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Didascalia Apostolorum

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Didascalia Apostolorum, or just Didascalia, is an early Christian legal treatise which belongs to the genre of the Church Orders. It presents itself as being written by the Twelve Apostles at the time of the Council of Jerusalem; however, scholars agree that it was actually a later composition, with most estimates suggesting the 3rd century,[1] and other estimates suggesting potentially as late as the 4th century.[2]

The Didascalia was clearly modeled on the earlier Didache.[3] The author is unknown, but he was probably a bishop. The provenance is usually regarded as Northern Syria, possibly near Antioch.[4]

History

The Didascalia was probably composed in the 3rd century in Syria. The earliest mention of the work is by Epiphanius of Salamis, who believed it to be truly Apostolic. He found it in use among the Audiani, Syrian heretics. The few extracts Epiphanius gives do not quite tally with our present text, but he is notoriously inexact in his quotations. The Didascalia was used as the basis of the first six books of the Apostolic Constitutions at the end of the fourth century. At the end of the 4th century it is quoted in the Pseudo-Chrysostom's Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum.

The work's author is unknown. R. Hugh Connolly argued the work as a unity composed by a single author; Alistair Stewart-Sykes has argued the modern form of the work came from at least two separate redactors - an unknown original document, a "deuterotic" redactor who wrote the final chapter and wrote an argument about how Jewish law was "secondary legislation" only intended as punishment for Jews, and an "apostolic redactor" whose editing increased the authority of the argument dissuading Christians from keeping Jewish law by invoking the authority of the Apostles.[5]

The Didascalia underwent a number of translations, including into Latin and Syriac. The date of the Syriac translation is usually placed between the fourth and sixth centuries[6] and played some role in forming a legal culture which influenced various other texts from the third through seventh centuries and thereafter, including the Quran.[7]

Manuscript Tradition

The Didascalia Apostolorum, whose lost original was in Greek, was first published in 1854 in Syriac by Paul de Lagarde. In 1900 Edmund Hauler published the Verona Palimpsest which includes a Latin translation of the Didascalia, perhaps of the fourth century, more than half of which has perished. In 1906 Franz Xaver von Funk published the texts, printed side by side, of both the Didascalia and the Apostolic Constitutions, in order to show the similarities.[8] A short fragment of chapter 15 has been found in Greek, and in 1996 another probable fragment in Coptic.[3]

Contents

The Latin title Didascalia Apostolorum means Teaching of the Apostles, and the full title given in Syriac is: "Didascalia, that is, the teaching of the twelve Apostles and the holy disciples of our Lord". The text never touches upon dogma but concerns itself entirely with practice. In comparison with the Didache, the Didascalia moved the main focus from the moral issues to liturgical practice and church organization.

The content can be so summarized:

  • Admonitions about Christian life, prayer, orphans, martyrdom (chapters 1–3, 13, 17, 19–20)
  • Rules about bishops' qualifications, conduct, duties, alms (chapters 4–11, 18)
  • Rules about deacons and deaconesses and widows (chapters 14–16)
  • Liturgical rules about the proper place in the church-building and about fasting (chapters 12, 21)
  • The education of children and the denunciation of heresy (chapters 22–23)
  • The claim of the composition of the treatise by the Twelve Apostles and a condemnation of the Jewish ritual practices directed toward Jewish Christians[9] (chapter 24–26)

The church officials are bishops, deacons, priests, widows (and orphans); deaconesses are also added, in one place rectors, and once subdeacons (these last may have been interpolated). The preface to the English translation states, "The most salient feature of the Didascalia is its exaltation of the authority of the Bishops; yet there is no mention of the Bishops of Rome as superior over other Bishops." Celibacy is preferred for bishops but not required for that office, while even the combing of hair (as well as long hair) is forbidden for men in general, lest they attract women.[10] Especially noticeable is the treatment which bishops are ordered to give to penitents. Even great sinners, on repentance, are to be received with kindness, no sins are excepted. The canonical penance is to be of two to seven weeks. However, if a converted man "of the Jews or of the heathen" returned again to the sect in which he came from, then he was not to be received a second time into the church, but were to be regarded as unconverted. (Didascalia 20:16)

The heresies mentioned are those of Simon Magus and Cleobius (this name is given also by Hegesippus), with Gnostics and Ebionites. Against these, Christians must believe in the Trinity, the Scriptures and the Resurrection. The original Law of Moses (specifically the Ten Commandments) is to be observed, along with all the regulations given prior to the incident of the golden calf (Exo. 32). But the "Second Law," the regulations given after the incident of the Golden Calf, were given to the Jews on account of the hardness of their hearts (Did. 26). In addition, the Sabbath rest is given a symbolic content, and the Christians are admonished to instead treat every day as belonging to the Lord, but not to keep the rest literally.

