The Didache

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Didjaredit? Quiz

• 1. What the Didache is The teaching of the
  ___ _______________.
• 2. What are the two ways mentioned in the
  Didache?
• What 2 Sacraments are mentioned in the Didache?
• Chapter 8 says that Christians should fast on the
  _________ () day of the week.
• The 10th chapter of the Didache contains a prayer
  for after _______________.
• The final chapter enjoins all to watch for?

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• The Didache is also called the The Teaching of
  the Twelve Apostles
• Didache means "Teaching
• is a brief early Christian treatise,
• dated by most scholars to the late first/early sec
  ond century.
• The first line of this treatise is "Teaching of
  the Lord to the Gentiles (or Nations) by the
  Twelve Apostles"

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PARTS

• The text have parts which may have constituted
  the first written catechism (religion book!)
• The contents may be divided into four parts,
  which most scholars agree were combined from
  separate sources by a later redactor
• 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, andCommunion (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.

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• It was considered by some of the Church
  Fathers as part of the New Testament but rejected
  as non-canonical by others, and eventually it was
  not accepted into the New Testament canon.
• Lost for several centuries, the Didache was
  rediscovered in 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios,
  Metropolitan of Nicomedia. While in Istanbul, he
  discovered the manuscript in the Jerusalem
  Monastery of the Most Holy Sepulcher.
• An English translation was first published in
  1883.
• It is considered part of the collection
  of Apostolic Fathers.

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• The Didache of the Twelve Apostles had been
  written and widely disseminated by about the year
  100, and became increasingly important in the
  second and third Christian centuries.
•  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."

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• The Didache is mentioned by Eusebius (c. 324
  first known Church historian) as the Teachings of
  the Apostles following the books recognized
  as canonical.
• Athanasius (367) and Rufinus (c. 380) list
  the Didache among apocrypha.
•  The section Two Ways shares the same language
  with the Epistle of Barnabas, chapters 18-20,
  sometimes word for word, sometimes added to,
  dislocated, or abridged.
• There are echoes in Justin Martyr,Tatian, Theophil
  us of Antioch, Cyprian, and Lactantius.

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Matthew and the Didache

• 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.
• Modern scholars do not 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.
• Also, the Two Ways teaching (Did. 1-6) may have
  served as a pre-baptismal instruction within the
  community of the Didache and Matthew.
• Some scholars also consider the Didache to come
  from the preaching of Sts. Paul and Barnabus
  Apostles to the Gentiles.

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Therefore

• The Didache is one of the earliest Christian
  documents we have.
• Regarded as a church handbook and not a Gospel or
  absolutely based on the teachings of Jesus
• Provides valuable insights concerning the moral
  doctrines, theology, rituals, and congregational
  testing of apostles and prophets, and the basic
  organization of 1st century Christianity.

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The Didascalia

• The Ethiopian Orthodox Church accepts the
  DIDASCALIA as part of their New Testament.
• The Ethiopian Orthodox believe Christ had one
  nature, not two natures, as Catholics believe.
  (Comes from the Monophysite heresy, p. 44 in
  green text)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vNJfbtupcGbs
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v7UATMs3V5FQ
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vEmJWEPzLq1k

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How is it different from the Didache?

• The Didascalia, or the Catholic Teaching of the
  Twelve Apostles and Holy Disciples of Our
  Saviour, is a Church Order, composed, according
  to recent investigations, in the first part,
  perhaps even the first decades, of the third
  century, for a community of Christian converts
  from paganism in the northern part of Syria. The
  work is modelled on the Didache (cf. vol. I, pp.
  29-39) and forms the main source of the first six
  books of the Apostolic Constitutions.

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Author

• The unknown author of the Didascalia seems to
  have been of Jewish descent. A bishop with a
  considerable knowledge of medicine, he lacked
  special theological training. He makes ample use
  of Holy Scripture and borrows from the Didache,
  Hermas, Irenaeus, the Gospel of Peter and
  the Acts of Paul.

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Some 1st Ctry. Christian Artfound in Catacombs
of Rome
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Madonna and Child
Earliest known Madonna from 1st Ctry Catacomb of
St. Priscilla in Rome.
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• Christ the philosopher seated much like
  Socrates with his disciples notice the Greek
  toga.

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The Good Shepherd (of Hermas)
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The FISH
Christian symbols of two fish and what appears to
be a trident, which was probably a disguise for
the cross symbol, which might identify the person
as a Christian and subject his family to
persecution. Catacombs. Pictures of Crucifixion
didnt appear until about 4th Ctry.
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Ichthys

• Ichthys is ancient Greek word for FISH.
• used by Early Christians as a secret
  symbol1 and now known colloquially as the "sign
  of the fish" or the "Jesus fish."
• Ichthys can be read as an acrostic
• Iota (i) is the first letter of Iesous (??s???),
  Greek for "Jesus".
• Chi (ch) is the first letter of Christos (???st??)
  , Greek for "anointed".
• Theta (th) is the first letter of Theou (Te??),
  Greek for "God's", the genitive case
  of Teó?,Theos, Greek for "God".
• Upsilon (u) is the first letter of huios (????),
  Greek for "Son".
• Sigma (s) is the first letter of soter (S?t??),
  Greek for "Savior".

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The Alexamenos Graffito The graffito shown below
is from first century (AD) Rome. Thought to have
been scratched on a beam of plaster somewhere on
the Palatine Hill in Rome. The significance of
this graffito is the portrayal (or caricature) of
early Christianity by the average Roman. It
obviously mocks a Christian, suggesting that his
worship is ill-founded. The human figure with the
ass head on the cross is presumably Jesus, which
may represent the old calumny against Jews that
they worshipped an ass. Says in Greek,
"Alexamenos worshipping God.
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Earliest Known Christian Hymn

• Outside of the Hymns in the New Testament (for
  which we have no known music), the earliest known
  hymn is found in the eastern tradition the Phos
  Hilaron or in English, O Gladsome Light.
• This hymn was mentioned by St. Jerome in about
  150 AD as already having been an old hymn in
  the Church.

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• Verbatim translation
• O Light gladsome of the holy glory of the
  Immortal Father,
• the Heavenly, the Holy, the Blessed, O Jesus
  Christ,
• having come upon the setting of the sun, having
  seen the light of the evening,
• we praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy
  Spirit God.
• Worthy it is at all times to praise Thee in
  joyful voices,
• O Son of God, Giver of Live, for which the world
  glorifies Thee.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vifZmG01v0YU