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DIDACHE, THE
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See also:DIDACHE, THE , or Teaching of the (twelve) Apostles,—the most important of the See also:recent recoveries in the region of See also:early See also:Christian literature (see APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE). It was previously known by name from lists of canonical and extra-canonical books compiled by See also:Eusebius and other writers. More-over, it had come to be suspected by several scholars that a lost See also:book, variously entitled The Two Ways or The See also:Judgment of See also:Peter, had been freely used in a number of See also:works, of which mention must presently be made. In 1882 a See also:critical reconstruction of this book was made by See also:Adam Krawutzcky with marvellous accuracy, as was shown when in the very next See also:year the See also:Greek See also:bishop and See also:metropolitan, Philotheus See also:Bryennius, published The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles from the same See also:manuscript from
which he had previously published the See also:complete See also:form of the See also:Epistle of See also:Clement.'
TheDidache, as we now have it in the Greek, falls into two marked divisions: (a) a book of moral precepts, opening with the words, " There are two ways "; (b) a See also:manual of See also: 451), preserved in Arabic (see Iselin, Texte u. Unters., 1895); (iv.) a Latin version, of which a fragment was published by O. von Gebhardt in 1884, and the whole by J. Schlecht in 1900. When by the aid of this See also:evidence The Two Ways is restored to us See also:free of glosses, it has the See also:appearance of being a Jewish manual which has been carried over into the use of the Christian church. This is of course only a probable inference; there is no prototype extant in Jewish literature, and, comparing the moral (non-doctrinal) instruction for Christian catechumens in See also:Hermas, Shepherd (Mand. i.-ix.), no real need to assume one. There was a danger of admitting See also:Gentile converts to the church on too easy moral terms; hence the need of such insistence on the ideal as in The Two Ways and the Mandates. The recent recovery of the Latin version is of singular See also:interest, as showing that, even without the distinctively Christian additions and interpolations which our full form of the Teaching presents, it was circulating under the See also:title Doctrina apostolorum.2 2. The second part of our Teaching might be 'called a church See also:directory. It consists of precepts See also:relating to church See also:life, which are couched in the second See also:person plural; whereas The Two Ways uses throughout the second person singular. It appears to be a composite work. First (vii. 1-xi. 2) is a See also:short sacramental manual intended for the use of See also:local elders or presbyters, though such are not named, for they were not yet a distinctive order or See also:clergy. This section was probably added to The Two Ways before the addition of the See also:remainder. It orders See also:baptism in the three-See also:fold name, making a distinction as to See also:waters which has Jewish See also:parallels, and permitting a threefold pouring on the See also:head, if sufficient See also:water for See also:immersion cannot be had. It prescribes a fast before baptism for the baptizer as well as the See also:candidate. Fasts are to be kept on Wednesday and See also:Friday, not See also:Monday and See also:Thursday, which are the fast days of " the hypocrites," i.e. by a perversion of the Lord's words, the See also:Jews. " Neither pray ye as 1 The MS. was found in the Library of the See also:Jerusalem Monastery of the Most Holy See also:Sepulchre, in Phanar, the Greek See also:quarter of See also:Constantinople. It is a small See also:octavo See also:volume of 12o See also:parchment leaves, written throughout by See also:Leo, " See also:notary and sinner," who finished his task on the 11th of See also:June 1156. Besides The Didache and the Epistles of Clement it contains several See also:spurious Ignatian epistles. 2 The word twelve had no See also:place in the original title and was inserted when the original Didache or Teaching (e.g. The Two Ways) was combined with the church manual which mentions apostles outside of the twelve. It may be noted that the See also:division of the Didache into chapters is due to Bryennius, that into verses to A. See also:Harnack.the hypocrites; but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel." Then follows the Lord's See also:Prayer, almost exactly as in St Matthew, with a brief doxology—" for Thine is the See also:power and the See also:glory for ever." This is to be said three times a See also:day. Next come three eucharistic prayers, the language of which is clearly marked off from that of the See also:rest of the book, and shows parallels with the diction of St John's Gospel. They are probably founded on Jewish thanksgivings, and it is of interest to See also:note that a portion of them is prescribed as a See also:grace before See also:meat in (pseudo-) See also:Athanasius' De virginitate. A trace of them is found in one of the liturgical prayers of See also:Serapion, bishop of Thmui, in See also:Egypt, but they have See also:left little See also:mark on the liturgies of the church. As in See also:Ignatius and other early writers, the See also:eucharist, a real See also:meal (x. i) of a See also:family See also:character, is regarded as producing See also:immortality (cf. " spiritual See also:food and drink and eternal life "). None are to partake of it See also:save those who have been " baptized in the name of the Lord " (an expression which is of interest in a document which prescribes the threefold See also:formula). The prophets are not to be confined to these forms, but may " give thanks as much as they will." This appears to show that a See also:prophet, if present, would naturally preside over the eucharist. The next section (xi. 3-xiii.) deals with the See also:ministry of spiritual gifts as exercised by apostles, prophets and teachers. An apostle is to be " received as the Lord "; but he must follow the Gospel precepts, stay but one or two days, and take no See also:money, but only See also:bread enough for a day's See also:journey. Here we have that wider use of the See also:term " apostle " to which See also:Lightfoot had already See also:drawn See also:attention. A prophet, on the contrary, may See also:settle if he chooses, and in that See also:case he is to receive See also:tithes and first-fruits; " for