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Statements about the Diatessaron.--One of the most widely known is that of Ishodad 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." ¹ Dionysius Bar Salibi (twelfth century) repeats each of these phrases, adding, "Its commencement was, In the beginning was the Word.'" ² 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; ³ 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 Ishodad, 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." ⁴ Before examining the testimonials we have now adduced, we must notice certain more remote sources of information.

f., and a longer quotation in English in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895, p. 274 f.)