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A.: Recently Discovered Additions to Early Christion Literature. - A. Cleveland Coxe, Ante-Nicene Fathers. Volume 9: The Gospel of Peter, Apocalypses and Romances, Commentaries of Origen [1896]

Edition used:

Ante-Nicene Fathers. Volume 9: The Gospel of Peter, the Diatessaron of Tatian, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Vision of Paul, the Apocalypse of the Virgin and Sedrach, the Testament of Abraham, the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena, the Narrative of Zosimus, the Apology of Aristides, the Epistles of Clement (complete text), Origen’s Commentary of John, Books 1-10, and Commentary on Matthew, Books 1, 2, and 10-14, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Revised and Chronologically arranged with brief prefaces and occasional notes by A. Cleveland Coxe (New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1896-97).

Part of: Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325, 10 vols.

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A.

Recently Discovered Additions to Early Christion Literature.

I.

WORKS CONNECTED WITH THE GOSPELS.

THE GOSPEL OF PETER

by PROFESSOR J. ARMITAGE ROBINSON Editor of the Cambridge Texts and Studies

INTRODUCTION AND SYNOPTICAL TABLE By ANDREW RUTHERFURD, B.D.

INTRODUCTION.

The important fragment of which Mr. J. Armitage Robinson’s translation here follows was discovered by the French Archæological Mission, Cairo, in a grave (supposed to be a monk’s) in an ancient cemetery at Akhmîm (Panopolis), in Upper Egypt, in 1886. It was published in 1892 under the care of M. Bouriant in vol. ix., fasc. i., of the Memoirs of the French Archæological Mission at Cairo. The same parchment which contained this fragment also contained a fragment of the Revelation of Peter and a fragment of the Book of Enoch in Greek. The parchment codex is assigned to a date between the eighth and the twelfth century.

Before this discovery the following is all that was known of the Gospel of Peter: 1. Serapion, Bishop of Antioch 190-203, writing to the church at Rhossus, says (Eusebius, H. E., vi., 12, 2): “We, brethren, receive Peter and the other Apostles even as Christ; but the writings that go falsely by their names we, in our experience, reject, knowing that such things as these we never received. When I was with you I supposed you all to be attached to the right faith; and so without going through the gospel put forward under Peter’s name, I said, ‘If this is all that makes your petty quarrel,1 why then let it be read.’ But now that I have learned from information given me that their mind was lurking in some hole of heresy, I will make a point of coming to you again: so, brethren, expect me speedily. Knowing then, brethren, of what kind of heresy was Marcion— [Here follows a sentence where the text is faulty.] . . . From others who used this very gospel—I mean from the successors of those who started it, whom we call Docetæ; for most of its ideas are of their school—from them, I say, I borrowed it, and was able to go through it, and to find that most of it belonged to the right teaching of the Saviour, but some things were additions.” From this we learn that a Gospel of Peter was in use in the church of Rhossus in the end of the second century, but that controversy had arisen as to its character, which, on a careful examination, Serapion condemned.

2. Origen († 253 ad), in commenting on Matthew x. 17, says: “But, proceeding on the tradition that is recorded in the Gospel according to Peter or in the Book of James, they say that there are certain brothers of Jesus, the sons of Joseph by a former wife, who lived with him before Mary.”

3. Eusebius (H. E., iii., 3, 2) says: “As to that work, however, which is ascribed to him, called ‘The Acts,’ and ‘The Gospel according to Peter,’ and that called ‘The Preaching and the Revelations of Peter,’ we know nothing of their being handed down as Catholic writings; since neither among the ancient nor the ecclesiastical writers of our own day has there been one that has appealed to testimony taken from them.” And in H. E., iii., 25, 6 sq., he includes the Gospel of Peter among the forged heretical gospels—“those that are adduced by the heretics under the name of the apostles, . . . of which no one of those writers in the ecclesiastical succession has condescended to make any mention in his works; and, indeed, the character of the style itself is very different from that of the apostles; and the sentiments, and the purport of those things that are advanced in them, deviating as far as possible from sound orthodoxy, evidently proves they are the fictions of heretical men; whence they are not only to be ranked among the spurious writings, but are to be rejected as altogether absurd and impious.” It is, however, uncertain whether Eusebius himself was acquainted with the Gospel of Peter.

4. Theodoret († c. 455), in his Religious History, ii., 2, says that the Nazarenes used “the gospel called ‘according to Peter.’ ” Later references in Western literature, e.g., Jerome, De vir. ill., i., and the Decretum Gelasianum, condemning the book, are based upon the judgement of Eusebius, and not upon direct knowledge (cf. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristl. Lit., I. Th., p. 11).

This was all that was known of the Gospel of Peter till the publication of the Akhmîm fragment. The latter extends to about 174 stichi, counting 32 words to the stichus. It begins in the middle of the history of the Passion, just after Pilate has washed his hands of all responsibility, and ends in the middle of a sentence, with the departure of the disciples into Galilee at the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, exactly a week after the crucifixion, the ostensible author, Peter, and Andrew, his brother, taking their nets and going to the sea; “and there was with us Levi the son of Alphæus, whom the Lord . . .”

The accompanying Synoptical Table shows where the Petrine narrative agrees with and where it varies from those supplied by the canonical gospels. Of that part of the Passion history which it narrates, it gives an account which follows the main lines of the canonical tradition, but with important variations in detail. Of the events between the burial and the resurrection of our Lord, its account is much more ample and detailed than anything in the canonical tradition.

