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BS 2860 .T91 A3 1885 Didache.
The Teaching of the twelve apostles
THE TEACHING
OF
THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
EALI.ANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. tUINBUKGH AND LONDON
The Teaching
of
The Twelve Apostles
Aibaxn Twv buibexa AttoctoXwv
^ translation taitl) iJ5ote0 ;
AND EXCURSUS (I. TO IX.) ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE "TEACHING, AND THE GREEK TEXT.
BY
CANON SPENCE, M.A,
VICAR OF S. PANCRASi
%onbont
JAMES NtSBEt & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
MDCCCLXXXV.
This Book may be 07'dered from
J. R. Evans, 14 Magdalen Street, Oxford ; Deighton, Bell, & Co., Trinity Street, Cambridge And all Booksellers.
CONTENTS.
PAGK
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF " THE TEACHING OF THE
TWELVE apostles" AND COMMENTARY ... 7
EXCURSUS I.
EARLY HISTORY OF " THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE
APOSTLES " 77
EXCURSUS II.
SOURCE AND AUTHORSHIP OF ** THE TEACHING OF THE
TWELVE apostles" 85
EXCURSUS III.
the testimony OF "the TEACHING OF THE TWELVE
apostles " TO THE '* CANON " lOI
EXCURSUS IV.
THE RELATION OF THE "TEACHING" TO THE EPISTLE OF
BARNABAS AND "THE SHEPHERD" OF HERMAS . . I09
EXCURSUS V.
THE PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS CONTAINED IN THE COMMEN- TARY IN THIS TRANSLATION OF THE "TEACHING" . II 5
vi CONTENTS.
EXCURSUS VI.
PAGE
THE APOSTLES OF THE " TEACHING " .... 12$
EXCURSUS VII.
THE PROPHET OF THE FIRST DAYS OF CHRISTIANITY . I33
EXCURSUS VIII.
THE POSITION OF THE "TEACHER" IN THE EARLY CHRIS- TIAN COMMUNITY 143
EXCURSUS IX.
THE BISHOPS AND DEACONS OF "THE TEACHING OF THE
TWELVE apostles" I47
"THE OLD paths" 157
GREEK TEXT OF " Aidaxh tCjv 5u8eKa ATrocrdXuv" . . 171
TEACHING
OF THE
TWELVE APOSTLES.
TEACHING OF THE LORD, THROUGH THE TWELVE APOSTLES, TO THE GENTILES.^
CHAPTER I.
There are two ways, one of life and one of death,^ but the difference between the two ways
1. Teaching of the Lord, through the Twelve Apostles, to the Gentiles. — There is a shorter title, " Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," but the longer appears to have been the original name of the document. A yet more abbre- viated form was, " Teaching of the Apostles."
The designation of the " Teaching ^o the Gentiles " re- minds us of the Jewish source of the document.
2, There are two ways, one of life and one of death. — The metaphor of the two ways, the way of life and the way of death, was a favourite one with Jewish teachers. So Jer. xxi. 8, " Thus saith the Lord : Behold, I set
8 TEACHING OF
before you the way of life and the way of death." It was used by Jesus Christ in His well-known picture of the broad and narrow ways, the one leading to life, the other to destruction (S. Matt. vii. 13, 14). In imitation of their Master, early Christian writers and preachers constantly used this imagery. " There are two ways of teaching and authority, one of light and the other of darkness ; but there is a great difference between these two ways. For over one are posted the angels of God, who bear light, while over the other are the angels of Satan " (" Epistle of Barnabas," chap, xviii.) The words of Barnabas here so closely re- semble the " Teaching " of the Apostles, that it is evident that either one must have copied from the other, or else that both writings must have been based on a still older document. (See Excursus IV.)
Hermas, in the " Shepherd," a treatise written in the first half of the second century, adopts the same imagery of the " two ways." He writes, " The path of righteous- ness is straight, but that of unrighteousness is crooked. But walk in the straight and even way, and mind not the crooked ... it is hurtful to those who walk in it. . . ."^ You see then that it is better to walk in this road (that is the path of righteousness). I wish to travel by this road I said. You will travel along it, said He, and whoso- ever turns to the Lord with all his heart will walk in it." (Hermas, "Shepherd," Commandment vi. i.)
"The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," a writing also composed in the first half of the second century, probably among the Nazarenes, an orthodox Jewish sect whose head-
* The teacher in this dialogue is the " Shepherd "-angel sent by the higher angel to guide and instruct Hermas. He is described in Vision v. as a Man of glorious aspect, dressed like a shepherd, with a white goat's skin.
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 9
is great. ^This is the way of life: First, thou shalt love God who made thee ; secondly, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; and all things what- soever thou wouldst not have happen to thee, do not
quarters after the fall of Jerusalem, a.d. 70, were at Pella, a city of the Decapolis, enlarges upon this thought of the two ways which the writer says God hath given to men. The two ways suggest to him contrasts in everything be- longing to mortals. Good everywhere contending with evil. ("Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," "Asher.") The many points of contact between the "Teaching of the Apostles" and the " Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs " are discussed at length in Excursus II., pp. 95, 96.
To the extreme and abiding popularity in primitive Christian teaching of the figure of the two ways, Clement, the head of the famous catechetical school of Alexandria, in the last decade of the second century, bears a strikino- witness in the fifth book of his Stromata, where he writes : " The Gospel proposes two ways, as do likewise the Apostles and all the Prophets."^ They call the one narrow and cir- cumscribed which is hemmed in according to the command- ments and prohibitions, and the opposite one, which leads to destruction, broad and roomy, open to pleasures and wrath." (Stromata, book v. 5.)
3. This is the way of life.-— The writer of the " Teach- ing" in the following directions quotes apparently from memory certain sayings of our Lord contained in the Gospels of SS. Matthew and Luke. The passages in question are S. Matt. xxii. 37-39, vii. 12, v. 44-46, v. 39; S. Luke vL 31, 28-32, the Sermon on the Mount being the
* The Prophets alluded to are the men alluded to so frequently under this name in cur treatise.
lo TEACHING OF
thou do to another. Now, this is the teaching * of these words : Bless them that curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for them that persecute you : for what thank have ye if ye love them that love you? Do not the Gentiles also the same? But do you love them that hate you and you shall have no enemy.^ Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts. If any one give thee a blow on the right cheek, turn to him the other also, and thou shalt be perfect; if any one compel thee to go one mile, go with him two ; if any one take thy cloak, give him thy tunic also ; if any one take from thee what is thine, ask not for it back; ^for indeed thou canst
principal source. One direction, however, in this way of life, " Fast for them that persecute you," occurs in no Gospel or Epistle of the received Canon of New Testament Scriptures. It not improbably belonged to the oral tradi- tion of the Master's words.
4. Of these words. — The "words" here referred to, with little doubt, are the words spoken by the Lord Jesus, preserved in written or oral tradition.^
5. You shall have no enemy. — Another probable oral tradition of the Master's words. Neither the expression nor the thought occurs in any of the Gospels. S. Peter I. iii. 13, apparently refers to the same traditional teaching of the Lord.
6. For indeed thou canst not. — The true Christian portrayed in the " Teaching " could use no force himself ; nor even if injured ought he to have recourse to pagan tribunals. (Bryennios-Wiinsche.)
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. ii
not. To every one that asketh thee give^ and ask not back; ^for to all the Father wishes to give of His own gracious gifts. ^Blessed is he that giveth ^according to the commandment^ for ^^he is guilt- less; ^^ woe to him that taketh; for if, indeed, one
7. For to all the Father desires to give of His own gracious gift. — Our Lord speaks somewhat similarly in S. Matt. V. 45. This gracious and sublime view of God among the early Christians was used as a strong argument for a broad, far-reaching charity. Hermas in the " Shepherd" beautifully says : " From the rewards of your works which God bestows on you give to all the needy in simplicity, without pausing as to whom you are to give or not to give. Give to all, for God wishes His gifts to be shared by all." (" Shepherd," Commandment ii.)
8. Blessed is lie that giveth. — So our Lord : " Blessed are the merciful" (S. Matt. v. 7).
9. According to the commandment, for he is guiltless. — What commandment ? Probably the writer here referred to some traditional commandment of the Lord on the sub- ject of giving.
10. He is guiltless. — The Greek word rendered guiltless ddujog, occurs in S. Matt, xxvii. 24. (Wiinsche.)
11. Woe to him that taketh. — So Hermas writes: " They who receive will render an account to God why and for what they have received. For the afflicted who receive wiU not be condemned, but they who receive on false pre- tences will suffer punishment. He then who gives is guilt- less." (" Shepherd," Commandment ii.) The whole passage of Hermas reads like a paraphrase of the shorter and more obscure direction here in the " Teaching of the Apostles."
B
12 TEACHING OF
taketh who hath need, he shall be guiltless; but ^^ he who hath no need shall give account why he took, and for what end, and * being in sore straits,
* Or, coming under arrest.
The doctrine of the " Teaching " so far is somewhat as follows : — He walketh in the way of life who loveth God, and his neighbour as himself. He that hath this love knoweth how to convert his enemies into friends, for without murmuring he endures all things with brave patience, and never renders to any evil for evil. So too the heavenly Father from His own good things thus gives to all that ask, not noticing what the asker be, an enemy or one of the faithful, a just man or a sinner.
12. He who hath no need shall give account. — The change of scene here is startling in its abruptness, for it evidently refers to what will take place in the next world. Very severely will the impostor there be judged. Indeed, to mark his sense of the gravity of this crime of imposture in the Christian community, the writer of the " Teaching," in speaking of the final doom of the impostor, uses one of the sternest sayings of the pitiful Master.
The Apostolical Constitutions evidently refer to this direction in the "Teaching" in the fourth book, chap, iii., and speak of it as a saying of the Lord, curiously coupling it with that other traditional saying of the Master quoted by S. Paul, Acts XX. 35. The passage is as follows : — " Since even the Lord said, the giver was happier than the receiver. For it is said again by Him, Woe to those that have and receive in hypocrisy ; or those who are able to support themselves, yet will receive of others : for both of them shall give account to the Lord God in the day of judgment." (Apost. Constit. iv. 3.)
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 13
shall be examined concerning what he did^ and shall not go out thence ^^ until he pay the last farthing. But ^*it hath been also said concerning this matter : Let thine alms drop like sweat into thy hands, ^^ so long * as thou knowest to whom thou givest. * Or, until.
The Apostolical Constitutions in their present form, according to Krabbe, were written towards the end of the third century. Other scholars place them a century later. Bunsen considers they were based upon materials dating from the second and third centuries.
13. Until he pay the last farthing. — The words are apparently quoted from S. Matt. v. 25, 26, and S. Luke XX. 58, 59, and refer, as in the Gospels, to the state of the soul after death.
14. It hath also been said concerning this matter, Let thine alms drop like sweat into thine hands. — The' *' Teaching " is clearly referring here to some unwritten traditional saying of authority spoken by our Lord or by one of His near followers. There is nothing, however, in the least resembling it in the Canonical Scripture of the New Testament. It is a very striking addition to the few unwritten traditions of authority which we posssess.
15. So long as thou knowest to whom thou givest. — A remarkable warning in these early days — when lavish generosity to all others was so pressingly enjoined — against indiscriminate almsgiving.
( 14 )
CHAPTER II.
^ Now the second commandment of the Teaching is: Thou shalt do no murder^ thou shalt not commit adultery^ thou shalt not corrupt boys, thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not practise magic, thou shalt not use enchantments, thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, nor what has been begotten shalt thou destroy. Thou shalt not desire the things belonging to thy neighbour, thou shalt not swear falsely, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not speak evil {of any), ^thou
1. Now the second commandment of the "Teaching"
is. — The writer of the '' Teaching " probably had the Epistle to the Romans (xiii. 9) before him. The coinci- dences with reference to this Epistle are still more marked in chap, iv. of the " Teaching." Several of the precepts here are identical, while others represent sufficiently faith- fully the thought of S. Paul in the concluding verses of the thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans ; warnings against the specially glaring sins of the pagan world in the early days of the empire are given to him who would choose the way of life.
2. Thou shalt not bear malice. — ov iMvvjffixuTirjgiig. The same word is used in the "Testaments of the Twelve Patri- archs." " My children, be ye devoid of malice, afivriaiJiccKoi,
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 15
shalt not bear malice. Thou shalt not be double- minded nor double-tongued; for a double-tongue is a snare of death. Thy speech shall not be false, nor empty, but practical. Thou shalt not be covet- ous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor malicious, nor proud. Thou shalt not take evil counsel against thy neighbour. Thou shalt hate no man, but some thou shalt reprove, and for some thou shalt pray, ^and some thou shalt love more than thy own life.
and love one another, and do not each of you be careful to take note of your brother's badness, for this breaks up unity and scatters to the winds all idea of kinship, and harasses the soul, for the malicious man /^vjjff/xaxo^ he is pitiless." (" Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," ''Zabulon," 8.)
There are several verbal correspondences between the "Teaching of the Apostles " and the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," but the resemblance in the teaching of the two documents is very marked. The special features which distinguished the sect of the Nazarenes, gentleness, benevolence, kindness, characterise both these early Chris- tian writings.
3. And some thou shalt love above thy life. — The writer of the " Teaching " here concludes his grave and simple directions with a charge of exquisite beauty. In that society no one was to be hated. The chooser of the way of life was to select some as the objects of his earnest per- suasions ; some as the subject of his prayers ; and some whom he was to love with the strange sublime love which was the special secret of the Christian.
( i6 )
CHAPTER III.
My child, fly from every evil thing, and from every- thing like it. Become not inclined to anger, for anger leadeth to murder ; ^ nor a fanatic, nor con- tentious, nor passionate ; for of all these things come murders. My child, become not lustful^ ^ for lust leadeth to fornication, nor a coarse speaker, ^nor one who makes signs with the eyes ; for of all these
1. Nor a fanatic. — /-t^j^s ^?;Xwr^f, not "a zealot." It seems probable that the Teacher here was warning the Jewish Christians in his flock against sympathising with those brave but mistaken patriots who in the long and bloody struggle with Rome were known as Zealots.
2. For lust leadeth to fornication. — Apparently the writer had the Epistle of S. James i. 14, 15 in his thoughts.
3. Nor one who makes signs with the eyes. — Liter- ally " lofty-eyed," V'^r}X6^da,Xfiog. The word is non-classical, and occurs neither in the LXX nor in the New Testament. The Apostolical Constitutions, in their paraphrase of this passage, substitute for it ^i-^6<pdaXfiog, casting lewd or wanton glances. See 2 Peter ii. 14. " Having eyes full of adultery." The same thought reappears in the "Testa- ments of the Twelve Patriarchs," " Issachar," chap, vii., and " Benjamin," chap. vi.
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 17
things come adulteries. My child, * become not an omen-watcher^ for it leads to idolatry; nor one who uses charms, nor an astrologer, nor one ^ who purifies, nor be even willing to look upon these things j for of all these things cometh idolatry. My child, ^ become not a liar, for a lie leads to theft ; nor a lover of money, nor vain-glorious ; for of all these things come thefts. My child, become not a murmurer, for it leads to blasphemy ; nor pre- sumptuous, nor evil-minded ; for of all these things
4. Become not an omen watcher. — Everything which partook of the nature of magic, incantations, philtres, and the Hke, were to be rigidly kept out of the simple pure life of the early followers of Jesus. Sorcery and enchantments were at all times an especial snare to the Hebrew race. It seems likely that the old Hebrew prohibitions in the case of these crimes induced the Jewish Christian author of the " Teaching " to introduce the matter here.
5. Nor one who purifies. — "rgf/xa^a/^wv, one who en- deavours to avert disease, or even to wipe away the stain of sin by sacrifices.
6. Become not a liar, for a lie leads to theft. — Clement of Alexandria, at the close of the twentieth chapter of the first book of the Stromata, definitely quotes this passage of the " Teaching " as Holy Scripture. " He who appropriates what belongs to barbarians and boasts of it as his own, errs, magnifying his own glory and falsifying the truth. It is such a one that is by Scripture called a thief. It is therefore said, So7t, be not a liar, for a lie leads to theft:'
1 8 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
come blasphemies. But be meek_, for ^the meek shall inherit the earth. Become long-suffering, and pitiful and guileless, and quiet and good, and trem- bling continually at the words which thou hast heard. Thou shalt not exalt thyself, nor shalt thou nourish thy soul with overweening confidence. Thy soul shall not associate with the high, but with the righteous and lowly shalt thou hold converse. ^ The things that befall thee accept as good^ know- ing that without God nothing comes to pass.
7. For the meek shall inherit the earth. — Almost verbatim from S. Matt. v. 5,
8. The things that befall thee accept as good, knowing that without God nothing comes to pass. — This sublime resignation and perfect trust was evidently one of the themes taught in the Alexandrian catechetical school by Clement, who certainly knew this treatise of the " Teaching " and often used it. Writing in the Stromata of the true Gnostic (the perfect Christian man), he says, " We shall take every- thing for good, even though the trials that come in our way, (trials) which Thine ordering brings to us for the training of our steadfastness, seem to be evil" (Stromata, vii. 12). And again, "(The true Gnostic) is not perturbed by anything that happens, nor does he view with suspicion those things which through divine arrangement take place for good " (Stromata, vii. 13).
( 19 )
CHAPTER IV.
^ My child, remember night and day him that speaks to thee the word of God, and thou shalt honour him as the Lord ; for ^ in the place where the glory of the Lord is spoken of there the Lord is. And thou shalt seek out daily ^ the faces of the saints, that thou mayest find refreshment in their words. Thou shalt not desire division, but shalt make peace between those who are at strife ; thou shalt judge justly, thou shalt not show par-
1. My child, him that speaks to thee the word of God remember night and day. — Heb. xiii. 7 : " Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God." The speakers of the *'Word of God " are further on in the " Teaching " divided into distinct orders of Apostles, Teachers, Prophets, Bishops, Deacons.
2. In the place where the glory of the Lord is spoken of. — The difficult expression xvpiorrjg, the glory of the Lord, is paraphrased in the Apostolical Constitutions by " Teaching about God." The glory of the Lord here clearly refers to the glory of Jesus Christ. It has been suggested to render it in this passage "the person of the Lord," z'.e. of Jesus Christ.
3. The faces of the saints. — Following the custom of the New Testament, the " Teaching " speaks of all the faithful as the saints. (Bryennios.)
20 TEACHING OF
tiality in rebuking transgressions. ^ Thou shalt not hesitate whether it shall be or not. ^Become
4. Thou shalt not doubt whether it shall be or not. — This might be paraphrased, " Do not hesitate, when thou pray est, whether or not thy prayer will be answered." The writer of the " Teaching " is here alluding to half- hearted prayers. Want of perfect faith and entire trust proceeded from a state of mind which the early Church viewed as utterly unreal and fraught with danger. S. James wrote, "A double-minded man (df-^v^og) is unstable in all his ways," chap, i. 8. Hermas very strongly writes, " Put away doubting from you, and do not hesitate to ask of the Lord, saying to yourself. How can I ask of the Lord and receive of Him, seeing I have sinned so much against Him ? Do not thus argue with yourself, but with all your heart turn to the Lord, and receive Him without doubting, and you will know the multitude of His tender mercies, that He will never leave you, but fulfil the request of your soul " (" Shepherd," Com. ix.) And again, " in none of your re- quests which you make to the Lord without doubting will you be denied, because those who doubt concerning God are- of double-soul, and obtain not one of their requests ; while those who are perfect in the faith ask everything, trusting in the Lord ; and they obtain, because they ask nothing doubt- ing, not being of double-soul. For every man of double- soul, even if he repent, will with difficulty be saved" ("Shepherd," Com. ix.)
5. Become not one who for taking stretches out the hands, etc. — A verbatim quotation from Sirach iv. 31. Again and again the Christian is urged by his teachers in these first days to be lavishly generous with his goods. This injunction is specially noticeable in this little treatise of the " Teaching of the Apostles."
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 21
not one who for taking stretches out his hands^ but for giving clenches them tight; if thou possessest anything, by thy hands thou shalt give ^a ransom for thy sins. Thou shalt not hesitate to give, nor in ^giving shalt thou murmur^ for thou must be well aware who is the noble Giver of the reward. Thou shalt not turn away from the needy, but thou shalt share all things with thy brother, and ^ shalt not say that they are thine own ; for if ye
6. A ransom for thy sins. — This was no new idea in Hebrew theology. We read in Daniel : " Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor," chap. iv. 2 7. The same teaching is repeated in the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs." "For in proportion as a man is pitiful towards his neigh- bour, will the Lord be pitiful towards him" ("Zabulon," 8).
7. Nor in giving shalt thou murmur. — This ungrudg- ing spirit of giving and helping others was constantly pressed home to the believer of the first days ; so S. Paul teaches when he writes of one who gives " not grudgingly, or of necessity : for God loveth a cheerful giver " (2 Cor. ix. 7) ; and S. Peter, when he draws a picture of the host who was bidden " Use hospitality one to another without grudging" (i Pet. iv. 9). A similar direction is given in the " Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs " (" Zabulon," 7), and also in Hermas, " Shepherd," Similitude ix.' chap. xxiv.
8. And not say that they are thine own. — A clear reference not only to the thought but to the very words of Acts iv. 32. "And the multitude of them that beheved were of one heart and of one soul : neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his
22 TEACHING OF
are ^fellow-partakers in that which is immortal, how much more in things which are mortal ? ^^ Thou
own, but they had all things common." The author of the " Teaching " probably knew of and used the writings of S. Luke, both the Gospel and the Acts.
9. For if ye are fellow-partakers in that wMch is immortal, how mucli more in things which are mortal ? — Apparently a memory of S. Paul. " For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things " (Rom. XV. 27). It has been already remarked that it is highly probable that the writer of the Treatise was well acquainted with S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
10. Thou shalt not take off thy hand from thy son and from thy daughter, "but from youth thou shalt teach them the fear of God. — This direction respecting the training in things religious the children of the family, was pressed by S. Paul (Eph. vi. 4) : " Bring them (the children) up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Clement of Rome, in his First Epistle to the Cor., perhaps the oldest undoubted Christian writing not included in our present Canon, but written very few years de/ore^ this "Teach- ing of the Apostles," speaks thus : " Let your children be sharers in true Christian training. Let them learn . . . how it saves all those who walk in it with a pure heart " (Clement of Rome, Ep. to Cor. xxi.)
Hermas, who wrote not many years later, thus teaches : " Do not cease then to admonish your sons, for I know that if they repent with all their heart, they will be written
* It is even doubtful whether the "Teaching" is not the older of the two.
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 23
shalt not take off thy hand from thy son and from thy daughter^ but from their youth thou shalt teach them the fear of God. Thou shalt not give direc- tions when thou art in anger to thy slave or thy handmaid, who trust in the same God^ lest per- chance they shall not fear the God who is over you both; for He cometh not to call me?i according to their outward position, but He cometh to those whom^^ the Spirit hath made ready. ^^And, ye slaves_, ye shall be subject to your masters, as to
together with the saints in the book of life." (Hermas, " Shepherd," Visions i, iii.)
