Tatian

“ The only extant work of Tatian is his “Address to the Greeks.” It is a most unsparing and direct exposure of the enormities of heathenism. Several other works are said to have been composed by Tatian; and of these, a Diatessaron, or Harmony of the Four Gospels, is specially mentioned. His Gnostic views led him to exclude from the continuous narrative of our Lord’s life, given in this work, all those passages which bear upon the incarnation and true humanity of Christ. Not withstanding this defect, we cannot but regret the loss of this earliest Gospel harmony ”

“ Tatian, who maintaining the imaginary flesh of Christ, pronounces all sexual connection impure, who was also the very violent heresiarch of the Encratites, employs an argument of this sort: “If any one sows to the flesh, of the flesh he shall reap corruption;” but he sows to the flesh who is joined to a woman; therefore he who takes a wife and sows in the flesh, of the flesh he shall reap corruption.—Hieron.: Com. ”

“ Tatian soon returned from Greece to Rome, and came into close relations with the famous apologist Justin, whom he reverenced greatly. He himself established a school, to which the afterwards celebrated ecclesiastical writer Rhodon belonged for a time. So long as Justin lived (i.e. till 166) Tatian's doctrines excited no feelings of offence in the Christian community, although even in his Oratio there are germs of questionable and unorthodox views. These germs, however, he continued to develop until about 172 ”

“ Bar Salibi’s, that Tatian’s Diatessaron began with “In the beginning was the Word”; [37] (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. ”

“ He is invisible, impalpable, being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible things. Him we know from His creation, and apprehend His invisible power by His works. [10] I refuse to adore that workmanship which He has made for our sakes. The sun and moon were made for us: how, then, can I adore my own servants? How can I speak of stocks and stones as gods? For the Spirit that pervades matter [11] is inferior to the more divine spirit; and this, even when assimilated to the soul, is not to be honoured equally with the perfect God. ”

“ In many details, and even in the general outline of his philosophy, Tatian the Christian continued without knowing it to be a Platonizing philosopher; but that he had undergone a radical change is shown by his views of history and civilization, his faith in one living God, his conviction that truth is contained nowhere else than in the Christian Scriptures, his attitude of trust towards the Logos, made man in Jesus Christ, and finally by his earnest and world-forsaking expectation of judgment to come. ”

“ In his Oratio, chap. 40, Tatian speaks of a work Against those who have discoursed on Divine Things, in which he intends to show “what the learned among the Greeks have said concerning our polity and the history of our laws and how many and what kind of men have written of these things.” Whether he ever wrote the work or not we do not know; we find no other notice of it. Upon Tatian, see especially Zahn’s Tatian’s Diatessaron and Harnack’s Ueberlieferung, &c., p. ”

“ Tatian's diction is often rough, harsh, and abrupt, his sentences involved and inelegant. He has the art, indeed, of expressing himself with uncommon freedom and independence, and can put things also in a very graphic way, but at the same time he is a careless stylist, or rather, as an apostate from the Greek view of things, he has tried to accentuate his breach with classical traditions by elaborate carelessness and deliberate eccentricity. ”

“ From the Armenian version of Ephraem the Syrian's Exposition of Tatian's Harmony, printed in 1836, translated in 1841 by Aucher of the Melchitarist Monastery at Venice, but buried until it was published with notes by Moesinger in 1876, a flood of light is thrown upon this question, and it is now clear “that Tatian habitually abridged the language of the passages which he combined” (Hort, Gk. Test. Introduction, p. 283) ”

“ It is clear that such hearsay information is not to be relied on.
Neither Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, nor Jerome, who refer to other works of Tatian, make any mention of this one. Epiphanius, however, does so, but, like Eusebius, evidently without having himself seen it. (1) This second reference to Tatian's Gospel is made upwards of two centuries after its supposed composition. Epiphanius says: "It is said that he (Tatian) composed the Diatessaron, which is called by some the Gospel according to the Hebrews." ”

“ This would seem to militate against our theory of the original form of this much-debated passage in the Introductory Notes, as indicated by the use of small type for the later inserted phrases; and the difficulty appears at first to be increased by the following words in Ibn-at-Tayyib’s comments on Mark i. (Brit. Mus. ms., fol. 190a) , and some say that the Greek citation and in the Diatessaron, which Tatianus the pupil of Justianus the philosopher wrote, the quotation is not written, “Isaiah,” but, “as it is written in the prophet.” This is a remarkable statement about the Diatessaron. ”

“ Every branch that produceth not fruit in me, he taketh it: and that which giveth fruit, [19] he cleanseth it, that it may give much fruit. [24] Ye are already clean because of the word [20] that I have spoken unto you. [25] Abide in me, and I in you. And as the branch of the [Arabic, p. 175] vine cannot produce fruit of itself, if it be not abiding in the vine; so too ye [21] also, if ye abide not in me. [26] I am the vine, and ye are the branches: He then that abideth in me, and I in him, he giveth much fruit: for without me ye cannot [22] do anything. ”

“ Tatian (see ante, pp. 259, 260) had many followers called Tatianists, and in connection with him and his doctrines we hear of the Eucratites, Hydroparastates (the water-drinkers) , and Apotactites. The Eucratites appear to have been in existence before Tatian professed Gnosticism, but he so increased their influence as to be sometimes regarded as their founder. The Egyptian Gnostics were less ascetic, and mostly favoured the idea that Jesus had a real body on which the Æon descended and joined himself thereunto. They regarded him as born naturally of Joseph and Mary. ”

