The Didache (Teachings of the Twelve Apostles)

[Johnson]

http://www.earlychristianwritings.co...che-hoole.html

Interesting read here.
First 5 chapters posted, rest at link.

CHAPTER 1
1:1 There are two paths, one of life and one of death, and the difference is great between the two paths.

1:2 Now the path of life is this -- first, thou shalt love the God who made thee, thy neighbour as thyself, and all things that thou wouldest not should be done unto thee, do not thou unto another.

1:3 And the doctrine of these maxims is as follows. Bless them that curse you, and pray for your enemies. Fast on behalf of those that persecute you; for what thank is there if ye love them that love you? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? But do ye love them that hate you, and ye will not have an enemy.

1:4 Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts. If any one give thee a blow on thy right cheek, turn unto him the other also, and thou shalt be perfect; if any one compel thee to go a mile, go with him two; if a man take away thy cloak, give him thy coat also; if a man take from thee what is thine, ask not for it again, for neither art thou able to do so.

1:5 Give to every one that asketh of thee, and ask not again; for the Father wishes that from his own gifts there should be given to all. Blessed is he who giveth according to the commandment, for he is free from guilt; but woe unto him that receiveth. For if a man receive being in need, he shall be free from guilt; but he who receiveth when not in need, shall pay a penalty as to why he received and for what purpose; and when he is in tribulation he shall be examined concerning the things that he has done, and shall not depart thence until he has paid the last farthing.

1:6 For of a truth it has been said on these matters, let thy almsgiving abide in thy hands until thou knowest to whom thou hast given.

CHAPTER 2
2:1 But the second commandment of the teaching is this.

2:2 Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not corrupt youth; thou shalt not commit fornication; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not use soothsaying; thou shalt not practise sorcery; thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, neither shalt thou slay it when born; thou shalt not covet the goods of thy neighbour;

2:3 thou shalt not commit perjury; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not speak evil; thou shalt not bear malice;

2:4 thou shalt not be double-minded or double-tongued, for to be double tongued is the snare of death.

2:5 Thy speech shall not be false or empty, but concerned with action.

2:6 Thou shalt not be covetous, or rapacious, or hypocritical, or malicious, or proud; thou shalt not take up an evil design against thy neighbour;

2:7 thou shalt not hate any man, but some thou shalt confute, concerning some thou shalt pray, and some thou shalt love beyond thine own soul.

CHAPTER 3
3:1 My child, fly from everything that is evil, and from everything that is like to it.

3:2 Be not wrathful, for wrath leadeth unto slaughter; be not jealous, or contentious, or quarrelsome, for from all these things slaughter ensues.

3:3 My child, be not lustful, for lust leadeth unto fornication; be not a filthy talker; be not a lifter up of the eye, for from all these things come adulteries.

3:4 My child, be not an observer of omens, since it leadeth to idolatry, nor a user of spells, nor an astrologer, nor a travelling purifier, nor wish to see these things, for from all these things idolatry ariseth.

3:5 My child, be not a liar, for lying leadeth unto theft; be not covetous or conceited, for from all these things thefts arise.

3:6 My child, be not a murmurer, since it leadeth unto blasphemy; be not self-willed or evil-minded, for from all these things blasphemies are produced;

3:7 but be thou meek, for the meek shall inherit the earth;

3:8 be thou longsuffering, and compassionate, and harmless, and peaceable, and good, and fearing alway the words that thou hast heard.

3:9 Thou shalt not exalt thyself, neither shalt thou put boldness into thy soul. Thy soul shall not be joined unto the lofty, but thou shalt walk with the just and humble.

3:10 Accept the things that happen to thee as good, knowing that without God nothing happens.