Harnack (Texte und Untersuchungen, ix., 2, 2d ed., p. 76) gives the following list of new traits contained in the Petrine account of the history of the Passion and burial:

  • 1 Herod was the judge who condemned Jesus, and to him application had to be made for the body.
  • 2 The Jews, Herod, and the judges would not wash their hands, and Pilate then raised the sitting.
  • 3 Joseph was the friend of Pilate (sec. 2).
  • 4 Joseph begged for the body before the crucifixion, and Pilate sent for permission from Herod.
  • 5 The soldiers “pushed him as they ran,” and their speech (sec. 3).
  • 6 The mockery of the soldiers.
  • 7 Mocking speech.
  • 8 “As though having no pain” (sec. 4).
  • 9 “Having placed his garments before him.”
  • 10 One of the malefactors blamed the multitude, and his speech.
  • 11 The legs of either the malefactor or Jesus were not broken, in order that he might die in torment.
  • 12 The gall and vinegar (sec. 5).
  • 13 In the darkness many went about with lamps, and fell down.
  • 14 The cry, “My power, my power.”
  • 15 The fact that when he had so cried Christ was taken up.
  • 16 Mention of the nails in the hands at the taking down from the cross (sec. 6).
  • 17 The earthquake when the body touched the ground.
  • 18 The joy of the Jews when the sun shone again.
  • 19 Joseph “had seen all the good things” that the Lord had done.
  • 20 Joseph washed the body.
  • 21 The cries of woe of the Jews and their leaders over their sins, and their expectation of the judgement on Jerusalem (sec. 7).
  • 22 The disciples remained in concealment, full of grief, and fasted and wept till the Sabbath.
  • 23 They were searched for as malefactors and as anxious to burn the temple.
  • 24 The name of the centurion of the watch—Petronius (sec. 8).
  • 25 The centurion, the soldiers, and the elders rolled up the stone.
  • 26 The elders also watched at the grave.
  • 27 Seven seals were placed on the stone.
  • 28 A tent pitched for the watch.
  • 29 The gathering of the multitude on the morning of the Sabbath to view the sealed grave (sec. 9).

The whole narrative of the resurrection is so different from that of the canonical gospels that it would be useless to go into details; but it is important to notice the prominence assigned to Mary Magdalene, and:

  • 1 That the women fled from the grave and did not see the Lord (sec. 12).
  • 2 That there is no account of any appearance of Christ for the first eight days after his death (sec. 13).
  • 3 That the disciples, along with the rest of those who had taken part in the feast, returned home to Galilee on the seventh day of unleavened bread.
  • 4 That they were then sad, and wept.
  • 5 That the first appearance of Jesus must have taken place on the Lake of Gennesaret, either to Peter alone, or to Peter, Andrew, and Levi (Matthew), while fishing.

Moreover, according to section 13 (see sec. 5), the author puts the resurrection and ascension on the same day, or, rather, did not know of the latter as a separate event. He makes the angel say, “He is risen and gone away thither whence he was sent.”

Whether the author used any other sources than the canonical gospels is a matter still in doubt. He is certainly influenced by views which are foreign to these gospels, and which are known from other quarters in early Christian literature. As between the Synpotists and the Fourth Gospel, the narrator is generally more closely akin both in matter and in manner to the Synoptists, but he agrees with the author of the Fourth Gospel in regard to the chronology of the crucifixion and several of the events at the cross, and in his general attitude towards the Jews and Pilate. With regard to the last two points, the Petrine Gospel seems to present a later and more exaggerated form of the tendency perceptible in the Johannine, and fully worked out in the Acts of Pilate, to blame the Jews and exculpate Pilate.

Of the new features in this fragment some are at least liable to a Docetic interpretation, e.g., the silence on the cross “as though he had no pain” (sec. 4), the cry, “My power, my power” (sec. 5), and “he was taken up” (sec. 5). This fact was recognised in subsequent times and condemned this gospel in the eye of the church. The date of the work is variously fixed by different scholars; Harnack assigns it to the first quarter of the second century, while Mr. Armitage Robinson and other scholars place it later.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PETER.

Note.—This translation is based on that which I published in The Gospel and Apocalypse of Peter: Two Lectures, etc (Camb., 1892). It is now carefully revised in accordance with the photographic facsimile. A corrected Greek text will be found in Dr. Swete’s edition (1893).

1 But of the Jews none washed his hands, neither Herod nor any one of his judges. And when they had refused to wash them, Pilate rose up. And then Herod the king commandeth that the Lord be taken,1 saying to them, What things soever I commanded you to do unto him, do.

2 And there was standing there Joseph the friend of Pilate and of the Lord; and, knowing that they were about to crucify2 him, he came to Pilate and asked the body of the Lord for burial. And Pilate sent to Herod and asked his body. And Herod said, Brother Pilate, even if no one had asked for him, we purposed to bury him, especially as the sabbath draweth on:3 for it is written in the law, that the sun set not upon one that hath been put to death.

3 And he delivered him to the people on the day before the unleavened bread, their feast. And they took the Lord and pushed him as they ran, and said, Let us drag away the Son of God, having obtained power over him. And they clothed him with purple, and set him on the seat of judgement, saying, Judge righteously, O king of Israel. And one of them brought a crown of thorns and put it on the head of the Lord. And others stood and spat in his eyes, and others smote his cheeks: others pricked him with a reed; and some scourged him, saying, With this honour let us honour the Son of God.

4 And they brought two malefactors, and they crucified the Lord between them. But he held his peace, as though having no pain. And when they had raised the cross, they wrote the title: This is the king of Israel. And having set his garments before him they parted them among them, and cast lots for them. And one of those malefactors reproached them, saying, We for the evils that we have done have suffered thus, but this man, who hath become the Saviour of men, what wrong hath he done to you? And they, being angered at him, commanded that his legs should not be broken, that he might die in torment.

5 And it was noon, and darkness came over all Judæa: and they were troubled and distressed, lest the sun had set, whilst he was yet alive: [for] it is written for them, that the sun set not on him that hath been put to death. And one of them said, Give him to drink gall with vinegar. And they mixed and gave him to drink, and fulfilled all things, and accomplished their sins against their own head. And many went about with lamps, supposing that it was night, and fell down.4 And the Lord cried out, saying, My power, my power, thou hast forsaken me. And when he had said it he was taken up. And in that hour the vail of the temple of Jerusalem was rent in twain.5

6 And then they drew out the nails from the hands of the Lord, and laid him upon the earth, and the whole earth quaked, and great fear arose. Then the sun shone, and it was found the ninth hour: and the Jews rejoiced, and gave his body to Joseph that he might bury it, since he had seen what good things he had done. And he took the Lord, and washed him, and rolled him in a linen cloth, and brought him into his own tomb, which was called the Garden of Joseph.

