AND HISTORICAL KESEARCH UPON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 143 



Religion, Dr. Georgiiis Moesinger, of Salzburg Universitj, 

 published this commentary of Ephraem Syrus at the request of 

 the Mechitarist fathers of S. Lazaro monastery. Forty years 

 before this, the Armenian Mechitarist fathers had published, in 

 their language, the works of Ephraem Syrus, in which his 

 commentary was included. But, up to that time, this fact had 

 not been generally known. Moesinger put it into Latin, 

 following and correcting Aucher, who had previously translated 

 it, and published it separately from the other works of Ephraem 

 Syrus ; yet it was comparatively unknown until Dr. Ezra 

 Abbott called attention to it in his work on the Fourth Gospel 

 in 1880. 



The author of ^ii'pernatuTal Religion came to know of it, but 

 boldly asserted that " it is obvious that there is no evidence of 

 any value connecting Tatian's Gospel with those of our canon." 

 A crucial test of the truth of this assertion almost immediately 

 appeared. Professor Zahn, with the help of Moesinger's w^ork, 

 and the homilies of Aphraates, which contained much of the 

 Diatessaron, published a reconstruction of the Diatessaron in 

 1881, and it was clearly seen that it was made up from the 

 four Gospels. This was not all. There was an Arabic 

 manuscript in the Vatican library, marked XIV, which was a 

 translation of the Diatessaron itself. It had been there for a 

 long time. Joseph S. Assemani had brought it to Eome from 

 the East about 162 years before. Ciascahad known of it a few 

 years before the publication of Zahn's work. He w^as urged to 

 translate and publish it ; but did not do so immediately. 



The delay was an advantage ; for Ciasca showed it to the 

 Visitor Apostolic of the Catholic Copts in Egypt, the Most Eev. 

 Antonius Marcos. On examining it, this ecclesiastic informed 

 Ciasca that a gentleman in Egypt had such a translation of 

 the Diatessaron. This was, subsequently, sent to Eome, with 

 the inscription : " A present from Halim Dos Chali, the Copt, the 

 Catholic, to the Apostolic See, in the year of Christ 1886." This 

 Arabic translation, though it differed from that in the Vatican 

 in some respects, was of great value in supplying the place of 

 two leaves lacking in the first, as well as some passages in it 

 which had become illegible. 



Ciasca, using the two, finished his translation into Latin in 

 time to present it to the Pope on the occasion of the celebration 

 of his Jubilee in 1888. N"ow we have translations in English, 

 one, with notes, by Professor Hope AV. Hogg, from the Arabic, 

 and an earlier one by B. Hamlyn Hill from Ciasca's Latin, which 

 he named The Earliest Life of Christ. 