11. The Spirit hath made ready. — The only mention, with the exception of the Baptismal Formula in chap, vii., of the Holy Spirit in the "Teaching." This, however, is a very clear and definite allusion to the work of the Spirit in the human heart. See Epistle to the Romans viii. 29-30.
1 2. And, ye slaves, ye shall be subject to your masters, as to God's image, etc. — In the pagan world slavery was inextricably interwoven with all relations of society. All that the Christian teacher could do at first was, in the case of the master, to appeal to his consciousness of the universal brotherhood of man, and in the case of the slave, to remind him of his solemn duty to bear with brave patience whatsoever lot God hath ordained for him in this short period of trial called the earthly life. This quiet teaching has, we know, borne splendid fruit, and as a result of Chris- tian teaching, the greatest curse of the old world, without any violent or destructive revolution, has well-nigh vanished from the face of the world.
S. Paul in Eph. vi. 5-9 clearly set forth the mutual
24 TEACHING OF
God^s imagCj in modesty and fear. Thou shalt hate all hypocrisy, and everything which is not pleasing to the Lord. Thou shalt by no means forsake the Lord's commandments, but thou shalt keep what thou hast received^ ^^ neither adding to
duties of master and slave, framing his teaching upon the lines of thought above indicated, and gave the first blow to the unnatural institution. He repeated his teaching as regards slaves in his letter to Titus (ii. 9). See, too, his httle letter to Philemon. And S. Peter in his First Epistle presses the duty of brave patience and fidelity upon the sad slave class, many of whom had evidently welcomed the teaching of Jesus Christ.
Ignatius, in the first years of the second century, in his Epistle to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, writes, '' Do not despise either male or female slaves, yet neither let them be puffed up with conceit, but rather let them submit them- selves the more for the glory of God, that they may win (for themselves) a better liberty from God. Let them not desire to be set free at the public cost, lest they be found slaves to their own desires." (Ignatius to Polycarp, chap, iv.)
13. Neither adding to it nor taking from it. — The author of the " Teaching " no doubt here quoted from Deut. xii. 32, "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it : thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." It is possible that the writer here had read the words of the curse which S. John in his concluding words of the Revelation pronounces upon the man who adds to or takes away from the words of the divine prophecy.
Still for a trained Jew, such as evidently the author of this treatise must have been, the Deuteronomy passage most likely was in his mind when he wrote this charge.
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 25
it nor taking from it. In the church ^* thou shalt confess thy transgressions, and ^^ shalt not come to thy prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life.
14. Thou shalt confess thy transgressions. — Similarly S. James taught (v. 16), " Confess your sins one to another, and pray," etc.
There are several very close points of comparison be- tween the precepts given by S, James in his epistle and the directions in the " Teaching."
15. Thou shalt not come to thy prayer with an evil conscience. — So Clement of Alexandria taught that "he who holds converse with God must have his soul immacu- late and stainlessly pure." (Stromata, vii. 7.)
( 26 )
CHAPTER V.
Now this is ^ the way of death : first of all it is evil, and full of curse ; murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, enchantments, philtres, robberies, false testimonies, hypocrisies,
I. The way of death. — The agreement of this chapter with the Epistle of Barnabas, chap, xx., is very close; but a comparison between the two will show how much simpler are the expressions used in the " Teaching." A very similar catalogue of crimes is to be found in Hermas, Com. viii. The terrible catalogue of vices which belong to this " way " portray only too faithfully the state of society of the pagan world in the first century of the Christian era. A shorter summary of the same vices will be found in the Apocalypse (xxii, 15) : " For without (the city) are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.*' The latter clauses of this chapter paint the utter selfishness of the opponents of Christianity. We find in the Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnasans a similar picture drawn. " They have no regard for love, no care for the widow, or the orphan, or the oppressed, the slave or the free ; none for the hungry or for the thirsty." (Ignatius to the Smyrnasans, c. vii.)
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 27
duplicity, deceit, pride, baseness, self-will, greed, foul speech, jealousy, audacity, haughtiness, boast- fulness ; persecutors of the good, hating truth, loving falsehood, not knowing the reward of right- eousness, not cleaving to what is good nor to right- eous judgment, on the watch not for good but for evil ; far from whom are meekness and brave patience, loving vanities, pursuing after a recom- pense, not pitying a poor man, not * afflicted with the afflicted, not knowing Him that made them, murderers of children, corrupters of the image of God, turning away from him that is in need, oppressing him that is in trouble, advocates of the rich, lawless judges of the poor, sinners in everything: may ye be preserved, children, from all these.
* Perhaps more literally, " not troubling oneself with the afflicted."
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CHAPTER VI.
See that no one lead thee astray from this way of the teaching, because apart from God does he teach thee. For if thou art able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou shalt be perfect ; ^ but if thou art not able, what thou art able, that do. And 2 as regards food, what thou art able, bear ;
1. But if thou art not able, what thou art able, that do. — Such an observation is especially characteristic of the gentle and tolerant spirit of the writer. The thought in the Epistle of Barnabas, chap, xix., is somewhat similar : " As far as thou art able, thou shalt be pure in thy soul ; " and in the so-called Second Epistle of Clement : " Should we not all be able to win the crown, let us at least come near it " (chap, vii.) (This Epistle is mentioned by Eusebius, H,E. iii. 38, but as of doubtful authority.)
2. As regards food, what thou art able, bear. — *' The context clearly shows that this is not an allusion to fasting, but to the burdensome distinction between clean and unclean meats, from which the Jewish Christians were only slowly emancipated. This is another clear proof of the early date of the treatise." (Archdeacon Farrar.)
It was a reminder rather than a command from the wise
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 29
but ^of that offered to idols be thou indeed on thy guard; for it is a worship of dead gods.
and kindly Teacher to Christian Gentiles, who would of course be frequently brought into intimate relations with Christian Jews, to do all that in them lay to avoid all giving offence to their fellow-religionists in these matters connected with the old law. They, the Gentile Christians, were not to consider themselves in any way burdened with the old Levitical law, but they were to do all they could not to shock the Jewish conscience. So S. Paul in Rom. xiv. ; i Cor. viii., x. 19, 33.
3. Of that offered to idols, be thou indeed on thy guard; for it is a worship of dead gods. — "S. Paul's rule about food offered to idols had been much less stringent. He said ask no question, but eat whatsoever is sold in the market, or is put before you, except in cases where by so doing you would offend the conscience of weaker brethren. The writer here is more rigid, probably because the compromise had become more dangerous." (Farrar.)
A remarkable passage in the Letter to Diognetus, a writing which dates from the last years of the first or the very early years of the second century, shows us with what contemptuous abhorrence these 'dead gods' were looked upon by Christian teachers of the first days. *' Come and gaze, not merely with your eyes but with your under- standing, on the substance and the form of those whom you pronounce and consider to be gods. Is not one of them stone ... Is not a second brass ... Is not a third wood ? . . . Are they not all deaf, are they not all blind, are they not lifeless . . . are they not all liable to rot ? . . . These things ye call gods. These ye serve. These ye worship ! " (Ep. to Diognetus, c. ii.)
CHAPTER VII.
Now as regards baptism^ thus baptize ye : having
I. Now as regards baptism, thus baptize ye, having first rehearsed all these things. — Two points are clearly indicated here by the writer of our treatise.
a. No one is to be baptized until certain definite instruc- tion has been given. " All these things " refer to what has gone before and to what follows after in this little docu- ment. In these the one to be baptized is to be fully instructed, and —
b. This instruction, while thorough in its bearing upon practice, was evidently quite simple in its character, such as unlearned folk could grasp.
Purity, truthfulness, self-denying generosity are enjoined as requisites in the first part of the " Teaching." In the second, the "Baptized" is directed to pray often and regularly, not to neglect the public gathering together for divine worship, and to share constantly in the Holy Eucharist. This, with a few warnings and instructions respecting the Teachers to be listened to and honoured, and a reminder to be ever on the watch for the second coming of the Lord, was the sum of the " Teaching " which was to be rehearsed in the ears of the candidate for baptism.
It must, howeverj be remembered that in chapter iv. of
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 31
first rehearsed all these things, ^ baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
the " Teaching" we read : " My child, remember night and day him that speaks to thee the word of God," rov Xoyov rou ©soD. In this " word of God " doubtless was compre- hended the whole story of the redemption of Christ ; it being perfectly clear that at least the Gospel of S. Matthew, and most probably that of S. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, and much also of the teaching of S. Paul, were well known to the writer of our treatise."^
2. Baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. — While considerable license was permissible in the description of water used — running or other water, while immersion or aspersion were alike sanctioned — the use of the Baptismal Formula given by the Son — in the name of the ever-blessed Trinity — is declared here to be absolutely necessary for the validity of the rite. The words of the formula were used by our Lord in the institution of the blessed sacrament, S. Matt, xxviii. 19. "Another and most ancient proof that from the beginning the Church in this most holy rite used the words of the Gospel."
Justin Martyr, who wrote only a few years later (in the first half of the second century), describes Christian baptism in almost the same terms, " As many as are persuaded and believe that the things taught and spoken by us are true, and promise to be able to live accordingly, are taught to pray and to entreat God with fasting for the remission
* There is little doubt that the writer of this treatise was also acquainted, if not with the Gospel at least with much of St. John's teaching, possibly oral. Some of the coincidences in thought are very striking.
32 TEACHING OF
Holy Spirit, ^in running water. But if thou hast not running water, baptize in other water; and *if thou canst not in cold, then in warm. But if
of their past sins, we at the same time praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us to a place where there is water, and are regenerated in the same way in which we ourselves were regenerated. For in the name of the Father and Lord of the whole universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water (^ro Iv rSi vdocn rors Xovr^ov 'TTOiovvrai). For Christ too said, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Justin Martyr, Apology I. Ixi.)
3. In running water. — Water in motion, either as in a fountain or in a stream. A picture in the Catacomb of S. Callixtus at Rome, dating from about A.D. 200, repre- sents a youth standing ankle-deep in water, and receiving baptism by the pouring of water upon his head. [See Northcote and Brownlow's "Roma Sotteranea," ii. Plate xv.] The passage before us apparently recommends just this mode of performing the rite. If this should be impractic- able, then fresh cold water might be similarly used (in a font). If cold water could not be had, warm water would answer. If neither cold nor warm water in sufficient quantity (ankle deep) could be had, then pouring only (upon the head) would suffice." (Professors Hitchcock and Brown, U.. S.)
4. If thou canst not in cold, then in warm. — A pro- vision in the event of sickness or weakness in the case of the candidate for baptism. This direction does not necessarily imply that the " Teaching " was addressed to dwellers in a distant country. In Jerusalem and Palestine, where we
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 33
thou hast neither^ ^pour water upon the head thrice, into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism ^let the baptizer and the
believe the writer and those he addressed lived, the weather was often cold enough (S, Luke xxii. 55, 56) to render necessary some such concession in the case of the weak and sickly.
5. Pour water upon the head thrice. — That is to say, that in the event of there not being at hand a sufficiency of water for immersion, sprinkling the water thrice on the head with the use of the Baptism Formula in the name of the ever-blessed Trinity, would suffice.
6. Let the baptizer and the baptized fast. — There is no trace in the Gospels of any such injunction on the part of our Lord. Indeed, throughout the Divine teaching there is a marked reticence on the subject of fasting. The undue value set by the Pharisees upon such abstinence (which probably often degenerated into a mere sham and pretence), "I fast twice in the week" (S. Luke xviii. 12), was no doubt the reason of our Lord's silence. Yet from such passages as " Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting" (S. Matt. xvii. 21 ; S. Mark ix. 29), and S. Matt. vi. 16, 17, 18, it would seem as though the Master had not omitted to dwell on this subject with His own. In the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," a work which scholars variously date from A.D. 70 to A.D. 200 (it was probably written in the first quarter of the second century), and which has a close and intimate connection in thought and teaching with this treatise which we are now discussing, fasting assumes a definite and important position in life and teaching. (See "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," "Joseph," 3.)
34 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
baptized fast^ and any others who can ; but the baptized thou shalt command to fast for one or two days before.
That fasting in the very early Christian Church was by no means confined to the Jewish Christians and the Nazarene school, the testimony of Justin Martyr in the above-quoted passage on baptism (Apol. i. Ixi.) is de- cisive.
Incidentally this direction, that the baptized should fast one or two days before, is an indication of the very early date of this " Teaching," as it clearly shows that the writer is thinking mainly of adult converts.
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CHAPTER VIII.
But let not your fasts be arranged ^in common with the hypocrites; for ^they fast on the second
1. In common with the hypocrites. — Clear allusion is here made to the Pharisees. The Lord's bitter denuncia- tion of the Pharisee in S. Matt, xxiii. ; His scathing criticism on the customary hypocritical fasting, S. Matt, vi. 1 6 ; the contrast presented by the Pharisee, who boasted of his fasting twice a week, with the justified pubhcan, S. Luke xviii. 11-14, — all this had made a deep impression on the writer of the " Teaching." To him evidently the hypocrite was synonymous with the Pharisee ; the name needed no explanation.
2. They fast on the second day of the week and on the fifth. — In the oral law, as expounded by the Pharisee school, the Jews were instructed to fast on the Monday, the traditional day of the going up of Moses to meet the Lord on Sinai ; and on Thursday, the traditional day of his descent from the holy mount.
For these days, now become hateful owing to their con- nection with the Pharisees, the teachers of the followers of Jesus substituted as the regular days for fasting, the Wednesday, the day of their Master's betrayal, and the Friday, the day of the crucifixion, here termed the fourth
36 TEACHING OF
day of the week and on the fifth ; but do ye fast on the fourth, and the preparation day. ^ Neither pray ye like the hypocrites, but * as the Lord com- manded in His Gospel, ^thus pray: Our Father
and the preparation day (S. Matt, xxvii. 62 ; S. Luke xxiii. 54 ; S. Mark xv. 42 ; S. John xix. 42). This is the earUest intimation we possess of the adoption of the Wed- nesday and Friday as the appointed fast-days in the Christian Church.
3. Neither pray ye like the hypocrites. — The Lord's warnings against the Pharisees, and the persistent enmity of this school to His work, evidently had made, as we have observed above, a very deep impression upon the Jewish Christian community whence issued this writing. Twice the gentle and conciliatory spirit of the author of the "Teaching" is aroused to stern denunciation. "Fast, but not as the hypocrite Pharisees, so sternly condemned by the pitiful Master. Pray, but not as they pray."
4. As the Lord commanded in His GospeL — A dis- tinct reference to the Gospel of S. Matthew. There is scarcely any doubt but that when this " Teaching " was written, the Gospel bearing now S. Matthew's name existed in the form in which we possess it, and also that it was known and used in the Christian community addressed by the writer of this treatise.
5. Thus pray : our Father, etc. — The Lord's Prayer which here follows as the model for all daily, constant prayer, scarcely differs even verbally from that given by S. Matt. vi. 5-13 ; see, too, S. Luke xi. 2-4. Here we have " Thy will be done in heaven/' sv ovpuvu), instead of h ro7g ovsavoTg, in the heavens of SS. Matthew and Luke. And
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. ^j
which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth ; give us to-day our daily bread, and for- give us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. ^ Three times in the day pray ye thus.
here we find our debt rriv cxfaiXriv, instead of the plural ru 6(f):iX^aara of S. Matthew and rag af/.aPTla; of S. Luke.
The doxology is shorter and slightly different from the one found in the MSS. of S. Matthew, which insert the doxology, the "Teaching" omitting "kingdom" alto- gether.
6. Three times in the day pray ye thus. — This in- j'unction is no doubt derived from the well-known example of the Prophet Daniel, another of the many indications of the Jewish character of our document. " He (Daniel) went into his house ; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime" (Dan. vi. lo).
The special hours the writer of the " Teaching " leaves, as one would expect in so practical an instruction, quite undetermined. Clement of Alexandria gives another reason, however, for the well-known three times in the day. " The distribution of the hours into a threefold division, honoured with as many prayers, those are acquainted with who know the blessed triad of the heavenly dwellings." (Stromata, book vii. 7.)
The same Clement, however, rather depreciates this fixing definite prayer hours ; after mentioning the hours, third,
38 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
sixth, ninth, he goes on to say : " Yet the ' Gnostic ' prays throughout his whole life, endeavouring by prayer to have fellowship with God." (Stromata, book vii. c. 7.)
Harnack calls attention to the curious though unimpor- tant variations in the text of the Lord's Prayer given here in the " Teaching " —
The text of the Aida^rj varies from the text given in the latest edition of " Tischendorf," and that put forth by Drs. Westcottand Hort, in four places (exclusive of the Doxology, which the Aiday^rj inserts), viz., sXSstm for sXdclru, df/'g/Asi/ for cK^Yiy-afxiv^ and two hitherto unknown readings, viz., h Tt^j ovpavuj for sv roig ovpccvoTg^ and rr^v 6(j)iiXrjv for ra ocjaiXrifiaTcc (S. Luke rag d/^agr/ac). Most remarkable, however, is the text of the Doxology of the Ai^a^rj, which omits 57 (3aai- ?.s/a. This omission occurs only in the Sahidic Version. With this exception, all Greek MSS. and versions which contain the Doxology, read jj Sacr/Xs/a.
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CHAPTER IX.
^ Now as regards the Eucharist, thus give thanks ; * ^ first, as regards the cup : ^ We thank
* Or, celebrate the Eucharist.
1. Now as regards the Eucharist. — It is evident that very early in the Church of Christ the Lord's Supper, as it is termed by S. Paul (i Cor. xi. 20), was called iv^aoiffri'u. We find the term used by Ignatius in the first years of the second century in his Epistle to the Philadelphians : " Take ye heed then to have but one Eucharist," chap, iv., and again in his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans : " They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer," etc., chap. vii. ; and again : " Let that be considered a perfected Eucharist which is administered by the bishop, or by some one to whom he has intrusted it," chap. viii. But assuming the very early date of this " Teaching," we have here a still earlier use of the title " Eucharist " for the Holy Sacrament.
Justin Martyr, writing in the first half of the second century, after describing at length the ritual used in the administration of the Lord's Supper, after speaking in detail of the bread and wine, says, "And this food is called among us the Eucharist." (I. Apology, c. Ixvi.)
2. First, as regards the cup. — The blessing of the cup comes before that of the bread, as in the account of the first institution (S. Luke xxii. 14-19). So, too, S. Faul^rsi
40 TEACHING OF
Thee, our Father^ ^ for the holy vine of ^ David
mentions the blessing of the cup (i Cor. x. i6). But a few sentences further on the " Teaching " goes on to speak of eating and drinking in reverse order (the order uni- versally followed in the Church), as does S. Paul (i Cor. xi. 29). The author of the "Teaching" apparently had S. Luke's account of the institution before him as he wrote.
3. We thank Thee, our Father. — We have here three Eucharistic prayers — two before the act of receiving the bread and wine, and one a thanksgiving after receiving. These beautiful prayers are in their forms of expression new to theologians. The compiler of the seventh book of the Apostolical Constitutions, who has worked up so much of our treatise of the " Teaching " in his compilation, has completely altered this primitive Hturgy.
" How old," writes Harnack, commenting upon them, " must that third prayer be ? " Who composed them ? in what august assemblies of the Lord's first disciples may not these words have been reverently uttered ? Is it not probable that after " Our Father " we possess in these precious reliques the oldest Christian prayers ? The words, " Our Father," with which the first begins, are of course derived from the " Lord's Prayer."
4. For the holy vine of David, Thy servant. — " The vine of David," " that is Christ." (Bryennios.) The ex- pression " Holy vine of David " is a strange one."* It is, of
■ course, derived from our Lord's own words in His discourse spoken the evening before He suffered, on the vine and its
* " Some illustration of this language may possibly be supplied by early Christian art. At Hinton Parva, in Gloucestershire, is a font decorated with a vine, which has its origin in the mouth of a lamb." — Dean Howson.
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 41
^Thy servant, which Thou hast made known to
branches. " I am the true vine," etc. (S. John xv. i). It reminds us of the connection of His words then spoken with the Eucharist.
The expression^ though to us it seems an unusual one, was evidently well known to the teachers of the early Church. Clement of Alexandria uses it : " This (Jesus), who poured out for us the wine of the vine of David, that is to say, His blood." rig 0 GCfj^^ofMSvog 'n-Xovciog^ Section 28. He writes in another treatise, after speaking of the Word symbolically represented as a vine : " For the vine produces wine, as the Word produces blood, and both drink for health to men. For the body, wine ; for the spirit, blood." (Pedagogue, book i. 5,) And again, writing of the Lord's blood : " Is it not," he asks, " symbolically represented as wine ? Who washes His garment in wine. His robe in the blood of the grape." (Pedagogue, book i. 6.)
5. Of David. — The connection of David as the royal progenitor of King Messiah was a famiUar one, we know, in the first days of the faith, when Hebrew thought still tinged deeply well-nigh every writing and address. See, too, S. Luke xviii. 38, 39, where the blind man of Jericho twice addresses our Lord as " Son of David," and the Master's own words, " How say they that Christ is David's son?"(S. Luke XX. 41, 44.) Compare, too, S. Matthew xxi. 9 and 15, which passages relate how the multitude in the open way and the children in the temple cried Hosanna to the Son of David.
6. Thy servant, rou '^aidog aov. — The same expression ^a7g, servant (minister), or son (child), is used for David and the Lord Jesus indifferently by S. Luke (Acts iii. 13, 26, iv. 25, 27, 30), where the Authorised Version in the first two passages renders iraidcx. by son ; in the third 'Traidog (where it
42 TEACHING OF
us through Jesus Thy Son ; to Thee be glory for ever. ^ And as regards the broken bread : ^ We thank Thee^ our Father, for the life and the knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy Son ; to Thee be glory for ever. ^ Just as this broken bread was once scattered ingrains of corn over the hills, and having been gathered together became one, so let
is used of David) by servant ; in the last two 'Tratda. and ctc//5oj by c/iz7d.
7. And-as regards the broken bread, xXac^a. — " That is, the bread broken in the Eucharist." (Bryennios.)
8. We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and the knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy servant (or Son). — In a very beautiful passage Clement of Rome teaches the same truth, viz., that it is through Jesus that we attain to life and light and know- ledge. "Through Him our foolish and darkened under- standing blossoms up afresh towards His marvellous light. Through Him the Lord has willed that we taste immortal knowledge." (First Epistle to the Corinthians, c. xxxvi.)
9. Just as this broken dread was once scattered z'n graijis of com over the hills, etc. — The image is a strange one, but singularly vivid ; it is peculiar to the *' Teaching of the Apostles," and finds in the Holy Eucharist a striking allegory respecting the "last things." The bread broken in the Eucharist once upon a time consisted of separate grains of corn, grown it may be on various and distant hill-sides. These grains, gathered together and ground down into flour, compose this Eucharistic Bread. So — should the faithful communicant pray — so may the Church, now scattered in all lands, be one day gathered
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 43
^^Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom ; for Thine is the glory and the power, through Jesus Christ for ever. ^^But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist,
together into the kingdom. Is it not possible that in this singular and striking simile we have a memory of some unrecorded saying of the Lord ?