7 Then the Jews and the elders and the priests, perceiving what evil they had done to themselves, began to lament and to say, Woe for our sins: the judgement hath drawn nigh, and the end of Jerusalem. And I with my companions was grieved; and being wounded in mind we hid ourselves: for we were being sought for by them as malefactors, and as wishing to set fire to the temple. And upon all these things we fasted and sat mourning and weeping night and day until the sabbath.

8 But the scribes and Pharisees and elders being gathered together one with another, when they heard that all the people murmured and beat their breasts saying, If by his death these most mighty signs have come to pass, see how righteous he is,—the elders were afraid and came to Pilate, beseeching him and saying, Give us soldiers, that we may guard his sepulchre for three days, lest his disciples come and steal him away, and the people suppose that he is risen from the dead and do us evil. And Pilate gave them Petronius the centurion with soldiers to guard the tomb. And with them came elders and scribes to the sepulchre, and having rolled a great stone together with1 the centurion and the soldiers, they all together who were there set it at the door of the sepulchre; and they affixed seven seals, and they pitched a tent there and guarded it. And early in the morning as the sabbath was drawing on, there came a multitude from Jerusalem and the region round about, that they might see the sepulchre that was sealed.

9 And in the night in which the Lord’s day was drawing on, as the soldiers kept guard two by two in a watch, there was a great voice in the heaven; and they saw the heavens opened, and two men descend from thence with great light and approach the tomb. And that stone which was put at the door rolled of itself and made way in part; and the tomb was opened, and both the young men entered in.

10 When therefore those soldiers saw it, they awakened the centurion and the elders; for they too were hard by keeping guard. And, as they declared what things they had seen, again they see three men come forth from the tomb, and two of them supporting one, and a cross following them: and of the two the head reached unto the heaven, but the head of him that was led by them overpassed the heavens. And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, Thou hast preached to them that sleep. And a response was heard from the cross, Yea.

11 They therefore considered one with another whether to go away and shew these things to Pilate. And while they yet thought thereon, the heavens again are seen to open, and a certain man to descend and enter into the sepulchre. When the centurion and they that were with him saw these things, they hastened in the night to Pilate, leaving the tomb which they were watching, and declared all things which they had seen, being greatly distressed and saying, Truly he was the Son of God. Pilate answered and said, I am pure from the blood of the Son of God: but it was ye who determined this. Then they all drew near and besought him and entreated him to command the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing of the things which they had seen: For it is better, say they, for us to be guilty of the greatest sin before God, and not to fall into the hands of the people of the Jews and to be stoned. Pilate therefore commanded the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing.

12 And at dawn upon the Lord’s day Mary Magdalen, a disciple of the Lord, fearing because of the Jews, since they were burning with wrath, had not done at the Lord’s sepulchre the things which women are wont to do for those that die and for those that are beloved by them—she took her friends with her and came to the sepulchre where he was laid. And they feared lest the Jews should see them, and they said, Although on that day on which he was crucified we could not weep and lament, yet now let us do these things at his sepulchre. But who shall roll away for us the stone that was laid at the door of the sepulchre, that we may enter in and sit by him and do the things that are due? For the stone was great, and we fear lest some one see us. And if we cannot, yet if we but set at the door the things which we bring for a memorial of him, we will weep and lament, until we come unto our home.

13 And they went and found the tomb opened, and coming near they looked in there; and they see there a certain young man sitting in the midst of the tomb, beautiful and clothed in a robe exceeding bright; who said to them, Wherefore are ye come? Whom seek ye? Him that was crucified?2 He is risen and gone. But if ye believe not, look in and see the place where he lay, that he is not [here]; for he is risen and gone thither, whence he was sent. Then the women feared and fled.

14 Now it was the last day of the unleavened bread, and many were going forth, returning to their homes, as the feast was ended. But we, the twelve disciples of the Lord, wept and were grieved: and each one, being grieved for that which was come to pass, departed to his home. But I Simon Peter and Andrew my brother took our nets and went to the sea; and there was with us Levi the son of Alphæus, whom the Lord . . .

SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF THE FOUR CANONICAL GOSPELS AND THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PETER

MATTHEW XXVII.MARK XV.LUKE XXIII.JOHN XIX.
24 ¶ When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.[2cf. Lk. xxiii. 7.][1cf. John passim.]
[3cf. Lk. xxii. 66; Acts iv. 27.]
[cf. v. 57.][cf. v. 43.][cf. v. 50.][cf. v. 38.]
[4cf. Lk. xxiii. 12.]
[cf. v. 42.]
[cf. xix. 31.]
26 ¶ Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.15 ¶ And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.24 And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
25 And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.16 And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Prætorium; and they call together the whole band.
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,
29 ¶ And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.19 And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
27 ¶ And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.
31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.
33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
34 ¶ They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.
35 And they crucified him,
and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.[cf. vv. 23, 24.]
25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
36 And sitting down they watched him there;
34 ¶ Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,
37 And saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself.
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.19 ¶ And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
39 ¶ And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross.22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.
[cf. v. 35.][cf. v. 24.]23 ¶ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.And they that were crucified with him reviled him.39 ¶ And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
25 ¶ Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.28 ¶ After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
50 ¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.46 ¶ And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.39 ¶ And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.
55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;48 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.
56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.41 (Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.
42 ¶ And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathæa, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple:43 Joseph of Arimathæa, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.50 ¶ And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:38 ¶ And after this Joseph of Arimathæa, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
51 (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathæa, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.
58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,46 And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
[1cf. Mt. ix. 15.][1cf. Mk. ii. 20.]
[2cf. Mk. xvi. 10.]
62 ¶ Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees
came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
[cf. Mt. xxvii. 24.]
CHAPTER XXVIII.CHAPTER XVI.CHAPTER XXIV.CHAPTER XX.
1 ¶ In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.1 ¶ And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.1 ¶ The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre,
2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
5 And entering into the sepulchre,3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth,
4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.8 And they remembered his words,
8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
[Levi, etc.; cf. Mk. ii. 14.]

