XIX B. Καὶ τοῦτο νῦν ἐξευρέθη παρ' αὐτοῖς, Τατιανοῦ τινὸς πρώτως ταύτην εἰσενέγκαντος τὴν βλασφημίαν· ὃς Ιουστίνου ἀκροατὴς γεγονώς, ἐφ' ὅσον μὲν συνῆν ἐκείνῳ, οὐδὲν ἐξέφηνε τοιοῦτον, μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκείνου μαρτυρίαν 5 ἀποστὰς τῆς ἐκκλησίας, οἰήματι διδασκάλου ἐπαρθεὶς καὶ τυφωθεὶς ὡς διαφέρων τῶν λοιπῶν, ἴδιον χαρακτῆρα διδασκαλείου συνεστήσατο, αἰῶνάς τινας ἀοράτους ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου μυθολογήσας, γάμον τε φθορὰν καὶ πορνείαν παραπλησίως Μαρκίωνι καὶ Σατορνίνῳ ἀναγοτο ρευσας, τῇ δὲ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ σωτηρίᾳ παρ ̓ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν αἰτιολογίαν ποιησάμενος. Ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Εἰρηναῖος . . . Ο μέντοι γε πρότερος αὐτῶν ἀρχηγὸς Τατιανὸς συνάφειαν τινα καὶ συναγωγὴν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως τῶν εὐαγγελίων συνθείς, τὸ “ Διὰ τεσσάρων ” τοῦτο προσωνόμασεν· ὃ καὶ 15 παρά τισιν εἰσέτι νῦν φέρεται. ΧΧ. Ibid. iv. 29. Ετι τοῦ Διονυσίου καὶ “ πρὸς 'Ρωμαίους” ἐπιστολὴ φέρεται, ἐπισκόπῳ τῷ τότε Σωτῆρι προσφωνοῦσα. ἐξ ἧς οὐδὲν οἷον τὸ καὶ παραθέσθαι λέξεις, δι ̓ ὧν τὸ μέχρι τοῦ καθ ̓ ἡμᾶς διωγμοῦ φυλαχθὲν Ρωμαίων ἔθος ἀποδεχό20 μενος, ταῦτα γράφει· Ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ὑμῖν ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῦτο, πάντας μὲν ἀδελφοὺς ποικίλως εὐεργετεῖν, ἐκκλησίαις τε πολλαῖς ταῖς κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν ἐφόδια πέμπειν, ὧδε μὲν τὴν τῶν δεομένων πενίαν ἀναψύχοντας, ἐν μετάλλοις δὲ ἀδελφοῖς 15 ὑπάρχουσιν ἐπιχορηγοῦντας· δι' ὧν πέμπετε ἀρχῆθεν The Encratites. 'AND this is a recent discovery of theirs, one Tatian being the chief introducer of the blasphemy. He was a hearer of Justin, and as long as he continued with him put forth no such doctrine: but after Justin's martyrdom he left the church, being lifted up with the reputation of 5 a teacher, and puffed up with the idea that he was better than others. So he formed a peculiar school of his own, inventing some invisible aeons like the Valentinians, and like Marcion and Saturninus declaring marriage to be corruption and fornication, though his argument for the 10 salvation of Adam was his own.' So far Irenaeus. Their former leader, however, Tatian, put together somehow or other a kind of combination and collection of the Gospels, to which he gave the name of Diatessaron, which book is still used in some quarters. Letter of Dionysius of Corinth to the Romans. 15 MOREOVER there is current an Epistle of Dionysius to the Romans, addressed to Soter who was then bishop. But there is nothing like quoting from it words in which he approves the custom of the Romans which was kept up till the persecution of our own time, writing thus, For 20 you have from the beginning this custom of doing good in divers ways to all the brethren, and sending supplies to many churches in all the cities, in one place refreshing the poverty of them that need, in another helping brethren in the mines with the supplies which you have sent from 25 ἐφοδίων, πατροπαράδοτον ἔθος ̔Ρωμαίων 'Ρωμαῖοι δια φυλάττοντες, ὃ οὐ μόνον διατετήρηκεν ὁ μακάριος ὑμῶν ἐπίσκοπος Σωτήρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπηύξηκεν, ἐπιχορηγῶν μὲν τὴν διαπεμπομένην δαψίλειαν τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους, λόγοις 5 δὲ μακαρίοις τοὺς ἀνιόντας ἀδελφούς, ὡς τέκνα πατὴρ φιλόστοργος, παρακαλῶν. Ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ ταύτῃ καὶ τῆς Κλήμεντος πρὸς Κορινθίους μέμνηται ἐπιστολῆς, δηλῶν ἀνέκαθεν ἐξ ἀρχαίου ἔθους ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν αὐτῆς ποιεῖσθαι. το λέγει γοῦν· Τὴν σήμερον οὖν Κυριακὴν ἁγίαν ἡμέραν διηγάγομεν, ἐν ᾗ ἀνέγνωμεν ὑμῶν τὴν ἐπιστολήν· ἣν ἕξομεν ἀεί ποτε ἀναγινώσκοντες νουθετεῖσθαι, ὡς καὶ τὴν προτέραν ἡμῖν διὰ Κλήμεντος γραφεῖσαν. 