Born in the shadows of Assyria and shaped by the intellectual fires of Rome, Tatian emerges as one of the most complex and uncompromising figures among the Greek Apologists. A disciple of Justin Martyr yet eventually drawn toward radical asceticism and doctrinal austerity, Tatian’s legacy is a paradox of luminous clarity and controversial extremity. His biting critique of Hellenism, bold affirmation of Christian truth, and the creation of the earliest known Gospel harmony reveal a restless soul ablaze with conviction, unafraid to confront the cultural giants of antiquity with the power of biblical revelation.
Literature on the Later Greek Apologists
The most comprehensive scholarly collection of the later Greek Apologists is Otto’s Corpus Apologetarum Christianorum:
– Volume VI (1861): Tatiani Assyrii Opera
– Volume VII: Athenagoras
– Volume VIII: Theophilus
– Volume IX: Hermias, Quadratus, Aristides, Aristo, Miltiades, Melito, Apollinaris (Reliquiae)
An earlier edition was prepared by Maranus (1742) and reissued by Migne in 1857 within volume VI of the Patrologia Graeca. A newer critical edition was initiated by O. von Gebhardt and Eduard Schwartz in Leipzig, beginning in 1888.
Further treatment of these Apologists appears in volume III of Donaldson’s Critical History of Christian Literature and Doctrine (London, 1866). Keim, in his Rom und das Christenthum (1881, pp. 439–495), adds valuable insight. On manuscript traditions and early citations, see Harnack’s Texte und Untersuchungen, Band I, Hefte 1–2 (1882), and Schwartz’s 1888 edition.
Tatian: His Life and Character
Tatian of Assyria (c. 110–172 AD) was a zealous convert to Christianity and a devoted student of Justin Martyr, whom he reverently described as “a most admirable man.” Like Justin, Tatian adopted the vocation of an itinerant philosopher committed to the Christian cause. Yet in temperament and trajectory, the two diverged markedly. Tatian veered into a more radical path, tinged with Gnostic leanings or at least a form of rigid asceticism. He was accused of anathematizing marriage, branding it a corruption, and rejecting Adam’s salvation on the basis of Paul’s declaration that “in Adam all die.”
Tatian was an unflinching and independent thinker, deeply earnest and fierce in rhetoric. His nature was austere, his tone often sarcastic—he bears a curious resemblance to Tertullian in both brilliance and severity. Before embracing Christianity, Tatian had explored the breadth of Greco-Roman culture: he studied mythology, history, poetry, and chronology, frequented theaters and athletic contests, but ultimately grew disillusioned with the vanity of the world. His soul, hungering for truth, found its answer in the Hebrew Scriptures, which led him into the luminous mystery of the Christian faith.13591360
Oratio ad Graecos: A Scornful Defense of Christianity
The only surviving work from Tatian’s pen is the Oratio ad Graecos (“Discourse to the Greeks”), an apologetic treatise composed during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, most likely in Rome.1361 Despite Tatian’s later associations with heretical movements, this oration betrays no trace of doctrinal error. Rather, it is a passionate defense of Christianity as the “philosophy of the barbarians,” replete with incisive denunciations of Greek mythology and philosophical pretensions.
Tatian wields his learning with ruthless skill, exposing the contradictions, immoralities, and absurdities of Greek religion. He elevates Moses and the prophets as intellectually and morally superior to the Hellenic sages and asserts the greater antiquity and wisdom of Jewish tradition. Eusebius himself deemed this work “the best and most useful” among Tatian’s writings, citing it extensively in his Praeparatio Evangelica.
Specimens of Tatian’s Polemic Brilliance
Chapter 21: Doctrines of the Christians and Greeks Respecting God Compared
Tatian opens this section with a pointed rhetorical contrast: “We do not act as fools, O Greeks, nor utter idle tales, when we announce that God was born in the form of a man.” He draws attention to the grotesque narratives of Greek mythology—Athene disguising herself as Deiphobus, Phoebus herding oxen, Hera appearing as an old woman—and asks how such tales, treated reverently by the Greeks, can be contrasted with contempt against the Incarnation.
He skewers their logic: “Your Asclepios died; Prometheus is punished for his kindness; Zeus is envious and hides dreams from mortals.” With biting sarcasm, Tatian demands: “If you speak of the origin of your gods, you admit their mortality. Why then is Hera no longer pregnant? Has she grown old?” He ridicules the allegorists, particularly Metrodorus of Lampsacus, who reduced the gods to mere natural elements. Such interpretations, he argues, strip divine beings of meaning and render worship absurd. “We, however, do not deal in folly. Your legends are idle tales. And I refuse to worship nature or persuade others to do so.”
Chapter 25: The Philosophers—Vain and Contradictory
With even greater scorn, Tatian attacks the philosophers of Greece. “What great and wonderful things have your philosophers effected?” he asks. Their lifestyle, far from wise, resembles the behavior of wild beasts. Cynics like Proteus Peregrinus are mocked for claiming self-sufficiency while depending on curriers, weavers, and cooks.
He mocks the inconsistency of philosophical schools: “You follow Plato; Epicureans oppose you. You embrace Aristotle; Democritus refutes you. You, who war among yourselves, dare to judge us?” He argues that Christian doctrine is coherent and pure, while Greek philosophy is discordant and morally bankrupt. The philosopher’s pride, he says, veils their greed: “Philosophy is with you the art of getting money.”
He ends with a furious crescendo: “You accuse us of eating human flesh? You who made Pelops a divine feast and sing of Kronos devouring his children, and Zeus swallowing Metis?” His contempt is unrelenting, his tone unflinching.
The Diatessaron: A Monument of Canonical Unity
Perhaps Tatian’s greatest legacy lies not in his oration, but in his Diatessaron—a harmony of the four Gospels that became one of the earliest known efforts to present a unified narrative of Christ’s life.1362 Though lost for centuries, it has been partially restored through ancient witnesses. Theodoret of Cyrus, in the fifth century, discovered more than 200 copies in his diocese. Ephraem the Syrian wrote a commentary on it, preserved in an Armenian version by the Mechitarists of Venice, translated into Latin by Aucher in 1841 and later published with introduction by Mösinger in 1876. Zahn reconstructed much of the original text in 1881, and in 1888, an Arabic version was discovered and published by Ciasca.
The Diatessaron begins with John’s Prologue (“In the beginning was the Word…”), structures the Gospel narrative around the Jewish festivals, and assumes a two-year public ministry. It omits the genealogies of Jesus, possibly reflecting Tatian’s Docetic leanings, though the work as a whole does not promote heretical doctrine.
More importantly, the Diatessaron stands as compelling evidence for the canonical status of all four Gospels—no more, no fewer—by the mid-second century. It bears witness to their early ecclesiastical use and to the intellectual endeavor to harmonize the Evangelists in service of theological unity.
