[No one knows that day, neither
an angel nor the Son. This is like what he said, Depart from me, cursed
of my Father, into the eternal fire, because I do not know you. Just as he
knew who were sinners, but said to them on account of their deeds, I do not
know you, so too, although he knew the moment of his coming, he declared
that he did not know it, lest he be questioned [any further] about it. But, let
us go further and ask, “Did he know the Father or not?” he did know him, as it
is written, No one knows the Father except the Son and no one knows the Son
except the Father. How then did he not know the moment of his coming? If he
knew the Father, what could he not know that would be greater than the Father?
Or, for what reasons would [the Father] have hidden the moment of his coming
from him? Would it have been so that he would appear to be less great than [the
Father], and that his nature would be manifested as being merely that of a
creature? If this were so, then, when the moment would be revealed to him and
the trumpet would sound for him to come down from heaven, he himself would
become like [the Father].
The [apostle] also said, The
design of God is Christ, through whom all the secrets of wisdom and knowledge
have been revealed. If all these hidden things are revealed through him,
how can the moment of his coming be hidden from him? If he does not know the
day of his coming, neither does he know the days when he is not coming. Some
day that the Spirit knows what has been made by [God], because it
searches the depths of God, but does the Son not know these things [too]?
They had questioned him about the moment, but he referred to the day,
and declared, “I do not know,” firstly to prevent hem asking [any further]
questions, and secondly, so that the signs [which he had announced] would be
useful, such as sickness for the sick person who does not know the day of his
death. He highlighted his signs so that, from the first day, all peoples and
ages would think that his coming would take place in their day. (Saint
Ephrem's Commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron: An English Translation of Chester
Beatty Syriac MS 709 with Introduction and Notes XVIII §16 [trans. Carmel
McCarthy; Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement 2; Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1993, 2000], 279-80)