The Old Testament is frequently quoted, and often at great length. The Gospel is cited by name, usually that of Matthew, the other evangelists less often, and that of John least of all. The Acts of the Apostles and nearly all the Epistles are freely employed, including the Epistle to the Hebrews. None of these could be named. Besides the Didache, the Didascalia utilizes other ancient Christian documents as the Acts of Paul and the Gospel of Peter.[4]

Concerning baptism, particular emphasis is placed on the pre-baptismal anointing of a catechumen. Chapters 9 and 16 give detailed instructions for anointing, including the laying on of hands by a bishop and the recitation of Psalm 2:7. After being baptized with the proper invocation, the convert is permitted to partake of the eucharist.[11]

Situation of the 3rd century Church

One of the main unknown aspects of the Didascalia is the degree to which it is descriptive and simply writing down what was already standard practice in Christian groups of Asia Minor at the time, and the degree to which it is prescriptive and advocating changes or new doctrines. Its use as a source on the early Church varies based on which is believed to be true - if a passage is prescriptive, then that implies the opposite of the teaching was practiced, and the author was invoking the authority of the apostles to advocate against that existing practice.

A notable example of this tension is the Didascalia’s depiction of the status of women in the early Church, especially widows. The Didascalia takes a dim view of the status of Christian women: widows should not remarry more than once, should not be talkative or loud, should not instruct in doctrine, should stay at home and not wander, are not allowed to baptize, and should not engage in ministry unless ordered to by a bishop or deacon. Scholars who endorse the view that the Didascalia is largely prescriptive believe these specific prohibitions suggest that at least some Christian communities of the era did allow women such freedoms to evangelize, engage in ministry and baptisms of others, and so on, and the author found such practices sufficiently distasteful to write that the apostles forbade such acts.[12]

Tensions with Jewish Christianity

A major theme of the Didascalia is third century tensions with Jewish Christians - that is, Jewish Christians who kept Jewish Law, such as abstaining from pork, resting on the Sabbath, circumcising their children, and so on. A large amount of the text is devoted to teachings for how continuing to keep the Jewish Law was not merely unproductive, but actively immoral. As noted above, any laws given after the golden calf incident are to be understood as punishment for the Jewish people; continuing to keep them makes a Christian "guilty of the worship of the calf" and "asserting the curse against Our Savior. You are ensnared in the bonds and so are guilty of the woe as an enemy of the Lord God." (Didascalia 26) Resting on the Sabbath is merely proof that Jews are "idle". For the author of the Didascalia, Jesus's death abolished and abrogated the "secondary legislation", and thus attempting to keep such Jewish Law was denying the power of Jesus's sacrifice.[12]

One possibility raised by some scholars is that the author himself may have been raised in the Jewish tradition, judging by his familiarity with some of the rabbinic tradition and the style of Jewish argument in the era — even if this familiarity is used to vociferously argue against the keeping of the Jewish law. Charlotte Fonrobert argued the text is a "counter-Mishnah for the disciples of Jesus", a Jewish text opposing other Jews.[13]

The version of the Didascalia included as books 1–6 of the 4th-century Apostolic Constitutions shows some differences as a result of editing. The editor who compiled the Apostolic Constitutions appears to have had a somewhat more positive view of Judaism than the author of the Didascalia, and toned down some of its rhetoric. Notably, the version in the Apostolic Constitutions does not portray Jewish Law as always burdensome and a curse. In it, some of Jewish Law is still "alien" and "bonds for unbelievers". However, some of its laws may in fact be good and necessary for the Christian community, rather than the blanket dismissal seen in the Didascalia. As an example, it expresses an early Christian Sabbatarianism that suggests observing the Sabbath as a day of rest is in fact healthy for Christians. This is in contrast to the Didascalia, which considered observation of the Sabbath by Christians a dangerous and heretical misunderstanding.[14]

Published editions

Syriac

English

German

Other languages

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Didascalia Apostolorum — A treatise which pretends to have been written by the Apostles at the time of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts, xv), but is really a composition of the third century. It was first published in 1854, in Syriac. In 1900 a Latin translation, perhaps of the fourth century, was discovered, more than half of which has perished. The original was in Greek, and this can be to some extent restored by a comparison with the Apostolic Constitutions, the first eight books of which are simply a revised and enlarged edition of the Didascalia. The attempt at restoration made by Lagard was a failure but an excellent guide is now at hand in the new edition (1906) by Funk, in which the Greek of the Apostolic Constitutions is printed side by side with the Latin of the Didascalia, a translation from the Syriac supplying the lacunae of the old Latin version. Everything in the Apostolic Constitutions which is not found in the Didascalia is underlined, so that the relations of the two documents, and to a great extent the original Greek of the Didascalia, can be seen at a glance.

