chapter five
1υλα#%μηνwith ( ) (both in Matthew and in Luke). Ephrem’s
commentary on theDiatessaronalso uses the verb “do” (facio)inthesame
context. Ephrem’s Latin translation runs “factum a mea est.” Aph r a h at
also uses the verb “do.”
vade,vendeomnia quae possides... It was Luke who originally added
the word “all.” The Old Syriac versions have the same “Lukan” reading in
Matthew (Sys)andMark(Sys)aswell.Incontrasttothesynopticgospels,
they have the same word order (“sell” precedes “all that you possess”)like
Origen’s passage.
pauperibus et veni sequere me. The Old Syriac versions follow here
the “original” synoptic text that accords with Origen’s passage. Aphrahat
omits here the promise “and you will have treasure in heaven,” that
precedes the exhortation to follow Jesus in the synoptic gospels, and so
agrees with the shorter reading of Origen’s passage.^30
facilius est camelumintrareper foramen acus. The Old Syriac ver-
sions of Matthew (Sys), Mark (Sys)andLuke(Sys,c)havethesameword
order as Origen’s passage whereintrareprecedesforamen acusin con-
trast to the (Greek) word order of the original synoptics that place the
verbε/ςηλε νafter the “eye of needle.”
quam divitem inregnum coelorum.TheOldSyriactranslationsof
Matthew (Sys,c)andMark(Sys) refer here to the “kingdom of heaven”
in contrast to “the kingdom of God” of the “original” synoptics (and the
Old Syriac of Luke).
In addition, we may also note that the addressSimon, fili Ionae,isused
more often in the Syriac translations than in the synoptic gospels. The
phrase is missing in the synoptic versions of the Rich Man’s Question;
its is found only in Matt :. Syriac translations and some other
manuscripts (notably includingf^1 ,andf^13 )alsohavethisnameinJohn
:; :, , while the majority of the manuscripts read “Son of
John.”
The above analysis indicates that almost every expression in the story
of Origen that can be compared with the synoptic versions finds a
corresponding expression in the Old Syriac translations and (other)
Diatessaronic witnesses. Of course, there are also other manuscripts
(^30) According to Klijn , , both the Old Syriac translation of Matthew (Sys)and
Aphrahat omit here the promise “and you will have treasure in heaven.” This, however,
must be a mistake since the phrase is in Lewis’ edition of the Syrus Sinaiticus (Sys)and,
as far as one can tell from A. Hjelt’s faximile copy, Hjelt , fol. a, the line beginning
with the word “treasure” is there. Nevertheless, Aphrahat does seem to omit the phrase
and he also agrees with Sycby adding “take your cross” (cf. Mark :).