| Didache |
Website Links For Didache |
Information AboutDidache |
|
The Didache ('''''' in Koine Greek ) or "Teaching"— short for "''Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles''" () — is a brief Early Christian treatise (''c.'' 70–160 CE), containing instructions for Christian communities. The text is possibly the first written Catechism , with three main sections dealing with Christian lessons, rituals such as Baptism and Eucharist , and Church organization. It was considered by some of the Church Fathers as part of the New Testament but rejected as Spurious by others, eventually not accepted into the New Testament Canon with the exception of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church "broader canon". The Roman Catholic Church has accepted it as part of the collection of Apostolic Fathers . It is the only rediscovered Christian text during the last 150 years of discoveries in libraries or in Papyri to receive wide acceptance by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. DISCOVERY Considered lost, the Didache was rediscovered in 1883 by Philotheos Bryennios , a Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop of Nicomedia , in the Greek Codex Hierosolymitanus written in 1053, from which he had already published the full text of the Epistles Of Clement in 1875. Shortly after Bryennios' initial publication, the scholar Otto Von Gebhardt identified a Latin manuscript in the Abbey Of Melk in Austria 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. EARLY REFERENCES The ''Didache'' is mentioned by Eusebius (''c.'' 324) as the ''Teachings of the Apostles'' following the books recognized as Canonical (''Historia Ecclesiastica'' III, 25): :"Let there be placed among the spurious works the '' Acts Of Paul '', the so-called '' Shepherd '' and the '' Apocalypse Of Peter '', and besides these the Epistle Of Barnabas , and what are called the Teachings of the Apostles, and also the Apocalypse Of John , if this be thought proper; for as I wrote before, some reject it, and others place it in the canon." have embodied the ''Didascalia''. There are echoes in Justin Martyr , Tatian , Theophilus Of Antioch , Cyprian , and Lactantius . CONTENTS The contents may be divided into four parts, which most scholars agree were combined from separate sources by a later . Doctrinal teaching is presupposed, and none is imparted. The Two Ways The first section is taken from an existing Jewish tract of the same name, but with significant alterations, as the 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 in the Early Church , even though, according to Epiphanius Of Salamis , the Ebionites were vegetarians. More likely the Didache is referring to Jewish Meats . 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 , 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 C. Bigg to show a late date; but it seems a natural concession for hot and dry countries, when baptism was not as yet celebrated exclusively at Easter and Pentecost and in churches, where a '' Columbethra '' and a supply of water would be unavailable. Fasts are not to be on Monday and Thursday "with the hypocrites" — presumably non-Christian Jews — but on Wednesday and Friday (chapter 8). Nor must Christians pray with their Judaic brethren, instead they shall say the Lord's Prayer three times a day. The text of the prayer is not identical to the version in the Gospel Of Matthew , and it is given with the Doxology "for Thine is the power and the glory for ever", whereas all but a few manuscripts of the Gospel Of Matthew have this interpolation with "the kingdom and the power" etc. Chapter 9 runs thus: :" 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 You 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 You 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) These prayers correspond with the Christian , "In i Judic.", Hom. vi: "Before we are inebriated with the Blood of the True Vine Which ascends from the root of David." 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 , 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. SOURCES Some scholars claim that the "Two Ways" is older than the rest of the 'Didache', and is derivative of Jew ish works, intended for the instruction of Proselytes . Parts of the Didache probably relied upon the Sibylline Oracles and other Jewish sources. For example, chapter 2 has significant agreement with the Talmud . On the other hand, the Old Testament is often not quoted directly, except through New Testament references. 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, chapters 7-16, though wholly Christian in its subject-matter, has an equally remarkable agreement with the Talmud in chapters 9 and 10. Beyond doubt we must look upon the writer as living in the first two centuries AD , when Jewish influence was still prevalent amongst Christianity. Paralleling Barnabas’ anti-Jewish tone, the author of the Didache, in chapter 8, warns Christians not to fast with the Jews, referred to as “the hypocrites”, or pray with them; yet the two fasts and the three times of prayer are modeled on Jewish custom. Similarly the prophets stand in the place of the High Priest. DATE OF THE ''DIDACHE'' There are other signs of the text being from the 1:10), there is no difficulty in supposing that the parallel and consequent shifting of the fasts to Wednesday and Friday may have taken place at an equally early date, at least in some places. But the chief point is the ministry. It is twofold: local and itinerant. J.-P. Audet in ''La Didache, Instructions des Apôtres'' argues for a date of 70, of which J.B. Lightfoot et al., ''Apostolic Fathers'', say "he is not likely to be off by more than a decade in either direction". Local ministry The local ministers are bishops and deacons, as in Paul's epistle . 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 , 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 . Itinerant ministry The itinerant ministers are not mentioned by Clement or Ignatius. The three orders are apostles, prophets, and teachers, as in , to his kinsmen Andronicus and Junia, 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 Vespasian mostly make the ''Didache'' the borrower in chapters 1 - 5 and in 16. Many, with Funk, place Barnabas under Nerva . 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 AD 44 or 47. {Link without Title} FOOTNOTES |
|
|