10. Let thy Church be gathered together . . . into Thy kingdom. — The Church of God on earth will become a part of the kingdom of God in heaven.
11. But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist except those baptized into the name of the Lord. — Justin Martyr's account of the administration of the Eu- charist was written — assuming that this " Teaching " was put forth shortly before the close of the first century — after an interval of less than fifty years. It will be seen, on a comparison of the two descriptions, that there was little difference in the main features. In both accounts it appears that all the faithful were expected to receive the holy bread and wine. In both, the faithful only included the formally instructed and baptized. As was to have been expected, a more formal and elaborate ritual seems to have characterised the latter period. Justin Martyr writes :
" Having concluded the prayer, we salute one another with a kiss. Then is brought to the president of the brethren, bread and a cup of wine mixed with water : and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at some length. . . . And after that the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those men whom we name deacons give to each of those present to partake of
D
44 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
except those baptized into the name of the Lord ; for as regards this the Lord hath said : 12 Give not that which is holy to the dogs.
the bread and wine mixed with water, over which the thanksgiving was said, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion. . . . And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common wine do we receive these. . . . The Apostles, in the memoirs (a.'Trcfivrifiovsv/MarcK) com- posed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus handed down to us what was enjoined upon them, that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, 'This do ye in remembrance of me ; this is my body.' And that after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, 'This is my blood.'" (Justin Martyr, Apology, I. c. Ixv. and Ixvi.)
The one rather striking difference in the ritual of the "Teaching" is the omission of the words, "This is my body," "This is my blood." Professor Wordsworth, how- ever, has suggested that this omission may possibly be a relic of a time when the direct expressions, " This is my body," "This is my blood," were avoided to escape the well-known misrepresentations of outsiders. The calumnies about Thyestasan banquets were probably grounded on the testimony of slaves, who gave a garbled account of what they had heard. (See the Octavius of Minucius Felix, c. ix.)
12. Give not that which is holy to the dogs. — A verbatim quotation from S. Matt. vii. 6. Of course the context in which the original occurs is perfectly different.
( 45 )
CHAPTER X.
^ Now after ye are filled^ give thanks thus : We thank Thee, ^ holy Father, for Thy holy name, which Thou hast caused to dwell in our hearts and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy Son ; to thee be glory for ever. Thou, Almighty Master, didst create all things for Thy name's sake ; Thou didst give both food and drink to men for enjoyment, in order that they might give Thee thanks ; but ^ to us hast Thou graciously given
1. Now after ye are filled. — In the original ^gra rh Ifj^zXriG&rjva/. Wiinsche renders the expression : " nach vollendeter Handlung, d.i. nach Genuss von Wein und Brod." Wordsworth paraphrases it : " After the act of reception." It seems that the Eucharist in the Congre- gations addressed in the " Teaching " followed the aya'Trrj, or Love Feast — another sign of the very early date of the treatise. Justin Martyr's description of the holy rite clearly shows us that the Eucharist in the middle of the second century was simply a solemn service, quite un- connected with any dyarryj or Love Feast.
2. Holy Father. — The phrase of S. John xvii. ii : " Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those," etc.
3. To US hast Thou graciously given spiritual food
46 TEACHING OF
spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Thy Son. Before all things, we thank Thee that Thou art mighty ; to Thee be the glory for ever. ^ Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver her from every evil, ^ and to perfect her in Thy love, and ^ gather her, ^ now made holy, from the four winds,
and drink and eternal life through Thy Son. — This is an important testimony of the very early Church to the place which the Holy Eucharist held in their life. In the first years of the second century, Ignatius thus writes of the same sacrament in similar terms : " Breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote which will prevent us from dying, but (which will enable us) to live for ever in Jesus Christ." (Ignatius, Epistle to Ephesians, c. xx.)
4. Remember, 0 Lord, Thy Church, to deliver her from every evil. — There is an apparent reference here to S. John's teaching (xvii. 15) : "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil."
5. And to perfect her (Thy Church) in Thy love. — Another possible memory of S. John : " He that feareth is not made perfect in love " (i John iv. 18) ; and compare, too, verses 12, 17 of the fourth chapter, where the same thought is expressed,
6. Gather her (Thy Church), now made holy, from the four winds. — A memory, almost verbal, from S. Matt. xxiv. 31:" And he shall send his angels . . . , and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds."
7. Now made holy (or sanctified). — The Epistle to the Hebrews completes this statement, and tells us how the
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 47
into Thy kingdom^ which thou hast prepared for her ; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. Let grace come and ^let this world pass away. ^Hosanna to the son of David ! Whoever is holy, let him come ; whoever is not, let him repent. ^^Maranatha.
Church is made holy or sanctified : Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all^^ (Heb. x. 10).
8. Let this world pass away. — This has been generally the prayer of Christians for the speedy coming of the end. The last words of the Revelation of S. John would seem to encourage such an aspiration. There have been, how- ever, distinguished teachers who have felt otherwise. So Tertullian, who wrote in the last ten years of the second century, in his Apology, chap, xxxix., says : " We pray too ... for the delay of the final consummation," oramus etiam . . . pro mora finis.
9. Hosanna to the Son of David. — So S. Matt. xxi. 9, 15. Clement of Alexandria, commenting upon this expression of adoration recounted by S. Matthew, thus paraphrases it : " Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Light and glory and praise with supplication to the Lord, for this is the signification of the expression Hosanna." (Pedagogue, book i. chap, v.)
10. Maranatha, Maran-atha. — Two Syro- Chaldean words, signifying " The Lord is come," used by S. Paul i Cor. xvi. 22. The prayer thus ended prays, " Let the saints come to meet the Lord. As many as are unbelievers, and not yet washed in the laver of grace, or who have fallen away, let them repent. May the Lord come, and His kingdom." (Bryennios.)
48 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
Amen. ^^But permit the prophets to give thanks in such terms as they please.
II. But permit the prophets to give thanks in such terms as they please. — On the general question of the " prophets " in the early days of Christianity, see Excursus VII., pp. 125-131.
This notice at the close of the brief directions respecting the Eucharistic hturgy is a proof that even in these very early days the greatest care was used to guard against all wild and unauthorised speaking in presence of the congrega- tion. A definite form of prayer and thanksgiving in these oft-repeated but solemn services was clearly used, and the prophet alone was authorised to depart from it.
Justin Martyr, writing of the Eucharistic service some fifty years later, speaks of a somewhat similar license being accorded to the president of the brethren, 0 ^^osffrwc. "When our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayer and thanksgivings according to his ability, osri d-jvafni uvTui." (ist Apology, chap. Ixvii.)
( 49 )
CHAPTER XI.
Whoever then cometh and teacheth you ^all these things, spoken above, receive him; but if the teacher himself, ^ being misled, teaches another teaching, so
1. All these things above spoken. — That is to say (a) the things concerning everyday life, generally grounded on the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, and contained in the picture of the two ways of life and death, chaps, i.-vi. (d) The things concerning the spiritual aids to such an everyday life, viz. baptism, prayer and fasting, and the Holy Eucharist, chaps, vii.— x. Such a teacher — basing his teaching upon these broad lines — was to be received and welcomed.
2. Being misled, teaches another teaching, so as to overthrow this, do not hear him. — So S. John, writing probably at a time not very remote from the date of this " Teaching," warns another group of early Christian con- verts : " If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine (teaching, didu^riv, the same word is used), receive him not unto your house, neither bid him God-speed ; for he that biddeih him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 S. John 10, 11).
Ignatius makes mention of the same class of false teachers, apparently travelling from place to place spread- ing their false teaching, didoc^nt xaxTjv, and he praises the
50 TEACHING OF
as to overthrow this, do not hear him; but ^ if he teach so as to advance righteousness and the know- ledge of the Lord, receive him as the Lord. But as regards the ^ apostles and prophets, according to ^the decree of the gospel, so do ye. And every apostle who cometh to you, let him be received as the Lord; but ^ he shall not remain moj'e than one
Ephesians for not suffering such to sow among them. (See Ignatius to the Ephesians, chap, ix.)
3. If he teach so as to advance righteousness, etc., receive him as the Lord. — To the same effect wrote Ignatius : " For every one whom the Master of the House sends to (s/j) His own household, him shall we receive as we would receive Him who sent him." (Ignatius to the Ephesians, chap, vi.) See too S. Matt. x. 40-41, and especially S. John xiii. 20 : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me."
4. As regards the apostles and prophets. — On the question, " Who were these apostles and prophets ? " see Excursus VI. -VII,, pp. 120-125).
5. According to the decree {rh boyfia) of the Gospel. — The primitive directions which the Lord gave to the Twelve and to the Seventy are apparently referred to here. (See S. Matt. X. 5-12 ; S. Luke ix. 1-6, and x. 4-21.)
6. He shall not remain more than one day. — Dr. Farrar (Art. in Expositor^ May 1884) remarks that "the tone of these directions implies an age of apostolic poverty and simplicity, when a man was to be regarded as a false prophet if he asked for money, or if, being a wandering missionary, he stayed in hospitable quarters over the second
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 51
day; if, however, there be need, then the next day ; but if he remain three days, he is a false prophet. But when the apostle departs, let him take nothing except bread enough to last him till he reach his resting-place for the night; but if he ask for money, ^he is a false prophet. And every prophet ^who speaks in the Spirit, ^ye shall not try nor test; for
day." See, too, Rev. ii. 2, where St. John writes of would- be apostles thus: "And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars."
7. He is a false prophet. — That is to say, "a false teacher." (Bryennios.)
8. Who speaks in the Spirit. — The probable significa- tion here of *' speaking in the Spirit," is being in an ecstasy, and yet uttering, while in that state, precepts and warnings of which the hearers could grasp the meaning — verstand- liches wenn auch geheimnissvolles Reden in Zuslande hochster Erregung. (Harnack.)
9. Ye shall not try. — The prophet approved and tested by his way of life — the prophet known as an unselfish, self-denying man, is here referred to. Such an one is not to be lightly and irreverently criticised or judged ; and a terrible woe is denounced against the one who presumes to sit in judgment, or to lightly criticise a prophet thus publicly approved by his way of life. So S. Paul in i Thess. v. 19 : " Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings."
Harnack suggests that this stern caution to the critics was rendered necessary,' for the prophet was already beginning to lose his influence in the communities. (Was not the gift, — X'^i'^^°^ 'T^o<5?)?jr£/aj — even at that early period, perhaps already slowly dying out ?)
52
TEACHING OF
every sin shall be forgiven^ but ^^ this sin shall not be forgiven. But not every one who speaks in the Spirit is a prophet, ^^ but only if he have the ways of
10. This sin shall not be forgiven. — The writer of the "Teaching" in some way included this sin in the sin against the Holy Ghost, referred to in S. Matt. xii. 31 ; S. Luke xii. 10 ; S. Mark iii. 28-30.
1 1. But only if he have the ways of the Lord. — From the context it would seem that "the ways of the Lord," here especially referred to, included an entire self-surrender and self-effacement ; a readiness to spend and be spent for the brethren. He who took the honoured but difficult work of a prophet in those days, who would in very truth be great among the brethren, had to remem.ber that his life-work was to be the servant of others, and it was just th's that the false prophets ignored; these were the men who tried to make a gain out of their holy profession. Ignatius and Hermas in their writings both warn the faith- ful to weigh well the life and practice of the men who made these great professions. Hermas, Comm. xi., well and clearly puts how the true and false prophets are to be tested. " I will tell you about both the prophets, and then you can test the true and the false prophet according to my direc- tions. Test the man who has the Divine Spirit by his life : He who has the Divine Spirit coming from above, is meek, peaceable, and humble, separate from all wickedness and the empty desires of this world, and is content with fewer requirements than other men. The man who seems to have the Spirit exalts himself and desires the first seat, and is audacious and impudent and garrulous, and lives surrounded by many luxuries, . . . and takes rewards for
-k.
THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
53
the Lord. So from their ways shall the false prophet and the prophet be recognised. And ^^ no prophet who in the Spirit orders a Love-Feast, eateth himself of it^ unless, indeed, he is a false prophet ; and every prophet who teacheth the truth, if he practise not that which he teacheth, is a false prophet. And ^^ every approved genuine prophet.
't
his prophecy ; and if he does not get rewards, then he does not prophesy. Can then the Divine Spirit take rewards and prophesy ? It is not possible that the Prophet of God should do this." And further on Hermas writes that the false prophet "associates with worthless and vain persons, and deceives them, speaking to them according to their wishes, mere empty words." See also Ignatius to the Ephesians, c. xiv., where he speaks of the tree being made manifest by its fruit.
12. And no propliet who in the Spirit orders a Love- Feast, eateth himself of it, unless, indeed, he is a false prophet. — "A Love-Feast." This appears to be the mean- ing of the unusual expression rpd'Tn^av (lit. a table). In- deed all this portion of the eleventh chapter unveils for us new and hitherto unknown phases of the life led by the primitive Christians. But the prophet who requested that such a Love-Feast should be prepared, probably with a view to his showing the mystery referred to in the following clause, must himself not think of sharing in the pleasure of such a feast.
13. Every approved genuine prophet who summons . ssemblies for the purpose of showi?ig an earthly mys- tery, but who does not teach others to do all that he himself doeth, shall not be judged by you, for his
1/
52 TEACHING OF
every sin shall be forgiven, but ^^ this sin shall not be forgiven. But not every one who speaks in the Spirit is a prophet, ^^ but only if he have the ways of
10. This sin shall not be forgiven. — The writer of the "Teaching" in some way included this sin in the sin against the Holy Ghost, referred to in S. Matt. xii. 31 ; S. Luke xii. 10; S. Mark iii. 28-30.
1 1. But only if he have the ways of the Lord. — From the context it would seem that " the ways of the Lord," here especially referred to, included an entire self-surrender and self-effacement ; a readiness to spend and be spent for the brethren. He who took the honoured but difficult work of a prophet in those days, who would in very truth be great among the brethren, had to remem.ber that his life-work was to be the servant of others, and it was just th's that the false prophets ignored ; these were the men who tried to make a gain out of their holy profession. Ignatius and Hermas in their writings both warn the faith- ful to weigh well the life and practice of the men who made these great professions. Hermas, Comm. xi., well and clearly puts how the true and false prophets are to be tested. " I will tell you about both the prophets, and then you can test the true and the false prophet according to my direc- tions. Test the man who ^as the Divine Spirit by his life : He who has the Divine Spirit coming from above, is meek, peaceable, and humble, separate from all wickedness and the empty desires of this world, and is content with fewer requirements than other men. The man who seems to have the Spirit exalts himself and desires the first seat, and is audacious and impudent and garrulous, and lives surrounded by many luxuries, . . . and takes rewards for
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 53
the Lord. So from their ways shall the false prophet and the prophet be recognised. And ^^no prophet who in the Spirit orders a Love-Feast, eateth himself of it^ unless, indeed, he is a false prophet ; and every prophet who teacheth the truth, if he practise not that which he teacheth, is a false prophet. And ^^ every approved genuine prophet,
his prophecy ; and if he does not get rewards, then he does not prophesy. Can then the Divine Spirit take rewards and prophesy ? It is not possible that the Prophet of God should do this." And further on Hermas writes that the false prophet ^'associates with worthless and vain persons, and deceives them, speaking to them according to their wishes, mere empty words." See also Ignatius to the Ephesians, c. xiv., where he speaks of the tree being made manifest by its fruit.
12. And no prophet who in the Spirit orders a Love- Feast, eateth himself of it, unless, indeed, he is a false prophet. — "A Love-Feast." This appears to be the mean- ing of the unusual expression r^din^av (lit. a table). In- deed all this portion of the eleventh chapter unveils for us new and hitherto unknown phases of the life led by the primitive Christians. But the prophet who requested that such a Love-Feast should be prepared, probably with a view to his showing the mystery referred to in the following clause, must himself not think of sharing in the pleasure of such a feast.
13. Every approved genuine prophet who summons assemblies for the purpose of showijig an earthly mys- tery, but who does not teach others to do all that he himself doeth, shall not be judged by you, for his
54 TEACHING OF
who summons assemblies for the purpose of show- ing an earthly mystery, but who does not teach others to do all that he himself doeth, shall not be judged by you; for his judgment is in the hands of
judgment is in the hands of God, for so did the ancient prophets also. — The meaning of this strange charge ^\ill be best explained by our constructing for ourselves out of the materials supplied to us in this little treatise a picture of a visit paid to a Christian congregation by one of these prophets of the first days.
Now a prophet in these early years, when special gifts were still vouchsafed for the building up of the Church, was something more than a preacher who spoke burning words which went straight to men's hearts. He possessed at times a distinctly predictive power, which, as in the case of Agabus, related in Acts xi. 28, he would at times dramatise by some striking symbolic act which would serve to excite the spectator's interest. Such a prophet, sen- sible that he had a special message to deliver, would come to some village or city where there was a Christian con- gregation. He would make his errand known to the bishop and deacons of the community, and bid them gather their flock together to partake of a solemn Agape or Love-Feast. In the words of our "Teaching," he would order a table. But the prophet must show the genuineness of his message by keeping aloof himself from the festal scene. He must neither eat nor drink; the Love-Feast must be no indulgence to him. At its close he would show the people "the earthly mystery;" in other words, would perform before them the symboHc action followed by his explanation of it, and its solemn warning lesson, the
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 55
God ; for so did the ancient prophets also. But whoever, in the Spirit_, says: ^*Give me money, or
delivery of which was the object of his coming among them and summoning them together.
For the prophet thus to dramatise his message, thus to show an earthly mystery, was strictly in accordance with the old Jewish practice. " So did the ancient prophets," writes the author of the " Teaching." So for instance did Jeremiah bury his girdle by the hole of a rock in Euphrates, and took it up again all marred (Jer. xiii.) So the same prophet appeared among the people with bonds and yokes upon his neck (Jer. xxvii. 2, xxviii. 10). So Isaiah went among the people naked and barefoot three years (Isa. XX. 2, 4). So Ezekiel presented himself before the people with his tile (chap, iv.), with his knife and razor (chap, v.) See, too, chap. xii. 3. So still earlier Ahijah showed him- self with his garment rent into twelve pieces (i Kings xi.
29-31)-
But the writer of the " Teaching " saw that in all these spiritual manifestations there was grave danger of imposture for the sake of gain. So while conceding the possibility, even the desirableness, of permitting such manifestations, he guarded against fraud and evil purpose by first insisting that the inspired prophet should receive nothing for his work, neither food nor money ; and secondly, that he should not teach others to perform like acts. In other words, such a " symbolic act " or " earthly mystery " was not to be a thing of common everyday occurrence ; it was not to be repeated or imitated.
14. Give me money, or anything else, ye shall not listen to Mm. — Because the Lord said, " Freely ye have received, freely give " (S. Matt. x. 8). (Bryennios.) So
56 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
anything else, ye shall not listen to him ; ^^ but if for others in need he bids you give^ let no one judge him.
Micah in his picture of the sin of Israel describes the priests teaching for hire and the prophets divining for money (Micah iii. 2).
15. But if for others in need he bids you give. — Here the Prophet was to be unhesitatingly obeyed. We have in these words one more reminder to the Christian to be generous to the poor and needy. This point is, as has been observed, one of the characteristic features of the " Teaching."
( 57 )
CHAPTER XII.
But let every one that cometh in the name of the Lord be received_, but ^ afterward, when ye have put him to the test, ye shall know him ; [for ye shall have understanding]* right and left. ^ If he who
* The words " for ye shall have understanding " are in the original Greek text of the "Teaching," but are here enclosed in brackets thus [ . . . ] to mark the parenthesis, which is evidently necessary for the right understanding of the sentence.
1. Afterward, when ye have put him to the test, ye shall know him, [for ye shall have understanding] right and left. — The expression is a curious one, but no doubt the paraphrase of the passage in the Apostolical Constitu- tions gives us the meaning intended by the writer here. " Whosoever comes to you, let him first be examined and then received j for ye have understanding and are able to discern the right hand from the left, and to distinguish false teachers from true teachers " (Book vii. chap, xxviii.) The expression much in the same sense is used in Jonah ix. II. See, too, for a somewhat different use, 2 Cor. vii. 7.
2. If he who comes is a traveller, help him to the best of your ability. — Among the Jewish people there was much of this moving from place to place. They were a great and numerous race, but in the first century of the
58 TEACHING OF
comes is a traveller, help him to the best of your ability ; but he shall only stay with you for two or three days, if there be necessity. But if, being an artisan, he wishes to settle among you, let him work and so eat; but if he have no handicraft, provide, according to your understanding, that no idler live with you as a Christian. Then if he will not act according to this, ^he is a Christ-trafficker; beware of such.
Christian era had no country really of their own. In most of the cities of the Roman empire in the first century there was a Jewish colony. Very stringent regulations were required among the new sect of Christians, at first largely composed of Jews, to guard against imposture, to keep at a distance idle, good-for-nothing men, who would try to live in idleness, trafficking in the name of Christ.
The danger was all the greater in the new society, because generosity to the poor and needy was so strongly pressed home to the faithful as an urgent solemn duty.
This peril appeared in the Church very early. S. Paul several times in his epistles referred to his own sturdy independence of all help. Though as a teacher he was unwearied, yet he supported himself with the labour of his own hands. See for instance his words in Acts xx. 33, 34> 35> ^^^ 2 Thess. iii. 8, and his stern command, " If any would not work, neither should he eat " (2 Thess. iii. 10).
3. He is a Christ trafficker ; beware of sucL — As was stated in the last note, following the example of S. Paul, the great teachers who immediately followed the twelve and
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 59
the hearers of the Lord, were strong in their denunciations of the " Christ-trafficker," ^PiffTs/X'zoooi; as the writer of the " Teaching" calls the lazy impostor. So Barnabas : *' Thou shalt not associate thyself, nor be like such men, who know not how by their own toil and sweat to get food for them- selves, but in their lawlessness seize on what belongs to others, and though walking apparently in guilelessness are watching and looking around to see whom they may through their greediness strip" (Barnabas, Ep. chap, x.) So too Ignatius : " For there are some men whose practice it is to carry about the Name (of Christ) in wicked guile ; but these all the while are doing things unworthy of God, whom ye must shun as ye would wild beasts." (Ignatius to Ephesians vii.)
