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The Didache (Koine Greek
Koine Greek

Koine Greek is the popular form of Greek which emerged in post-Classical antiquity . Other names are Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Common, or New Testament Greek....
: , Didache, meaning "Teaching"; in English, in Modern Greek
Modern Greek

Modern Greek refers the varieties of Greek spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic modern features of the language had been present centuries earli...
) is the common name of a brief early Christian
Early Christianity

Early Christianity is commonly defined as the Christianity of the three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus and the First Council of Nicaea ....
 treatise
Treatise

A treatise is a formal and systematic exposition in writing of the principles of a subject, generally longer and more detailed than an essay. A lengthy discourse on some subject....
 (dated by most scholars to the late first/early second century). It is an anonymous work not belonging to any single individual, and a pastoral manual "that reveals more about how Jewish-Christians saw themselves and how they adapted their Judaism for gentiles than any other book in the Christian Scriptures." The text, parts of which may have constituted the first written catechism
Catechism

A catechism is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present....
, has three main sections dealing with Christian lessons, rituals such as baptism
Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
 and eucharist
Eucharist

The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christianity sacrament commemorating, by consecrating bread and wine, the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest, and eventual crucifixion, when he gave them bread saying, "This is my body", and wine...
, and Church organization.






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The Didache (Koine Greek
Koine Greek

Koine Greek is the popular form of Greek which emerged in post-Classical antiquity . Other names are Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Common, or New Testament Greek....
: , Didache, meaning "Teaching"; in English, in Modern Greek
Modern Greek

Modern Greek refers the varieties of Greek spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic modern features of the language had been present centuries earli...
) is the common name of a brief early Christian
Early Christianity

Early Christianity is commonly defined as the Christianity of the three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus and the First Council of Nicaea ....
 treatise
Treatise

A treatise is a formal and systematic exposition in writing of the principles of a subject, generally longer and more detailed than an essay. A lengthy discourse on some subject....
 (dated by most scholars to the late first/early second century). It is an anonymous work not belonging to any single individual, and a pastoral manual "that reveals more about how Jewish-Christians saw themselves and how they adapted their Judaism for gentiles than any other book in the Christian Scriptures." The text, parts of which may have constituted the first written catechism
Catechism

A catechism is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present....
, has three main sections dealing with Christian lessons, rituals such as baptism
Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
 and eucharist
Eucharist

The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christianity sacrament commemorating, by consecrating bread and wine, the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest, and eventual crucifixion, when he gave them bread saying, "This is my body", and wine...
, and Church organization. It was considered by some of the Church Fathers
Church Fathers

The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theology and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history....
 as part of the New Testament
New Testament

The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christianity Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
 but rejected as spurious
Apocrypha

Apocrypha are texts of uncertain authenticity, or writings where the authorship is questioned.When used in the specific context of Judeo-Christian theology, the term apocrypha refers to any collection of scriptural texts that falls outside the Biblical canon....
 or non-canonical by others, eventually not accepted into the New Testament canon
Development of the New Testament canon

The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as Biblical inspiration and thus constituting the Christian Bible. Although the Early Christianity primarily used the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint or LXX, or the Targums among Aramaic speakers, the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the New Testam...
 with the exception of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church "broader canon" which includes the Didascalia which is based on the Didache. The Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 has accepted it as part of the collection of Apostolic Fathers
Apostolic Fathers

The Apostolic Fathers are a small number of Early Christianity authors who lived and wrote in the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century....
.

Discovery


Considered lost, the Didache was rediscovered by Philotheos Bryennios
Philotheos Bryennios

Philotheos Bryennios was a Eastern Orthodox Church metropolitan bishop of Nicomedia, and the discoverer in 1873 of an important manuscript with copies of early Church documents....
, a Greek Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
 metropolitan bishop
Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis ; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital....
 of Nicomedia
Nicomedia

Nicomedia was founded by Nicomedes I of Bithynia at the head of the Gulf of Astacus which opens to the Propontis. In earlier antiquity, the city was called Astacus or Olbia ....
 in 1873 in the Greek Codex Hierosolymitanus
Codex Hierosolymitanus

Codex Hierosolymitanus is an 11th-century Greek manuscript, written by an unknown scribe named Leo, who dated it 1056. Its designation of "Jerusalem" recalls its place of discovery by Philotheos Bryennios in 1873 at the library of the patriarch of Jerusalem, where it remains in the monastery of the Holy Sepulchre, see also Church of the Holy...
 written in 1056. Bryennios published it ten years later. He had earlier published the full text of the Epistles of Clement
Epistles of Clement

The Epistles of Clement are two letters ascribed to Pope Clement I, an Apostolic Father, and the fourth Pope and Bishop of Rome.First Clement is one of the oldest Christian documents outside the New Testament canon....
 from the same manuscript in 1875.