PETER.

1 But of the Jews1 none washed his hands, neither Herod2 nor any one of his judges.3 2 And when they had refused to wash them, Pilate rose up. And then Herod the king commandeth that the Lord be taken, saying to them, What things soever I commanded you to do unto him, do.

3 And there was come there Joseph the friend of Pilate and of the Lord; and, knowing that they were about to crucify him, he came to Pilate and asked the body of the Lord for burial. 4 And Pilate sent to Herod and asked his body. 5 And Herod said, Brother4 Pilate, even if no one had asked for him, we purposed to bury him, especially as the sabbath draweth on: for it is written in the law, that the sun set not upon one that hath been put to death. And he delivered him to the people on the day before the unleavened bread, their feast.

6 And they took the Lord and pushed him as they ran, and said, Let us drag away the Son of God, having obtained power over him.

7 And they clothed him with purple, and set him on the seat of judgement, saying, Judge righteously, O King of Israel. 8 And one of them brought a crown of thorns and put it on the head of the Lord. 9 And others stood and spat in his eyes, and others smote his cheeks: others pricked him with a reed; and some scourged him, saying, With this honour let us honour the Son of God.

10 And they brought two malefactors, and they crucified the Lord between them.

But he held his peace, as though having no pain.

11 And when they had raised the cross, they wrote upon it, This is the King of Israel.

12 And having set his garments before him, they parted them among them, and cast lots for them.

[cf. v. 11.]

[cf. v. 12.]

13 And one of those malefactors reproached them, saying, We for the evils that we have done have suffered thus, but this man, who hath become the Saviour of men, what wrong hath he done to you?

14 And they, being angered at him, commanded that his legs should not be broken, that he might die in torment.

15 And it was noon, and darkness came over all Judæa:

and they were troubled and distressed, lest the sun had set, whilst he was yet alive: [for] it is written for them, that the sun set not on him that hath been put to death.

16 And one of them said, Give him to drink gall with vinegar. And they mixed and gave him to drink, 17 and fulfilled all things, and accomplished their sins against their own head.

18 And many went about with lamps, supposing that it was night, and fell down. 19 And the Lord cried out, saying, My power, my power, thou hast forsaken me.

And when he had said it he was taken up.

20 And in that hour the vail of the temple of Jerusalem was rent in twain.

21 And then they drew out the nails from the hands of the Lord, and laid him upon the earth, and the whole earth quaked, and great fear arose. 22 Then the sun shone, and it was found the ninth hour: 23 and the Jews rejoiced, and

gave his body to Joseph that he might bury it,

since he had seen what good things he had done.

24 And he took the Lord, and washed him, and wrapped him in a linen cloth, and brought him into his own tomb,

which was called the Garden of Joseph.

25 Then the Jews and the elders and the priests, perceiving what evil they had done to themselves, began to lament and to say, Woe for our sins: the judgement hath drawn nigh, and the end of Jerusalem.

26 And I with my companions was grieved; and being wounded in mind we hid ourselves: for we were being sought for by them as malefactors, and as wishing to set fire to the temple.

27 And upon all these things we fasted1 and sat mourning2 and weeping2 night and day until the sabbath.

28 But the scribes and Pharisees and elders being gathered together one with another, when they heard that all the people murmured and beat their breasts, saying, If by his death these most mighty signs have come to pass, see how just he is,— 29 the elders were afraid and

came to Pilate, beseeching him and saying, 30 Give us soldiers, that we may guard his sepulchre for three days, lest his disciples come and steal him away, and the people suppose that he is risen from the dead and do us evil.

31 And Pilate gave them Petronius the centurion with soldiers to guard the tomb. And with them came the elders and scribes to the sepulchre,

32 And having rolled a great stone together with the centurion and the soldiers, they all together who were there set it at the door of the sepulchre;

33 And they affixed seven seals, and they pitched a tent there and guarded it.

34 And early in the morning as the sabbath was drawing on, there came a multitude from Jerusalem and the region round about, that they might see the sepulchre that was sealed.

35 And in the night in which the Lord’s day was drawing on, as the soldiers kept guard two by two in a watch, there was a great voice in the heaven; 36 and they saw the heavens opened, and two men descend from thence with great light and approach the tomb. 37 And that stone which was put at the door rolled of itself and made way in part; and the tomb was opened, and both the young men entered in.

38 When therefore those soldiers saw it, they awakened the centurion and the elders,—for they too were hard by keeping guard; 39 and, as they declared what things they had seen, again they see three men coming forth from the tomb, and two of them supporting one, and a cross following them. 40 And of the two the head reached unto the heaven, but the head of him that was led by them overpassed the heavens. 41 And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, Hast thou preached to them that sleep? 42 And a response was heard from the cross, Yea.

43 They therefore considered one with another whether to go away and shew these things to Pilate. 44 And while they yet thought thereon, the heavens again are seen to open, and a certain man to descend and enter into the sepulchre. 45 When the centurion and they that were with him saw these things, they hastened in the night to Pilate, leaving the tomb which they were watching, and declared all things which they had seen, being greatly distressed and saying, Truly he was the Son of God. 46 Pilate answered and said, I am pure from the blood of the Son of God: but ye determined this.

47 Then they all drew near and besought him and entreated him to command the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing of the things which they had seen: 48 For it is better, say they, for us to incur the greatest sin before God, and not to fall into the hands of the people of the Jews and to be stoned. 49 Pilate therefore commanded the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing.

50 And at dawn upon the Lord’s day, Mary Magdalen, a disciple of the Lord, fearing because of the Jews, since they were burning with wrath, had not done at the Lord’s sepulchre the things which the women are wont to do for those that die and for those that are beloved by them—51 she took her friends with her and came to the sepulchre where he was laid.

52 And they feared lest the Jews should see them, and they said, Although on the day on which he was crucified we could not weep and lament, yet now let us do these things at his sepulchre.

