All Ancient Witnesses to the Diatessaron [Part Five]

G) ISHO'DAD OF MERV, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPELS

The Nestorian bishop of Hedatta in Assyria, Isho'dad of Merv (fl. 860) composed numerous commentaries, including one on each of the gospels. In the Prologue to his Commentary on Mark, Isho'dad speaks of the Diatessaron with an easy familiarity:

Now Tatian, a disciple of Justin the Philosopher and Martyr, made selections from the four Evangelists, mixed [or: combined] them, and composed a Gospel; and called it the Diatessaron, that is to say, of the mixed; he did not write about the Divinity of Christ; and Mar Ephrem commented upon this [the Diatessaron].(The Commentaries of Isho'dad of Merv, ed. MD Gibson, HSem V-VII, 3 vols. [Cambridge 1911]; here, Vol II [HSem VI], 204)

Note that even in the ninth century, it is apparently still necessary to inform readers that "Diatessaron" means da-Mehallete ("of the Mixed"). Elsewhere in the Commentaries, Isho'dad names the Diatessaron as the source for variant readings adduced at Matt 1.20; 3.4; 3.16; 21.1 and Mark 1.1. In some instances these are presented as warranting consideration; in others they are given without comment. Isho'dad's Commentaries show that as late as the mid-ninth century an orthodox Christian bishop regarded the Diatessaron as an authority worthy of citation.

At Mark 1.2, Isho'dad offers a variant from the Diatessaron, and states that it was composed in Alexandria

Others say that in the book Diatessaron which was composed in Alexandria, instead of this, as it is written by Isaia the prophet, it is said by the Prophets.(ibid., Vol II [H Sem VI], 208)

Since the citations reproduced in Isho'dad's Commentary contain unique variants found only in Diatessaronic witnesses, one can be certain that the Diatessaron he knew is the one which spawned all these other texts; this means the readings come from Tatian's harmony, not Ammonius'.(Two of the readings presented above in chapter 1 [the "fire" in the Jordan; Jesus' command to "fulfill the Law"] are found in Isho'dad; so is Exhibit 7 in chapter 7 [see infra, 404-414]). Isho'dad's designation of Alexandria is interesting: perhaps Tatian Tatian went there after leaving Rome; recall also that Tatian has been proposed by some as one of Clement of Alexandria's teachers. Yet there is no evidence to link Tatian with Alexandria, or to suggest that Clement knew a Diatessaron. The tradition that Tatian's Diatessaron was composed in Alexandria is probably due to confusion over the two authors: Tatian, and Ammonius the Alexandrian.(Petersen, Diatessaron p. 52 - 53)