Shortly after Bryennios' initial publication, the scholar Otto von Gebhardt
Otto von Gebhardt

The German scholar Otto von Gebhardt , who taught at the University of Berlin and held the position of University librarian of Leipzig, specialized in textual criticism of the literature of Early Christianity....
 identified a Latin manuscript in the Abbey of Melk
Melk Abbey

Melk Abbey or Stift Melk is an Austrian Benedictine Order abbey, and one of the world's most famous christian monasticism sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube in Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley....
 in Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 as containing a translation of the first part of the Didache; later scholars now believe that to be an independent witness to the tradition of the Two Ways section (see below). Dr. J. Schlecht found in 1900 another Latin translation of chapters 1 through 5, with the longer title, omitting "twelve", and with the rubric De doctrina Apostolorum. Coptic and Ethiopian translations have also been discovered since Bryennios' original publication.

Date of composition

In 1886, soon after the Didache was first published, and some sixty years before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls

The Dead Sea scrolls consist of roughly 900 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea....
 and Nag Hammadi
Nag Hammâdi

Nag Hammadi , is a city in Upper Egypt. Nag Hammadi was known as Chenoboskion in classical antiquity, meaning "geese grazing grounds". It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about 80 kilometres north-west of Luxor....
 Codices, Scottish Professor M. D. Riddle commented: "Bryennios and Harnack assign, as the date, between 120 and 160; Hilgenfeld, 160 and 190; English and American scholars vary between 80 and 120." In the 1940s to 1970s, some commentators argued for a date of effective origin, even if not in its present form, as early as around 70 or soon thereafter, and others as late as the later 2nd century or even the 3rd century. There is no question it was known by the third century.

Jonathan Draper writes: "Few scholars now date the text later than the end of the first century or the first few decades of the second." Similarly Michael W. Holmes
Michael W. Holmes

Michael W. Holmes is currently Chair of the Department of Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. His primary research areas are in New Testament textual criticism and the Apostolic Fathers....
 concurs: "A date considerably closer to the end of the first century seems more probable." The 2005 edition of the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church comments: "Although in the past many English and American scholars tended to assign it to the late second century, most scholars now place it in the first century."

Early references

The Didache is mentioned by Eusebius (c. 324) as the Teachings of the Apostles following the books recognized as canonical
Development of the New Testament canon

The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as Biblical inspiration and thus constituting the Christian Bible. Although the Early Christianity primarily used the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint or LXX, or the Targums among Aramaic speakers, the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the New Testam...
:
"Let there be placed among the spurious works the Acts of Paul
Acts of Paul

The Acts of Paul is one of the major works from the New Testament apocrypha, an approximate date given to the Acts of Paul is 160 C.E. The Acts were considered orthodox by Hippolytus , but were eventually regarded as heretical when the Manichaeans started using the texts....
, the so-called Shepherd
The Shepherd of Hermas

The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian work of the second century, considered a valuable book by many Christians, and occasionally considered biblical canon by some of the early Church fathers....
 and the Apocalypse of Peter
Apocalypse of Peter

The recovered Apocalypse of Saint Peter or Revelation of Peter is an example of a simple, popular Early Christianity text of the second century; it is an example of Apocalyptic literature with Hellenistic civilization overtones....
, and besides these the Epistle of Barnabas
Epistle of Barnabas

The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek treatise with some features of an epistle containing twenty-one chapters, preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament....
, and what are called the Teachings of the Apostles, and also the Apocalypse of John
Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation, also called Revelation to John, Apocalypse of John , and Revelation of Jesus Christ is the last Biblical canon of the New Testament in the Christian Bible....
, if this be thought proper; for as I wrote before, some reject it, and others place it in the canon."
Athanasius
Athanasius of Alexandria

Athanasius of Alexandria , also known as St Athanasius the Great, Pope Athanasius I of Alexandria, and St Athanasius the Apostolic, was a theologian, Bishop of Alexandria, Church Father, and a noted Egyptian leader of the fourth century....
 (367) and Rufinus
Rufinus

Rufinus may refer to:*Saints Rufinus, eleven saints named Rufinus in Roman Martyrology*Rufinus of Assisi, 3rd century saint and martyr*Rufinus , Christian martyr...
 (c. 380) list the Didache among Deuterocanonical books. (Rufinus gives the curious alternative title Judicium Petri, "Judgment of Peter".) It is rejected by Nicephorus
Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos

Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos , of Constantinople, the last of the Greek ecclesiastical historians, flourished around 1320.His Historia Ecclesiastica, in eighteen books, brings the narrative down to 610; for the first four centuries the author is largely dependent on his predecessors, Eusebius of Caesarea, Socrates Scholasticus, Soz...
 (c. 810), Pseudo-Anastasius, and Pseudo-Athanasius in Synopsis and the 60 Books canon. It is accepted by the Apostolic Constitutions
Apostolic Constitutions