53 But who shall roll away for us the stone that was laid at the door of the sepulchre, that we may enter in and sit by him and do the things that are due? 54 For the stone was great, and we fear lest some one see us. And if we cannot, yet if we but set at the door the things which we bring for a memorial of him, we will weep and lament, until we come unto our home.

55 And they went away and found the tomb opened,

and coming near they looked in there;

and they see there a certain young man sitting in the midst of the tomb, beautiful and clothed in a robe exceeding bright; who said to them, 56 Wherefore are ye come? Whom seek ye? Him that was crucified? He is risen and gone. But if ye believe not, look in and see the place where he lay, that he is not [here]; for he is risen and gone away thither, whence he was sent.

57 Then the women feared and fled.

58 Now it was the last day of the unleavened bread, and many were going forth, returning to their homes, as the feast was ended. 59 But we, the twelve disciples of the Lord, mourned and were grieved: and each one, being grieved for that which was come to pass, departed to his home. 60 But I, Simon Peter and Andrew my brother, took our nets and went to the sea; and there was with us Levi the son of Alphæus, whom the Lord . . .

THE DIATESSARON OF TATIAN

by REV. HOPE W. HOGG, B.D.

INTRODUCTION.

The aim of the following introductory paragraphs is neither to furnish a detailed restatement of facts already known, nor to offer an independent contribution to the discussion of the problems that arise, although in other circumstances such an attempt might be made with advantage. All that is needed and practicable here is to describe briefly, if possible, the nature of the connection between the English treatise forming the next part of this volume and the ancient work known as the Diatessaron of Tatian; and then to indicate in a few words some of the more important or interesting features of the work itself, and some of the historical and other problems that are in one way or another connected with it.

1 The Text Translated.—What is offered to the reader is a translation into English of an Arabic text, published at Rome in 1888, in a volume entitled in Arabic Diatessaron, which Titianus Compiled from the Four Gospels, with the alternative Latin title, Tatiani Evangeliorum Harmoniæ, Arabice. The Roman volume consists of two parts—the text, covering a little over 209 very clearly printed Arabic pages, and a Latin half, comprising a scholarly introduction (pp. v.-xv.), a Latin translation (pp. 1-99), and a table showing the order in which the passages taken from the gospels occur in the text. The editor is P. Agostino Ciasca, a well-known Orientalist, “scriptor” at the Vatican Library.

2 Former Translations.—In his Introduction (p. xiv. f.) Ciasca explains that in his translation he aimed at preserving quantum, salva fidelitate, integrum fuit, indolem stylumque Clementinæ Vulgatæ. This Latin version was in its turn translated into English by the Rev. J. Hamlyn Hill, B.D., and published in 1894 in a volume entitled The Earliest Life of Christ, with an interesting introduction and a number of valuable appendices. The MS. of Mr. Hill’s translation of the Latin of Ciasca was compared with the Arabic original by Mr. G. Buchanan Gray, M.A., lecturer in Hebrew and the Old Testament in Mansfield College, Oxford.

3 The Present Translation.—The translation offered here is quite independent of either of these two. Ciasca’s Latin was seldom consulted, except when it was thought the Arabic might perhaps be obscured by a misprint. After the translation was completed, Hill’s English was compared with it to transfer Mr. Hill’s valuable system of references to the margin of this work, and to lessen the risk of oversights passing the last revision unnoticed. In two or three cases this process led to the adoption of a different construction, and in a few of the more awkward passages a word was borrowed as being less harsh than that which had originally been written. Speaking generally, the present version appears to differ from Mr. Hill’s in adhering more closely to the original.1

4 The Arabic Text.—Only two Arabic MSS. are known to exist. Ciasca tells us (p. xiv.) that he took as the basis of his text that MS. which is more careful in its orthography, the Cod. Vat. Arab. No. 14. He, however, printed at the foot of the page the variants of the other MS., and supplied from it two lacunæ in the Cod. Vat.,2 substituted its readings for those of the Cod. Vat. where he thought them preferable, and followed its testimony in omitting two important passages.3 Here and there Ciasca has emended the text, but he does not profess to have produced a critical edition.4

5 The Arabic MSS.—Unfortunately, the present writer has not had an opportunity of examining these two MSS.; but they have been described at some length by Ciasca; Codex XIV. in Pitra’s Analecta Sacra, iv., 465 ff., and the other codex in the volume with which we are dealing, p. vi. ff. I. The former, which we shall call the Vatican MS. (in Ciasca’s foot-notes it is called A), was brought to the Vatican from the East by Joseph S. Assemani5 about ad 1719. It was described by Stephen E. Assemani,6 Rosenmüller, and Akerblad,7 and then at length by Ciasca, to whose account the reader must be referred for the details. It consists of 123 folios, of which the first seven are somewhat spoiled, and of which two are missing,1 and is supposed by Ciasca, from the character of the writing, and from the presence of certain Coptic letters2 by the first hand, to have been written in Egypt. S. Assemani assigned it to the twelfth century, and Ciasca accepts his verdict, while Akerblad says the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The text of the MS. is pretty fully vocalised, but there are few diacritical points. There are marginal notes, some of them by a later hand,3 which Ciasca classifies as (1) emendations, (2) restorations, (3) explanations. II. The second MS., which we shall call the Borgian (in Ciasca’s foot-notes it is called B), was brought to the Borgian Museum from Egypt in August, 1886. It has at the end the following inscription in Arabic: “A present from Halīm Dōs Ghālī, the Copt, the Catholic, to the Apostolic See, in the year of Christ 1886.”4 Antonius Morcos, Visitor Apostolic of the Catholic Copts, when, in the beginning of 1886, he was shown and informed about the Vatican MS., told of this other one and was the means of its being sent to Rome. The Borgian MS., which Ciasca refers to the fourteenth century, consists of 355 folios. Folios 1-855 contain an anonymous preface on the gospels, briefly described by Ciasca, who, however, does not say whether it appears to have been originally written in Arabic or to have been translated into that language. With folios 96b, 97a, which are reproduced in phototype in Ciasca’s edition, begins the Introductory Note given in full at the beginning of the present translation. The text of the Diatessaron ends on folio 353a, but is followed by certain appendices, for which see below, §55, 17, note. This MS. is complete, and has, as we shall see,6 in some respects a better text, though it is worse in its orthography than the Vatican MS.

6 Condition of the Arabic Text.—Ciasca’s text does not profess to be critically determined, for which purpose a more careful study of each of the MSS. and an estimate of their respective texts would be indispensable. Although the Borgian MS. is supposed by Ciasca to be a century or two later than the Vatican MS. it is clearly not a copy of the latter, for not only does it sometimes offer more original readings, but, as we shall see, its text in some points coincides more exactly in scope with the original work. The list of various readings supplied by Ciasca,7 which is equal to about a fifth or a quarter of the text itself, ought to yield, on being analysed, some canons of criticism. The foot-notes of the present edition are enough to show that a number of the peculiar features of Ciasca’s text do not belong to the original Arabic MS.; and further study would dispose of still more. On the other hand, there are unfortunately some indications8 that the common ancestor of both MSS., though perhaps less than two centuries removed from the original, was not the original itself, and therefore emendation may be necessary even where both MSS. agree. From first to last it has to be borne in mind that a great deal of work was done at Arabic versions of the gospels,9 and the text of the copy from which our two MSS. are descended may already have suffered from contact with other versions; while the special activity of the thirteenth century may have left its mark in some places on the text of the Borgian MS., supposing it to be chronologically the later.

7 Origin of the Arabic Text.—If some of the uncouthness of the Arabic text is due to corruption in the course of transmission, much is also due to its being not an original work, but a translation. That it is, in the main, a translation from Syriac is too obvious to need proof.10 The Introductory Notice and Subscription to the Borgian MS., moreover, expressly state that the work was translated by one Abu’l Fărăj ‘Abdulla ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib,11 an “excellent and learned priest,” and the inferiority of parts of the translation,12 and entire absence of any confirmatory evidence,13 hardly suffice to refute this assertion. Still, the Borgian MS. is a late witness, and although it most probably preserves a genuine tradition as to the author of our work, its statement need not therefore necessarily be correct in every point.

8 The Arabic Editor and his Method.—Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib (d. 1043) is a well-known man, a Nestorian monk and scholar, secretary to Elias I., Patriarch of Nisībis (for references to sources see, e.g., Ciasca’s Introduction, p. xi. f. and Steinschneider’s long note in his Polemische und apologetische Lit. in Arabische Sprache, pp. 52-55). As we are here concerned with him simply as a link in the chain connecting our present work with its original source, the only point of interest for us is the method he followed in producing it. Did he prepare an independent translation or did he make use of existing Arabic versions, his own or others’? Until this question, which space forbids us to discuss here, has been more thoroughly investigated,1 it must suffice to say that in view of the features in the present text that have not yet been shown to exist in any other Arabic version, it is still at least a tenable hypothesis that Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib’s MS. constituted to a considerable extent a real translation rather than a sort of Arabic parallel to the Codex Fuldensis (see below, 12).

9 The Syriac Text Translated.—The eleventh-century MS. of Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib, could we reach it, would bring us face to face with the more interesting question of the nature of his Syriac original. The Subscription to the Borgian MS. states, probably copying the statement from its exemplar, that this was a Syriac MS. in the handwriting of ‘Isa ibn-‘Ali al Motaṭabbib, pupil of Ḥonain ibn Isḥāḳ. This Ḥonain was a famous Arabic physician and medical writer of Bagdad (d. 873), whose school produced quite a number of translations and translators, among whom Ibn-‘Ali, supposed to be identical with the Syriac lexicographer of the same name, is known to have had a high place. The Syriac MS., therefore, that Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib translated takes us back to about the year 900. But the Subscription to each of our MSS.2 states that the work ended is the gospel called Diatessaron, compiled from the four gospels by Titianus; while the Introductory Note to the Borgian MS. adds that this Titianus was a Greek. The next step, therefore, is to inquire whether any traces exist of such a Syriac work, or any statements by which we can check the account just given of it.

10 Other Traces of a Syriac Text.—No copy of a Syriac Diatessaron has yet been shown to have survived.3 A number of quotations4 from such a work have, however, been found in a Syriac commentary on the New Testament by Isho‘dad of Merv (circ. 852), a contemporary of Ḥonain, Ibn-‘Ali’s teacher.5 The value of these extracts is apparent, for they take us back one generation earlier than Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib’s Syriac exemplar. More important still, they do not entirely agree with the text of our Arabic version. To solve the problem thus raised, we must examine some of the statements about the Diatessaron to be found in ecclesiastical writers.

11 Statements about the Diatessaron.—One of the most widely known is that of Isho‘dad himself, who, in his Preface to the Gospel of Mark, says: “Tatian, disciple of Justin, the philosopher and martyr, selected from the four gospels, and combined and composed a gospel, and called it Diatessaron, i.e., the Combined, . . . and upon this gospel Mar Ephraem commented.”6 Dionysius Bar Ṣalibi (twelfth century) repeats each of these phrases, adding, “Its commencement was, ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ ”7 These statements identify the author of the Diatessaron with a man otherwise known, and tell us that the great Syrian father Ephraem (d. 373) wrote a commentary on it. Unfortunately, no Syriac MS. of Ephraem’s work is known to have survived;8 but quotations from it, or allusions to it, are being found in other Syriac writers. One further reference will suffice for the present. Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, four hundred years before Isho‘dad, wrote thus in his book on Heresies (written in 453): “Tatian the Syrian. . . . This [writer] also composed the gospel which is called Diatessaron, cutting out the genealogies and whatever other passages show that the Lord was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.”1 Before examining the testimonials we have now adduced, we must notice certain more remote sources of information.

