Efrem de Syriër was een invloedrijke schrijver binnen de oosterse kerk. In zijn commentaar op de Diatessaron (die in het oosten vaak als belangrijkste evangelie gold) schrijft hij over het ontstaan van de vier evangeliën. Omdat ik het Syrisch niet machtig ben en de Syrische tekst ook niet heb kunnen vinden, geef ik de Engelse vertaling van Carmel McCarthy.
The words of the apostles are not in agreement because they did not write the Gospel at the same time. They did not receive the command like Moses, on tablets, but as the prophet has said, I will give them a covenant, not like this one, but my Law in their spirit, and I will write it on their heart. [Various] reasons summoned them, and they wrote.
Matthew wrote it in Hebrew, and it was then translated into Greek. Mark followed Simon Peter. When he went to Rome [the faithful] persuaded him [to write] so that they would remember the tradition, lest it be forgotten after a long time. He wrote what he had grasped. Luke began with the baptism of John. Since one had spoken of his incarnation and of his kingdom springing from David, and the other [had begun] with Abraham, John came and found that their words were proclaiming many things, for they had composed genealogies concerning his human origins. Consequently he wrote that he had been not just been a man, but, In the beginning was the Word.