The Apostolic Constitutions is a late 4th century collection, in 8 books, of independent, though closely related, treatises on Early Christian discipline, worship, and doctrine, intended to serve as a manual of guidance for the clergy, and to some extent for the laity....
 Canon 85, John of Damascus
John of Damascus

John of Damascus was a monk and Priesthood from Damascus. He was born and raised in that city, and died at his monastery Mar Saba.He was a polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music....
 and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The Adversus Aleatores by an imitator of Cyprian
Cyprian

Saint Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important early Christianity writer. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa during the Classical Period, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent classical education....
 quotes it by name. Unacknowledged citations are very common, if less certain. The section Two Ways shares the same language with the Epistle of Barnabas
Epistle of Barnabas

The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek treatise with some features of an epistle containing twenty-one chapters, preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament....
, chapters 18-20, sometimes word for word, sometimes added to, dislocated, or abridged, and Barnabas iv, 9 either derives from Didache, 16, 2-3, or vice versa. The Shepherd of Hermas seems to reflect it, and Irenaeus
Irenaeus

Saint Irenaeus , was a Catholic Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology....
, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria , was the first notable member of the Christianity of Alexandria, and one of its most distinguished teachers. He was born about the middle of the 2nd century, and died between 211 and 216....
,Clement quotes the Didache as scripture. Durant, Will
Will Durant

William James Durant was a prolific United States writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for the 11-volume The Story of Civilization, written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant and published between 1935 and 1975....
. Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972 and Origen of Alexandria also seem to use the work, and so in the West do Optatus
Optatus

Optatus is a Latin word meaning 'chosen', but as a name can refer to:*The Roman cognomen Optatus and its members*Saint Optate...
 and the Gesta apud Zenophilum. The Didascalia Apostolorum
Didascalia Apostolorum

Didascalia Apostolorum is the title of a treatise which presents itself as being written by the Apostles at the time of the Council of Jerusalem ; however, most scholars agree that it was actually a composition of the third century....
 are founded upon the Didache. The Apostolic Church-Ordinances
Apostolic Church-Ordinances

The Apostolic Church-Ordinances is a 3rd century pseudo-Apostolic collection of moral and hierarchical rules and instructions, compiled from early Christianity sources....
 has used a part, the Apostolic Constitutions
Apostolic Constitutions

The Apostolic Constitutions is a late 4th century collection, in 8 books, of independent, though closely related, treatises on Early Christian discipline, worship, and doctrine, intended to serve as a manual of guidance for the clergy, and to some extent for the laity....
 have embodied the Didascalia. There are echoes in Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr

Saint Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologetics and saint. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian "apologies" of notable size....
, Tatian
Tatian

Tatian the Assyrian was an early Christianity writer and theologian of the second century.Tatian's most influential work is the Diatessaron, a harmony of the four gospels that became the standard text of the four gospels in the Syriac-speaking churches until the 5th-century, when it gave way to the four separate gospels in the Peshitta ve...
, Theophilus of Antioch
Theophilus of Antioch

Theophilus, Patriarch of Antioch, succeeded Eros of Antioch c. 169, and was succeeded by Maximus of Antioch c.183, according to Henry Fynes Clinton, but these dates are only approximations....
, Cyprian
Cyprian

Saint Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important early Christianity writer. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa during the Classical Period, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent classical education....
, and Lactantius
Lactantius

Lucius Caelius Firmianus Lactantius was an early Christian author ....
.

Contents

The contents may be divided into four parts, which most scholars agree were combined from separate sources by a later redactor
Redaction

In the study of literature, redaction is a form of editing in which multiple source texts are combined together and subjected to minor alteration to make them into a single work....
: the first is the Two Ways, the Way of Life and the Way of Death (chapters 1-6); the second part is a ritual dealing with baptism, fasting
Fasting

Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. A fast may be total or partial concerning that from which one fasts, and may be prolonged or intermittent as to the period of fasting....
, and Communion
Eucharist

The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christianity sacrament commemorating, by consecrating bread and wine, the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest, and eventual crucifixion, when he gave them bread saying, "This is my body", and wine...
 (chapters 7-10); the third speaks of the ministry and how to deal with traveling prophets (chapters 11-15); and the final section (chapter 16) is a brief apocalypse
Apocalyptic literature

Apocalyptic literature was a new genre of prophecy writing that developed in post-Exilic Judaism culture and was popular among millennialism early Christianity....
.

Title

While the manuscript is commonly referred to as the Didache, this is short for the header found on the document and the title used by the Church Fathers, "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" (Didache ton dodeka apostolon). A fuller title or subtitle is also found next in the manuscript, "The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles" (Didache kyriou dia ton dodeka apostolon tois ethnesin).