12 Non-Syriac Texts of the Diatessaron.—Although Ephraem’s Syriac commentary on the Diatessaron is for the present lost, there is an Armenian version of it2 extant in two MSS. dating from about the time of Bar Ṣalibi and our Vat. MS.3 A Latin translation of this work, published in 1876 by Moesinger,4 formed the main basis of Zahn’s attempt5 to reconstruct the Diatessaron. Appendix X in Hill’s Diatessaron (pp. 334-377) contains an English translation of the texts commented on by Ephraem, made from Moesinger’s Latin, but collated with the Armenian by Professor J. Armitage Robinson, of Cambridge. A comparison of this document with our Arabic text shows a remarkable agreement in the order and contents, but just as remarkable a lack of agreement in the kind of text presented. The same phenomenon is met with when we compare our Arabic text with a document that carries us back three hundred years before the time of Isho‘dad, and therefore more than six hundred years before the Armenian MSS.—the Codex Fuldensis of the Vulgate.6 This MS. contains an arrangement of the gospel matter that its discoverer and publisher, Bishop Victor of Capua (d. 554), rightly concluded must represent the Diatessaron of Tatian, but for the text of which was apparently substituted that of the Vulgate.7 We are now ready to weigh the testimony we have gathered.8

13 Accretions to the Diatessaron.—The statements we are to consider are: (1) Bar Ṣalibi’s, that Tatian’s Diatessaron began with “In the beginning was the Word”;9 (2) Theodoret’s, that Tatian cut out the genealogies; and (3) the same writer’s, that Tatian also cut out “whatever other passages show that the Lord was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Of these statements 1 conflicts with the Arabic text, which begins with Mark, and the Codex Fuldensis, which begins with Luke, but agrees with the Ephraem source; the same is true of 2; while 3 conflicts with all three texts. Our limits do not admit of our discussing these points in detail. It must suffice to say (1) that, although a more careful examination at first-hand of the introductory notices in the two Arabic MSS. seems needed before one can venture to propound a complete theory, a comparison of the two texts, and a consideration of the descriptions given by Ciasca and Lagarde,10 make it almost certain that the genuine Arabic text of Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib began with John i. 1. Similarly the first four verses of Luke (on which see also below, § 1. 6, note) were probably not in the original text of the MS. that Victor found, for they are not mentioned in the (old) table of contents. We seem thus to detect a process of gradual accretion of material drawn from the ordinary gospel text. (2) The genealogies illustrate the same process. In the Vatican MS. they form part of the text.11 But in the Borgian MS., although they precede the Subscription, and therefore may have been already in the ninth-century Syriac MS. used by Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib, they are still placed by themselves, after a blank space, at the end of the volume, with a title of their own.12 Here, therefore, we actually see stages of the process of accretion. (3) It is therefore possible that the same account must also be given of 3, although in this case we have no direct proof.

14 Passages Lost from the Diatessaron.—If the Diatessaron has thus been growing so as to represent the ordinary text of the canonical gospels more completely, we have also evidence that suggests that it has been at some time or times purged of certain features that are lacking in these canonical gospels. For one case of this kind see below, § 4, 36, note.

15 Preservation of the Text of the Diatessaron.—We have observed already that the Latin, Armenian, and Arabic Diatessarons correspond pretty closely in subject-matter and arrangement, but differ markedly in text. The Codex Fuldensis is really a MS. of the Vulgate, although the text that Victor found was probably somewhat different. The Armenian text differs materially from the ordinary Syriac version of the New Testament (the Peshitta), showing a marked connection with another type of Syriac text represented now by the Curetonian and Sinaitic (Lewis) MSS. The Arabic text, on the other hand, almost systematically represents the Peshitta. The explanation of the condition of text in the Codex Fuldensis is obvious. On the other hand, the relationship of the Armenian and Arabic texts to the original Diatessaron must be determined by weighing very multifarious evidence that cannot be even cited here (see above 6 ff.). The two texts depend, as we have seen, on late MSS.; but all the earlier references and quotations go to show that the Armenian text1 stands much more closely related to the original than does the Arabic.

16 Checkered History of the Diatessaron.—What use the Arabic edition of Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib was put to when made we do not know. ‘Abd Isho‘ (d. 1318) speaks in the highest terms of Tatian’s work, saying, “. . . With all diligence he attended to the utmost degree to the right order of those things which were said and done by the Saviour; of his own he did not add a single saying.”2 But the leaders of the Syrian church had not always thought so. Theodoret (loc. cit.) some nine hundred years earlier had written thus: “. . . Even those that follow the apostolic doctrines, not perceiving the mischief of the composition,” used “the book too simply as an abridgment.” A few years earlier Rabbūlā, Bishop of Edessa (d. 435), had said:3 “Let the presbyters and deacons give heed that in all the churches there be provided and read a copy of the Distinct Gospel,” i.e., not the harmonized or mixed gospel. But obviously these men were trying to suppress traditional practice due to very different views. Theodoret (loc. cit.) found more than two hundred copies of the work “held in respect in the churches”; and the Doctrine of Addai (Edessa, third to fourth century) seems simply to identify the Diatessaron and the New Testament.4 Outside of the Syriac-speaking churches we find no signs of any such use of the Diatessaron. It would seem, therefore, that at a quite early stage the Diatessaron was very widely if not universally read in the Syriac churches, and commented on by scholars as the gospel; that in time it fell under the condemnation of some at least of the church leaders, who made violent efforts to suppress it; that it could not be suppressed; that a commentary on it was (perhaps in the fifth century5 ) translated into Armenian, that it was still discussed by commentators, and new Syriac MSS. of it made in the ninth century, and thought worth the labor of reproduction in Arabic in the beginning of the eleventh century; that MSS. of the Armenian volume continued to be made down to the very end of the twelfth century, and of the Arabic edition down to the fourteenth century; but that this long life was secured at the expense of a more or less rapid assimilation of the text to that of the great Syriac Bible which from the fourth century onwards became more and more exclusively used—the Peshitta.

