Church History 4.29.6

Eusebius of Caesarea · Church History · ca. 300–325 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Tatian compiled the Diatessaron, a harmony of the four Gospels, and is said to have rephrased some of Paul's words.

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Greek text · Dindorf 4:181

ὁ μέντοι γε πρότερος αὐτῶν ἀρχηγὸς ὁ Τατιανὸς συνάφειάν τινα καὶ συναγωγὴν οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως τῶν εὐαγγελίων συνθεὶς τὸ διὰ τεσσάρων τοῦτο προσωνόμασεν, ὃ καὶ παρά τισιν εἰσέτι νῦν φέρεται. τοῦ δὲ ἀποστόλου φασὶ τολμῆσαί τινας αὐτὸν μεταφράσαι φωνὰς, ὡς ἐπιδιορθούμενον αὐτῶν τὴν τῆς φράσεως σύνταξιν.

English · Claude translation

Their earlier founder, Tatian, composed a sort of combination and collection of the Gospels, I know not how, and gave it the name Diatessaron, which is still extant among some. And they say that he dared to paraphrase some words of the apostle, as though correcting their style of expression.

About this passage

Source: Dindorf 4:181 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Topics: Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

Diatessaron means “through four”; it was widely used in the Syriac church.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.29.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/29/6/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.29.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/29/6/).

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