Description

Willy Rordorf considered the first five chapters as "essentially Jewish, but the Christian community was able to use it" by adding the "evangelical section". "Lord" in the Didache is reserved usually for "Lord God", while Jesus is called "the servant" of the Father
God the Father

In many religions, the supreme deity is given the title and attributions of Father. In many forms of polytheism, the highest god has been conceived as a "father of gods and of men"....
 (9:2f.; 10:2f.). Baptism
Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
 was practised "in the name of the Father." Scholars "generally agree that 9:5 represents an earlier tradition that was gradually replaced by the trinity of names." A similarity with Acts
Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. It is commonly referred to as simply Acts. The title "Acts of the Apostles" was first used by Irenaeus in the late second century, but some have suggested that the title "Acts" be interpreted as "the Acts of the Holy Spirit" or even "the Acts...
 3 is noted by Aaron Milavec: both see Jesus as "the servant (pais) of God". The community is presented as "awaiting the kingdom
Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God or Reign of God is a foundational concept in the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.According to Jesus, the Kingdom of God is within people, is approached through understanding, and entered through acceptance like a child, spiritual rebirth, and doing the will of God....
 from the Father as entirely a future event".

The Two Ways

The first section (Chapters 1-6) begins: "There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between these two ways." It is thought by many scholars to be taken from an existing Jewish tract of the same name, but with significant alterations, as the Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia

The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901....
, 1906, notes:
The most acceptable theory among the many proposed on the character and composition of the Didache is that proposed by Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor (scholar)

Charles Taylor was an English Christian Hebraist....
 in 1886, and accepted in 1895 by A. Harnack
Adolf von Harnack

Adolf von Harnack , was a Germany theology and prominent church historian.He produced many religious publications from 1873-1912.Harnack traced the influence of Hellenistic philosophy on early Christian writing and called on Christians to question the authenticity of doctrines that arose in the early Christian church....
 (who in 1884 had most vigorously maintained its Christian origin) — that the first part of the Didache, the teaching concerning the Two Ways (Didache, ch. i.-vi.), was originally a manual of instruction used for the initiation of proselytes in the Synagogue, and was converted later into a Christian manual and ascribed to Jesus and the Apostles.


The Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English language encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia Press....
, 1913, notes this view as well, and presents the perspective of other scholars:
It is held by very many critics that the Two Ways is older than the rest of the Didache, and is in origin a Jewish work, intended for the instruction of proselytes. The use of the Sibylline Oracles
Sibylline oracles

The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of oracular utterances written in Dactylic hexameter ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state....
 and other Jewish sources may be probable, and the agreement of ch. ii with the Talmud
Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
 may be certain; but on the other hand Funk has shown that (apart from the admittedly Christian ch. i, 3-6, and the occasional citations of the N.T.) the O.T. is often not quoted directly, but from the Gospels. Bartlet suggests an oral Jewish catechesis as the source. But the use of such material would surprise us in one whose name for the Jews is "the hypocrites", and in the vehemently anti-Jewish Barnabas still more. The whole base of this theory is destroyed by the fact that the rest of the work, vii-xvi, though wholly Christian in its subject-matter, has an equally remarkable agreement with the Talmud in cc. ix and x. Beyond doubt we must look upon the writer as living at a very early period when Jewish influence
Judaizers

Judaizers and Judaizing, see also Wiktionary:Judaization, refer to those who teach the necessity of obedience to the Law of Moses by Christians, which is normally considered a requisite only for the followers of Judaism, the parent religion of Christianity....
 was still important in the Church. He warns Christians not to fast with the Jews or pray with them; yet the two fasts and the three times of prayer are modelled on Jewish custom. Similarly the prophets stand in the place of the High Priest.


The more recent Apostolic Fathers
Apostolic Fathers

The Apostolic Fathers are a small number of Early Christianity authors who lived and wrote in the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century....
, 2nd ed., Lightfoot-Harmer-Holmes, 1992, notes:
The Two Ways material appears to have been intended, in light of 7.1, as a summary of basic instruction about the Christian life to be taught to those who were preparing for baptism and church membership. In its present form it represents the Christianization
Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the religious conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting native Paganism practices and culture, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses, due to the Christian efforts at Ch...
 of a common Jewish form of moral instruction. Similar material is found in a number of other Christian writings from the first through about the fifth centuries, including the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didascalia, the Apostolic Church Ordinances, the Summary of Doctrine, the Apostolic Constitutions, the Life of Schnudi, and On the Teaching of the Apostles (or Doctrina), some of which are dependent on the Didache. The interrelationships between these various documents, however, are quite complex and much remains to be worked out.


The closest parallels in the use of the Two Ways doctrine is found among the Essene Jews at the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls

The Dead Sea scrolls consist of roughly 900 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea....
 community. The Qumran community included a Two Ways teaching in its founding Charter, The Community Rule.