17 The Author of the Diatessaron.—The Diatessaron is such an impersonal work that we do not need to know very much about its compiler.6 It will suffice here to say that he tells us himself that he was born “in the land of the Assyrians,” and brought up a heathen. After travelling in search of knowledge, he settled at Rome, where he became a pupil of Justin Martyr, professed Christianity, and wrote in Greek his Address to the Greeks,7 translated in vol. iii. of the Ante-Nicene Christian Library. He was too independent in his attitude to maintain a permanent popularity, and after Justin’s death left Rome and returned to Mesopotamia. It was probably here that he issued in Syriac his most important work, the Diatessaron, which won such a warm place in the heart of the Syrian church. Among the Greek scholars, however, he became more and more regarded as a heretic, Encratite (ascetic), and Gnostic.

18 The Diatessaron as a Harmony.—Not very much need be said on this subject, as every reader can collect the facts for himself. In its present form the Harmony draws from all the four canonical gospels, and from very little else. Opinions differ as to whether it originally indicated the gospel from which any given piece was drawn, and some uncertainty must remain in special cases as to what gospel actually has been drawn upon. Professor G. F. Moore, in a very interesting article on the Diatessaron,8 having counted the references in the Arabic MSS., states that the Arabic text contains 50 per cent. of Mark, 66 per cent. of Luke, 76.5 per cent. of Matthew, and 96 per cent. of John. The summation of his figures gives the following result: out of a total of 3780 verses in the four gospels, the Diatessaron quotes 2769 and omits 1011. As to the order in which the whole is arranged, Moore thinks that Matthew has chiefly been followed; while Zahn regards the Fourth Gospel as normative. For a specimen of the way in which words and phrases from the different gospels are woven together, we may refer to § 52, 35 ff., and the notes thereon. In the Arabic MSS., and probably in the Syriac exemplar, the work is divided into fifty-four almost equal chapters, followed by one short one—a feature that agrees well with what we have learned of the work as being of old the lectionary of the Syrian church.

19 Problems Connected with the Diatessaron.—The Diatessaron open up a very wide field of study. A few points may be here enumerated (see also above, 8, and note there). In what language was it written? On the view favoured by an increasing majority of scholars, that it was written in Syriac, was it a translation or simply a compilation? What precisely is its relation to the Syriac versions and the “Western” text generally? Then there is its bearing on the date and formation of the canonical gospels; the phenomenon of its so long supplying the place of those gospels; the analogy it presents to the Pentateuch, according to the critical view of the origin of the latter. These and other issues make the Diatessaron an important and interesting study.

20 The Present Translation.—The work of translation has been found much more tedious than was anticipated, notwithstanding the fact that considerably more than half of it is the work of my wife, which I have simply revised with special attention to the many obscurities dealt with in the foot-notes. We have, however, worked so much together that it is very doubtful whether any one could assign the various parts to their respective sources. My wife also verified the Arabic references to the gospels printed on the margin to the right of the text,1 and prepared the Index to these references—an extremely laborious and perplexing piece of work. This Index is inserted merely for the practical purpose of enabling the reader to find any given gospel piece in the Diatessaron. When a verse is not found in the Index, an equivalent passage from some of the other gospels should be looked for. On the margin to the left of the text are indicated the pages of the Arabic text and the sections and verses in Hill’s version.2

The aim has been to make a literal translation. As two freer translations already exist, it seemed best to incline to the side of being overliteral. If, however, features due simply to Arabic idiom have been preserved, this is an oversight. Uniformity could only have been secured by devoting a much longer time to the work than the editor was able to allow. The difficulties are due to the corrupt state of the Arabic text,3 and to the awkward reproduction4 or actual misunderstanding5 of the Syriac original by the author or authors of the Arabic translation. It has been impossible to maintain consistency in dealing with these phenomena. If any rendering seem strange, it will be well to consult the Syriac versions before deciding that it is wrong. A good deal of attention, too, has to be paid to the usage of the Arabic text, which, though it has many points of contact with other Arabic versions of the gospels, e.g., the MS. described by Gildemeister (De evangg. in arab. e simp. Syr., 1865), is as yet for us (see above, 8) a distinct version, possessed of an individuality of its own, one pronounced feature being its very close adherence to its Syriac original. Another revision of the present translation, in the light of a fuller study of these features, would doubtless lead to changes both in the text and in the foot-notes. The latter aim at preventing misunderstanding and giving some examples of the peculiarities of the text, and of the differences between the MSS. To have dealt systematically with the text and various readings would have required much more time and space than was available. The consequence of this incompleteness has been some uncertainty at times what text to translate. As already stated (paragraphs 4 and 6), Ciasca’s printed text neither represents any one MS. nor professes to be based in its eclecticism on any systematic critical principles. On the whole Ciasca has here been followed somewhat mechanically in deciding what to exhibit in the text and what to relegate to the foot-notes. As a rule conjectural emendations have not been admitted into the text except where the MS. readings would hardly bear translation. Italics in the text denote words supplied for the sake of English idiom; in the foot-notes, quotations from the MSS. It is to be noted that many linguistic usages said, for shortness, in the foot-notes to be characteristic of the present work, i.e., as compared with ordinary Arabic, are common in Arabic versions. “Syriac versions” means the three (Pesh., Cur., Sin.), or as many of them as contain the passage in question; if the Peshitta alone is quoted, it may be assumed that Cur. and Sin. are missing or diverge.

In conclusion we may say that an effort has been made to preserve even the order of words; but it must be emphasized that it is very doubtful whether it is wise for any one to use the Arabic Diatessaron for critical purposes who is not acquainted with Arabic and Syriac. The tenses, e.g., are much vaguer in Arabic than in Greek and English, and are, moreover, in this work often accommodated to Syriac idiom. The Greek and the Revised Version have been used to determine in almost every case how the vague Arabic tenses and conjunctions should be rendered. It is therefore only where it differs from these that our translation can be quoted without investigation as giving positive evidence.

This is not a final translation. Few books have had a more remarkable literary history than the Diatessaron, and that history is by no means done. Much careful argument will yet be devoted to it, and perhaps discoveries as important as any hitherto made are yet to shed light on the problems that encircle it. If our work can help any one to take a step in advance, we shall not regret the toil.

Oxford, 21st December, 1895.

INTRODUCTORY NOTES.