Synoptic

What is meant by the term "Synoptic Problem?" The word "Synoptic" means "seeing together" and it refers to the Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke (which are known together as the "Synoptic Gospels"). The word "Problem" in this academic context basically means
"puzzle." This puzzle may be summed up in one question: What literary relationship exists among the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and
Luke?

There are a lot of possible answers. Maybe the apostles, in the early years of the Christian church, composed a "Proto-Gospel" and each
Synoptic author used that source independently. Or maybe Matthew wrote his account first (as early traditions say) and Mark and Luke
used the Gospel of Matthew as a source. Or maybe something else happened.

Competent scholars have reached very different conclusions. Here are my own ideas in the form of a diagram, with some accompanying
notes.

Shortly after Jesus' ministry was finished, the apostles
organized their remembrances about Jesus. Jesus' miracles,
His final week in Jerusalem, and His death and resurrection
were major focuses of these orally transmitted remembrances.
Matthew wrote down some of Jesus' most important teachings
in Aramaic and thus formed a piece of source-material called
the "Logia." It was then translated into Greek. Meanwhile,
as Peter spread the gospel, he incorporated some apostolic
traditions into his sermons and lessons. His assistant Mark
collected Peter's remembrances about Jesus into a mutating
text known as "Proto-Mark," which grew longer as Peter
kept on preaching. Luke obtained a copy of "Proto-Mark"
and depended on it, as well as some unique sources, when he
composed the Gospel of Luke in about A.D. 63. A definitive
text of the Gospel of Mark was released in Rome in about
A.D. 66. Matthew used "Proto-Mark," the Gospel of Mark,
the Aramaic Logia, and some unique sources when composing
the Gospel of Matthew in A.D. 69-70.