Polycarp, after directing the presbyters to be pitiful and merciful to all, to visit the sick, and not to neglect the widow, the orphan, or the poor, closes the chapter with an exhortation to be zealous in the pursuit of what is good, *' keeping ourselves from false brethren, and from those who in hypocrisy are bearing the name of the Lord." (Polycarp to the Philippians, chap. vi. )
( 6o )
CHAPTER XIII. ^
But every genuine prophet who wishes to settle among you ^is worthy of his support. So too a genuine teacher, he also is worthy^ like the work- man_, of his support. ^ All the first-fruits, then, of
1. Is worthy of his support. — A short practical chapter, rendered necessary probably in this early Christian manual after the very stringent directions respecting the itinerant prophets receiving no money, and not even sharing in the Love-Feasts. If a prophet, however, or a teacher, should settle permanently in a community, such a one was worthy of his support.
2. All the first-fruits then of the products of the winepress and the threshing-floor, of oxen and of sheep, thou shalt give to the prophets. — All these arrangements for the support of these resident ministers are based upon the Mosaic law, and evidently belonged to a community whose leaders were mostly Christian Jews. Twice a reference is made to the Commandment, of course the charge contained in the Levitical law. Then, too, reference is made to the well-known Hebrew oc^x'^i^^^i the title usually given to the chief priests, the heads of courses. The prophets in some respects stood to these Christian congregations in the same relation as did the ac^X'^oiig (chief priests) to the Jewish people. The term a^X^toii; is found in the Gospels.
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 6i
the products of ^the winepress and the threshing- floor, of oxen and of sheep, thou shalt take and give to the prophets; for they are your chief- priests. But if ye have no prophet,* give to the poor. If thou makest a batch of bread, take the first-fruit and give it according to the command- ment. In like manner, when thou openest a jar of wine or oil, take the first-fruits and give them to the prophets ; and of money and raiment and every possession take the first-fruits, in the way which seems best to thee, and give them according to the commandment.
* See Excursus vii. p, 141.
3. The winepress and the threshing-floor. — All these references, the oxen and sheep, the jars of oil and wine, seem to point to the community especially addressed being composed of dwellers in the country or in a small pro- vinicial town rather than in a great city, such as Antioch, or Alexandria, or Corinth,
( 62 )
CHAPTER XIV. Now ^ on the Lord's Lord^s-day, ^ when ye are
I. On tlie Lord's Lord's-day. — In this community, although so full of Jewish associations, the Lord's-day, not the Sabbath, was the day commended to the faithful to be kept holy. We have here another proof that in the very earliest times the leaders of the new faith directed their followers to meet together for religious worship.
Very briefly, the history of the observance of the day was as follows : — On it the Lord rose from the dead. During the " forty days " He selected it as the especial day for appearing to and holding converse with His disciples. The Holy Spirit chose the first day of the week for His descent in a bodily form upon the Apostles. (In that year the day of Pentecost occurred on the first day of the week.)*
From casual passages in the Acts it appears that the practice of meeting on the first day of the week was adopted by the Church of Jerusalem. Among the followers of Jesus the custom spread evidently into foreign countries. At Troas (Acts xx. 7) we have, for instance, an account of a special rehgious assembly, joined with a Eucharistic cele- bration, taking place on that day. We find S. Paul (i Cor. xvi. I, 2) clearly alluding to it as the day well known for
* See Archdeacon Hessey : '* Sunday, its Origin," &c. Bampton Lectures, i86o. Lecture IL
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 63
assembling together. In the Apocalypse we read of the Apostle S. John describing himself as wrapt in ecstatic con- templation, and in that state beholding a divine vision on the day styled by him — in a word recently coined perhaps by himself — the Lord's-day, 7c-js/ax.ri (Rev. i. 10).
If we assume the earlier date for the writing of the " Teaching," then the use of the word zvpiuxr} for Lord's- day here, is the earliest recorded after the employment, probably the invention of it, by S. John in the Revelation.
Ignatius, writing about A.D. 106, in using the new word, clearly shows that the institution was then an established practice in the Christian Church. " If, therefore," he writes, "those who were brought up under the ancient writings, have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath-day, but living in the observance of the Lord's-day, xcircc %VPtaxr,v ZoovTsg, in which also our life has sprung up through Him and His death." (Ignatius to Magnesians, chap, ix.)
Barnabas, writing only a few years later, graphically describes the evidently universal observance of the " Lord's- day." " Wherefore we too keep the eighth day with gladness, the day on which Jesus rose again from the dead." (Barnabas, Epistle, chap, xv.)
" To-day," writes Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, some time about the middle of the second century, to Soter, Bishop of Rome — " To-day was the Lord's-day (and) kept holy, and we read your letter, from the reading of which from time to time we shall be able to derive admonition, as we do from the former one written to us by the hand of Clement." (Eusebius, H.E. iv. 23.)
The seeming tautology of the Lord's Lord's-day is not so apparent in the original Greek, xara xvsiaKr,v be xvoIod.
2. Do ye assemble, and break bread, and give thanks. —
64 TEACHING OF
Justin Martyr's account of the ordinary Sunday service, accompanied with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, is very graphic. " And on the day called Sunday, there is a gathering together to one place of all who live in towns or in the country, and the memoirs (a,'7rD/xv7},(jLoviVfiaTa) of the Apostles or the writings of the Prophets are read as long as time permits {fMinotg iyy^MPli.) "^ Then when the reader has done, the president (of the assembly) in an address gives an instruction, and (delivers) an exhortation to imitate these noble things (viz : the words and acts suggested in the above-mentioned reading of the Prophets and Apostles). Then we all rise together and pray, and . . . bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayer and thanksgivings according to his ability {ocri dvvctfiig avrSj), and the people assent, saying. Amen ; and there is a distribution (made) to each, and a sharing of that for which thanks have been offered (that is to say, the consecrated bread and wine). . . . Here follows a detailed account of the general offertory made at this service for the sick and stranger, the widow and orphan. . . .
*' But Sunday is the day on which we hold our general gathering, since it is the first day on which God having brought about a change in darkness and in matter (uXyjv), made the world, and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead ... for on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them," etc. (Justin Martyr, Apology I., chap. Ixvii.)
* On the rendering of this unusual expression, see O^fo, Justin Martyr, torn. I, Apol. I., chap. 67, p. 159. Two translations seem to have been proposed : (i) "so viel als erforderlich," (2) "so lang es die Zeit gestattet."
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 6$
assembled together break bread, and ^glve thanks, * after confessing your transgressions, ^in order that
3. And give thanks. — ihy^cc^^tarriOOLrs. This simple direc- tion to the believers to assemble together every Lord's day, and when assembled to proceed to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, concerning which fuller directions had been previously given, chaps, ix., x., naturally preceded by some years the more developed ritual described by Justin Martyr as the use of the Christians about the middle of the second century.
4. After confessing your transgressions. — This public confession of sins before the congregation was evidently very strongly insisted upon by the early Church. It is referred to above at the close of chapter iv.
5. That your sacrifice may be pure. — On the use of the words "sacrifice" and "altar" in the Eucharist in the very early Church, Bryennios specially cites Ignatius's testimony. " He that is within the altar is pure, but he that is without is not pure ; that is, he who does anything apart from the bishop and presbytery and deacons, such a man is not pure in his own conscience" (Ignatius to the Trallians, chap, vii.); and compares also the well-known passage, Heb. xiii. 10. The citation from Malachi in the next clause cer- tainly demonstrates the use of the term " sacrifice " by the earliest Christian teachers in connection with the Eucharist. " The Teaching of the Apostles " contributes httle to the theological and doctrinal questions which in connection with the Holy Eucharist have now for so many centuries divided earnest and thoughtful men.
But if the simple words of the "Teaching of the Apostles," written not improbably in days while the Apostle S. John was still going in and out of the houses of men, bring but
66 TEACHING OF
your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that hath a difference with his friend come together with you, ^ until they are reconciled, that your sacrifice ^ may not be profaned. ^ For this is that which was
a scanf contribution to the stores of the theologian, on the other hand they indeed enrich the treasure-house of direc- tions for the practical every-day life of men.
No Eucharistic treatise could be imagined which would influence the soul so powerfully as this little simple instruc- tion of the primitive Christian teacher to his flock. T/iey were to share in this blessed Feast every Lord's-day. They were to tell God their sins. They were not to come hating each other. Very simple but very soul-searching was the preparation, but very peremptory was the command to all never to neglect to share in the divinely-instituted sacrament.
The writer of this little handbook to the Christian hfe of the first century, without doubt looked on the sharing in the Eucharist, as each Lord's-day came round, as a necessary part of every Christian life. Surely nothing has happened in the eighteen centuries which have well-nigh elapsed since these words were written to alter or to modify a charge which with all reverence we feel this pupil of the Apostles probably received from the lips of one of the holy Twelve.
6. Until they be reconciled. — See S. Matt. v. 23, 24, in which, though in different language, the same beautiful thought is conveyed. Irenaeus (" Against Heresies," book iv. chap, xviii. i) paraphrases the same divine charge.
7. May not be profaned. — In S. Matt. xv. 11, the Lord shows whence comes such defilement.
8. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord. — The quotation here from Malachi i. 11, 14, is another of
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. • 67
spoken by ^the Lord: At every place and time^ offer me a pure sacrifice ; for I am a great King, saith the Lord^ and my name is ^^ wonderful among the Gentiles.
the many indications that a Jewish Christian was the writer of this "Teaching." The passage is not quoted quite accurately, the words " and time " being added here ; and "incense," which is found in Malachi, is altogether left out in the "Teaching." This at first sight would appear a remarkable omission. It has, however, been well suggested that this omission was not accidental, but that it agrees with the general conclusion that incense was avoided in the earliest days of the Church on account of its heathen associations.
9. The Lord — aUr>j yd-^ iGTiv 7) '^Tikloa. V7rh Kvolov. — This is a remarkable contribution to our knowledge of the Chris- tology of the writer of this most ancient treatise.
It gives us a deep insight into his thoughts respecting Jesus Christ. Just before, in the same short chapter, he had been using the title Lord, Kug/og, and unmistakably referring it to Jesus, and with peculiar emphasis on " the Lord's Lord's-day," xutcc xuo/axj^v be Kv^i'ou.
He now refers to a well-known passage of the Prophet Malachi as that "which was spoken by the Lord," v-jro xvolov. The same title being used, as it were, in the same breath, tells us that the writer looked upon Christ as the Lord whose utterances are chronicled in the Old Testament, in the place here referred to, proclaiming Himself a great King, whose name was wonderful among the Gentiles.
10. Wonderful. — QaviMciGTov. In the Hebrew, ^^T'J ; English version, dreadful ; LXX, sc-icfiavig.
( 68
CHAPTER XV.
^ Appoint^ therefore, for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men meek and not
I. Appoint, therefore, for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord. — The question of the ministry in the days of the composition of the " Teaching of the Apostles " is discussed in the dissertations on the terms " Apostles," " Prophets," etc. Certain special facts, however, appear from the directions contained in this xv. chapter, a. The apostle alluded to definitely in chap. xi. does not appear among the four descriptions of ministers spoken of here. We are led then to conclude that the office of apostle was too unusual a one to render any special allu- sion to it either as regards — (i) manner of election to it, (2) consideration to be paid to it, necessary in a general instruction like the " Teaching."
b. The transitional character of the ministry here described is evident. The first description of minister, " the apostle," spoken of a few chapters earlier in this same treatise, is passed over in silence, as though the order in question had no share in the government of the Church of the future. Then the congregation were evidently uncertain with whom rested the election of their resident ministers, bishops and deacons ; the people too were ignorant as to the respect and duty they owed to these resident ministers. Evidently accustomed to the chance though rare visits of apostles, and to the more frequent appearances of prophets and
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 69
teachers, with their inspired utterances — their burning and impassioned words of warning and of comfort, with the dra- matic symbolism alluded to above in chap. xi. — it was these that the congregation looked up to naturally with admiration and reverence. Nor is the reason for this evident prefer- ence— which is, however, gently blamed — far to seek. The itinerant prophet and teacher, and the more rarely seen apostle, had something ever fresh to tell the dwellers in village and city. These would narrate many a thrilHng story of the new converts in distant lands, would give sometimes a bit of inspired teaching which they had heard from the lips of one like Paul ; sometimes they would relate a scene from the life of the Master, which their hearers had never heard before ; and all this accompanied now and again by those dramatic representations discussed above under the name of earthly mysteries (chap, xi.) What won- der then if these itinerant missionaries in the very early days of Christianity were the popular instructors of the people.'* Hence the gentle rebuke of the " Teaching," " Do not then despise them " — the bishops and deacons, the resident and formally-appointed ministers in the congregation.
In reading those chapters of our treatise which speak of the various orders in the Christian ministry of the first days, the very early date at which this " Teaching " must have been written becomes apparent. " We have a descrip- tion of the two classes of the ministry, partly itinerant and partly resident, and the restriction of the latter to two orders — except when individual itinerant ministers (prophets) might desire to become resident. We have in fact a gap in our knowledge supplied just as we should expect ; that is to say, we have a description of the transition from the state of things described in the Acts and the Epistles of Paul and that presupposed in the Ignatian Epistles." (Wordsworth.)
70 TEACHING OF
covetous, and ^ true and proved ; for they, too, render you the service of the prophets and teachers. Do not then despise them ; for together with the prophets and teachers are they the ones who are to be held in honour among you.
And reprove one another, ^ not in anger, but in
2. Men . . . true and proved. — We have another witness, perhaps even more ancient than this, of the care which was exercised from the earliest times in the selec- tion of these bishops, sTiex.o'Troi.
Clement of Rome, who was the companion of S. Paul (Phil. iv. 3), thus writes : " For this reason, therefore, they (the Apostles) appointed those (ministers) already referred to, and after gave instruction (itcci /Ji,i7at,i)^ S'TnvofMriv hbui^asiv) that when these should fall asleep other approved men should succeed them in their ministry." (Clement of Rome, Epistle i, chap, xhv.) And again, in the same Epistle, Clement writes : " Thus preaching through coun- tries and towns, they appointed the first-fruits (of their toil) — having first proved them by the spirit — to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterward believe." (Chap. xHi.)
3. Not in anger, but in peace, as ye have it in the Gospel. — The Gospel here referred to is the sense rather than the words of S. Matt. v. 22, and xviii. 15, 17, 35. The next clause : " And let no one speak," etc., is a little
* fiera^O here has the same signification as fieriireiTa. There exists some doubt as to the meaning here of the rare word eTrivofii^y. Rothe suggests " testamentarische Verfiigung." (See Hefele, who has an exhaustive note here, i Clem, xliv.)
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 71
peace, as ye have it in the gospel ; and let no man speak to any one who is behaving wrongly to another — do not let him hear anything from you until he repent. *But your prayers and your alms, and all your deeds, so do ye as ye have it in the Gospel of our Lord.
confused. The whole passage seems a memory rather than a quotation from the passages of S. Matthew's Gospel above referred to.
Polycarp similarly presses on his readers the necessity of gently judging others, " abstaining from all wrath . . . not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin." (Polycarp, Epistle to Philippians, chap, vi.)
There is a beautiful passage from the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs to the same effect, commencing with the words : " Love ye then one another from the heart ; speak to him in peace," etc. (" Testaments of the Twelve Patri- archs," "Gad," chap, vi.)
4. But your prayers and alms, and all your deeds, so do ye as ye have it in the Gospel of our Lord. — A general reminder of the " way " set forth in the " Teaching," basing the whole on such chapters of the Gospel as S. Matt, vi., vii.
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CHAPTER XVI.
^ Watch for your life; let your lamps not be quenched, and your loins not be loosed, but be ye ready; ^ for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh. But ^ ye shall come often together, and seek the tilings which are profitable to your souls, 4 for the whole time of your faith thus far
1. Watch for your life; let your lamps not be quenched, and your loins not be relaxed. — A memory of S. Luke xii. 35. See, too, S. Paul to the Ephesians vi. 14, where the same imagery is employed.
2. Watch ... for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh. — A quotation verbatim from S. Matt, xxiv. 42.
3. We shall come often together, and seek the things which are profitable to your souls. — Ignatius in a similar passage more particularly defines the particular way in which the first great teachers would have their flocks come together : " Take heed then more frequently to come together for the purpose of giving thanks to God (in the Eucharist), zig sh^a^iGriav Qiou xai Big doEav." (Ignatius to Ephesians, chap, xiii.)
4. For the whole time of your faith thus far will not profit you, unless in the last time ye be found perfect. — A similar urgent charge not to trust in past good works
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 73
will not profit you, unless in the last time ye be found perfect. For in the last days the false pro- phets and the corrupters shall be multiplied, and ^ the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate ; for as lawlessness increaseth men shall hate one another, and shall persecute and shall betray o?ie another, and ^ then shall appear the world-deceiver as the Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be given up into his hands, and he shall do lawless
was given by Barnabas : " Let us in these last days give earnest heed, for the whole past time of your faith will avail you nothing, unless now in this lawless time we, as become sons of God, resist approaching sources of peril." (Barnabas, Epistle, chap, iv.)
5. The sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate. — An anxious warning of the writer to the flock, of the dreadful possibility of even some of the elect falling away under severe pressure and perish- ing. (Bryennios.)
6. Then shall appear the world-deceiver as the Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be given up into his hands — These are the perilous times foretold by S. Paul, 2 Tim. iii. i. See also Jude, verse 18. It is a clear allusion here to S. Matt. xxiv. 3-14. There is indeed no doubt but that the writer of the •'Teaching" had this chapter of S. Matthew in the form we now possess it open before him when he wrote this con- cluding section of his treatise. It is most probable, too, that S. Paul's teaching, embodied in 2 Thess. ii. 1-12, had also been read or heard bv him.
74 TEACHING OF
things, such as have never been done since time was. ''Then all created men shall come into the fire of trial, and many shall be offended and shall perish. ^ But they who have endured in their faith shall be
7. Then all created men shall come into the fire of trial. — Bryennios thinks that here the writer is using the mystic words of Zech. xiii. 8, 9, prophesying the final trial of men by fire.
8. But they who have endured in their faith shall he saved under the very curse. — xardki^a here = ?carava^2,aa, the curse. This is a very difficult passage. Its meaning, however, appears to be, that the men who have remained steadfast through all the painful trials of their faith to which they were exposed, will be saved through Him whom they have been so sorely tempted to revile and curse, and who, in terrible irony, is here styled " the very curse." From I Cor. xii. 3 we learn that to call Jesus accursed (literally the curse, xarai/a^s/^a) was not an unknown way of reviling the Crucified. So in the Martyrdom of Polycarp we read —
*• Revile Christ, XuhooTicov rhv^^larov" (said the Proconsul), " and I will release thee." Polycarp said, " Eighty-and-six years have I served Him, and He never did me wrong ; how then can I blaspheme my King who saves me?" (Ch. ix.) We Christians believe that our Lord in glory still bears on His glorified body the passion marks. See Rev. v. 6, where enthroned in glory " stood a Lamb as it had been slain." Rev. xix. I probably conveys the same idea, " He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood." Wearing the marks of the passion which they reviled and deemed accursed shall His enemies see Him on that awful day. " They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced " (Zech. xii. 10). See too Rev. i. 7. Barnabas, Ep. c. 7 : "They
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 75
saved under the very curse. And ^ then shall appear the signs of the truth ; ^^ first the sign of a soaring forth in heaven^ then the sign of the voice of the trumpet^ and the third_, the resurrection of the dead ; yet not of all, but as it hath been said : The Lord will come and all the saints with Him. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.
shall see Him on that day having a scarlet robe about His body down to His feet, and they shall say, Is not this He whom we have despised and pierced, and mocked and crucified ? "
9. And then shall appear the signs of the truth; first, etc. — Again a memory of S. Matt. xxiv. 3-30 : " Tell us, when shall these things be ? and what s/iall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world t " etc. etc.
10. First the sign of a soaring forth, then the sign of the voice of the trumpet, and the third, the resur- rection of the dead. — According to the account of the great day by S. Paul, i Thess. iv. 13-17, the order of the " signs " was somewhat different. First, the shout of the Lord (xsXsvGfMa), with the voice of the archangel. Secondly, the Lord Himself would descend from heaven. Then the resurrection of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus. Then the soaring up into the air of those who may be alive at the dread moment of His coming.
EXCURSUS I.
early history of the " teaching of the apostles:'
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EXCURSUS I.
APOSTLES.
In the library of the Patriarch of Jerusalem at Constantinople, some few years ago^ Philotheos Bryennios_, now Metropolitan of Nicomedia, found a MS.,* which, among some early Christian writ- ings, contained the long-lost ^'Teaching of the Twelve Apostles." The Archbishop has lately published the treatise in question, with notes and dissertations in modern Greek.
The little work is one of rare and peculiar interest, and dates, we believe, from the last quarter of the first century. Its contents might have been read by S. John. It is certainly one of the earliest Christian writings we possess outside the canon of the New Testament ; by some it has been deemed the earliest. It was known and held in high honour
* The MS. itself is not a very ancient one. It is dated June ii, 1056. The scribe, whose name was Leo, signed himself vorapiov KoX dXeiTov — notary and sinner.
8o EXCURSUS I.
in very early days^ and some scholars think it formed the basis of much of the Epistle of Barnabas^ and of some portion of " the Shepherd '^ of Hermas.
'^ The Shepherd '' of Hermas probably dates from the year of our Lord* 140-145, the Epistle of Bar- nabas from the first years of the second century. The question whether these two famous early Christian treatises borrowed from the " Teaching/' or the "Teaching'' from them, will be discussed in a separate section.f
In the last years of the second century Clement of Alexandria, the head of the Catechetical School of the great Egyptian capital, was evidently well acquainted with our treatise. It was not apparently one of the Christian handbooks used in the famous Alexandrian school, but Clement looked upon it as '' Scripture/' and quoted it as such, with the same respect as he cites a passage from Proverbs. It must, however, be remembered that in much of the Alexandrian teaching the New Testament canon was still in some particulars somewhat un- determined.
A still more remarkable and pointed reference to the " Teaching " is contained in Eusebius, a.d. 330- 340, who, in his often-quoted chapter on the Can- onical Books of the New Testament (H.E. iii. 25),
* Some, however, would place the date earlier, t See Excursus IV.
EXCURSUS I. 8i
classes our treatise among the controverted books, reckoning it in the same catalogue in his second class with " the Shepherd " of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, and one or two other well-known early writings. He writes^ " It has been necessary for us to extend our catalogue to these in spite of their ambiguous character, having distinguished the writ- ings which are true and genuine^ and generally acknowledged according to the ecclesiastical tradi- tion, and the others besides these, which, though they are not canonical, but controverted, are never- theless recognised by most of our ecclesiastical authorities." (Eusebius, H.E. iii. 25.)
Athanasius, a.d. 373, in one of his Festal Epistles, tells us that the '^ Teaching of the Apostles " was one of the works recommended by the Fathers to be read by catechumens, as useful for young con- verts, though it was not a book included in the Canon. Athanasius classes it with " the Shepherd '' of Hermas.
About the time of Athanasius, that is in the last quarter of the fourth century, the unknown (probably) Egyptian author of the* '' Epitome of the Decisions of the Apostles," made very considerable use of the "Teaching'' in his curious compilation of thirty chapters ; the greater portion of chaps, iv.
* iirirofiT] 8p(av tQv dyiup diroaToXiov. Another title, al StaraYai at 5ia KX-rjixePTOS Kul Kavdves iKK\r](naaTi,Kol tQv dyLwv diroffToXcov.
82 EXCURSUS I.
to xiii., more than a third of the whole, is copied from the "Teaching of the Apostles.'^
A yet more notable work of the same period from the pen apparently of a Syrian writer, also dating probably from the last quarter of the fourth cen- tury,* " The Apostolic Constitutions," made copi- ous use of this " Teaching." The seventh book of this work is evidently based upon the information and precepts contained in the "Teaching." It literally repeats large portions of our treatise, repro- ducing, however, the statements, with curious addi- tions and ecclesiastical developments.
We find the " Teaching " again mentioned in a list of canonical and of the more famous ecclesiasti- cal writings of the first age composed by Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, a.d. 806-815.
In the West we have no direct testimony that this ancient writing was known or used, all the above-mentioned authorities belonging to the Eastern Church.
Rufinus of Aquileia, a.d. 410, however, after giving a short list of the canonical books, mentions the Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Sirach, Tobit, Judith, and the books of the Maccabees, and then in an ambiguous passage he refers to a little book called "The Two Ways, or the Judgment of Peter."
* Hamack believes that this compilation was made in Syria or Palestine, between a.d. 340 and a.d. 380.
EXCURSUS I. 83
^^ In novo vero Testamento libellus qui dicitur pastoris sive Hermas, qui appellatur Duse viae vel Judicium secundum Petrum, quae omnia legi qui- dem in ecclesiis voluerunt, non tamen proferri ad auctoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam." Rufinus, Comm. in Symb. Apost. § 3^-38, quoted by Dr. Westcott on the Canon, Appendix D.
If this ^^Two Ways, or Judgment of Peter," be identical with our " Teaching of the Apostles/^ then v^^e have an indication from this important mention of Rufinus, that our treatise was known and held in high esteem in the Western Church at the begin- ning of the fifth century. Its title, ^^The Two Ways,^' evidently connects it very closely with the ^'Teaching of the Apostles." Of the alternative title, "Judicium secundum Petrum," * Harnack suggests the following explanation : Our treatise is termed ^^The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," or ^^ The Teaching of the Lord, through the Twelve Apostles, to the Gentiles." The question no doubt very early was asked, JVho was its author? Who is the writer who so constantly addresses the reader as " My child ? " No name would so readily occur to the mind as that of Peter, in early times the usual spokesman of the Apostles, whose authoritative teaching is here put forward, and his
* It is sometimes called "Judicium Petri."
84 EXCURSUS I.
name naturally got affixed to the little treatise. Harnack explains "judicium/' literally judgment, as signifying rather " declaration '^ (der Ausspruch, die Willenserklarung). Hilgenfeld, however, has a curious theory, that this "Two Ways, or Judgment of Peter,'^ is another name for " The Epitome of the Decisions of the Apostles'^ above referred to, and has lately printed * the Epitome under the title of the " Two Ways, or Judgment of Peter."
* EvANGELiORUM secundum Hebraeos, &c. . . . quae super- sunt, ed. A. Hilgenfeld. Editio ii. 1884. — Lipsias.
EXCURSUS II.
SOURCE AND AUTHORSHIP OF THE " TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES."
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EXCURSUS II.
The little treatise, about the length of S. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, lately discovered, as has been said, by Archbishop Bryennios in a library at Constantinople, was a work well known to the early Church, although for several centuries it has been lost. Briefly to recapitulate its history — It was in some way closely connected in certain sections with two of the oldest and best-known Christian writ- ings, the Epistle of Barnabas and '' the Shepherd " of Hermas, more especially with the former. These two writings were composed in the first half of the second century, the Epistle of Barnabas being the earlier written of the two. We have strong reason to believe from internal evidence that the '^Teach- ing" is the oldest of the three.
Towards the close of the second century, Clement, a.d. 190. the master of the great Catechetical School of Alexandria, bears his testimony to our work, even quoting it as Scripture. He evidently was well acquainted with it, and entertained a very high
88 EXCURSUS 11.
opinion of its value, though he does not appear to have used it as one of the text-books of his school of theology.
A.D. 340. Eusebius, to whom we owe so much of our know- ledge of what was taught in the Church for the first three hundred years, expressly mentions our book, classing it among those highly-esteemed works not reckoned in the canon of New Testament Scrip- tures, but only second in authority to them. He classifies the ^'^ Teaching of the Apostles" in the same list with such sub-apostolic books as the
A.D. 373. Epistle of Barnabas and "the Shepherd^^ of Hermas. Athanasius speaks of it as though for a long period it had been one of the regular text-books of the
End of 4th Church. The unknown compilers of ^^ The Epitome
sthcentury. of the Decisions of the Apostles," and of "The Apostolic Constitutions," make copious use of our treatise.
A.D. 806. In the list of Nicephorus of Constantinople it appears in the catalogue of canonical and other im- portant writings in use in the Church. The value
A.D. 410. of the testimony of Rufinus of Aquileia in the Western Church has been discussed in Excursus I.
For centuries the little work was lost sight of, and it is owinsr to the researches of an eminent scholar and divine of the Greek Church that this long-buried, precious compilation has been brought to the light of day.
EXCURSUS II. 89
Apart from its history, above roughly sketched out, the '^ Teaching " bears upon its face the marks of the highest antiquity, and can only belong to the very first years of the Church. When, for instance, its author wrote this treatise, the ^^ Apostles ^' were still a living order, fast dying out, it is true, but still a living order. The ^^ prophet,^^ the inspired preacher and heart-reader, was at the height of his power. Indeed our little treatise is the writing which best describes the real work and vast influence in the Church of the first days of this primitive prophetic order, so soon to pass away. When the '^ Teaching '^ was written and read, the " prophet ^^ was the principal and most influential personage in the Christian community, whether rural or urban. Very early in the second century these prophets must have passed away, and their functions were mainly discharged, and their high influence exercised by the bishops, the dawn of whose power and authority is faintly but still clearly sketched out and coloured in by our writing.
Portions of a simple primitive liturgy to be used in the celebration of the Holy Communion are set forth, but certain license is given to the prophet to change and alter the Thanksgiving if he please. Now such a license was never given to the bishops and chief pastors of the early years of the second
90 EXCURSUS II.
century. But the prophet was evidently an inspired man in the high and peculiar sense of inspiration, was a recipient of some of those sublime gifts of the Spirit — ')(apl(T^iaTa — peculiar to those eventful years when the foundation stories of the Christian Church were being laid, and which " gifts " ceased at a very early date, probably in the first years of the second century.
Whence came this most ancient writing, so highly valued by the great teachers and fathers of the first three or four centuries, men like Clement of Alex- andria, Eusebius, and Athanasius ?
The first fact that strikes us is that it must have issued from a Jewish Christian centre. The writer was well acquainted with the Greek language, and probably used it in his daily life, but the constant recurrence of the Hebraistic expressions betrays his familiarity with the Hebrew tongue. His thoughts evidently often travelled back to that loved, sacred speech of his race.
But other and far more striking indications of its origin meet us as we read between the lines of the little treatise. The directions respecting giving the first-fruits'^ for the support of the prophet or teacher are clearly based on the Mosaic ordinances in the Pentateuch. The references to the chief
* " Teaching," chap. xiii.
EXCURSUS If. 91
priests in the same chapter are clearly a vivid remi- niscence of the Jewish hierarchy. The remark in chapter xi., " So did the ancient prophets also/' would scarcely have occurred to any one save to a Jew. The directions respecting the reception to be given by a Christian community to a travelling artisan would be such as would be rendered pecu- liarly necessary by the Jewish habit of wandering from place to place. The last chapter, which speaks of the times of the end and the coming of the Lord upon the clouds of heaven, is written in the same spirit as that class of writings so familiar to the Jew of that period, writings such as the ^'Apoca- lypse of Enoch " and the " Book of Jubilees."
The preponderating, though not quite exclusive use of the Gospel of S. Matthew, the Gospel peculiarly and specially designed for the Jewish people, certainly must not be lost sight of in the arguments adduced In favour of our writing pro- ceeding from a Jewish Christian source. Assum- ing, then, with Archbishop Bryennios, and other eminent scholars who have made a studv of the work, that the author of the '^ Teaching " was a Jewish Christian, one who lived in the last quarter of the first century^ a question of great interest suggests itself, Where did the writer live, and did he belong to any particular church or school of thought ? Have we any indications in our writing
92 EXCURSUS II.
which would lead us to a well-grounded hypothesis here ?
On a careful study of the " Teaching ^^ certain special points impress themselves as evident char- acteristic features of the school of thought to which the writer belonged. For instance : Benevolence to the poor and needy. This runs like a golden thread throughout the "Teaching." A forgiving disposi- tion is enjoined, a high estimate of poverty is taught. The ^' apostles/' " teachers/' and '' prophets/' the leaders and guides of the people, they who were to be honoured and revered, must be homeless and landless, possessors of nothing, receivers of nothing save the barest food and shelter. (A special provision was made in the case of a prophet resident in a community.) Fasting was clearly encouraged if not positively enjoined.
Some notable omissions characterise the "Teach- ing." A certain vagueness in doctrine is very noticeable. Jesus Christ is evidently the centre of the whole life. The commandments enjoined are His. It is His yoke that the believers are to bear. His name occurs in the solemn baptismal formula as the Second Person of the ever-blessed Trinity. His Gospel is referred to as the authoritative source of all teaching. In the Holy Eucharist He is the central thought. His prayer — the Lord's Prayer — is quoted as the cue constantly to be used. Prayer
EXCURSUS II. 93
is distinctly offered to Him. His day is to be the Christian Sabbath. He is " the Lord," the Great King, the Lord of hosts (Mai. i. it, 14). He is the Lord who with all the saints is to come on the clouds of heaven at the end. Still we find no clear-cut statement as to His relationship to the Father ; nothing is said respecting the atonement, or the work of the precious blood. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the ever-blessed Trinity, is only mentioned twice in this '' Teaching of the Apostles.^' His work and ofiice are left unnoticed.
The scholarly critic would pronounce the treatise to be rigidly orthodox in the Catholic sense as far as it went, recognising at the same time a certain vagueness in the doctrinal statements.
Now we possess a writing quite unlike this " Teaching '^ in form and manner of expression, destined evidently too for a different class of readers, certainly for a different nationality,* very inferior to the ^^ Teaching^' in literary power, full of national prejudices^ rather a romance than a sober, solemn instruction. This is the " Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,^' a Jewish-Christian work of great anti- quity and high value, generally ascribed by scholars to the first quarter of the second century.
* The "Teaching" is specially addressed to the Gentiles — tol%
94 EXCURSUS 11.
We have already observed that the character^ aim, and destination of this book was totally different to the " Teaching/^ and yet in both many of the same special characteristic features appear, the same notice- able points are pressed, a very high and noble moral code is urged. Practical benevolence to the poor and needy, peacefulness and gentleness among the mem- bers of the community are enjoined ; the special virtue of fasting is set forth^ and a high estimate of poverty as a state is made. Again the same vagueness in doctrinal statements appears, and yet a rigid ortho- doxy is manifest as regards the person and office of our Lord Jesus Christ in the comparatively scanty doctrinal references which occur. The death of Messiah is left unnoticed, and the atonement is not dwelt upon in the ''' Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,^^ while throughout the Testaments the notices respecti^j'iiie nature and office of the Holy Spirit s.vy^ certain V few, and wherever they do oco'ticeable. Jesus Ch the whole life. The itings, put forth with a com- His. It is His yoke /al between them, addressed His name occurs in totally unlike in style, both as the Second Persr. a Jewish Christian, we find His Gospel is referr^ness in things which are urged, of all teaching. Ir^^^ ^^ things which are passed central thought. J is quoted as t/ie ci« New Testament in the matter
EXCURSUS 11. 95
of omissions may be fairly compared with these two writings. In the canonical letter of S. James^ the most central truth of Christian Theology, the atonement through the precious blood, is scarcely touched upon.
Shortly before the siege and destruction of Jeru- salem and the Temple, the Jerusalem congregation, largely composed, of course, of Jewish Christians, warned, it is said, by an oracle, left the doomed city. They were under the leadership of Symeon, the (so- called) cousin of the Lord, the son of Cleopas, and nephew of Joseph, who, as Hegesippus tells us, under the title of Bishop succeeded James the Lord's brother (the writer of the Epistle of James) as head of the Jerusalem Church. James had suffered martyrdom at the hands of his countrymen the Jews shortly before the city was besieged. See Eusebius, H.E. iv. 22.
Bishop Symeon and his flock, largely composed, as we have said, of Jewish Christians, took refuge at Pella, a city of the Decapolis, and in the midst of a population chiefly Gentile* the Church of the Circumcision was reconstituted. The inner history of this Jewish Church of Pella will probably ever be an unwritten one. Bishop Svmeon lived many
* Compare Bp. Lightfoot, " S. Paul and the Three," in Com. on Gal,
96 EXCURSUS 11.
vears^ ^^virig at an advanced age in the reign of Trajan, a.d. 106-108.
Some time after the rebellion of Bar-Cochba (Son of a Star) was stamped out, a.d. 132-135, it seems probable from the statement of Eusebius, H.E. iii. 32, ^^, iv. 5, that the majority of the Pella Christians settled in the new Gentile city of ^Elia Capitolina, built by Hadrian on the site of the ruins of Jerusalem.
It seems likely that in this Church of Christian Jews, during their long residence at Pella, with their memories of Judaism, of the ruined city and Temple, a school of Christian teaching, somewhat different to that of Paul or John, would be developed.
" The tone of the religious society at such a place and time it will not be hard to imagine. We pic- ture to ourselves a gentle recluse body, displaying many of the features that shed so great a charm over the Judaism of the day ; the faithfulness with which in the gloomiest hour its members clung to their ancient religion, the untiring zeal expended on the elucidation of their sacred books, their consistent practical benevolence, — all this free in most part from the dark shades of which such books as the ' Jubilees,' and the treatises, ' Sabbath,' ' Sota/ ' Gittin,' for example, in the Mishna are so strik- ing instances. The intolerance which will allow of no possibility of salvation to those without the
EXCURSUS IF. 97
pale of the sacred nation, the bigotry with which the merest details of the old code are magnified to the rank and above the rank of God's highest laws, in so far that the actual comment on God's word is avowedly put in a higher position than the word itself, — such features as these are happily either absent, or under the genial sunshine of Christianity are passing away. In such a severe and religious atmosphere as this, with a literature consisting, on the one hand, of most of the New Testament, ex- cept the Gospel of S. John, and on the other, of much still studied of old Halachah and Haggadah, law and poetic fancy ; with rites wherein Jewish and Christian features are still found side by side, circumcision and baptism, hallowing of the Sab- bath and of the Lord's-day_, Passover perhaps, and Eucharist, — these are the surroundings amid which we place the author of the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.'^ *
From such a community of Jewish Christians a writing like the *' Teaching of the Twelve Apostles " might well have emanated, specially addressed to the Gentile populations around them who had been won over to embrace the Christian faith ; nor w^ould it
* "The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," chap. v. An Attempt to Estimate their Dogmatic and Historic Worth. By R. Sinker, M.A. Cambridge, 1869.
98 EXCURSUS 11.
be a very fanciful hypothesis to recognise the aged Symeon^ the son of Cleopas, the nephew of Joseph, himself a personal follower^ and according to the flesh a kinsman of the Lord, as the writer who addressed his '^ children " of the Pella Gentiles in this beautiful and practical manual of Christian life. Symeon ruled the Pella community from about a.d. 69 to A.D. T06. Some time in that period, perhaps about A.D. 80-90, he, or one of his disciples possibly, com- posed the " Teaching."
The Nazarenes — an orthodox, though at the same time a narrow Jewish Christian sect, who, while conceding all liberty to the Gentile convert, preferred themselves to adhere as closely as possible to the old Jewish rites — were probably the remnant of the Pella Church, those who declined to migrate with the majority of their fellow- Christians of Pella to ^lia Capitolina (Jerusalem) shortly after A.D. 135, preferring the comparative seclusion of Pella, where unnoticed they could practise their loved Mosaic rites.
But the "Teaching'^ evidently issued from one who had a broader conception of Christianity than a Nazarene, and was put out probably some forty or fifty years before what could be designated as Nazarene peculiarities had formally developed themselves.
EXCURSUS 11. 99
The "^ three writings which we believe to have issued from the Jerusalem Church f which we possess in their entirety, the Canonical Epistle of S. James, the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, have, as we have seen, certain points in common. The^r^^ — the Epistle of S. James — possesses that indefin- able something — we call it inspiration — which dis- tinguishes the writings included by the general voice of the Church in the New Testament Scriptures from all other writings in the world. S. James confines himself well nigh entirely to practical rules for living the life which the Divine Master, whom men called his Brother, wished His fol- lowers to live.
We have suggested that Symeon the Lord's kinsman, the successor of James as Bishop of the '^^ Jerusalem^' Church now located at Pella, though unable to attain fully I to the wisdom of the blessed
* Of the dialogue between Jason, a Hebrew Christian, and Papiscus, an Alexandrian Jew, which probably emanated from the same church and school, we only possess fragments (see Routh, I. i). It was written apparently shortly after the rebellion of Bar- Cochba, A.D. 135. From the fragment, however, it would appear that the writer was in essentials orthodox.
+ In the Jerusalem Church we include the Church of Pella, where, as we have above explained, after A.D. 69-70, for so many years all that remained of that Church were congregated,
X So S. Polycarp wrote of himself as compared with S. Paul. (Epistle to the Philippians, chap, iii.)
loo EXCURSUS 11.
and glorious James, perhaps wrote the "Teaching/' But it is a writing immeasurably inferior in heart- moving eloquence to the Epistle of S. James, and yet it is full of beauty and dignity, and possesses a charm peculiarly its own, giving us a unique picture of the Christian society of the first days, with its especial dangers and sublime hopes and sacra- mental safeguards, with its leaders and teachers still sharing in those supernatural gifts {')(apLa/iara) which, poured out on the Church on the first me- morable Pentecost morning, had not at the period when our little treatise was written yet exhausted their divine influence.
The third and latest written of these composi- tions, the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," while lacking the simplicity and power of the " Teaching," still presents to us a very high and noble moral code, and points to Jesus as the long- looked-for Messiah ; but it contains too many of the special traits of the Nazarenes to permit us to regard it as a great catholic treatise.
EXCURSUS III.
THE TESTIMONY OF THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES TO THE " C^iVOA^."
( I03 )
EXCURSUS III.
THE TESTIMONY OF THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES TO THE " CANON."
Much of the ^^ Teaching^' is based upon some authoritative record of the Lord's sayings when on earth. Now what record did the writer of the little treatise use? Was it a document which we now possess?
Harnack (Band ii^ Heft i._, pp. 70-76)^ who bases his conclusions here generally upon the work of Archbishop Bryennios, has given twenty-three passages from the " Teaching," more or less wholly based on sayings of Jesus Christ reported in the Gospels^ some of these verbatim, others evidently taken from the same source^ though not quoted with verbal accuracy. Of these twenty-three passages, by far the greater number are derived from S. Matthew^s Gospel. S. Luke's Gospel was also known and used by the writer of our treatise. There is no positive trace of S. Mark's work. The position of S. John^s Gospel in our writing will be alluded to specially.
I04 ^ EXCURSUS III.
It is noticeable that the quotations and allusions to the Gospel narratives of S. Matthew and S. Luke are only taken from the utterarices of our Lord. His acts, miracles, etc., are not noticed. The Ser- mon on the Mount and the great discourse on the " Things of the End/' S. Matt, xxiv., are the portions of the Gospel of which most use is made. There is one clear reference to the Acts in chap. iv.
From S. John's Gospel no direct quotation appears in the " Teaching," but, on the other hand, in the three Eucharistic prayers contained in chapters ix. and x. of our treatise, there are very many unmistakable references to or "memories" of the words and teaching of the Fourth Gospel. Harnack enumerates twelve of these references or memories.
It would seem as though the general Eucharistic teaching of S. John was known and received considerably before his Gospel. Indeed the early date of the '^Teaching" would well account for its author not being acquainted' with a Gospel which perhaps when he wrote had only been put forth in its present form a very few years. But the teach- ing and doctrine of the great Apostle on the subject of the Holy Eucharist, we may well conceive, was known and received in most of the Christian centres prior to the date of the putting forth of
EXCURSUS III. 105
the Gospel. Harnack* very positively asserts that there can be no doubt but that the Eucharistic prayers contained in the " Teaching'^ emanated from the same Spirit whence proceeded S. John (Gospel), chaps, vi. and xvii.
There is no direct citation from any of S. Paul's Epistles in our treatise, but that much of his teach- ing was known and received in the communitv whence our work issued is undoubted. The passages in which the mind of the Apostle Paul influenced the writer are noticed in the notes which accompany the translation of the text. In several passages of the *^ Teaching'^ the thought and almost the very words of the Epistles to the Thessalonians (ist Epistle especially), the Romans, the Corinthians (ist Epistle), and the Ephesians, make it well nigh a certainty that the author of the "Teaching'^ was acquainted at least with these four writings of the Apostle to the Gentiles.
Five times the Lord's words on the authority of the Gospel are directly referred to. Chap viii. " As the Lord commanded in His Gospel ; ^' ix. "As ree:ards this the Lord hath said j " xi. " According to the decree of the Gospel, so do ye ; '' xv. "As ye have it in the Gospel:'' and again, xv. "As ye have
* " Dass die Gebete aus dem Geiste stammen, aus welchen Joh. vi, und xvii. geflossen sind, unterliegt keinem Zweifei." (ii Band, Heft i., p. 81.)
io6 EXCURSUS in.
it 111 the Gospel of our Lord." No Gospel is quoted by name^ but some authoritative and well-known written memoir of the Master's sayings is clearly referred to. That^ as we have stated above^ is the Gospel we know as "according to S. Matthew." The Gospel of S. Luke, although known to the writer of the ^^ Teaching,'^ is only seldom referred to.
In chap. i. reference is made to an anonymous but evidently authoritative saying : '^ It hath been also said concerning this matter, Let thine alms drop like sweat into thy hands, so long as thou know est to ivhom thou givest.'' This is perhaps one of the unwritten traditional sayings of the Master recorded by none of the Evangelists.
Such an unwritten saying is quoted by S. Paul in Acts XX. ^^. There are some of these scattered in the various writings of the early Fathers. See Dr. Westcott's Introduction to Gospels, Appendix C, where these are gathered together.
Strangely enough, our writer draws little com- paratively from the Old Testament; only two direct quotations from the canonical books can be found. In chap, xlv., Mai. i. ii, 14 are introduced by the formula, '^ For this is that which was spoken by the Lord." And at the close of the treatise, Zech. xiv. 5 is quoted with the formal preface, "As it hath been said.^' The decalogue of course forms the original basis of some of chaps, ii., ill.,
EXCURSUS in. 107
and the directions respecting the '^first-fruits^' in chapter xiii. are framed upon the Mosaic commands of Deut. xviii. 3, 4; Num. xviii. See, too^ Ezek. xliv. 30; Neh. X. ^^, ^y.
