Wednesday, November 19, 2014

20. Eznik of Kolb

Casey concludes from his analysis of Eznik's Against the Sects (Casey, R. “The Armenian Marcionites and the Diatessaron,” JBL 57 (1938), 185–194) that the Marcionites had a Diatessaron:
The result of this investigation has been to discover in Eznik IV clear evidence for the use of a Syriac Marcionite source emanating from the circles with which St. Ephraim was acquainted and agreeing in all essential points with their theology and usage ... Like the earlier Marcionites they appeared as practicing Christians with peculiar ascetic notions and habits, but unlike them they followed the traditional Scriptural authority of their surroundings and retained the Diatessaron as their gospel. It would seem natural that the group had gained some ground in Armenia, since they are treated by Eznik as a living issue, but if so the probabilities are that they, like many Armenian Catholics of their time, employed Syriac as their theological language.


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