they are your high priests." If he be once approved as a true prophet, his words and acts are not to be criticized; for this is the See also:sin that shall not be forgiven. Next comes a section (xiv., xv.) reflecting a somewhat later development concerning fixed services and ministry; the See also:desire for a stated service, and the need of See also:regular See also:provision for it, is leading to a new order of things. The eucharist is to be celebrated every Lord's Day, and preceded by confession of sins, "that your See also:sacrifice may be pure . . . for this is that sacrifice which was spoken of by the Lord, In every place and See also:time to offer unto Me a pure sacrifice. Appoint therefore unto yourselves bishops and deacons, worthy of the Lord, men See also:meek and uncovetous, and true and approved; for they also See also:minister unto you the ministration of the prophets and teachers. Therefore despise them not; for they are your honoured ones, together with the prophets and teachers." This is an arrangement recommended by one Who has tried it, and he reassures the old-fashioned believer who clings to the less formal regime (and whose protest was voiced in the Montanist See also:movement), that there will, be no spiritual loss under the new See also:system. The book closes (See also:chap. xvi.) with exhortations to steadfastness in the last days, and to the coming of the See also:world-deceiver " or See also:Antichrist, which will precede the coming of the Lord. This section is perhaps the actual utterance of a Christian prophet, and may be of earlier origin than the two preceding sections. 3. It will now be clear that indications of the locality and date of our present Teaching must be sought for only in the second part, and in the Christian interpolations in the first part. We have no ground for thinking that the second part ever existed independently as a See also:separate book. The whole work was in the hands of the writer of the seventh book of the Apostolic Constitutions, who embodies almost every See also:sentence of it, interspersing it with passages of Scripture, and modifying the precepts of the second part to suit a later (4th-See also:century) See also:stage of church development; this writer was also the interpolator of the Epistles of Ignatius, and belonged to the Syrian Church. Whether the second part was known to the writer of the Apostolic Church Order is not clear, as his only See also:quotation of it comes from one of the eucharistic prayers. The allusions of early writers seem to point to Egypt, but their references are mostly to the first part, so that we must be careful how we argue from them as to the provenance of the book as a whole. Against Egypt has been urged the allusion in one of the eucharistic prayers to " See also:corn upon the mountains." . This is found in the Prayer-book of Serapion (c. 350) but omitted in a later Egyptian prayer; the form as we have it in The Didache- may have passed into Egypt with the authority of tradition which was afterwards weakened. The See also:anti-Jewish See also:tone of the second part suggests the neighbourhood of Jews, from whom the Christians were to be sharply distinguished. Either Egypt or See also:Syria would satisfy this See also:condition, and in favour of Syria is the fact that the presbyterate there was to a See also:late date regarded as a See also:rank rather than an See also:office. If we can connect the injunctions(vi. 3) concerning (See also:abstinence from certain) food and that which is offered to idols with the old trouble that arose at See also:Antioch (Acts xv. 1) and was legislated for by the Jerusalem See also:council, we have additional support for the Syrian claim. But all that we can safely say as to locality is that the community here represented seems to have been isolated, and out of See also:touch with the larger centres of Christian life. This last See also:consideration See also:helps us in discussing the question of date. For such an isolated community may have preserved See also:primitive customs for some time after they had generally disappeared. Certainly the stage of development is an early one, as is shown, e.g., by the prominence of prophets, and the need that was See also:felt for the vindication of the position of the bishops and deacons (there is no mention at all of presbyters); moreover, there is no reference to a See also:canon of Scripture (though the written Gospel is expressly mentioned) or to a creed. On the other See also:hand the " apostles " of the second part are obviously not " the twelve apostles " of the title; and the prophets seem in some instances to have proved unworthy of their high position. The ministry of See also:enthusiasm which they represent is about to give way to the ministry of office, a transition which is reflected in the New Testament in the 3rd Epistle of John. Three of the Gospels have clearly been for some time in circulation; St Matthew's is used several times, and there are phrases which occur only in St Luke's, while St John's Gospel lies behind the eucharistic prayers which the writer has embodied in his work. There are no indications of any form of doctrinal See also:heresy as needing rebuke; the warnings against false teaching are quite See also:general. While the first part must be dated before the Epistle of Barnabas, i.e. before A.D. 90, it seems wisest not to place the complete work much earlier than A.D. 120, and there are passages which may well be later. A large literature has sprung up See also:round The Didache since 1884. Harnack's edition in Texte u. Unters. vol. ii. (1884) is indispensable to the student; and his discussions in Allchristl. Litteratur and Chronologie give clear summaries of his work. Other See also:editions of the See also:text are those of F. X. Funk, Patres See also:Apostolici, vol. i. (See also:Tubingen, 19oi); H. Lietzmann (See also:Bonn, 1903; with Latin version). Dr J. E. Odgers has published an See also:English See also:translation with introduction and notes (See also:London, 1906). Dr C. See also: Text and translation will also be found in Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers (ed. See also:min.) The fullest critical treatment in English is by Dr See also:Vernon Bartlet in the extra volume of See also:Hastings's See also:Dictionary of the See also:Bible; the most complete commentary on the text is by P. Drews in Hennecke's Handbuch zu den N.T. Apocryphen (19o4). Other references to the literature may be found by consulting Harnack's Altchristl. Litteratur. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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