CHAPTER 4
4:1 My child, thou shalt remember both night and day him that speaketh unto thee the Word of God; thou shalt honour him as thou dost the Lord, for where the teaching of the Lord is given, there is the Lord;

4:2 thou shalt seek out day by day the favour of the saints, that thou mayest rest in their words;

4:3 thou shalt not desire schism, but shalt set at peace them that contend; thou shalt judge righteously; thou shalt not accept the person of any one to convict him of transgression;

4:4 thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not.

4:5 Be not a stretcher out of thy hand to receive, and a drawer of it back in giving.

4:6 If thou hast, give by means of thy hands a redemption for thy sins.

4:7 Thou shalt not doubt to give, neither shalt thou murmur when giving; for thou shouldest know who is the fair recompenser of the reward.

4:8 Thou shalt not turn away from him that is in need, but shalt share with thy brother in all things, and shalt not say that things are thine own; for if ye are partners in what is immortal, how much more in what is mortal?

4:9 Thou shalt not remove thine heart from thy son or from thy daughter, but from their youth shalt teach them the fear of God.

4:10 Thou shalt not command with bitterness thy servant or thy handmaid, who hope in the same God as thyself, lest they fear not in consequence the God who is over both; for he cometh not to call with respect of persons, but those whom the Spirit hath prepared.

4:11 And do ye servants submit yourselves to your masters with reverence and fear, as being the type of God.

4:12 Thou shalt hate all hypocrisy and everything that is not pleasing to God;

4:13 thou shalt not abandon the commandments of the Lord, but shalt guard that which thou hast received, neither adding thereto nor taking therefrom;

4:14 thou shalt confess thy transgressions in the Church, and shalt not come unto prayer with an evil conscience. This is the path of life.

CHAPTER 5
5:1 But the path of death is this. First of all, it is evil, and full of cursing; there are found murders, adulteries, lusts, fornication, thefts, idolatries, soothsaying, sorceries, robberies, false witnessings, hypocrisies, double-mindedness, craft, pride, malice, self-will, covetousness, filthy talking, jealousy, audacity, pride, arrogance;

5:2 there are they who persecute the good -- lovers of a lie, not knowing the reward of righteousness, not cleaving to the good nor to righteous judgment, watching not for the good but for the bad, from whom meekness and patience are afar off, loving things that are vain, following after recompense, having no compassion on the needy, nor labouring for him that is in trouble, not knowing him that made them, murderers of children, corrupters of the image of God, who turn away from him that is in need, who oppress him that is in trouble, unjust judges of the poor, erring in all things. From all these, children, may ye be delivered.

[RightWingZealot]

That was very cool.
Too bad it never made it into the NT.

It's a pretty strightforward and brief synopsis for how a christian should live thier life.
And it woulda put a lot of televangelists and false prophets (profits) out of business.
Probably why it never made it.

[ChrisR246]

Wow! Some interesting stuff there. I guess this was written either by the Apostles or by students of the Apostles about what they taught?

[Johnson]

"Since it was discovered in a monastery in Constantinople and published by P. Bryennios in 1883, the Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles has continued to be one of the most disputed of early Christian texts. It has been depicted by scholars as anything between the original of the Apostolic Decree (c. 50 AD) and a late archaising fiction of the early third century. It bears no date itself, nor does it make reference to any datable external event, yet the picture of the Church which it presents could only be described as primitive, reaching back to the very earliest stages of the Church's order and practice in a way which largely agrees with the picture presented by the NT, while at the same time posing questions for many traditional interpretations of this first period of the Church's life. Fragments of the Didache were found at Oxyrhyncus (P. Oxy 1782) from the fourth century and in coptic translation (P. Lond. Or. 9271) from 3/4th century. Traces of the use of this text, and the high regard it enjoyed, are widespread in the literature of the second and third centuries especially in Syria and Egypt. It was used by the compilator of the Didascalia (C 2/3rd) and the Liber Graduun (C 3/4th), as well as being absorbed in toto by the Apostolic Constitutions (C c. 3/4th, abbreviated as Ca) and partially by various Egyptian and Ethiopian Church Orders, after which it ceased to circulate independently. Athanasius describes it as 'appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of goodness' [Festal Letter 39:7]. Hence a date for the Didache in its present form later than the second century must be considered unlikely, and a date before the end of the first century probable."