Throughout the Two Ways, there are many Old Testament
Old Testament

In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christianity Bible Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions....
 quotes shared with the Gospels and many theological similarities, but Jesus
Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and the Incarnation ....
 is never mentioned by name. The first chapter opens with the Shema ("you shall love God"), the Great Commandment
Great Commandment

The Great Commandment in Judaism is the name commonly given to a part of in the Hebrew Bible:The Great Commandment appears on a 1958 Israeli postage stamp in Hebrew and several other languages commemorating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights....
 ("your neighbor as yourself"), and the Golden Rule
Ethic of reciprocity

The ethic of reciprocity is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, and a responsibility to ensure justice for others. Reciprocity is arguably the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights, though it has its critics....
 in the negative form (also found in the "Western
Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. It is commonly referred to as simply Acts. The title "Acts of the Apostles" was first used by Irenaeus in the late second century, but some have suggested that the title "Acts" be interpreted as "the Acts of the Holy Spirit" or even "the Acts...
" version of Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. It is commonly referred to as simply Acts. The title "Acts of the Apostles" was first used by Irenaeus in the late second century, but some have suggested that the title "Acts" be interpreted as "the Acts of the Holy Spirit" or even "the Acts...
 at 15:19 and 29 as part of the Apostolic Decree
Council of Jerusalem

The Council of Jerusalem is a name applied subsequently to a meeting described in Acts of the Apostles chapter and probably referred to in Paul of Tarsus's Epistle to the Galatians chapter ....
). Then comes short extracts in common with the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount is a compilation of Jesus' sayings, epitomizing his Ethics in religion#Christian ethics....
, together with a curious passage on giving and receiving, which is also cited with variations in Shepherd of Hermas (Mand., ii, 4-6). The Latin omits 1:3-6 and 2:1, and these sections have no parallel in Epistle of Barnabas
Epistle of Barnabas

The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek treatise with some features of an epistle containing twenty-one chapters, preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament....
; therefore, they may be a later addition, suggesting Hermas and the present text of the Didache may have used a common source, or one may relied on the other. Chapter 2 contains the commandments against murder
Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
, adultery
Adultery

Adultery is the voluntary sexual intercourse between a marriage and another person who is not his or her spouse, though in many places it is only considered adultery when a married woman has sexual relations with someone who is not her husband and in others it is only considered adultery when a married woman has sexual relations with someon...
, corrupting boys
Pederasty

Pederasty, or Paederasty in International English , is an erotic relationship between an adolescent boy and an adult man outside his immediate family....
, sexual promiscuity, theft
Theft

In criminal law, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's freely-given consent. As a term, it is used as shorthand for all major crimes against property, encompassing offences such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, Mugging , trespassing, shoplifting, intruder, fraud and sometimes c...
, magic
Magic (paranormal)

Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a conceptual system that asserts human ability to control or predict the nature through Mysticism, paranormal or supernatural means....
, sorcery
Magic (paranormal)

Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a conceptual system that asserts human ability to control or predict the nature through Mysticism, paranormal or supernatural means....
, abortion
Abortion

An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death....
, infanticide
Infanticide

Infanticide is the practice of someone intentionally causing the death of an infant. Often it is the mother who commits the act, but criminology recognizes various forms of non-maternal child murder....
, coveting, perjury
Perjury

Category:Limited geographic scopeCategory:USA-centricPerjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or Affirmation in law to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding....
, false testimony, speaking evil, holding grudges, being double-minded, not acting as you speak, greed
Greed

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, avarice, hypocrisy
Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy , is acting in a manner contradictory to one's professed beliefs and feelings, or conversely, expressing false beliefs and opinions in order to conceal one's real feelings or motives....
, maliciousness, arrogance
Arrogance

Arrogance or arrogant may refer to:*Unwarranted pride*HubrisIn entertainment:*Arrogance ...
, plotting evil against neighbors, hate, narcissism
Narcissism

Narcissism describes the trait of excessive self-love, based on self-image or ego.The term is derived from the Greek mythology of Narcissus . Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo ....
 and expansions on these generally, with references to the words of Jesus
Logia

In New Testament criticism, the term logia is applied to a supposed collection of sayings of Jesus believed to be referred to by Papias Many scholars identify this collection with the hypothetical Q document postulated to explain the many similarities between the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke that are not accounted for...
. Chapter 3 attempts to explain how one vice leads to another: anger to murder, concupiscence
Concupiscence