The full title given in the Syriac is "Didascalia, that is, the Catholic doctrine of the twelve Apostles and the holy disciples of our Lord". The contents are the same as those of the corresponding books of the Apostolic Constitutions. Especially noticeable is the treatment which bishops are ordered to give to penitents. Even great sinners, on repentance, are to be received with kindness. No sins are excepted. The canonical penance is to be of two to seven weeks. This legislation is obviously subsequent to Novatianism; it is not so certainly aimed against Novatianism. The church officials are bishops, deacons, priests, widows (and orphans); deaconesses are also added, in one place rectors, and once subdeacons. These last may have been interpolated. This organization is behind that of Rome under Pope Cornelius in 251; hence Funk in 1891 placed the date of the work in the first half of the third century. But the whole Western system never spread to the East, and the development was uneven. Funk therefore withdrew this opinion in 1901, giving the second half of the century as the true date. The heresies mentioned are those of Simon Magus and Cleobius (this name is given also by Hegesippus), with Gnostics and Ebionites. Against these, Christians must believe in the Trinity, the Scriptures, and the Resurrection. The original Law of Moses is to be observed, but not the Second Law, or Deuterosis, which was given to the Jews on account of the hardness of their hearts. The Old Testament is frequently quoted, and often at great length. The Gospel is cited by name, usually that of St. Matthew, the others less often, and that of St. John least of all, as it was traditionally held to have been written at a much later date than that which the Didascalia claims for itself. Acts and nearly all the Epistles are freely employed, including Hebrews, but the Apocalypse is not cited. None of these could be named. Harnack has gone quite wrong in arguing that the only place in which the Fourth Gospel is quoted formally as the Gospel is an interpolation, with the inference (at which he naturally expresses his surprise) that the author did not know or did not esteem that Gospel. (A quotation of the pericope de adulterâ, John, viii, is important.) Harnack further holds that the gentle treatment of sinners is an interpolation intended against Novatianism, and that the deaconesses as well as the subdeacon are a later addition, He dates the original form in the first half of the third century, and the additions in the last quarter of it; but the reasons given are very weak. Achelis leaves the whole of the century open, but says that the later the work is placed in it, the better he feels he understands it.

The earliest mention of the work is by St. Epiphanius, who believed it to be Apostolic. He found it in use among the Audiani, Syrian heretics. The few extracts he gives do not quite tally with our present text; but then he is notoriously inexact in his quotations. Next we find the whole work incorporated into the Apostolic Constitutions, at the end of the fourth century, and soon afterwards it is quoted in the Pseudo-Chrysostom's "Opus Imperfectum in Matt." But the work never had a great vogue, and it was superseded by the Apostolio Constitutions. The place of composition was Syria, though what part cannot be determined. The author was apparently a bishop, and presumably a Catholic. His book is badly put together, without logic, but not without some good sense. It never touches upon dogma but concerns itself entirely with praotice. It has been called the earliest attempt to compile a Corpus juris canonici.

