Tatian

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

A second-centuryapologist about whose antecedents and early history nothing can be affirmed withcertainty except that he was born inAssyria and that he was trained in Greek philosophy. While a young man he travelled extensively. Disgusted with thegreed of thepaganphilosophers with whom he came in contact, he conceived a profound contempt for their teachings. Repelled by the grossness and immorality of thepagans and attracted by theholiness of theChristian religion and the sublimity and simplicity of the Scriptures, he became a convert, probably about A.D. 150. He joined theChristian community inRome, where he was a "hearer" ofJustin. There is no reason to think he was converted by the latter. WhileJustin lived Tatian remainedorthodox. Later (c. 172) heapostatized, became aGnostic of theEncratite sect, and returned to the Orient. The circumstances anddate of his death are not known. Tatian wrote many works. Only two have survived. One of these, "Oratio ad Graecos" (Pros Hellenas), is an apology forChristianity, containing in the first part (i-xxxi) an exposition of theChristian Faith with a view to showing its superiority over Greek philosophy, and in the second part a demonstration of the high antiquity of theChristian religion. The tone of this apology is bitter and denunciatory. The author inveighs against Hellenism in all its forms and expresses the deepest contempt for Greek philosophy and Greek manners.

The other extant work is the "Diatesseron", a harmony of the four Gospels containing in continuous narrative the principle events in the life ofOur Lord. The question regarding the language in which this work was composed is still in dispute. Lightfoot, Hilgenfeld, Bardenhewer, and others contend that the original language was Syriac. Harnack, Burkitt, and others are equally positive that it was composed in Greek and translated into Syriac during the lifetime of Tatian. There are only a few fragments extant in Syriac but a comparatively full reconstruction of the whole has been effected fromSt. Ephraem's commentary, the Syriac text of which has been lost, but which exists in anArmenian version. Two revisions of the "Diatesseron" are available: one in Latin preserved in the "Codex Fuldensis" of the Gospels dating from about A.D. 545, the other in an Arabic version found in twomanuscripts of a later date. The "Diatesseron" or "Evangelion da Mehallete" (the Gospel of the mixed) was practically the only gospel text used inSyria during the third and fourth centuries. Rabbula,Bishop ofEdessa (411-435), ordered thepriests anddeacons to see that every church should have a copy of the separate Gospels (Evangelion da Mepharreshe), and Theodoret,Bishop of Cyrus (423-457), removed more than two hundred copies of the "Diatesseron" from the churches in hisdiocese. Several other works written Tatian have disappeared. In his apology (xv) he mentions a work "on animals" and (xvi) one on the "nature ofdemons". Another work in refutation of thecalumnies against theChristians (xl) was planned but perhaps never written. He also wrote a "Book of Problems" (Eusebius,Church History V.13), dealing with the difficulties in the Scriptures, and one "On Perfection according to the Precepts of Our Saviour" (Clement of Alexandria,Stromata III.12, 81).

CONTACT US |ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT