DIDACHE - BILINGUAL EDITION ENGLISH AND GREEK: TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES | A.D. 60 - 90 (Patristic Series Book One)

The Didache is one of the most important sources from the age of the Apostolic Fathers is “The Lord’s Teaching through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations,” commonly referred to by its short name, the Didache (Greek for “teaching”). While the Didache was lost until the mid-19th century, it was known to and quoted by the Fathers Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and St. Athanasius, the latter of whom recommended it for the instruction of catechumens. Indeed, the importance of the Didache is such that some of the Fathers considered it part of the New Testament, though ultimately it was not included in the canon. The author of the Didache does not give his name; the title should not be seen as a claim to authorship by the Twelve themselves, but as an indication that it passes down what they taught. Rather than teaching doctrine, the Didache focuses on prescribing ecclesiastical discipline and moral and liturgical practice. As such, it is considered the first of all Church Orders, and Johannes Quasten calls it the prototype of all ecclesiastical law [Patrology, Vol. 1, 1950, p. 30], a judgment vindicated by the other early sources that borrowed from it: these include, in 3rd-century Egypt, the Apostolic Church Ordinance, and in 4th-century Syria, the Apostolic Constitutions. Equally important, it gives us an idea of the life of the 2nd-century Christian community.