A few specimens of the text in German were published in 1843 by BICKELL in his Gesch. des Kirchenrechts; the whole in Syriac by LAGARDE (under his earlier name of BOTTICHER), Didascalia A postolorum Syriace (Leipzig, 1854). His attempted restoration of the Greek text was published in BUNBEN, Analecta Antenicaena (London, 1854), with the title Didascalia purior, for he gratuitously omitted a good deal as interpolated. Another Syriac ed. from other MSS. by GIBSON, The Didascalia Ap. in Syriac, tr. EADEM, The Didasc. Ap. in English (both at Cambridge Univ. Press, 1903, as Horae Semiticae, I and II); French tr. by NAU, Ancienne litterature syriaque (extrait du Canoniste Contemporain, Feb., 1901, May, 1902). The Latin version, from a palimpsest at Verona, was published by HAULER Didascaliae Apostolorum fragmenta Veronensia latina (Leipzig, 1900). FUNK'S writings on the subject include the monograph Die apostolischen Konstitutionen (Rottenburg, 1891), La date de la Didascalie des Apôtres (Rev. d'hist. eccl., 1891, Oct.), reprinted in German in his Kirchengesch. Abhandlungen (Paderborn 1907), III, 13, articles in the Theol. Quartalschrift (1893, and 1903-4), and the great edition already mentioned, Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum edidit F. X. Funk (2 vols. Paderborn, 1906). HARNACK's views are found in Texte und Untersuchungen, II, i, 2 (1884) and v (1886), IX, ii, 2 (1893), and in Gesch. der atlchr. Lit., I, 515, and II, 2 (i.e. Chronol., II), 488, where a good bibliography will be found; HOLZHEY, Die Abhangigkeit der Syr. Didasc. v. d. Didache (Compterendu du 4me Congres sc. internat. des Cath., 1898, I), Die beiden Rezensionen der Ign. Briefe u. die ap. Didasc.( Theol. Quartalschr., 1898, 380), and Dionys v. Alex. und die Didasc. (Theol.-pract. Monatschr., 1901, 515 he attempts to distinguish three recensions, the first being known to Dionysius, but he has not convinced Funk or Harnack). ACHELIS AND FLEMMING, Die syrische Didascalia ubersetzt und erklart (Texte und Unters., XXV, ii, 1904, an important contribution). See also BABDENHEWER, Gesch. der altkirchl. Lit. II, and EHRHARD, Altchr. Lit. bis 1900, for further bibliography. The so-called Arabic Didascalia is merely a version of the Apostolic Constitutions. Only fragments of it have been published; they will be found in FUNK'S ed. of the Apostolic Constitutions, II (1906), 120, see also p. xxviii, and his earlier monograph (1901), 207; RIEDEL, Die Kirchenrechts Quellen des Patriarchats Alex. (1900). A variety of this version was found lately in the Propaganda library, by BAUMSTARK. He describes it in Oriens Christianus, III, 201 (1903). On this discovery see FUNK in Th. Quartalschr. (1904), 233, reprinted in his Kirchengesch. Abh. (1907), III, xviii.

John Chapman.

References

  1. Back to citation Woolfenden, Gregory W. (2004). Daily Liturgical Prayer: Origins and theology. Ashgate Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-7546-1601-6.
  2. Back to citation Stewart-Sykes 2009, pp. 4, 53.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Bradshaw, Paul F. (2002). The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship. Oxford University Press. pp. 78–80. ISBN 978-0-19-521732-2.
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Johnson, Lawrence J. (2009). Worship in the Early Church: An Anthology of Historical Sources. Vol. 1. Liturgical Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-8146-6197-0.
  5. Back to citation Stewart-Sykes 2009, pp. 22–29.
  6. Back to citation Doerfler, Maria E. "Didascalia Apostolorum". Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  7. Back to citation Holger Zellentin, The Qurʾān’s Legal Culture The Didascalia Apostolorum as a Point of Departure, Mohr Siebeck 2013. See pp. 31-32 for influence on various texts from the third through seventh centuries in particular.
  8. Back to citation Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum, ed. F. X. Funk (2 vols. Paderborn, 1906).
  9. Back to citation Strecker, Georg. "On the Problem of Jewish Christianity," in Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (trans. Robert Kraft from the 1934 German original). Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971.
  10. Back to citation Gibson, Margaret Dunlop; Connolly, R. Hugh (1929). The Didascalia Apostolorum in English. C. J. Clay and Sons, Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  11. Back to citation Johnson, Maxwell E. (2007). The Rites of Christian Initiation: Their evolution and interpretation (2nd ed.). Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-8146-6215-1. OCLC 123485489.
  12. Back to citation occurrence 12.0 Back to citation occurrence 12.1 Ehrman, Bart (2012). Forgery and Counterforgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics. Oxford University Press. p. 360–363; 401–403. ISBN 9780199928033.
  13. Back to citation Ekenberg, Anders (2007). "Evidence for Jewish Believers in "Church Orders" and Liturgical Texts". In Skarsaune, Oskar; Hvalvik, Reidar (eds.). Jewish Believers in Jesus. Hendrickson Publishers. pp. 649–653. ISBN 978-1-56563-763-4.
  14. Back to citation Lenk, Marcie E. (2014). "The Apostolic Constitutions and the Law". In Aitken, Ellen Bradshaw; Fossey, John (eds.). The Levant: Crossroads of Late Antiquity / Le Levant: Carrefour de l'Antiquité tardive. McGill University Monographs in Classical Archaeology and History 22. Brill. pp. 113–121. doi:10.1163/9789004258273_007. ISBN 9789004258273.
  15. Back to citation "Didascalia Apostolorum Syriace (online copy in Latin and Syriac)". Internet Archive. Retrieved 30 June 2026.

Bibliography

  • Stewart-Sykes, Alistair (2009). The Didascalia Apostolorum: An English Version. Studia Traditionis Theologiae: Explorations in Early and Medieval Theology. Brepols Publishers. ISBN 978-2-503-52993-6.
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