jewish-christian gospels and syriac gospel traditions the Arabic version of theDiatessaronbelong to different branches of
Diatessaronic tradition, their agreement should be regarded as a reliable
witness to the original composition of theDiatessaron.^28 Therefore, it
seems that there were three stories about rich men in Tatian’sDiatessaron
of which the story about the rich young man was the second one.
Dependance on theDiatessaronmakes understandable the expression
“another” which is inexplicable in the synoptic narratives.
Both Ephrem and Aphrahat say, like Origen’s passage, that the man
was rich. None of the synoptic gospels states this explicitly.^29
magister, quid bonum. Matthew changed the location of the word
“good.” The Old Syriac translation of Matthew (Sys)retainstheoriginal
Matthean position for the word but also harmonizes with the majority
of manuscripts by adopting the Markan/Lukan position, too: “Good
teacher, what good.. .” Since Origen’s passage completely omits the short
monotheistic discussion launched by the address, it is no wonder that the
adjective “good” is missing before the word “teacher.”
vivam. In contrast to the synoptic gospels, according to which the
manaskswhathemustdoinordertoinherit/entereternallife,both
Ephrem and Origen’s passage mention only life. Ephrem’s commentary
reads, according to the Latin translation (of the Armenian version), “quid
faciam ut vivam”andOrigen’sLatinpassagequid bonum faciens vivam.
dixit ei: Origen’s passage uses this phrase twice as an introduction to
Jesus’ words. For the first occurrence, there is a parallel in Matthew’s
gospel where the proper name “Jesus” is omitted. Matthew’s Old Syriac
translation (sys) follows suit. Mark and Luke both read—in Greek as well
as in Syriac—“Jesus said to him.” There is no exact parallel for the second
occurrence since both Greek and Syriac versions refer to Jesus by name.
Nevertheless, all versions use some form of the verb “say.”
responditad eum: The Old Syriac version (Sys)ofMarkreadshere
(with Peshitta and the majority of Greek manuscripts) “answered ( )
and said ( )tohim”incontrasttothe“original”synopticgospels
where “answered” is omitted.
“feci.”Mark’s Old Syriac translation (Sys)usesheretheverb“do”
( ) in contrast to other Old Syriac versions that translate the Greek
of the observations of C.A. Phillips who was the first one to note the connection between
theDiatessaronand “another Rich Man” in theGospel of the Hebrews.(^28) See, Petersen , –, .
(^29) It can also be found in a marginal note of Mark’s Harclean Syriac version. See, Klijn
, .