“ In Tatian, another Assyrian follows the Star of Bethlehem, from Euphrates and the Tigris. The scanty facts of his personal history are sufficiently detailed by the translator, in his Introductory Note. We owe to himself the pleasing story of his conversion from heathenism. But I think it important to qualify the impressions the translation may otherwise leave upon the student’s mind, by a little more sympathy with the better side of his character, and a more just statement of his great services to the infant Church. ”

“ But if, he says, you wish to understand the All, enquire within thyself who it is who says, “My soul, my flesh, my mind,” [53] and who within thee makes each thing his own as another does to him. Understand that this is a perfect thing from the Perfect who considers all the so-called non-existent and all the existent as peculiar to himself. [54] This then is what Monoimus thinks.
10. Tatian.
18. But Tatian, like Valentinus and the others, says that there are certain unseen Aeons, by one of whom below the cosmos and the things that are, were fashioned. ”

“ When then thou givest an alms now, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as do the people of hypocrisy, [Arabic, p. 36] in the synagogues and the marketplaces, that men may praise them. And [24] verily say I unto you, They have received their reward. [34] But thou, when [25] thou doest alms, let thy left hand not know what thy right hand doeth; [35] that thine alms may be concealed: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. ”

“ The Apologists confess that they were converted to Christianity by reading the Old Testament. Cf. Justin's and Tatian's confessions. Perhaps Commodian (Instruct. I. 1) is also be understood thus.
Footnote 448: (return)
The Oratio of Tatian is very instructive in this respect. In this book he has nowhere spoken ex professo of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ; but in c. 13 fin. he calls the Holy Spirit "the servant of God who has suffered," and in c. 21 init. he says: "we are not fools and do not adduce anything stupid, when we proclaim that God has appeared in human form." ”

“ It commenced, as it naturally could commence, with the opening words of the Fourth Gospel—a gospel which, as we have seen, Tatian quotes in his extant work. It was probably in the main a fairly adequate digest of the evangelical narratives, for otherwise it would not have maintained its grounds; but passages which offended Tatian's Encratic and Gnostic views, such as the genealogies, were excised; and this might easily be done without attracting notice under cover of his general plan. All this is consistent and probable in itself. ”

“ And at last those other virgins also came and said, Our Lord, [20] our Lord, open unto us. [25] He answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, [21] I know you not. [26] Watch then, for ye know not that day nor that hour.
[22] [27] It is as a man, who went on a journey, and called his servants, and delivered unto [23] them his possessions. [28] And unto one he gave five talents, [29] and another two, and another [24] one; every one according to his strength ”

“ In no other name was there salvation from dæmons, for philosophy had made terms with them.
No one can read the Christian Apologists without remarking the stress which they lay upon the knowledge of God, which the new faith made the free and glad possession of the humblest. {148} "They say of us that we babble nonsense among females, half-grown people, girls and old people. No! all our women are chaste and at their distaffs our maidens sing of things divine," said Tatian, and rejoined with observations on famous Greek women, Lais, Sappho and others. ”

“ For the delineation of the zodiacal circle is the work of gods. And, when the light of one of them predominates, as they express it, it deprives all the rest of their honour; and he who now is conquered, at another time gains the predominance. And the seven planets are well pleased with them, [25] as if they were amusing themselves with dice. But we are superior to Fate, and instead of wandering (πλανητῶν) demons, we have learned to know one Lord who wanders not; and, as we do not follow the guidance of Fate, we reject its lawgivers. ”

“ He is invisible and impalpable," &c. &c. Further on, Tatian says (§15) , "For the perfect God is without flesh, but man is flesh." &c. A large
[378]
part of the oration is devoted to discussing the nature of God, and the distinction between spirit [———] and soul [———] , and it is unreasonable to assert that a man like Tatian could not make the declaration that God is a spirit without quoting the fourth Gospel. ”

“ Moreover Victor himself, who knew Greek, says ex quatuor, which requires Diatessaron, and the work which he identifies with Tatian's Harmony is made up of passages from our Four Gospels alone. Therefore he can hardly have written Diapente himself; and the curious reading is probably due to the blundering or the officiousness of some later scribe [287:2] .
Thus we way safely acquiesce in the universal tradition, or as our author, [Greek: ouk oid' hopôs] , prefers to call it, the 'ecclesiastical theory,' respecting the character and composition of Tatian's Diatessaron [287:3] . ”

“ An Armenian translation of what is alleged to be the Commentary of Ephraem Syrus on Tatian's Diatessaron was published as long ago as 1836, but failed to attract critical attention. In 1876, however, a Latin translation of this work by Aucher and Moesinger was issued, and this has now, naturally introduced new elements into the argument regarding Tatian's use of Gospels. ”

“ Chapter XXIX.—The Heresy of Tatian. [1]
1. He is the one whose words we quoted a little above [2] in regard to that admirable man, Justin, and whom we stated to have been a disciple of the martyr. Irenæus declares this in the first book of his work Against Heresies, where he writes as follows concerning both him and his heresy: [3]
2. “Those who are called Encratites, [4] and who sprung from Saturninus [5] and Marcion, preached celibacy, setting aside the original arrangement of God and tacitly censuring him who made male and female for the propagation of the human race. ”

“ Whosoever hateth me, also hateth my [40] Father. [55] And if I had not done the deeds before them that no other man did, they would not have had sin: but now they have seen and hated me and my Father [41] also: that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law, [56] They hated me for [42] nothing. [57] But when the Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from my Father, even the Spirit of truth, which goeth forth from my Father, he shall bear witness of [43] me: [58] and ye also bear witness, because from the beginning ye have been with me. ”