Modern definitions of Concupiscence: an ardent, usually sensuous, longing; a strong sexual desire; lust. In Christian theology, concupiscence is selfish human desire for an object, person, or experience....
 to adultery, and so forth. The whole chapter is excluded in Barnabas. A number of precepts are added in chapter 4, which ends: "This is the Way of Life." Verse 13 states you must not forsake the Lord's commandments, neither adding nor subtracting (see also ,). The Way of Death (chapter 5) is a list of vices to be avoided. Chapter 6 exhorts to the keeping in the Way of this Teaching:
See that no one causes you to err from this way of the Teaching, since apart from God it teaches you. For if you are able to bear the entire yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you are not able to do this, do what you are able. And concerning food, bear what you are able; but against that which is sacrificed to idols be exceedingly careful; for it is the service of dead gods. (Roberts)
Many take this to be a general recommendation to abstain from flesh, not merely from the meats from sacrificial offerings, as some explain . Others explain "let him eat herbs" of Paul of Tarsus
Paul of Tarsus

Saint Paul, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul or Paul of Tarsus , was a Hellenistic Judaism, who called himself the "Apostle to the Gentiles", and was, together with Saint Peter and James the Just, the most notable of early Christian missionaries....
 as a hyperbolical
Hyperbole

Hyperbole comes from ancient Greek "?pe?????" and is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is rarely meant to be taken literally....
 expression like : "I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother", thus giving no support to the notion of vegetarianism
Vegetarianism

File:Foods.jpgVegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes meat , fish and poultry.There are several variants of the diet, some of which also exclude egg and/or some products produced from animal labour such as dairy products and honey....
 in the Early Church
History of Christianity

The history of Christianity concerns the Christianity religion and the Christian Church, from the ministry of Jesus and his Twelve Apostles, to contemporary times and Christian denominations....
, even though, according to Epiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis

Epiphanius was bishop of Salami and Cypriot Orthodox Church at the end of the 4th century AD. He is considered a Church Father. He gained the reputation of a strong defender of orthodoxy....
, the Ebionites
Ebionites

The Ebionites were a Jewish sect that insisted on the necessity of following Torah, which they interpreted in light of Jesus' expounding of the Law....
 were vegetarians. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that the Didache is referring to Jewish meats
Kashrut

Kashrut refers to Judaism Taboo food and drink. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English language, from the Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation of the Hebrew language term kash?r , meaning "fit" ....
. The Latin version substitutes for chapter 6 a similar close, omitting all reference to meats and to idolothyta, and concluding with per Domini nostri Jesu Christi ... in saecula saeculorum, amen, "by our lord Jesus Christ ... for ever and ever, amen". This is the end of the translation. This suggests the translator lived at a day when idolatry had disappeared, and when the remainder of the Didache was out of date. He had no such reason for omitting chapter 1, 3-6, so that this was presumably not in his copy.

Rituals

The second part (chapters 7 - 10) begins with an instruction on baptism
Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
, which is to be conferred "in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" in “living water” (that is, natural flowing water), if it can be had — if not, in cold or even warm water. The baptized and the baptizer, and, if possible, anyone else attending the ritual should fast for one or two days beforehand. If the water is insufficient for immersion, it may be poured three times on the head. This is said by Dr. C. Bigg to show a late date.

Chapter 8 suggests that fasts are not to be on Monday and Thursday "with the hypocrites" — presumably non-Christian Jews — but on Wednesday and Friday. Nor must Christians pray with their Judaic brethren, instead they shall say the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. On Easter Sunday 2007 it was estimated that 2 billion Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians read, recited, or sang the short prayer in hundreds of languages in houses of worship of all shapes and size...
 three times a day. The text of the prayer is not identical to the version in the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels in the New Testament and is a synoptic gospel. It narrates an account of the New Testament view on Jesus' life and Ministry of Jesus of Jesus of Nazareth....
, and it is given with the doxology
Doxology

A doxology is a short hymn of praises to God in various Christianity worship services, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derives from a similar practice in the Jewish synagogue....
 "for Thine is the power and the glory for ever," whereas all but a few manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels in the New Testament and is a synoptic gospel. It narrates an account of the New Testament view on Jesus' life and Ministry of Jesus of Jesus of Nazareth....
 have this interpolation with "the kingdom and the power" etc.

Chapter 9 concerns the Eucharist
Eucharist

The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christianity sacrament commemorating, by consecrating bread and wine, the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest, and eventual crucifixion, when he gave them bread saying, "This is my body", and wine...
:
" Now concerning the Eucharist, give thanks this way. First, concerning the cup:
We thank thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which Thou madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever..
And concerning the broken bread:
We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever..
But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs." (Roberts)


The order of cup and bread differs both from present-day Christian practice and from that in the New Testament accounts of the Last Supper
Last Supper

In the Christian Gospels, the Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and Disciple before Crucifixion of Jesus. The Last Supper has been the subject of many paintings, perhaps The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci....
, of which, again unlike almost all present-day Eucharistic celebrations, the Didache makes no mention.