[Johnson]

I'm e-mailing some bishops and priests at the moment to find out of this document is used in canonical orthodox christianity.

i dont know if prots use it, but i do know that catholics do.

[Johnson]

"The Didache is, in all probability, the oldest surviving extant piece of non-canonical literature. It is not so much a letter as a handbook for new Christian converts, consisting of instructions derived directly from the teachings of Jesus.

[...]

The Didache claims to have been authored by the twelve apostles. While this is unlikely, the work could be a direct result of the first Apostolic Council, c.50 C.E. (Acts 15:28). Similarities to the Apostolic Decree are apparent, and the given structure of the church is quite primitive. Also, the description of the Eucharist (bread and wine) carefully avoids mention of the "body and blood of Christ," obviously being regarded as one of the secret mysteries of eary Christianity. Most scholars agree that the work, in its earliest form, may have circulated as early as the 60's C.E., though additions and modifications may have taken place well into the third century. The work was never officially rejected by the Church, but was excluded from the canon for its lack of literary value."

[ChrisR246]

What does this mean?

Originally posted by Johnson
...canonical orthodox christianity.
i

Do you mean Orthodox as opposed to Catholic or orthodox as opposed to heterodox?

[RightWingZealot]

I think he means like Greek and/or Russian orthodox churches.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

CHAPTER 1

1:1 Be a good person

THE END

[RightWingZealot]

2:1 1:1 is imposible.

[ChrisR246]

Originally posted by RightWingZealot
I think he means like Greek and/or Russian orthodox churches.

Then why "canonical"? If it was canonical for the Orthodox, it would not have been "lost" until 1883. I'm still confused.

[Johnson]

Originally posted by ChrisR246
What does this mean?

Do you mean Orthodox as opposed to Catholic or orthodox as opposed to heterodox?

Canonical Orthodoxy refers to documents officially recognized and used by the churches.

The only difference between Russian and Greek orthodox is culture and maybe language the liturgy is served in. Most orthodox churches around the world are in communion and use the same documents.

Canonical simply means that the document is used by the orthodox church, and not some fringe group which is not in communion with orthodox canon law.

[Johnson]

Fr. Lawrence has this to say:

"The answer to your question can be found in St. Paul's excellent sermon on fasting I Corinthians 8:1-13. Just as the eating of meat may set a poor example to the weak among us and encourage them to sin, so the study of a questionable document may lead the weak to heresy. While I have absolutely no problems with the study of such a work in a monastary or seminary, it seems to me that to encourage the reading of such a document in our parishes, when there are so many things that are absolutely canonical, starting with the Gospels themselves, that our people neglect to read, invites problems. This is the same reason in our parish that we avoid studying the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Apocraphal Gospel of Thomas.

While individuals are free to read and study these, the Church neither encourages nor blesses the reading of such works. Most of our people are barely at the level of a second Year catechumen of the Byzantine era, if that far. They need milk long before they will need meat. Let those who delight in the delving into such things, take a vocation, or even better, take the monastic vow and delve as deeply as they dare under the guidance of a Spiritual Father. The Didache, itself, contains no heretical errors of which I am aware; it is just over the heads of most of our people."

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

2:1 1:1 is imposible.

Nonsense.

[RightWingZealot]

Nonsense.

nonsense.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Then we might as well scrap the whole 10 commandments stuff and stop trying. Would you prefer that?

[RightWingZealot]

No, of course not.
Just becuase true goodness is unattainable does not mean we should not aspire to it.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Right. So it should have read:

CHAPTER 1

1:1 Do your best to be a good person

THE END

Glad we got that sorted out!

[RightWingZealot]

Well, if there is no God that should be ok.
If there is, it wont be.