Was To Theodore an Attack on Those Who Claimed that the Diatessaron (or an Earlier Ancestor) was the True Gospel of Mark?

I just came back from the Olympics in Vancouver and was thinking about the whole concept of the 'heretical' gospel of Mark as a 'gospel of mixture' on the drive home. I just realized that my last post did not cite all the references to the Carpocratian gospel as a 'mixture.' Clement begins by stating:

the things they keep saying about the divinely inspired Gospel according to Mark, some are altogether falsifications, and others, even if they do contain some true elements, nevertheless are not reported truly. For the true things, being mixed (συγκεκραμένα) with inventions, are falsified, so that, as the saying goes, even the salt loses its savor.

and after demonstrating two 'unmixed' texts that Mark composed Clement explains how the gospel in the hands of the Carpocratians is a 'mixture':

he (Carpocrates) got from him a copy of the secret Gospel, which he both interpreted according to his blasphemous and carnal doctrine and, moreover, polluted, mixing with the spotless and holy words utterly shameless lies. From this mixture (κραματος) is drawn off the teaching of the Carpocratians

While most of us, I think are aware that the Carpocratian gospel of Mark is identified as a 'mixed gospel' I don't think that even a single scholar who has ever weighed in on the subject has ever realized that this very term - the gospel of the mixed 'ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܕܡܚܠܛܐ' (Ewangeliyôn Damhalltê) - is the Syriac name for the Diatessaron.

There are many features of this secret/mystic gospel of Mark which infer that it resembled the Diatessaron and similarly there are many hints in the literature that the Diatessaron was originally identified as being 'according to Mark.'

I have already contacted Professor Boid, the eminent Semitic language scholar who happens to be my best friend and asked him if συγκεκραμένα could be an equivalent of 'ܕܡܚܠܛܐ and he said yes, it could well be.

Let's just for the moment cite all the ancient witnesses who reference the Diatessaron as 'the mixed' gospel from Petersen's work.

Petersen says that the surviving evidence suggests that 'of the mixed' "was the earliest Syriac name for Tatian's creation." [p. 37] Ephrem the Syrian referred to it as the Evangelion da Mehallete ("The Gospel of the Mixed"), and it was practically the only gospel text used in Syria until the fifth century.

Petersen cites Eusebius' reference (HE iv.29.6) to Tatian's text in the History of the Church and then notes that an anonymous fourth century Syriac writer already exchanged the Greek title of the text for the Syriac 'of the mixed':

he, then this Tatianus their first leader, collected and mixed up [or combined] a Gospel, and called it Diatessaron, now this is [the Gospel] of the Mixed, the same that is in the hands of many unto this day. [p. 36]

Other references include Ishodad of Merv the Nestorian bishop of Hedatta in Assyria (9th century):

Now Tatian a disciple of Justin the Philosopher and Martyr made selections from the four Evangelists, mixed them and composed a gospel and called it the Diatessaron, that is to say, of the Mixed ... and Mar Ephrem commented on this [p. 52]

The Nestorian physician Bar Ali (9th century):

[Syriac] Diastarson [sic] [other] manuscripts: Diaquitron, the gospel which is the Diatessaron, which Tatian made, the Mixed [Mahalleta = sing.] [This Syriac entry is followed by the Arabic entry which reads as follows] Mixed. A gospel made meaning by meaning collected, to the meaning of the four Gospels of the Apostles - Peace be on them. [p. 54]

Dionysius bar Salibi the Jacobite bishop of Mar'as and Amida:

Tatian the disciple of Justin the Philosopher and Martyr selected from the four gospels and wove them together and made a gospel called the Diatessaron that is the Mixed and Mar Ephrem explained this work [p. 59]

Michael the Syrian:

he [Tatian] collected or mixed a gospel and he called it Diatessaron, that is to say of the Mixed [p. 61]

Bar Hebraeus knows of the same basic story but however attributes the origin of the text to Ammonius Sacca:

But when Eusebius of Caesarea saw the corruptions which Ammonius of Alexandria had made in the Gospel of the Diatessaron, that of the Mixed, its beginning is 'In the beginning was the Word,' and which Mar Ephrem expounded - he preserved the four gospels in the integrity of their text but pointed out the agreement of the words by Canons marked in red [p. 63]

As such there is very good reason to assume that the 'mixed gospel' used by the Carpocratians might be related to the 'Gospel of the Mixed.' More to follow ...