The Twelve Apostles - The Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles- A Study Guide

The Didache

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles

With Footnotes, Historical Notes on Manuscripts & A Detailed Study Guide

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The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles

Commonly Called

The Didache

With Historical Notes on Manuscripts

& A Detailed Study Guide

T he Didache(prounced dih-dah-KAY or sometimes dih-dah-KEY) is also called the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles", written around 65 - 80 A.D. The treatise is supposed to be what the twelve apostles taught to the Gentiles concerning life and death, church order, fasting, baptism, prayer, etc.

There is a debate as to its authenticity. This work is cited by Eusebius (260 341) and Athanasius (293-373). Origen (185 254) also made reference to Didache.

In the Didache, 16:2-3 is quoted in the Epistle of Barnabbas in 4:9, or vice versa. The Epistle of Barnabbas was written in 130-131 A.D. The Didache is not inspired in the Scripture, but it is a valuable early church document.

Didache was originally written in Greek and translated by Charles H. Hoole. The complete text of the Didache was discovered in the Codex Hierosolymitanus, though a number of other fragments exist, most notably in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

a) Manuscripts

O nly one Greek text of the Didache has survived. It is the Jerusalem Codex discovered by Byrennios in 1873, and published by him in Constantinople ten years later. It was written by a scribe, Leo, in 1056. A photographic facsimile was published by J. Rendel Harris in 1887.

Two papyrus fragments of the Didache in Greek (chs. 1:3, 4 and 2:7 to 3:2) were edited by A. S. Hunt in Oxyrhynchus Papyri, 15, London, 1922, pp. 1215.

The Greek texts of the Epistle of Barnabas (chs. 18 to 20) and of the Apostolic Church Order (chs. 1 to 13) contain the "Two Ways" material in different forms. In the latter case there are many additions, and dependence on the "Two Ways" breaks off at the equivalent of Did. 4:8. The Greek text of the Apostolic Constitutions (ch. 7:132) contains almost the whole of the Didache with a number of changes and many insertions.

In Syriac there are citations from the Didache in the Didascalia, edited by R. H. Connolly, Oxford University Press, London, 1929.

In Latin there is a third century translation of the "Two Ways." A fragment was published by B. Pez in 1723. The complete text was edited from an eleventh century manuscript by J. Schlecht, Doctrina XII Apostolorum, Freiburg, 1900.

In Coptic there is a fifth century papyrus fragment of chs. 10:3b to 12:2a, edited by G. Horner in The Journal of Theological Studies, 25, 1924, pp. 225231. (It is notable for adding after the Eucharistic prayer a thanksgiving for myron, holy oil for confirmation.)

In Arabic the "Two Ways" material is found in the fifth century Life of Schnudi. A German rendering is given by L. E. Iselin and A. Heusler in Texte und Untersuchungen, XIII, 1b, pp. 610, 1895.

In Ethiopic the following parts of the Didache have been preserved in the Ecclesiastical Canons: chs. II:35, 711, 12; 12:15; 13:1, 37; 8:1, 2a, in that order. They are edited by G. Horner, Statutes of the Apostles , pp. 193, 194, London, 1904.

In Georgian there is a complete translation made in the fifth century by a scribe, Jeremias of Orhai. The variant readings were published by G. Peradze in Zeitschrift fr die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft , pp. 111116, 1932, from a copy of an eleventh century manuscript in Constantinople.

b) Books and Articles

The best Greek text, making use of all the available witnesses, is by Theodorus Klauser, Doctrina Duodecim Apostolorum: Barnabae Epistula , "Florilegium Patristicum," I, Bonn, 1940. It has been used for this translation. Also of importance are the texts in K. Bihlmeyer, Die apostolischen Vter , Tbingen, 1924 (note his treatment of the Coptic evidence pp. xviiixx), in K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers , London, 1912, and in H. Hemmer, G. Oger, and A. Lamont, Les Pres apostoliques , Vol. I, Paris, 1907 (based on the text of F. X. Funk, Patres apostolici , Tbingen, 1901).