15 Ἔτι δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ περὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἐπιστολῶν ὡς ῥαδιουργηθεισῶν, ταῦτα φησίν· Επιστολὰς γὰρ ἀδελφῶν ἀξιωσάντων με γράψαι, ἔγραψα. καὶ ταύτας οἱ τοῦ διαβόλου ἀπόστολοι ζιζανίων γεγέμικαν, ἃ μὲν ἐξαιροῦντες, ἃ δὲ προστιθέντες. 10 οἷς τὸ οὐαὶ κεῖται. οὐ θαυμαστὸν ἄρα εἰ καὶ τῶν Κυριακῶν ῥαδιουργῆσαί τινες ἐπιβέβληνται γραφῶν, ὁπότε καὶ ταῖς οὐ τοιαύταις ἐπιβεβουλεύκασι. ΧΧ Α. Ibid. iv. 23. Περινοοῦντι δέ μοι τὰ σπουδαῖα συνέβη γραφαῖς τισιν ἐντυχεῖν βαρβαρικαῖς, πρεσβυτέραις μὲν ὡς πρὸς τὰ 25 Ελλήνων δόγματα, θειοτέραις δὲ ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνων πλάνην· καί μοι πεισθῆναι ταύταις συνέβη διά τε τῶν the beginning, maintaining like Romans the traditional custom of the Romans, which your worthy bishop Soter has not only kept up but increased, helping the saints with the abundant supply he sends from time to time, and with blessed words exhorting, as a loving father his children, 5 the brethren who come up to Rome. In this same Epistle he also mentions Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians, showing that from the first of ancient custom it was read before the Church. He says, To-day being the Lord's day we kept holy; and in it we read your letter, from the read- 10 ing of which we shall always be able to obtain admonition, as from the former one written to us through Clement. Again, the same writer speaks of his own epistles as having been falsified, in these words, For when the brethren asked me to write letters, I wrote them; and 15 these the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, taking away some things and adding others. For them the Woe is reserved. So it is no marvel if some have endeavoured to falsify even the dominical scriptures, when they have plotted also against writings of another sort. Tatian's Conversion. 20 WHILE I was thinking over such weighty matters, I chanced to meet with certain barbarian writings, too old for comparison with the doctrines of the Greeks, and too divine for comparison with their error: and I chanced to be convinced by them, on account of the soberness of their 25 language, the simplicity of the writers, their intelligible F λέξεων τὸ ἄτυφον καὶ τῶν εἰπόντων τὸ ἀνεπιτήδευτον καὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ποιήσεως τὸ εὐκατάληπτον καὶ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ προγνωστικὸν καὶ τῶν παραγγελμάτων τὸ ἐξαίσιον καὶ τῶν ὅλων τὸ μοναρχικόν. θεοδιδάκτου δέ 5 μου γενομένης τῆς ψυχῆς συνῆκα ὅτι τὰ μὲν καταδίκης ἔχει τρόπον, τὰ δὲ ὅτι λύει τὴν ἐν κόσμῳ δουλείαν καὶ ἀρχόντων μὲν πολλῶν καὶ μυρίων ἡμᾶς ἀποσπᾷ τυράννων, δίδωσι δὲ ἡμῖν οὐχ ὅπερ μὴ ἐλάβομεν, ἀλλ ̓ ὅπερ λαβόντες ὑπὸ τῆς πλάνης ἔχειν ἐκωλύθημεν. ΙΟ 15 ΧΧΙ. TATIAN, Ad Graecos, 29. Οἱ ἐν Βιέννῃ καὶ Λουγδούνῳ τῆς Γαλλίας παροικοῦντες δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ, τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ Φρυγίαν τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως ἡμῖν πίστιν καὶ ἐλπίδα ἔχουσιν ἀδελφοῖς, εἰρήνη καὶ χάρις καὶ δόξα ἀπὸ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν μέγεθος τῆς ἐνθάδε θλίψεως, καὶ τὴν τοσαύτην τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους ὀργήν, καὶ ὅσα ὑπέμειναν οἱ μακάριοι μάρτυρες, ἐπ ̓ ἀκριβὲς οὔθ ̓ ἡμεῖς εἰπεῖν ἱκανοί, οὔτε μὴν γραφῇ περιληφθῆναι δυνατόν. παντὶ γὰρ σθένει ἐνέσκηψεν ὁ ἀντικείμενος, προοιμιαζό 20 μενος ἤδη τὴν ἀδεῶς μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ· καὶ διὰ πάντων διῆλθεν, ἐθίζων τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ προγυμνάζων κατὰ τῶν δούλων τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὥστε μὴ μόνον οἰκιῶν καὶ βαλανείων καὶ ἀγορᾶς εἴργεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ καθόλου φαίνεσθαι ἡμῶν τινὰ αὐτοῖς ἀπειρῆσθαι ἐν ὁποίῳ 25 δήποτε τόπῳ. ἀντεστρατήγει δὴ ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀσθενεῖς ἐρρύετο, ἀντιπαρέτασσε δὲ στύλους ἑδραίους, δυναμένους διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς πᾶσαν τὴν ὁρμὴν |