Following the example of a * greater writer and teacher of (as we believe) the same Church and school of thought, the author of the ^* Teaching of the Apostles " makes several quotations from what is termed the Sapiential literature of the Apocrypha. Four times in our little treatise the book of Ecclesias- ticus is directly quoted from, once in chap, iii.^ and in chap. iv. three times. In chap. i. there is an evident reference to the book of Tobit.
* S. James, the so-called brother of the Lord.
H
EXCURSUS IV.
THE RELATION OF THE ''TEACHING'' TO THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS AND " THE SHEP^ HERD " OF HERMAS.
( III )
EXCURSUS IV.
EPISTLE OF BARNABAS AND OF HERMAS.
Two of the oldest Christian writings we possess, dating from the end of the first or from the first years of the second century, contain certain pas- sages closely resembling portions of the "Teach- ing/^ Chaps, i.-vi. in the ''Teaching'^ and the Epistle of Barnabas contain many striking parallel passages. There is also another parallel in chap, xvi. of the '' Teaching." Between " The Shepherd " of Hermas and the ^^ Teaching" only in the first chapter of our treatise can a passage be detected exactly parallel with the words of Hermas in Com- mandment ii. [evTokr) jB)j but there is a curious likeness between chap. xi. of the "Teaching" and Commandment xi. {evTokrj cd) of Hermas.
The question, which of these ancient writings was first composed, and served as material to be worked up by the others ? will probably never be decidedly
112 EXCURSUS IV.
answered. Dr. Farrar, in his article on the " Teaching," Expositor, vol. xli. pp. 384-386, gives as his decided opinion that the author of the "Teaching" wrote his treatise prior to the other twoj and that these writers copied from him. He cites various parallel passages to show that the "Teaching" was simpler, less verbose, and less artificial, and supports his judgment respecting the superior antiquity of the "Teaching" by his asser- tion that the stamp of simplicity usually marks the earlier of two similar compositions.
Zahn,* after a somewhat elaborate discussion of the "Teaching" and the Epistle of Barnabas, comes to the same conclusion, and considers that the "Teaching'^ was composed before Barnabas wrote his epistle, and that that early writer, in the composition of his famous letter, made use of the "Teaching." But, on the other hand, he believes that "The Shepherd" of Hermas was written at an earlier date than either of the other two.
Archbishop Bryennios puts " The Shepherd " and the Epistle of Barnabas before the " Teaching." So H^rnack, who in the course of an elaborate discus- sion speaks of the Epistle to Barnabas as ^'rudis
* Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons. III. Theil, Beilage v. x. " Die Lehre der zwolf Apostel."
EXCURSUS IV. 113
indigestaque moles ohne Zusammenhang und ohne Disposition^^ (Band 11, Heft i., p. 83), and believes that the author of the ^^ Teaching" has constructed his admirably arranged compendium of Christian morals out of the chaotic heap of material con- tained in the famous Epistle of Barnabas.
Dr. Wordsworth's guess perhaps is the nearest to the truth, and suggests a fair solution of the diffi- culty. The exposition of '^ The Two Ways/' in which the coincidences with "The Shepherd'' and Barnabas occur, was derived from a common, per- haps from an oral source, possibly from a catechism founded on the Sermon on the Mount, an expansion indeed of the Lord's teaching about the broad and narrow way.
See the note in the commentary on the text, where is discussed the great popularity — among the teachers in the early Church — of this pictorial de- scription of " The Two Ways."
It seems highly probable that some such expan- sion of the Evangelists' report of the Master's teaching in this matter was put forth by the rulers of the Church in very early days, and that th's expansion was used both by Barnabas and the writer of the "Teaching."
The one important passage which occurs alike in HermaSj Commandment ii., and in the " Teaching/' chap. i. (see note in commentary on text), is ?
u-
114 EXCURSUS IV.
saying evidently of great moment, and not impro- bably was based on some saying of the Lord's, not recorded in the Gospel, but embodied in the very earliest apostolical preaching.
It does not seem necessary to suppose that either Hermas or the author of the "Teaching" copied one from the other.
The question of the mutual inter-dependence of these very ancient Christian writings^ or, what is still more probable, the existence of a still earlier source, possibly oral, from which they both drew, is one which still invites discussion.
The striking parallels which exist between the Epistle of S. Jude and the 3d Epistle of S. Peter will at once occur to the reader.
EXCURSUS V.
THE PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS CONTAINED IN THE COMMENTARY IN THIS TRANSLATION OF THE " TEACHING."
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EXCURSUS V.
THE PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS CONTAINED IN THE COMMENTARY IN THIS TRANSLATION OF THE '' TEACHING.'^
The passages from early Christian writings_, quoted in the commentary which accompanies the English translation of the "Teaching of the Apostles" in this volume, are, for the most part (with many others) quoted or referred to in the learned and exhaustive Greek work of Archbishop Bryennios.
The passages illustrative of the text, quoted in this volume are^ however, save in a few exceptional cases, which are specially mentioned, entirely derived from writings of the first and second centuries of the Christian era ; that is to say, roughly speaking, they were all written within a hundred years of the death of S. John.
They will give the general reader an idea of the teaching of the great Church leaders on the various
ii8 EXCURSUS V.
important subjects handled in the "Teaching" respecting every - day life, doctrine, sacraments, church government, primitive liturgical forms, &c., during the first hundred years which followed the death of S. John and the definite close of the Canon of New Testament Scriptures. They repre- sent the voice of the Catholic Church, not of one centre but of many. They are the work of Chris- tian teachers who lived and worked in Italy (Clement of Rome), Greece (Dionysius), Gaul (Irenaeus), Carthage and Proconsular Africa (Tertullian), Egypt and Alexandria (Clement of Alexandria), Asia Minor (Polycarp of Smyrna), Antioch and Syria (Ignatius), Palestine (writer of the "Testa- ments of the Twelve Patriarchs ").
They are the teaching of men, too, of various schools and of different rank and training.
In Clement oj Rome, the man of apostolic dignity, we have the friend of S. Paul ; in Polycarp and Dionysius, the earnest, devoted bishops of the first hundred years which followed the death of S. John ; in Ignatius, bishop and martyr, the great ecclesi- astic, the skilful organiser and administrator of the Church; in Clement of Alexandria, the learned and eloquent teacher of the first and most famous of the early schools of theology ; in Tertullian, the skilled jurist, devoting his great powers to the service of
EXCURSUS V. 119
Christ; in the nameless writer of the '^Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs/' the Jewish Christian teacher seeking to win over his countrymen to the Christian faith.
B.
A VERY BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE FATHERS FROM WHOSE WRITINGS THE PASSAGES QUOTED IN THIS WORK ARE TAKEN, WITH THE APPROXI- MATE DATES OF THEIR LITERARY ACTIVITY.
Clement of Rome y a.d. 68 or 97, it being uncertain whether the persecution mentioned in chap. i. of his first Epistle to the Corinthians referred to the persecution under Nero or Domitian. There is no doubt but that this Clement was "the fellow- labourer whose name was in the book of life/' mentioned by S. Paul (Phil. iv. 3). The first Epistle to the Corinthians, from which quotations are given, is universally acknowledged as genuine. Eusebius, H.E. iii. t6, characterises it as ''great and admirable."
IgnatluSj Bishop of Antioch, suffered martyrdom A.D. T07. Thus his letters belong to the very first years of the second century. He was in fact a con- temporary of S. John. Seven of the epistles bear-
I20 EXCURSUS V.
ing his name are generally considered by scholars to be genuine. Of these letters we possess two Greek recensions, a shorter and a longer, besides a Syriac version of three (the Epistles to Polycarp, to the Ephesians and the Romans). The quotations given here are from the shorter Greek recension, which more probably represents the original writing of Ignatius. The seven epistles are mentioned by EusebiuSj H.E. iii. 36.
Polycarp. — Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, a.d. 177, writes of Polycarp ^' that he was taught by the Apostles, and was brought into communication with many who had seen Christ/^ adv. Haer. iii. 3 ; Eus. H.E. iv. 14. We possess one epistle of his to the Philippians, the authenticity of which is quite unshaken. He was Bishop of Smyrna, and suffered martyrdom about the middle of the second century.
The Martyrdom of Polycarp. — This is a letter in twenty-two short chapters from the Church at Smyrna^ addressed to the Church in Philomelium (Phrygia), and through that church to all the churches. It is the oldest of all the accounts of martyrdom, and is considered generally authentic. We find a great part inserted by Eusebius, H.E. iv. 15. It is commonly ascribed by scholars to the middle of the second century.
Barnabas. — The Epistle of Barnabas was well known and highly esteemed in the early Church,
EXCURSUS V. 121
and was generally ascribed to the Apostle, the companion of S. Paul. Clement of Alexandria unhesitatingly does so several times (Stromata, ii. 6, xi. 7, 8cc.) Modern criticism^ however^ while acknowledging its very early date, declines to accept the ancient tradition which ascribes the authorship to the Apostle Barnabas. Its date was probably early in the first quarter of the second century. In Jerome's time it was still read among the Apocry- phal Scriptures.
The connection of the " Teaching of the Apostles'^ with the Epistle of Barnabas and with ^^ The Shep- herd '' of Hermas is discussed in Excursus IV.
Hermas, — '^ The Shepherd " of Hermas was one of the best-known works of the early days of Christianity. It is divided into three parts : Visions, Commandments, Parables. Its lofty claims to being a divine message, and its winning, popular style, gained it great fame and popularity in the early Eastern Churches. Irenaeus quotes it as Scripture. Clement of Alexandria alludes to it as '^ making its statements divinely ; '^ and Origen, commenting on the passage in S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans where Hermas is mentioned, remarks that this Hermas is the author of a tract which is called " The Shepherd/' and adds, "is, I fancy, divinely in- spired." Modern criticism, however, disbelieves in the Hermas referred to by S. Paul being the author,
122 EXCURSUS V.
but generally ascribes the book to the years 140- 145. It is mentioned in the Muratorian Fragment on the Canon, written about a.d. 170.
Justin Martyr was born probably at the close of the first century^ and in his early life was a student in the school of the Stoics and other ancient schools of philosophy. He became an ardent evangelist and missionary preacher, and suffered martyrdom in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, somewhere about a.d. 165. His writings, which have been preserved to us, are among the most important in early Christian literature.
Clement of Alexandria was originally a pagan philosopher. After his conversion he became an industrious and painstaking student of the history of Christianity, and of its teaching, oral and written. A pupil of Pantaenus, master of the famous theo- logical school of Alexandria, he succeeded him as head of that school about a.d. 189. He was driven from Alexandria in the persecution under Severus, a.d. 202. His works which we possess are the most voluminous which have come down to us from very early Christian times.
Dionysius of Corinth, whose testimony respecting the observance of the Lord's day we have quoted, was apparently Bishop of Corinth at the time of the martyrdom of Justin Martyr, a.d. 165. The passage referred to in the commentary on the
EXCURSUS V. 123
" Teaching " is given by Eusebius, H.E. iv. 23, and is taken from a letter to Soter, Bishop of Rome.
The Epistle to Diognetiis. — The authorship of this very early little work is unknown. It dates most probably from the early years of the second century. Its writer speaks of Christianity as being ^'a new thing in the world.''
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. — The relation of this curious work to the " Teaching of the Apostles '^ is discussed in another place. It was most probably the work of a Christian Jew of the fugitive Jerusalem Church while located at Pella beyond Jordan^ and was written some time between a.d. 70 and a.d. 150.
The Canons of the Apostles and the Constitutions of the Apostles. — The connection of these com- pilations, probably dating from the last quarter of the fourth century, with the '^ Teaching of the Apostles/' is examined in another dissertation.*
Tertullian and Origen. — Very little use has been made in the commentary of the voluminous works of these two famous writers. The first, Tertullian, principally wrote in North (Proconsular) Africa / during the last quarter of the second century, ^' " and the second^ the great Alexandrian Master,
* See Excursus I., pp. 81, 82.
124 EXCURSUS V.
Origen, succeeded Clement (of Alexandria) as master of the Alexandrian Catechetical School^ A.D. 202,. He was driven from the Egyptian capital by the persecution of Caracalla, a.d. 2i5, and died about A.D. 254. The period of his literary activity may be roughly placed in the first half of the third century.
Minucius Felix is only once referred to in the commentary, on the question of the wild orgies falsely supposed to be connected with the Euchar- istic Feast. He probably wrote his well-known dialogue, the " Octavius," in the reign of Alexander Severus, between a.d. 222-235.
EXCURSUS VI.
THE APOSTLES OF THE " TEACHING:'
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EXCURSUS VI.
THE APOSTLES OF THE " TEACHING.'
The apostle is mentioned only three times in the '^Teaching/' in the early part of chap. xi. He occupies the first place in the enumeration of the official personages connected with the early Chris- tian Church. He is mentioned with the deepest respect^ and whenever he appeared, he was to be received as ^^the Lord." But the few words which allude to him, when compared with the far more elaborate directions given respecting the prophets, or with the definite and positive instructions respect- ing the bishops and deacons, lead us irresistibly to the conclusion that in the churches with which the writer of this " Teaching " was familiar, the apostle was a personage rarely seen, and who in consequence had little influence on the Church's everyday life. It would seem that the office of apostle, while still existing, was passing out of the life of the Church.
Now in the first days of Christianity the apostle indisputably had occupied the first rank. The holy
128 EXCURSUS VI.
Twelve were termed Apostles^ but the title was by- no means confined to them. The appellation, we know, was extended to others, such as to Paul and Barnabas, to James the Lord's brother. In the Epistle to the Romans (xvi. 7), Andronicus and Junias are called distinguished* members of the apostolic body. These chance notes clearly indi- cate that the Apostolic College contained many outside the Twelve whose names have not come down to us. Hermas in '^The Shepherd," writing in the first half of the second century, speaks in general terms of apostles and teachers. He speaks of '^ forty '' of these apostles and teachers. (" Simi- litudes,'' ix. 15, 16.) In the next chap, (xvi.), how- ever, he writes of these " apostles and teachers, who preached the name of the Son of God, after falling asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, preached it not only to those who were asleep, but themselves also gave them the seal of the preaching." (Sim. ix. 16.) It would thus seem that, when Her- mas wrote, the apostles and teachers to whom he had been alluding were dead. The number speci- fied of these "forty" cannot be pressed when the figurative character of the entire writing of " The Shepherd " is remembered. Hermas again alludes to these apostles and teachers (Sim. ix. 25) in terms
* €Trl(rrjfioi, ev Tots airodToXoLS.
EXCURSUS VI. 129
which would certainly lead us to think that in his opinion these highly gifted ones had done their work and had entered into their rest. Taken in conjunction with these above-quoted passages, the words of Vision iii. 5 would, as regards apostles and teachers, lead us to the same conclusion.
Later writers of authority, such as Origen (^^50 A.D.), look upon the title of Apostle as capable of a very wide application (in Joann. iv. p. 430) ; and Eusebius speaks of ^^ numberless ^^ apostles beyond the eleven (H.E. i. 12).*
The question then arises, who were the apostles mentioned in this very early writing?
We have seen that the date of the " Teaching " can scarcely be placed later than the last quarter of the first century. The apostle here mentioned was evidently not one of a numerous order. He was a factor in the life of a community, but not an important one. His rank and position were indis- putable. He is mentioned in the first place and with the deepest reverence ; but the apostle, great though he was, was not a personage who influenced the life of the community as did the prophet or the bishop and deacon.
Yet there was evidently a strange charm which accompanied the lofty title, which — not many years
* Bishop Lightfoot in Epistle to Galatians, note on the name and office of an apostle.
I30 EXCURSUS VI.
before — had been the special appellation of the Twelve and the great Christian missionaries of the first days — of men like Paul and Barnabas. There was a danger clearly that unauthorised men might assume the name, and with the name something of the power and influence which evidently hung round the ancient title of honour.
So the writer warns his people against pretenders to the honoured name. An apostle, he bids them remember, is one who has given up home and every earthly possession. A real apostle can never stay with them more than a night or two at most : he must receive nothing at their hands but the barest maintenance ; must give his message, and then rest- lessly hurry on to a fresh scene of labour.
Such a career, such a reception, such a slender guerdon, the writer of the " Teaching ^^ feels will attract no impostor. One content with this, one claiming nothing more, might indeed be worthy of the high title of Apostle of the Lamb. There were other tests by which these true great ones would be known, but this at least would suffice to keep the mere impostor at a distance.
But from the nature of the scanty allusion here to this office, it is clear that in such a community as that to which the "Teaching'^ was addressed, the apostle was a rare appearance.
Nor does this appearance of the apostle in our
EXCURSUS VI. 131
writing necessitate any modification of the old belief which required that an apostle must have with his eyes looked on the Lord Jesus. When the " Teaching'^ was written^ perhaps half a century or little more had scarcely passed since the Master had gone in and out of earthly homes^ and the writing seems to be telling of an order once great and powerful in the community^ but of an order already passing away.
EXCURSUS VIT.
THE PROPHET OF THE FIRST DAYS OF CHRISTIANITY.
135
EXCURSUS VII.
THE PROPHET OF THE FIRST DAYS OF CHRISTIANITY.
We have heard and read often the well-known words of Eph. ii. 20^ words which are framed too in the beautiful setting of an oft-repeated collect which speaks of God, who "has built His Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone.'^ These words do not refer to the famous prophets of the Old Testament, to men like Elijah or Isaiah or Ezekiel, but to that strange and powerful order of men, raised up for a little season only, in the Church of the first days, and who in the inspired writings of Paul, and in such venerable compositions like this ^^ Teaching/^ were described as prophets.
The Master, writes the Apostle Paul, ^^gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evan- gelists; and some, pastors and teachers; ... for the edifying of the body of Christ'^ (Eph. iv. 11).
136 EXCURSUS VII.
And again, " God hath set some in the Church, first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers." (i Cor. xii. 28.)
But nowhere in the relics which we possess of very early Christian literature do we find such ample information respecting the office and work of a prophet in the Christian Church, as in this little treatise, " The Teaching of the Apostles.'^
The question now suggests itself, what was this gift of prophecy which for a season was so widely diffused, and which was used evidently with such powerful effect in laying the early stories of the Christian edifice ? It was not only or even chiefly prediction, that wonderful power of foreseeing things still hidden in the future far and near, though this gift of foreseeing was in some cases by no means excluded, some of the New Testament prophets having evidently possessed it. See Acts xi. 27-30, xxi. 4, and 10-14; i Tim. iv. i. But prophecy seems rather to have been a gift of speech, an extra- ordinary power of preaching, of uttering burning words which went with a peculiar force right home to men's hearts. These prophets of the New Testa- ment were often impassioned and eloquent men, but were evidently something more ; often in moments when the Spirit seized them they would pour out their strange mighty utterances, now of command, now of comfort, now of warning.
EXCURSUS VIL 137
Inspired by the Divine Word, they could read men's secret thoughts (i Cor. xiv. 25). They could say to one like Timotheus^ " Thou art called to war a good warfare for the Master/' They could, speaking in the Spirit, give an authoritative charge, as they did at Antioch, ^' Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them '^ (Acts xiii. 2). As heart-readers they were enabled to work strange and marvellous conversions in the congregations. See i Cor. xiv. 24, 25, where we read how men convinced fell down on their faces and worshipped God.
Such generally was the power of the prophets alluded to in the ^^ Teaching" — a power mysterious, wonderful, exceptional, which existed in the first hundred years succeeding the Ascension. It made its appearance on that Day of Pentecost when the fiery tongues descended on the heads of the immediate followers of the risen Master, and from that time the gift (xcipicr/ia) spread with a wonder- ful rapidity. It came sometimes through the lay- ing on of the Apostles' hands (Acts viii. 17, xix. 6). Sometimes, apart from any human intervention (Acts X. 44-46, xi. 15), would the Spirit descend upon men, and these inspired ones would prophesy.
We hear of it in all the great centres of apostolic activity. So at Thessalonica was given the charge, " Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesy-
138 EXCURSUS VIL
ings" (i Thess. v. 19, 20). At Corinth there appears to have been an unusual outpouring of this great gift (i Cor. xii. 14). At Rome a special direction was given to the early disciples of the Christian community with respect to the use of the prophetic gift. At Ephesus it is alluded to as one of the chiefest gifts bestowed by the Christ on His Church. "Strange as it may seem/' writes Dean Plumptre, "there were in that age men, as truly in- spired as Isaiah or Jeremiah had been, as SS. Peter and Paul were then, speaking words that were as truly as any that were ever spoken inspired words of God, and yet of most of them all record has vanished. Their voices smote the air, and did their work, and died away, and we catch but the faintest echoes of them. Their words were written on the sand, and the advancing waves of time have washed away all, or nearly all, traces of what was once as awful as the handwriting on the wall.''
When we consider the vast and varied influence which these almost forgotten prophets exercised while the massive early stories of the great Christian edifice were being laid in Greece, in Italy, in Syria, and in Asia, the importance and interest of such a writing as this "Teaching of the Apostles^' can scarcely be overrated. For here we have a simple picture of the work and position of these prophets in a quiet provincial community of Christians in
EXCURSUS VII. 139
the last quarter of the first century; that is to say, ill that period which intervened between the close of the activity of S. Paul and the days so vividly described to us in the letters of Ignatius.
In the Christian congregations addressed in the "Teaching," the prophets indisputably occupied the most prominent and influential position. It is true that they are named after the Apostles, but while the apostle is mentioned three times, we meet with the prophets in our writingjifteen times. The student as he reads feels that the one (the apostle) belongs rather to a past state of things; while the prophet, on the other hand, was the centre of the busy Christian life painted by the writer of this little treatise.
There were at this period, which may be gene- rally described as reaching from a.d. 70 to a.d. io5, two descriptions of these prophets, the one itine- rant, the other stationary. The itinerant journeyed from place to place where Christian communities were established. In these he would make a brief halt if he had any special message; he would pro- bably, after an Agape (Love Feast), deliver it, and then would depart for another scene of labour. The wandering prophet, however, does not appear to have ever been a missionary to Pagan peoples, but rather to have acted as the instructor , the builder-up of the scattered Christian congregations.
I40 EXCURSUS VII.
The other and far more important description of prophet was the one who was fixed and stationary. It appears that any wandering prophet^ if it pleased him, might become resident in a community, and that then he was entitled to certain offerings from the flock.
Such a resident prophet stood, said the writer of our treatise, in relation to the flock in the midst of whom he had taken up his permanent abode, in some respects as their "chief priest" {ap')(Lepevs;) .'^ Great and exceptional privileges were his. In cer- tain portions of the Eucharistic celebration which was to take place on the Lord's-day of every week, the prophet might depart from the liturgical form and use his own words.
