The Appendices to the Gospel according to Mark. 383 



Whether translated originally from the Greek or the Syriac has 

 not been determined. Conybeare "on reconsideration" holds that 

 they are from the Greek. Zahn inclines to a Syriac origin, which is 

 quite possible, since we know that at the beginning of the fifth cen- 

 tury they had a recognized place in the Syriac Bible as represented 

 by the Peshitto. 



But even granting, as we do not, that the phrase " Ariston Eritzou " 

 represents an early and authentic tradition, we must insist that we 

 do not know who the Ariston mentioned is. 



Mr. T. A. Archer suggested that he is to be identified with the Aris- 

 tion, who, with the Presbyter John, was an authority for Papias, as 

 mentioned in Eusebius, Church History,, III, 39. For this identifi- 

 cation, which he adopted, Conybeare has argued strongly. 



The difficulties this theory must face are : 



1. The rubric speaks of Ariston, not Aristion. But Conybeare cites 

 the Armenian version of Eusebius to show that the name of Aristion 

 can be and is thus transliterated. Zahn and Resch agree, but Prof. 

 Bacon declares Ariston does not represent Aristion "badly spelled, 

 as was natural, by an Armenian scribe." 



2. In the quotations from Papias he speaks of 'Aristion and the 

 Presbyter John," and though the two names are thrice repeated, the 

 title presbyter is always given to John and never to Aristion. How- 

 ever in the Armenian version we have an instance where Aristion and 

 John are together called presbyters. 



3. Aristion, as far as our evidence goes, was not a writer, for Papias 

 declares he had not been a reader of writings, but an ear-witness 

 (auTYixooc) of Aristion and John and therefore received from him 

 an oral tradition, not a written narrative. 



4. Had Aristion been the author of the end of Mark it is most prob- 

 able that he would have communicated this fact to Papias, and that 

 Papias would have mentioned it in his discussion of the origin of the 

 Gospel according to Mark. 



5. Eusebius notes that Papias, in his ^vfc{r/jzic, has a story of 

 Justus called Barsabas "how^ he drank off a deadly drug, and yet 

 suffered no ill effects because of the grace of the Lord." This is of 

 course a proof of the fulfilment of Mk. 16 : 18, and Dean Burgon has 

 argued from it that Papias here refers to these verses, and that they 

 were contained in Mark's Gospel in his day. 



Now Eusebius does not in any way connect this story of Papias 

 with Aristion or the Presbyter John, but Conybeare stated in his first 

 article that : 



