodon of Asia Minor. It was, no doubt, during this latter portion of his residence in Rome that Tatian developed that curious mixture of hetero- dox views with which his name is associated by later writers, and which, while causing him to be branded as a heretic, also necessitated his departure from Rome. Thus he undoubtedly advocated, like the Encratites, a rigid asceticism, condemning mavr- riage and the use of wine and animal food ; he also followed Marcion in distinguishing the Demiurge from the God of the New Testament, while he held a Gnostic theory of eons similar to that of Valentinus: his denial of the salvability of Adam alone marks a more original departure from the orthodox teach- ing of the Church. In view of the statements as to Tatian’s heretical opinions made by Ireneus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, etc., his heterodoxy can hardly be disputed ; yet it is notice- able that Eusebius is the first to definitely associate him with any heretical party (see below, § ii. a). The date of Tatian’s departure from Rome for the
452 DIATESSARON
East may be placed with tolerable certainty about A.D. 172-173.* How long he survived after his return to Mesopotamia is unknown; but it was
there, probably at Edessa, that he composed for the:
Syrian Church that Harmony of the four Gospels which has rendered his name so famous.
Before leaving the personal history of Tatian we may note that no suspicion of heresy seems to have attached to his name in the Syrian Church —a fact which is most easily explicable on the sup- position that, amid the primitive conditions of his native Church, Tatian had neither the occasion nor the inclination to air those views which had pro- cured him so much disfavour at Rome. After his bitter experiences in the latter city, it was only natural that he should turn his attention towards a new field of activity such as that afforded by the compilation of his Harmony, rather than to the dissemination of his peculiar views. The plan of reproducing the fourfold history of the Gospels in the form of one simple connected narrative was no doubt a bold one, but the underlying motive was probably the desire to present his less cultivated countrymen with the story of the Gospel in a form which should at once preserve all that was essential in the narratives of the four Evangelists, while omitting all that might seem calculated to perplex and confuse.
li. TITLE, LANGUAGE, AND LATER HISTORY.— The full title given by Tatian to his Harmony of the Gospels appears to have been ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ by means of the four [Gospels or
Evangelists]’ ( SQ.a.3) ¢ o| pM Lu? = Hayyédov “Inood Xpiorod 7d did rec- cdpwv), but the work was generally known and cited by the shorter title Diatessaron (Op 0O-Lo9 ;
the forms orat}ar and orcolZlar also occur). In addition to this Greek title, however, the Har- mony also received the genuine Syriac name Evan-
gelion da-Mehalléte (LWNsaS09 aol)
or ‘Gospel of the Mixed,’ to distinguish it from the fourfold form of the Gospels, the Evangelion
da - Mépharréshé (lezato> C o}), or ‘Gospel of the Separated (ones).’
The Greek title has been used, among others, as an argument in favour of the view that the Harmony was originally composed in that lan- guage ; but no stress can be laid on this fact, since Greek titles, and especially Greek technical terms, | were largely employed by Syriae writers. More- over, the balance of evidence seems to support the view that the Diatessaron was an original Syriac work, though no final opinion on the subject can be expressed until we have determined the question of its relation to the Old Syriac version (see below, § iv.). There can, however, be no doubt that, whether originally composed in Greek or Syriac, the work was intended for use in the Syriac Church, and was widely circulated in a Syriac form at an early date. Further, there is no direct evidence of the existence of a Greek original, and the scanty and indefinite nature of the information supplied by the Greek writers seems to show that the (Syriac) work was known to the Greek Church by name only.