Chapter 10 gives a thanksgiving after a meal. The contents of the meal are not indicated: chapter 9 does not exclude other elements as well that the cup and bread, which are the only ones it mentions, and chapter 10, whether it was originally a separate document or continues immediately the account in chapter 9, mentions no particular elements, not even wine and bread. Instead it speaks of the "spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant" that it distinguishes from the "food and drink (given) to men for enjoyment that they might give thanks to (God)". After a doxology, as before, come the apocalyptic exclamations: "Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna
Hosanna

Hosanna is a liturgy word in Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism, it is always used in its original Hebrew language form, Hoshana....
 to the God (Son) of David! If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him repent. Maranatha
Maranatha

Maranatha is an Aramaic phrase occurring once only in the New Testament and also in the Didache which is part of the Apostolic Fathers collection....
. Amen". The prayer is reminiscent of and .

These prayers make no reference to the redemptive death of Christ, or remembrance, as formulated by Paul the Apostle in . Didache 10 doesn't even use the word "Christ," which appears only one other time in the whole tract.

Some have posited that, in spite of the order in the manuscript text, chapter 10 should precede chapter 9: "Some scholars rearranged the text of chapters 9 & 10 (in comparison with chapter 14) to accommodate their view that the later Roman Mass is closer to what they understand to be truly Christian" (). John Dominic Crossan endorses John W. Riggs' 1984 The Second Century article for the proposition that 'there are two quite separate eucharistic celebrations given in Didache 9-10, with the earlier one now put in second place." The section beginning at 10.1 is a reworking of the Jewish birkat ha-mazon
Birkat Hamazon

Birkat Hamazon, , known in English as the Grace After Meals, , is a set of Hebrew language blessings that Halakha prescribes following a meal that includes bread or matzoh made from one or all of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt....
, a three-strophe prayer at the conclusion of a meal, which includes a blessing of God for sustaining the universe, a blessing of God who gives the gifts of food, earth, and covenant, and a prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem; the content is "Christianized", but the form remains Jewish. It is similar to the Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari
Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari

The Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari belongs to the East Syrian liturgical family and is in regular use in the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church....
, belonging to "a primordial era when the euchology of the Church had not yet inserted the Institution Narrative in the text of the Eucharistic Prayer."

Ministry

The Didache is unique amongst early Christian texts by its emphasis on itinerant ministers, which it describes as apostles and prophets; while it provides for a local ministry of bishops and deacons, these are described in far more detail in the writings of Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch was among the Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch, and was possibly a student of John the Apostle....
 and Clement of Rome
Pope Clement I

Pope Saint Clement I, , also known as Saint Clement of Rome , is listed from an early date as one of the first Bishops of Rome. He was the first Apostolic Father of the early Christian church....
. This section warns the reader about the morals of these travelling ministers: they are to be received if they teach the above doctrine; and if they add the justice and knowledge of the Lord they are to be received as the Lord. However, while every apostle is to be received as the Lord, and he may stay one day or two, if he stay three, he is a charlatan or false prophet. On leaving he shall take nothing with him but bread; if he ask for money, he is a false prophet. Likewise with those prophets: to judge them when they speak in the spirit is the unpardonable sin; but they must be known by their morals. If they seek gain, they are to be rejected. All travellers who come in the name of the Lord are to be received, but only for two or three days; and they must exercise their trade, if they have one, or at least must not be idle. Anyone who will not work is a Christemporos (translated by C. Bigg as "Christmonger") -- one who makes a gain out of the name of Christ. Teachers and prophets are worthy of their food. First fruits are to be given to the prophets, "for they are your High Priests; but if you have not a prophet, give the firstfruits to the poor". The breaking of bread and Thanksgiving [Eucharist] is on Sunday, "after you have confessed your transgressions, that your Sacrifice may be pure", and those who are at discord must agree, for this is the clean oblation prophesied by Malachi
Book of Malachi

Malachi is a book of the Bible Old Testament and Judaism Tanakh, written by the prophet Malachi. Possibly this is not the name of the author, since Malachi means 'my messenger' or 'my angel' in Hebrew language....
, 1:11, 14. "Ordain therefore for yourselves bishops and deacons, worthy of the Lord . . . for they also minister to you the ministry of the prophets and teachers". The final chapter (16) exhorts to watching and tells the signs of the end of the world.

Local ministry
The local ministers are bishops and deacons, as in Paul's epistle Philippians (1:1) and Clement
Pope Clement I

Pope Saint Clement I, , also known as Saint Clement of Rome , is listed from an early date as one of the first Bishops of Rome. He was the first Apostolic Father of the early Christian church....
. Presbyters are not mentioned, and the bishops are clearly presbyter-bishops, as in Acts, 20, and in the Pauline Epistles. But when Ignatius wrote in 107, or at the latest 117, the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons were already considered necessary to the very name of a Church, in Syria, Asia Minor, and Rome. It is probable that in Clement's time there was as yet no monarchical episcopate at Corinth
Corinth

Corinth, or Korinth Corinth is now the capital of the Prefectures of Greece of Corinthia. The city is surrounded by the coastal townlets of Lechaio, Isthmia, Kechries, and the inland townlets of Examilia and the archaeological site....
, though such a state did not endure much past Clement's time in any of the major Christian centers. On this ground, the Didache is most likely set either in the first century or a rural church. The itinerant ministry is obviously yet more archaic. In the second century prophecy was a charisma only and not a ministry, except among the Montanists
Montanism

Montanism was an Early Christianity movement of the early 2nd century A.D., named after its founder Montanus. It originated at Hierapolis where Papias was bishop and flourished throughout the region of Phrygia, leading to the movement being referred to as Cataphrygian ....
.