The deepest respect to these prophets is enjoined upon the members of the community. The only rule that appears to have been binding upon them was that in their life and conversation they must imitate the conduct of the Master.
The absence of one feature in the varied details respecting congregations, liturgies, and ministers in the ^^ Teaching ^^ is remarkable. There is no re- ference whatever to speaking in unknown tongues. An interpreter is never mentioned; he was evi- dently never required. All instructions, public and
* See " Teaching," chap. xiii.
EXCURSUS VII. 141
private, all inspired utterances clearly were of such a nature^ and were communicated in such a tongue, as the ordinary folk who made up a city or a provincial congregation could of themselves under- stand.
It is noticeable that the writer, however, of the '' Teaching," after dwelling with considerable detail upon the office, the duties, the privileges and re- sponsibilities of these prophets, suggests the possi- bility of a community being without a prophet at all, and directs how the offerings should be distri- buted, which would, in the event of the presence of a prophet, have been given to him.*
This would seem just a hint that the writer looked forward to a time, probably not far distant, when the extraordinary powers of the prophets should cease, when this order, like that of the apostles, then evidently fast dying out, would cease to exist.
* See chap. xiii. — "But if you have no prophet, give to the poor."
EXCURSUS VIIL
THE POSITION OF THE "TEACHER" IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY.
( 145 )
EXCURSUS viri.
EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY.
The third of the primitive Christian orders, the '' Teacher," is mentioned in our treatise, but this order apparently exercised but little influence in the communities addressed in our writing. Only twice, against the fifteen times in which the prophet is mentioned, do we meet with an allusion to the '' teacher.''
Like the "prophet," his work was the building up and instructing the congregation. He too could claim support from the flock, who are likewise bidden to hold him in reverence and honour. But the teachers evidently, as an order, exercised but little influence in such a community as the one addressed in our treatise. The prophet, and, as we shall see, the bishops and deacons, were taking up their peculiar work. The "teachers," like the apostles, belonged evidently to a former generation.
Harnack (pages 131-137), with great ingenuity
146 EXCURSUS VIII.
and power, traces a connection between these ''teachers" of the first days and men like Justin Martyr, and Tatian, and Pantaenus of the second century, and sees in the early Christian theological schools, and especially in the Catechetical School of Alexandria, the outcome of their labours.
EXCURSUS IX.
THE BISHOPS AND DEACONS OF THE " TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES.''
( H9 )
EXCURSUS IX.
" TEACHING
The position of the bishops and deacons in the Christian communities addressed in the '' Teaching^' is to us one of singular interest.
Whilst the three primitive orders of apostles, prophets, teachers, are alluded to in terms which indisputably suggest that in the mind of the writer of the treatise they were but transitory, occupying only a temporary position in the Church, the bishops and deacons, although the writer gives us com- paratively but scanty details respecting them, are clearly spoken of as permanent officers of the Church.
For the apostle is alluded to as occupying the first place, but evidently as one rarely appearing in the congregation. His influence in these communities appears to have been but slight in the days when the ''^ Teaching '' was put forth. The men who had originally filled this high office had for the most part evidently passed away.
ISO EXCURSUS IX.
The prophet J as we have already shown, occupied in the Christian community in those early days decidedly the most influential position. He was the instructor, the preacher, the chief minister, too, in the public weekly assemblies for worship. In him ■were also, it is evident, centred the duties of the teacher of the first days. These teachers are alluded to as a distinct order in our w^riting, but for all practical purposes their special work was apparently merged in that of the prophet.
But even this great and important order of pro- phets is spoken of in terms which indicate to us that, in the mind of the writer of the '^Teaching," the time would probably come when they too, like the apostolic order, would gradually cease to exist. Provision is specially made in chap. xiii. for com- munities unprovided with a prophet.
When, however, in chap. xv. the writer comes to speak of bishops and deacons, no such possibility is hinted at. Every community is directed to appoint for themselves these officers of the Church. While apostles and teachers, and even the prophets then occupying in the churches the position of greatest influence, were looked upon as temporary, the bishops and deacons were evidently regarded by our writer as permanent.
There was a danger clearly present in our writer's mind that these church officers (the bishops and
EXCURSUS IX. 151
deacons) might be looked upon by the congregation somewhat slightingly because their special functions were administrative, others acting rather as the spiritual guides and teachers of the flock. To guard against this, the community was reminded that these church officers too rendered the services of prophets and teachers. The writer, it seems, looked forward to no distant day when there would be no more directly inspired prophets and teachers. Then their work as spiritual guides and instructors of the flock of Christ, already in part intrusted to the bishops and deacons, would wholly devolve on these permanent officers of the Church.
Nor need we inquire why these two orders, bishops and deacons, alone are mentioned to the exclusion of the order of presbyters, for in the language of the apostolic age, to which this writing of the " Teaching of the Apostles ^' clearly belongs, the bishop and the presbyter were identical. So S. Paul in the opening of the Epistle to the Philip- pians looked on them when he saluted the bishops and deacons (Phil. i. i). So again (Acts xx. 17), the same apostle, at Miletus, calls for the elders or presbyters of the Church of Ephesus, and in his address to these (verse 38) he appeals to them as "bishops'' (eVicr/coTrou?) . See too i S. Peter i. 3; Titus i. ^-y.
As late as the last decade of the first century, in the Epistle of Clement of Rome, the terms bishop
152 EXCURSUS IX.
and presbyter are still conv^ertible. (See first Epistle of Clement to the Corinthian Church, chaps, xlii., xliv.) But with the close of the first century the identification of the bishop and presbyter ceases ; the things foreshadowed in the directions of the "Teaching" rapidly come to pass; gradually the extraordinary gifts, bestowed for a particular pur- pose on the Church of the first days, were with- drawn. The first possessors of the gifts (;^a/?to-/iara) of prophecy had passed away, and except perhaps in rare and exceptional instances^ their powers were not renewed. The apostle of the first generation, as we have seen, had no successor. The prophet of the second generation likewise was the last, or well- nigh the last, of his influential order. These had done their appointed work ; the early stories of the vast Christian Temple having been securely laid, these temporary and extraordinary gifts were no more bestowed.
Early in the second century the genuine Epistles of Ignatius testify with ample fulness to the rise of the episcopal power. '' In the same century," writes Bishop Lightfoot, " to men like Irenaeus and Tertullian Episcopacy is so inseparably interwoven with all traditions and belief of men, that they betray no knowledge of a time when it was not. Even Irenaeus, the earlier of these, who was cer- tainly born and probably had grown up before the middle of the century, seems to be wholly ignorant
EXCURSUS IX, 153
that the word bishop had passed from a lower to a higher value since the apostolic times." {'' Epistle to Philippians/' p. 225.) '^ Unless," writes this same scholar, Bishop Lightfoot, " we have recourse to a sweeping condemnation of received documents, it seems vain to deny that early in the second century the episcopal office was firmly and widely estab- lished.'^
We can see the various steps which gradually led up to this change in the position of the bishop. It is not needful to have recourse to the conclusion of Professor RotTie, that a general apostolic council immediately after the fall of Jerusalem was held to deliberate on the crisis, and to frame measures for the future government of the Church, and that at this council a system of church government was framed, the centre of which was Episcopacy. Such a theory, however plausible and ingenious, is not sup- ported by history or tradition, nor is it necessary.
The rise of the new order of things was not sud- den, but gradual. The presbyters in each community — we have the quiet witness of our present little treatise here* — exercised the functions of the inspired prophets and teachers along with these specially gifted men. Before many years they would have to exercise these lofty duties without any help from specially inspired prophets or teachers. The senior, either by rank or age, of these presbyters, would
* See chap. xv.
154 EXCURSUS IX.
eventually, in the natural order of things, step into the place of influence once held by the prophet. And so it would come to pass that the chief presby- ter in one community after the other would occupy the position, and, as far as in him lay, would exercise the influence and perform the duties of the apostle, the prophet, and the teacher. The higher and official title of bishop or overseer would be appropriated naturally by him, the more general name of presbyter remaining to his colleagues, many or few in number.
This quiet change in the government of the early Church, rendered needful by the gradual dying out of the apostles and prophets, was witnessed by and received the approval of some of the great apostles of the first days and of many apostolic men. This change had passed, or at least was passing, we may fairly assume, over well-nigh all the Churches surely before S. John had entered into his rest.
That an arrangement for the future government of the Church — by bishops [eTriaKoirot) as dis- tinguished from presbyters [Trpeo-^vTepot) — was organised and approved by apostles and'^apostolic men, is clear from the testimony of writers of the highest authority of the second century.
Ignatius, writing in the first years of the second century, in the fullest and most ample terms bears his testimony to the existence in his days of the Episcopal form of government in the Churches.
EXCURSUS IX. • 155
Now Ignatius was a contemporary of S. John, and Ignatius, a tradition of some authority * relates how he was Martyred consecrated to the office of Bishop of Antioch by ' ' the hands of S. Peter and of others of the blessed Apostles.
Tertullian gives his evidence respecting the ori- Tertuiiian, ginal settlement of the Episcopal form of govern- Africa. ment very clearly.i" "The order of bishops, where 145, died' it is traced up to its origin^ will be found to have S. 220. John for one of its authors;" and again,J " Let them (the heretics) show us the origin of their Churches, and give us a catalogue of their bishops in an exact succession from first to last, whereby it may appear that their first bishop had either some Apostle or apostolic man living in the time of the Apostles for his author or immediate predecessor. For thus it is that apostolical Churches make their reckoning; the Church of Smyrna counts up to Polycarp, ordained by S. John ; the Church of Rome to Clement, ordained by S. Peter ; and so all other Churches in like manner exhibit their bishops ordained by the apostles, by whom the apostolical seed was propagated and conveyed to others/^
• Clement of Alexandria \ writes of S. John, that Clement
oi Alex-
andria^
head of
* Theodo7-d, Dial. I, t. 5, p. 33. Chrysostom, Horn, in Ignat. Catecheti- t. I, p. 563, cal School
t Adv. Marcion, Book IV. chap. v. % De Prascrift, c. 32. ^^^' ^^^ Z ris 6 (jii}i^6fj,€vos irXovaios, Part I, a. 5.
L
156 EXCURSUS IX.
when he was residing at Ephesus^ after his return
from banishment at Patmos, he was in the habit of
travelling about the neighbouring districts, ordaining
bishops and setting apart such men for the clergy
as were indicated to him by the Holy Ghost.
irenaeus, Irenacus gives a catalogue of the twelve first
Lyons, bishops of Romc that governed successively in that
A.D. 173. ^.^^ ^^ l^jg ^^^^^ time, and writes of Linus,* the
first of these: f '^ The blessed apostles then having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the Episcopate." J Irenaeus also writes," Polycarp, too, was not only instructed by the apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also appointed Bishop of the Church in Smyrna by apostles in Asia, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried (with us on earth) a very long time."
This ancient treatise of the ^^ Teaching of the Apostles," written in the last decade of the first century (or perhaps even a few years earlier), in its simple, truthful picture of the life of a Christian community of the first days, indicates to us some of the reasons which led apostles and apostolic men to sanction certain changes in the original constitution of the Church.
* Both Linus and Clement of Rome are mentioned by S. Paul in connecuon with the Church of Rome. See 2 Tim. iv. 21, and Phil.
iv. 3.
+ Adz'. lice?:, Book III. chap. iii. 3.
i"
''THE OLD paths:'
Practical Thoughts for Life ift the Year of Our Lord 1 884, suggested by the " Teaching of the Apostles^'' a treatise on Christian life, written at the close of the first cen- tury. Being a Sermon preached in St. Paulas Cathedral on Sunday Eveni7ig, the 22d June 1884, by the Rev. Canon Spence, M.A., Vicar of S. Pancras.
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." — Jer. vi., part of verse i6.
A NEW light has recently been cast upon the life of the Christian in the first days of the faith.
A Greek scholar and divine, well known and honoured, has lately discovered at Constantinople a very old Christian writing, one quoted by writers of the second, third, and fourth centuries, but which for many hundred years has been lost.
Scholarly experts in England and Germany are generally of opinion that this writing dates from the last years of the first century.
If this be so, we have here words addressed to men and women who might have seen St. John. The writer most probably had himself sat at the feet of one of those who had listened to the voice of the Son of God when He talked with men on earth.
To us, as we read the little treatise — to us the life led in one of these early Christian communities is laid open to our gaze. It reminds me of what
i6o ''THE OLD PATHSr
the first uncovering of the buried Campanian city must have been to the devoted classical student. As the veil of ashes and of lava was lifted, the Roman town appeared below, well nigh as fresh and beautiful as on that dread morning when the fire- shower first hid it, and the old Pompeian life could be traced in temple and house^ in the market-place, along the silent street of tombs, though eighteen centuries had passed since the old Roman life, gay and sad, had been suddenly hushed to sleep.
So in our little writing, when the veil of the dust of centuries was lifted off, we can see something of the Christian life of some eighteen centuries back, with its temptations and dangers, with its mighty helps and safeguards.
It must have been a state of things not very much unlike — in matter of temptations — that in the midst of which you and I find ourselves.
The writer of this little treatise or manual of the Christian life, first tells his readers that for men and women there were two ways — one of life, one of death.
He models his directions respecting the way of life very much on the blessed Sermon on the Mount. Had he not perhaps heard it? This is something of its teaching : —
Be kind to others, especially your enemies. Be pure_, single-hearted, true in speech, true in thought.
''THE OLD PATHSr i6i
true in action. But above a.\\, this early voice of the Church says — Be generous with thy goods, be hos- pitable to the stranger and the wanderer.
"Do not be one/' quaintly writes this early Christian teacher, "who stretches out his hands to receive, and clenches them tigiitfor giving. If thou hast/' he goes on solemnly to urge, ^'thou shalt give with thy hands as a ransom for thy sins." '^Thou shalt not turn from him that needest. Thou shalt communicate with thy brother in all things, and thou shalt not say they are thine own."
But the teacher of primitive Christianity knew well that the pure generous simple life which he urged upon the rapidly-growing society was not possible without some mighty supernatural aid. The wise old master who wrote the little book was aware that men and women, left to themselves, would never cease to be sordid and grasping, im- pure and avaricious.
The generous almsgiving to the stranger, the widow, and the orphan ; the thoughtful provision for the wandering, homeless wayfarer ; the hard sacri- fice of self; the ardent love of truth and reality, — all these things the old Christian master who wrote this beautiful instruction was conscious were quite foreign to the nature of the dwellers in the cities and villages of the Asia, the Greece, the Italy,
i62 ''THE OLD paths:'
which he knew of in the first century; as, alas ! they are to our nature in London now. The teacher here was well aware that no mental energy, no moral effort, no progress of civilisation, could endow any single human soul with these strange, sweet tastes.
He knew — to use the words of a philosopher of our day, — he knew that ''the breath of God touches with its mystery of life the dead souls of men, bears them across the bridgeless gulf between the natural and the spiritual, endows them with its own high qualities, and develops within them those new and sweet faculties by which men are said to see the kingdom of God.''
So when he had told them what to do, and how to live so as to please the Lord, he goes on to re- veal to them the secret by which they might breathe into their souls that breath of God which alone conveys these mysterious blessed powers. Four methods are enjoined by which the servant of Christ who has chosen the ivay oflfe can, in the dread conflict, strengthen his soul with supernatural help.
These are Prayer, Fasting, Holy Baptism, and the Eucharist.
But the centre of the religious life of the Chris- tian of the first days was evidently the Eucharist. All would be servants of the Lord on the first day
"THE OLD paths:' 163
of the week. — This was the solemn charge of the writer of this ancient treatise. — Jll on the first day of the week must partake of the sacred Cup and Bread.
If the anxious, troubled soul were conscious of any defilement, clear was the course for that soul and definite the teaching here.
It said. Do not stay away, but repent. Would God men and women w^ould listen to that wise, holy teaching now !
The discovery of this long-buried little book is an intensely interesting one to us. It is no mere treasure for the antiquary and the scholar; for its voice is to that full^ busy life you and I probably are leading in London now. And that voice is no uncertain one ; it sweeps away many cobwebs that have grown up and about much of our religious teaching. We have come, many of us, in our just admiration for the love with which it is clear God loves the world, we have come to dream dreams of an unreal sentimentality about Divine forgiveness and universal restoration, forgetting that while God loves the world with a love full of an intense tenderness and of a boundless pity and of a limitless mercy, still it is with a love that is at the same time lofty, noble, and severe.
Now the voice of the very early Church, which
i64 ''THE OLD PATHS.''
we hear In this "Teaching of the Apostles/' contains a very distinctive, very positive instruction. There is no middle course for men and women. There are two ways, and only two ways — the way of life, and the way of death.
It tells us there must be no neutral tints in Christian morals; it presses on us that we must not be content with just keeping our lives free from dark stains ; we must be cverjillifig them with thoughts and acts and words on which we know God will smile; we must be doing something here which will enable Him to say at the end, "Well done^ good and faithful servant." Otherwise, whatever men may say and teach, we are travelling along the way to death.
There is no middle road, remember. We business men and working men of London are told plainly in this primitive writing that we cannot serve God and mammon. We must make our choice, we must acknowledge that it is not our first and chief busi- ness to make money and get on in the world, but that our chief work here must be to serve God and our neighbour. We have to care for the Lord's com- mandments in the Sermon on the Mount, and to leave Him to take care of our interests. We must sternly and rigidly obey these grave, simple direc- tions, without heeding what will be the outcome of our obeying them — riches or poverty, neglect or
''THE OLD PATHS r 165
honour, quietly, without show, in the common way of life ; by purity, by self-denial, by almsgiving, by kindly, not in showy hospitality. All through the week were the hard-working Christians of the first age to let their light shine before men with a gentle beneficent light; and on the Lord's day were they to seek and find new strength and supernatural power to keep that light steadily burning.
It needed indeed a strength ?iot of this world to enable them to lead this life, to keep their feet steadily on the way of life. It cost much ; not a little giving up of things pleasant, heartache often, headache often, endurance always, and at the end, as earthly guerdon, they were offered exile, imprison- ment, torture, often a death of agony; ay, the re- ward was not yetj not now !
But the Christians of the first age shrank from none of these things; they knew well — and our little writing repeats it — where, and when, and how to find strength for this life of self-denial and of martyrdom.
For us, if we would lead the only life loved of God, — for us the same hard, stern sacrifices of self are needed, — the same resolute giving up, the same brave facing of heartache often, and headache often, everything the same as in those early days, save the death of agony which closed so many a Christian's life in those first davs.
i66 "THE OLD PATHS.''
Thus you and I need, just as much as they needed, '^help from above," if we would hold fast to the narrow path of life. It is as hard now as it was then to keep unswervingly on that road.
The supernatural help which the old teacher in our precious writing told the men and women of the first century they must get, you and I must make our own now.
We too must use the selfsame methods to call this help down from heaven as he told them to use. Now power to keep steadily on the way of life — he pressed this on them — can only be maintained by prayer and rigid self-denial. '^This kind goeth not out but bv prayer and fasting.'^
For though to-day we love the Master, and cling to Christ and His way of life with a passionate clinging, to-morrow the touch of the world, with its pleasures, distractions, and temptations, will surely relax this clinging hold of ours, and will draw away our love from Him ; therefore do we need con- tinually supernatural help. This is how men and women go wrong, leave their first love, grow cold and listless. They neglect the supernatural help which they might, if they chose, call down.
The man or woman who would work for God, and walk in the light of the Lord, these must live with God.
This kind goeth not out but by prayer, yes, and
''THE OLD paths:' 167
by something more. The wise old teacher whose work is our theme to-night, bade his Hsteners and his readersy^.y^ as well as pray. Thrice in each week must they learn afresh the high lesson of rigid self- control.
Men and women believe but dimly now in these old-world ways of winning power.
Our modern teachers, in teaching freedom from old restraints and worn-out limitations, have gone too far.
They forget the true asceticism which Paul taught, and which men like our unknown writer of the first age pressed upon their flocks. He knew too weW that it is no easy task to do God's will here, no easy task to choose the right and reject the wrong. He knew that self-indulgent men could never do it.
For fasting means more than merely denying our- selves the luxuries of the table; it includes all real self-denial, and without rigid self-control, without a self-denying asceticism, we cannot keep in the narrow way of life. '* This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
And the highest, noblest form of prayerj our ancient teacher tells us in this writing, is in the Eucharistic Feast. This God Himself ordained. There is He in Spirit present with His own; there
i68 ''THE OLD PATHS:'
will His faithful^ His beloved, surely gain new strength, bright courage, brave patience, greater and more enduring power, to walk with footsteps unwavering along the way of life.
The sum then of the teachino- of this ancient
o
book, just brought to light, and which belongs to the days of the pupils of the Apostles, comes out clear and distinct. It tells us there are two ways, and only two, along which you and I may travel on our world-journey — the way of life and the way of death. It tells us, does this newly-found " Teach- ing of the Apostles/^ of a solitary path of safety — tells us with a quiet, passionate earnestness that there is ?io broad and royal road along which the redeemed may pass, festive, triumphant, rejoicing!
It tells us there are only two roads. If we choose not the hard and difficult path with Christ, then our world-journey must lie along the broad thronged road of death and perdition.
The Divine Wisdom, knowing how weak and frail we are, how girt with foes seen and unseen — the Divine Wisdom, it tells us, has provided supernatural help for those who choose the way of life.
This help from above comes through prayer and fasting, and then with a still closer communion with the Unseen God in the Eucharist.
The voice of the old Christian master just dis- covered in that neglected Eastern library, with its
"THE OLD paths:' 169
promises and warnings, speaks to different classes of our day and time.
It speaks to that vast company of youncr men in our great citv, no longer sheltered by the loving defence of a religious home, but who live in an atmosphere of temptation — alone often, friendless often. It speaks to these ; it bids them, in their Master's name, "be true, real men, helpers of the helpless ^^ — bids them choose the stern, hard way of life, the only way which becomes men, and it shows these, too, wliere to get their strength to choose that way.
It speaks also to that countless army of women who work in this awful London, many of them scarce able to win their poor daily bread, and yet struggling to be pure and white, — it bids them, for their dear Lord's sake, help their weaker sisters, sadder ones than themselves, bids them help others out of their hard-won earnino^s and their scant leisure.
Time would fail me now were I to track the message of the early Church as it whispers its stern, solemn warning to other and richer ones.
God, for His dear Son's sake, in His mercv grant that this long-buried writing of the storied past may do its high work among us. I lay down this heart- stirring message of the earliest Church.
0 my brothers and sisters, many of you toil-worn
I70 ''THE OLD PATHS:'
and wearied with the stress of living, my message seems to ring with a ring of sadness and of gloom. Some would ask, Is such a life of restless striving to keep on the narrow path of duty worth living after all? Yes, a thousand times yes. For hark to its closing words of promise — hark to the triumph song of heaven with which it ends. Watch, says my ancient writer : watch, for Christ is coming — coming to bless His faithful — coming to fetch His own who have suffered for Him here ! Yes, it says, — watch — for the Lord is coming !
