Tatian

Tatian , 2d cent., Christian apologist. Probably born in Syria, he was a pupil of Justin Martyr . After his master's death, he left Christianity, becoming an Encratitic Gnostic—i.e., he regarded all matter as evil and denied the salvation of Adam. While a Christian, he wrote Oratio ad Graecos [address to the Greeks] (152-55), a defense of Christianity bolstered by a bitter attack on Greek arts, philosophers, and institutions, and the Diatessaron, a harmony of the four Gospels that was long the only life of Jesus available in Syria.

Tatian. Christian apologist and ascetic. He was a pupil of Justin Martyr in Rome between 150 and 165. His Oratio ad Graecos attacks Greek civilization as too evil to be reconciled with Christianity. In the Syriac Church he was venerated as the author of the Diatessaron, which remained in use until the 5th cent.

Tatian (2nd cent.), Apologist and rigorist. Of Middle Eastern origin, he became a Christian in Rome between 150 and 165. About 172 he returned to the E., where he is said to have founded the Encratites. His Oratio ad Graecos is a defence of the antiquity and purity of Christianity, combined with an attack on Greek civilization. His chief claim to fame is his Diatessaron (q.v.).