Itinerant ministry
The itinerant ministers are not mentioned by Clement or Ignatius. The three orders are apostles, prophets, and teachers, as in 1 Corinthians 12:28,29: "And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?" The Didache places teachers below apostles and prophets, the two orders which Paul makes the foundation of the Church (Ephesians 2:20). The term apostle is applied by Paul not only to the Twelve, but also to himself, to Barnabas
Barnabas

Saint Barnabas , born Joseph, was an early Christianity convert, one of the earliest disciples in Jerusalem. Like almost all Christians at the time, Barnabas was Jewish, specifically a Levite....
, to his kinsmen Andronicus, who had been converted before him, and to a class of preachers of the first rank. There is no instance in the New Testament or in early Christian literature of the existence of an order called apostles later than the Apostolic age. There is no evidence for a second-century order of apostles, which suggests the Didache is earlier, perhaps no later than about 80. Adolf Harnack, on the other hand, gives 131-160, holding that Barnabas and the Didache independently employ a Christianized form of the Jewish Two Ways, while chapter 16 is citing Barnabas -- a somewhat roundabout hypothesis. He places Barnabas in 131, and the Didache later than this. Those who date Barnabas under the reign of the Roman emperor
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 Vespasian
Vespasian

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 A.D. until his death in 79 A.D. Vespasian was the founder of the short lived Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 A.D....
 mostly make the Didache the borrower in chapters 1 - 5 and in 16. Many, with Funk, place Barnabas under the reign of Nerva
Nerva

Marcus Cocceius Nerva was a Roman Emperor who reigned from AD 96 until his death in 98. Nerva acceded to this position at the advanced age of 65, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the rulers of the Flavian dynasty--Vespasian, Titus and Domitian....
. The more common view is that which puts the Didache before 100. Bartlet agrees with Ehrhard that 80-90 is the most probable decade. Sabatier, Minasi, Jacquier, and others have preferred a date even before 70. Owen Chadwick wryly dates the Didache to "the period between about 70 and 110. It may be odd there, but it is much odder anywhere else." The earliest suggested dating is 44 or 47.

Matthew and the Didache

In modern scholarship a new consensus is emerging which dates the Didache at about the turn of the 1st century. At the same time, significant similarities between the Didache and the gospel of Matthew have been found as these writings share words, phrases, and motifs. There is also an increasing reluctance of modern scholars to support the thesis that the Didache used Matthew. This close relationship between these two writings might suggest that both documents were created in the same historical and geographical setting. One argument that suggests a common environment is that the community of both the Didache and the gospel of Matthew was probably composed of Judaeo-Christians from the beginning, though each writing shows indications of a congregation which appears to have alienated itself from its Jewish background. Also, the Two Ways teaching (Did. 1-6) may have served as a pre-baptismal instruction within the community of the Didache and Matthew. Furthermore, the correspondence of the Trinitarian baptismal formula in the Didache and Matthew (Did. 7 and Matt 28:19) as well as the similar shape of the Lord's Prayer (Did. 8 and Matt 6:5-13) apparently reflect the use of resembling oral forms of church traditions. Finally, both the community of the Didache (Did. 11-13) and Matthew (Matt 7:15-23; 10:5-15, 40-42; 24:11,24) were visited by itinerant apostles and prophets, some of whom were illegitimate.

See also

  • Codex Hierosolymitanus
    Codex Hierosolymitanus

    Codex Hierosolymitanus is an 11th-century Greek manuscript, written by an unknown scribe named Leo, who dated it 1056. Its designation of "Jerusalem" recalls its place of discovery by Philotheos Bryennios in 1873 at the library of the patriarch of Jerusalem, where it remains in the monastery of the Holy Sepulchre, see also Church of the Holy...
  • Council of Jamnia
    Council of Jamnia

    The Council of Jamnia or Council of Yavne is a hypothetical 1st century council at which it is postulated the Development of the Jewish Bible canon was defined....


Footnotes


External links

  • Didache Source of some of the above text
  • - English translation hosted by about.com
  • in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
    Encyclopædia Britannica

    The Encyclop?dia Britannica is a general English language encyclopedia published by Encyclop?dia Britannica, Inc., a privately held company....