Older editions of the Didache, which contain a number of the related documents along with the text of Byrennios, are by A. Harnack, Die Lehre der Zwlf Apostel , Texte und Untersuchungen, II, Leipzig, 1884 (a pioneer and monumental work which includes the Greek text of the A. C. O. and the relevant parts of A. C. 7); and by Philip Schaff, The Oldest Church Manual Called the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles , New York, 1885 (includes the pertinent sections from Barnabas, Hermas, A. C. O., and A. C. 7).

In addition to the works of Schaff and Lake mentioned above, the following translations in English may be noted: C. Bigg, The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles (revised by A. J. Maclean), London, 1922; F. X. Glimm, The Apostolic Fathers , in the series The Fathers of the Church, Cima Publishing Company, New York, 1947; J. A. Kleist, The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas , etc., in the series Ancient Christian Writers, Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1948; and E. Goodspeed, The Apostolic Fathers: An American Translation , New York, 1950.

In German there are renderings by F. Zeller, Die apostolischen Vter, Munich, 1918, in the 2d series of the Bibliothek der Kirchenvter; by R. Knopf, Die Lehre der Zwlf Apostel: Die zwei Clemensbriefe, Tbingen, 1920, in Handbuch zum N. T.; and by E. Hennecke, Neutestamentliche Apocryphen, 2d edition, Tbingen, 1924.

In French there is the translation by Hemmer, Oger, and Lamont already mentioned.

In Italian there are renderings by M. dal Pra, La Didache, Venice, 1938; and by G. Bosio, I Padri apostolici, Part I, Turin, 1940, in the series Corona Patrum Salesiana.

All these editions have introductions and notes. The most significant are by Harnack, Schaff, Hemmer, Bigg, Kleist, and Knopf. While Klauser's introduction and notes (in Latin) are most concise, they are no less important.

Studies in the Didache are extremely numerous. Of special importance are the following books: C. Taylor, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles with Illustrations from the Talmud, Cambridge, 1886; J. A. Robinson, Barnabas, Hermas, and the Didache, London, 1920 (a revision of chs. 1 and 3 was published posthumously with a preface by R. H. Connolly in The Journal of Theological Studies, 1934, pp. 113146, 225248); J. Muilenburg, The Literary Relations of the Epistle of Barnabas and the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Ph.D. thesis, Marburg, 1929; F. E. Vokes, The Riddle of the Didache, S.P.C.K., London, 1938.

For many years debate about the Didache has been carried on in The Journal of Theological Studies. The following articles are noteworthy: J. V. Bartlet, "The Didache Reconsidered," 1921, pp. 239249; R. H. Connolly, "The Use of the Didache in the Didascalia," 1923, pp. 147157; F. R. M. Hitchcock, "Did Clement of Alexandria Know the Didache?" ibid. , pp. 397401; R. H. Connolly, "New Fragments of the Didache," 1924, pp. 151153; F. C. Burkitt, "Barnabas and the Didache," 1932, pp. 2527; R. H. Connolly, "The Didache in Relation to the Epistle of Barnabas," ibid. , pp. 237253; C. T. Dix, "Didache and Diatessaron," 1933, pp. 242250, with Connolly's reply, ibid. , pp. 346, 347; A. L. Williams, "The Date of the Epistle of Barnabas," ibid. , pp. 337346; R. D. Middleton, "The Eucharistic Prayers of the Didache," 1935, pp. 259267; H. G. Gibbins, "The Problem of the Liturgical Section of the Didache," ibid. , pp. 373386; B. H. Streeter, "The Much-belaboured Didache," 1936, pp. 369374; R. H. Connolly, "Barnabas and the Didache," 1937, pp. 165167; and "Canon Streeter on the Didache," ibid. , pp. 364379; J. M. Creed, "The Didache," 1938, 370387; W. Telfer, "The Didache and the Apostolic Synod of Antioch," 1939, pp. 133146, 258271; J. E. L. Oulton, "Clement of Alexandria and the Didache," 1940, pp. 177179; W. Telfer, "The 'Plot' of the Didache," 1944, pp. 141151.