See, in his closing words our writer paints the picture of Christ's saints soaring up to meet their Lord in the air. Is it not then worth while for a little season to struggle for the narrow path ?
AIAAXH
T.QN
AiiAEKA AnOSTOAiiN.
AIAAXH
A^AEKA AnOSTOA^N.
Aibaxn Kupiou bia tiuv biubeKa diTTOCToXiuv roic eOveciv.
K€(p. a. 'Oboi buo eici, juia ific lujr\c Kai )iia toO eavdiou, biaqpopd be TroWf] jueiaHu tujv buo obuuv. *H )Liev ouv oboe ific lwr\c ecTiv auiri* Ttpujiov, (XTa- TTi]ceic Tov Geov tov Ttoiricavid ce* beuiepov, tov Tr\r|Ciov cou ujc ceauiov Trdvia be oca edv GeXi'i- cr]c |nii TwecGai coi, kqi cu dWuj [xx] iroiei. Toutojv be TUJV XoYOJV fi bibaxri ecTiv auiiv GuXoYeTie touc Kaiapiujuevouc ujuiv kqi TipoceuxecGe urrep tujv exQpuJv Tj|uujv, vriCTeueie be iiTiep tujv biujKOVTUJV ujudc* iroia -fdp x^piC) ^dv dYOCTTdTe touc dYaTiiJuvTac vjidc; oiixi Kai Td e'Gvri to auTO ttoioOciv; ujueTc be dYCXTrdTe TOuc laicoOvTac ujiidc Kai oux eHeTe exOpov. 'Airexou
TIJUV CapKlKUJV Kai KOCjUlKUJV eTTlGujUlOIV. 'Edv TIC coi
buj pdTTicjua eic ti'^v beHidv ciaYova, CTpeipov auTUJ Kai Tf|V dXXriv, Kai ecri TeXeioc* edv aYT^P^^^^ ce TIC /iiXiov ev, iJTTaYe juct' auToO buo* edv dpr] tic iq
174 AIAAXH TQN IB' AnOITOAQN a.' (B/ t-'
i|udTi6v cou, boc amw Kai xov xnwva' eav Xdpr) tic otTTO cou TO cov, jur) dTtaiTer oube ^ap buvacai. TTavTi Tuj aiToOvTi ce bibou xai jur] diraiTer iraci ydp GeXei bibocGai 6 iraTrip Ik tijuv ibicuv xo^pi^^l^id- Tojv. MttKdpioc 6 bibouc KQTd Triv evToXriv dBuuoc ydp ecTiv ouai tuj Xaju^dvovTi* el juev ^dp XP^iotv e'xujv Xajupdvei tic, dGuuoc ecTar 6 be juf] xpeiav e'xujv buucei biKriv, ivaTi eXa^e Km eic ti, ev cuvoxr) be Yevojuevoc e?eTac0riceTai irepi wv e-nrpaHe, Kai ouk eHe- XeuceTtti eiceiGev juexpic ou dTrobuj tov ecxaxov ko- bpdvTrjv. 'AXXd Km Tiepi toutou br\ eipriTar 'Ibpiu- cdTiJU f) eXeriiLiocuvTi cou eic Tdc x^ipo^c cou, ]uexpic dv Yvujc Tivi bujc.
Ke9. p'. AeuTepa be evToXf] Tfjc bibax^ic Ou qpoveuceic, ou |uoixeuceic, ou 7Taibocp9opr|ceic , ou TTOpveuceic, ou kXchjcic, ou juaYeuceic, ou cpapjuaKcu- ceic, ou q)oveuceic Te'KVOV ev qpGopa oube Y^vvriGev dTTOKTeveic. Ouk eTnGu)Lir|ceic Td tou rrXriciov, ouk emopKriceic , ou ipeubojuapTupriceic , ou KaKoXoYrj- ceic, ou luvriciKaKriceic. Ouk ecr] biYvdj|Liujv oube bi- yXuuccoc" TTttYic Ydp Gavdxou f\ biYXoiccia. Ouk ecTm 6 XoYoc cou ipeubrjc, ou Kevoc, dXXd |ue|uecTiu- luevoc irpdHei. Ouk e'er] irXeoveKTric oube dpTiaH oube uTTOKpiTric oube KaKoriGrjC oube uTuepriqpavoc. Ou XriHJri pouXr]V Tiovripdv KaTd tou TiXriciov cou. Ou laicriceic rrdvTa dvGpuuTrov, dXXd ouc juev eXe'YHeic, Ttepi be wv irpoceuHri, ouc be dYairrjceic uirep ir\v vpuxrjV cou.
Keep, y'- Te'KVOV |uou, qpeuYe drro iravToc irovri- pou Km drro iravToc o.uoiou auTOu. W\r\ ywou opYi-
AIAAXH TQN IB' ATTOITOAQN t-' ?>•' 175
Xoc* obiiY^i Tap ^ op"n TTpoc Tov cpovov luribe ZiriXuuiric |ur]be epicxiKOC juribe Guiliikoc" Ik fcip toutuuv dTrdvTuuv qpovoi xevvujVTai. Tekvov juou, jur] fivou emGujuriTiic* obrjYeT Y^tp ^ fcTTi9u,uia irpoc tx]V Tiop- veiav juiibe akxpoXoYOC jurjbe uipri\6cp0a\)uoc* die Yocp TOUTUUV diravTcuv jiioixeTai YevvuJVTai. Tekvov JUOU, |uri Yivou oiuuvocKOTTOC* eTreibf] obriYei eic th^v elbiuXoXaTpeiav jurjbe eTiaoiboc juribe ^laGinuaTucoc ]ir\be TrepiKa0aipujv, pibs Ge'Xe auTct pXerreiv* eK YOtp TOUTUUV dTiavTuuv eibujXoXaTpeia YevvdTai. TeKVOV JUOU, juf] Yivou ipeucTiic eTieibf] obriYei to vpeucjua eic TfjV KXoTuriv juribe qpiXdpYupoc jLiribe xevoboHoc €K Y«P TOUTUUV dTrdvTuuv KXoTiai YCVVuuvTai. Tekvov JUOU, juv] Y^vou YOTT^coc* erreibf] obiiYei eic Triv pXa- cqprijuiav jurjbe auGdbrjc jurjbe iroviipocppuuv ex y^P TOUTUUV dTidvTUJV pXaccprjiuiai YevvujVTai. "Ic0i be Tipauc, eirei oi irpaeTc KXripovojurjcouci Trjv ^r\v. Vi- vou juaKpoGujuoc Kai eXerjjuuuv xai dxaKOC xai ficuxioc Kai dYaQoc Kai Tpe'juuuv touc Xoyouc bid TiavToc, ouc fiKoucac. Oux uvpuuceic ceauTov oube buuceic Tfj ipuxrj cou Gpdcoc. Ou KoXXriGi^ceTai f] ipuxn cou jueTd uipnXuJV, dXXd jueTd biKaiujv Kai Ta- Treivujv dvacTpaqpi'-jcri. Td cujupaivovTd coi evepYi'i- juaTtt die ttYaBd TrpocbeHr], eibdic oti dTep 0eoO oubev YiveTai.
Keqp. h\ Te'KVov juou, toO XaXoOvTOC coi tov Xoyov ToO GeoO juviicGricr] vuktoc Kai f]]uepac, Tijurjceic be auTOV ibc Kupiov 60£v yc^P n KupiOTrjc XaXeiTai, eKei Kupioc ecTiv. 'GKZiriTriceic be Ka9' f]|uepav Td TrpocujTTa TUJV dYiu-'v, iva eTravaTraurj toTc Xoyoic
176 AIAAXH TQN IB' AnOITOAQN b\ e.
auTujv. Ou TToGi'iceic cxicjua, eipriveOceic be |Liaxo- luevouc" KpiveTc biKaiuuc, ou Xriipr] irpocuuTTOV eXeT" Hai eTTi TrapaTTTiu]Liaciv. Ou bivjiuxnceic, TTOiepov eciai r| ou. Mil Y^vou irpoc )uev to XapeTv eKieivcuv Tctc XeTpac, upoc be to bouvai cucttuuv edv ex^;ic, bict Twv x^iP^v cou buuceic XuTpuuciv djuapTiujv cou. Ou bicTdceic bouvai oube bibouc YOYT^ceic* fvuucri Y«P TIC ecTiv 6 Tou )uic0ou KaXoc avTa-noboTric. Ouk otTTOCTpacpricr] tov evbe6|uevov, cuYKOiviuviiceic be TrdvTa TUJ dbeXqpuj cou Kai ouk epeic ibia eivar ei xdp ev TUJ dGavdTUJ koivuuvoi ecTe, ttociu ludXXov ev ToTc GviiToTc; Ouk dpeic Tfjv x^Tpd cou drro toO uioO cou ri d-rro Trjc GuTOiTpoc cou, dXXd diro veoTriTOC bi- bdHeic TOV cpopov toO Geou. Ouk eTiiTdSeic bouXtu cou r| TTctibiCKr], ToTc erri tov auTov 0e6v eXiriZiouciv, ev TTiKpm cou, ixY]TioTe ou jix] qpo^iiGiicovTai tov in' dju- 90T6poic Geov* ou Ycip epxeTai KaTd irpocuuTTOV Ka- Xecai, dXX' eqp' ouc to Tiveujua fiToijuacev. 'YjueTc be oi bouXoi uTTOTctYricecBe toTc Kupioic ujuoiv ujc tuttuj OeoO ev akxuvr] Km cpopuj. Miciiceic Tidcav utto- Kpiciv Ktti Tidv 0 juf] dpecTov TLu Kupiuj. Ou |uri t{- KaTaXiTTr)C evToXdc Kupiou, cpuXdSeic be a irapeXapec, luriTe TTpocTiGeic jurjTe d9aipujv. 'Gv eKKXricia eHo- jLioXoYricr] Td TTapaTTTuujuaTd cou, Kai ou irpoceXeucr] em irpoceuxiiv cou ev cuveibi^cei iroviipa. AuTr) ecTiv f] oboe Trie lvjr\c.
Keqp.e'. 'H be tou GavdTou oboe ecTiv auTr)' Trpm- Tov TrdvTUUV TTOvripd ecTi Kai KaTdpac luecTrj. q)6voi, juoixeiai, eiTiGuiuiai, TiopveTai, KXoTiai, eibuuXoXaTpeiai, juaYeiai, q)ap]uaKeTai, dpiraYai, ipeubojiiapTupiai, utto-
AIAAXH TS2N IB' AHOITOAQN e'. g'. t . 177
KpicGic, biTiXoKapbia, boXoc, iJTrepriqpavia, xaKia, au- edbeia, TiXeoveHia, aicxpoXoYia, Z^riXoTuma, Gpacuiric, uvj/oc, dXa^oveia* biajicxai dYa9uuv, juicoOviec aK\\- Beiav, dYaTTUJVTec ipeOboc, ou TivuucKOViec juicGov bi- Kaiocuvric, ou KoXXuu|uevoi dYa9uj oube Kpicei biKaiqt, dYpuTTVoOvTec ouk eic to dYaGov, dXX' eic to irovn- pov ujv juaKpdv Trpauxric Kai uTTOjuovrj, ludxaia dYaTTUJVTec, biuuKOVTec dvTaTT6bo)ua, ouk eXeoOvTec TTTuuxov, ou TTOVOuvTec €711 KaTaTTOVOu.uevuj, ou Yiviiu- CKOVTec Tov TTOiricavTa auxouc, cpoveic tekvoiv, cpGopeTc TrXdcfLiaToc 0eoO, dTrocTpecpojuevoi tov evbeojuevov, KaTaTTOVOuvxec tov GXi^ojuevov, irXouciuuv TcapdKXriTOi, Trevi'iTiuv dvojLioi KpiTai, TiavGajudpTriTor pucGeiriTe, TGKva, drro toutuuv diravTuuv.
Keqp. ?'. "Opa |ur| tic ce TiXavricr] d-rro TauTrjC ttic oboO Tfjc bibaxfjc, eruei irapeKTOc 0eou ce bibdcKei. €i )uev Ydp buvacai pacTdcai oXov tov 2uy6v toO Ku- piou, TeXeioc ecri* ei b' ou buvacai, 6 buvrj touto TToiei. TTepi be Tfjc ppuuceuuc, 6 buvacai pdcTacov • dTTO be ToO eibuuXoGuTOu Xiav irpocexe' XaTpeia yo^P ecTi Gecuv veKpuuv.
Keep. I'. TTepi be tou pairTicinaTOC, outuu paTTTicaTe ' TauTa TrdvTa rrpoeiTTOVTec, paTiTicaTe eic to 6vo|ua TOU TTaTpoc Kai tou Yiou Kai tou dYiou TTveujuaToc ev ubaTi ^uuvTi. 'Gdv be juf] e'xrjc ubuup ^Ouv, eic dXXo ubujp pttTTTicov ei b' ou buvacai ev ipuxpil), ev Gep)Liuj. '€dv be djiicpoTepa \xy\ e'xric, eKxeov eic ttjv Ke9aXfiv Tpic ubujp eic ovoiua TTaTpoc Kai Yiou Kai dYiou TTveu|uaToc. TTpo be toO pa7TTic)naTOC TTpovr)- CTeucdTUJ 6 paTTTi^ujv xai 6 parrTiZ^ouevoc Kai ei Tivec
178 AIAAXH TQN IB' AHOITOAQN t. n'. 0'.
ctXXoi buvaviar KeXeuceic be vricTeOcai xov paTCTiZio- )L4evov TTpo |uidc ri buo.
Keep. Ti' Ai be vricieiai ujuujv )k\\ eciuucav luexd tujv TJTTOKpiTuijv vricieuouci ydp beuiepa cappdiuuv Km TTe'juTTTr) * \j|ueTc be vricieucaTe Texpdba Kai irapa- CKeuriv. Mribe rrpoceux^cQ^ ujc oi iiTroKpixai, dW ibc eKeXeucev 6 Kupioc ev tlu euaYT^^-iif auioO, outuj 7Tpoce\Jxec0e* TTdiep fiiuujv 6 ev tuj oupaviu, dYiacGri- TUJ TO ovojud cou, eXGeiuu x\ paciXeia cou, yevriGriTUJ TO GeXriiLid cou ujc ev oupavip Kai em ^V[V ih^ dpTOV f])Liijuv Tov eTTiouciov boc f|juTv crijuepov Kai dqpec fijuTv TTjv oqpeiXfiv fi)Liujv djc Kai fijueic dqpiejiiev toTc ocpei- XeTaic fijuujv, Kai juri eiceveTKr]c f]^dc eic rreipacjuov, dXXd pOcai fijudc dTio toO TrovripoO* oti coO ecTiv fi bOvajuic Kai fi boHa eic touc aiOuvac. Tpic Tfjc fijLie- pac ouTiJU TTpoceux^cQe.
Keep. 8'. TTepi be Tfjc eux^piCTiac, outuuc euxapi- CTr|caTe' iTpujTov Tiepi toO iroTripiou' £uxapiCToO)Liev coi, TTdTep f])uujv^ uirep Tfjc dyiac djuireXou Aapib toO TTaiboc cou, fjc eYVuupicac fijuTv bid 'Ir|co0 toO iraiboc COU" coi f] boHa eic touc aiujvac. TTepi be toO KXd- cjLiaTOC* GuxapicToOjuev coi, TTdTep fi|uOuv, uTiep TfjC Isi^vf. Kai YVJuceuuc, fic cTViupicac f]jLiTv bid 'IqcoO Tou iraiboc cou* coi f) boHa eic touc aiujvac. "Qcnep fjv toOto KXdc)Lia biecKOpTTicjuevov eTrdvuj tuuv opeiuv Kai cuvaxOev eyeveTO ev, outuj cuvaxOriTUJ cou f] CKKXricia diTO tujv irepdTUJV ttic y^c eic ttjv crjv pa- ciXeiav oti coO ecTiv f] boHa Kai fi buvajuic bid 'IticoO XpiCToO eic touc aiujvac. Miqbeic be qpaYCTUJ \\x^\ TTieTUJ drco Tf]C euxapiCTiac ufiujv, dXX* oi pcf-
AIAAXH TQN IB' AnOITOAQN 0'. i'. m'. 179
TTTicGevTCc eic ovojua Kupiou* xai yccp Trepi tovjtou eipriKev 6 Kupioc* Mf) bujie to ayiov toTc kuci.
Keqp. i'. Meict be to ejUTiXiicGfivai outuuc euxctpi- CTricaT€* GuxapicToOjuev coi, TTdTep ctYie, iiirep toO dyiou ovojuaTOC cou, ou KaTecKrivoicac ev Taic Kap- biaic fi,uiJi)V, Km UTiep ty\c Yvuuceoic Kai TricTeuuc Kai deavaciac, fjc eYVuupicac fijuTv bid MncoO toO Tiaiboc COU' coi f] boHa eic touc aioivac. Cu, becrroTa iravTO- KpdTop, eiaicac Td TidvTa eveKev toO ovojuaTOc cou, Tpocpriv Te Ktti TTOTOV ebuuKac toTc dvGpuuTroic eic dTio- Xauciv iva coi euxapiCTricoiciv, fijuTv be exapicuu TiveujLiaTiKfiv Tpocpriv Kai ttotov Kai Z;uufiv aidjviov bid Tou Tiaiboc cou. TTpo TrdvTuuv euxapiCToujue'v coi oti buvaToc ei" coi r] boHa eic touc aiuuvac. Mvr|C0r]Ti, Kupie, TTic eKKXrjciac cou tou pucacGai auTrjV drro TravToc TTOvrjpoO Kai TeXeiiJucai auTi^v ev Tr) a^cmri cou, Kai cuvaHov amr]v aTio tujv Teccdpcuv dve'juujv, THV dTiacGeicav eic ti^v cfjv paciXeiav, tiv fiToifiacac auTfj* OTi cou ecTiv f] buvajuic Kai f] boHa eic touc aiuuvac. 'GXGeTUj xc^pic Kai irapeXGeTUJ 6 kocjlioc ou- Toc. 'Qcavvd tuj uilu Aapib. €1 tic dyioc ecTiv, epxecGo)* ei tic ouk ecTi, jueTavoeiTUj * JLiapavaGd. 'AjurjV. ToTc be 7Tpocpr|Taic eTTiTpeireTe euxapicTeiv oca GeXouciv.
Keqp. la'. "Oc dv ouv eXGiuv bibdHr] u)Lidc TauTa TidvTa, Td irpoeiprijueva, beEacGe auTOV edv be auToc 6 bibdcKUUV CTpacpeic bibdcKr] dXXriv bibaxvjv eic to KaTaXucai, )uf] auTou dKoucriTe* eic be to TipocGeTvai biKaiocuvriv Kai yvwjciv Kupiou, betacGe auTcv ujc Kupiov. TTepi be twv drrocToXcuv Kai -rrpocpiiTUJV KaTd
i8o AIAAXH TQN IB' AnOITOAQN la'. ip'.
TO boYjua ToO euaYY^^iou, outuj iroiricaTe. TTac be drrocToXoc epx6)U6VOc rrpoc ij|uac bex6r|Tuu u)C KOpioc ou juevei be fi)uepav juiav eav be i^ Xpeiot, Kai ifiv dXXriv TpeTc be edv |ueivri, ipeuboTipocpriTric eciiv. '€Hepx6|uevoc be 6 dTiocToXoc |uribev XajLipaveiuj ei|uifi ctpTov eujc ou auXicGfj* edv be dpYupiov aiirj, vpeubo- TipocpriTric ecTi. Km Trdvia TTpoqprjTriv XaXoOvia ev TTveujuaTi ou Treipdcexe oube biaKpiveixe* Tidca Tdp djuapiia dcpeGnceiai, auir) be f] djuapiia oi»k dcpeGr)- ceiai. Ou Tide be 6 XaXOuv ev TTveujuaii TipocpriTric ecTiv, dXX' edv e'xr] xouc TpOTrouc Kupiou. 'Atto ouv TUJV TpOTTUV YViucBriceTai 6 vpeuboTrpoqpriTric Kai 6 TTpocpriTTic. Kai irdc TrpoqpriTrjC opiZioiv TpaTieZ^av ev Trveu|uaTi, ou qpdYeiai an' auific, eibe ixr\^e ipeubo- TTpoqpriTric ecii* iidc be rrpocpriTric bibdcKUJV TfjV dXr|- Geiav, ei d bibdcKei ou TioieT, vpeuboTipocpriTric ecTi. TTdc be TTpoqDriTric beboKijiiacjuevoc, dXrjGivoc, ttoiiuv eic )uucTr|piov kocjliikov eKKXrjciac, jufi bibdcKUJV be TTOieTv oca auioc TroieT, ou KpiGriceiai ecp' ujuuuv fiexd GeoO Ydp e'xei Tf]v Kpiciv ujcauToic Ydp eiroiricav Kai 01 dpxaioi TTpoqpfiTai. ''Oc b* dv eiTtr) ev TTvevjjuaxi* Aoc |uoi dpYupia f| eiepd xiva, ouk dKOucecGe auxoO* edv be irepi dXXuav ucxepouvxcuv einr\ bouvai, juribeic auxov Kpivexuj.
Keep. i^'. TTdc be 6 epxojuevoc ev ovojuaxi Kupiou bexGi'ixuj, eireixa be boKijudcavxec auxov YVuucecGe* cuveciv Ydp e'Hexe beHidv Kai dpicxepdv. Gi |uev xra- pobioc ecxiv 6 epxojuevoc, poriGeTxe auxuj ocov buva- cGe* ou jueveT be irpoc ujudc ei |uv] buo r| xpeic fi)uepac, edv ^ dvdYKTi. €i be GeXei Tipoc ujLidc KaQf]cai, xe-
AIAAXH TQN IB' AnOITOAQN ip'. ly'. i6'. le'. i8i
Xviiric ujv, epTaZiecGuj Kai cpaYeTuu* ei be ouic e'xei Te'xvrjV, Kaid Tf]V cuveciv ujuuuv irpovoricaTe, ttujc luf] dpYoc |ue0' ujuiLv Z^riceiai xpiciiavoc. 6i b* ou GeXei ouTUj TTOieTv, xpicie'iaTTOpoc ecir Trpocexete diro tujv
TOIOUTUUV.
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AIAAXH TQN IB' AnOITOAQN 15'. 183
Toxe cpaviiceiai xd cruLieTa tfic dXiiOeiac* irpuuTov, crijueTov eKireTdceujc ev oupavuj, eiia criiueTov (pcuvfjc cdXTTiYTOC Kai to xpixov avdciacic veKpOuv ou irdv- Tujv be, aXy ujc eppeGri" "HHei 6 Kupioc Kai Tidviec 01 dyioi |ueT* autoO. Tore oipeiai 6 kocjuoc tov Ku- piov epxojLievov eTrdviu tiDv vecpeXiJuv toO oupavoO.
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