Didascalia Apostolorum

tr. Connolly, 1929

On the ordering of the Church: showing also that the Apostles came together for the…

Now already we had rightly preached the holy word of the Catholic Church¹; and we returned once more to come to the Churches, and found men² occupied with other opinions. For some forsooth were observing holiness; and some abstained from flesh and from wine, and some from swine’s flesh; and they were observing (some or other) of all the bonds which are in the Second Legislation.

When therefore the whole Church was in peril of falling into heresy,³ all we the twelve Apostles came together to Jerusalem and took thought what should be done. And it seemed good to us, being all of one accord,⁴ to write this Catholic Didascalia for the confirming of you all. And we have established and set down therein that you worship God Almighty and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit;⁵ that you employ the holy Scriptures, and believe in the resurrection of the dead; and that you make use of all His creatures with⁶ thanksgiving; and that men should marry: for He saith in Proverbs: Of God is a woman betrothed to a man⁷; and in the Gospel again our Lord saith: He that created from the beginning the male, said that he created also the female.⁸ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they two shall be one body. What therefore God hath coupled, let not man separate.⁹ But sufficient for the faithful is the circumcision of the heart, (which is) spiritual, as He said by Jeremiah: Light you a lamp, and sow not among thorns. Be circumcised unto the Lord your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart,¹⁰ ye men of Judah.¹¹ And again in Joel He saith: Rend your hearts, and not your garments.¹² And as for baptism also, one is enough for you, even that which has perfectly forgiven you your sins. For Isaiah said not (only) Wash,¹³ but Wash, and be cleansed.

Now we had much questioning, as men contending for life; and not we the Apostles only, but also the people, together with James the bishop of Jerusalem, who is our Lord’s brother after the flesh, and with his presbyters and deacons and all the Church. For also some days before, certain men had come down from Judaea to Antioch, and were teaching the brethren,¹⁴ (saying): Except ye be circumcised and conduct yourselves¹⁵ according to the law of Moses, and keep yourselves clean from meats, and all the rest, ye cannot be saved; and they had much conflict and questioning. And when the brethren of Antioch knew that we were all assembled and come to make inquiry of these matters, they sent to us certain men (that were) believers and had knowledge of the Scriptures to learn concerning this question. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they related to us¹⁶ the controversy which they had in the Church of Antioch. And there rose up certain (men) who had believed from the sect of the Pharisees, saying: Ye ought to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses.¹⁷ And others also were crying out and saying in like manner. Then I Peter rose up and said to them: ‘Men, brethren, ye yourselves know that from the first days when I was among you, God made choice that by my hands the gentiles should hear the gospel and believe. And God, who proveth the hearts, gave witness of them;¹⁸¹⁹ for to Cornelius, a certain centurion, there had appeared an angel and told him of me; and he sent for me. But when I was ready to go to him, it was shown me concerning the Gentiles that they were about to believe, and concerning all meats. For I ⁹ had gone up to a housetop to pray;²⁰ ¹¹ and I saw the heavens opened, and a certain vessel,²¹ that was tied by its four corners, being lowered and let down upon the earth; ¹² and there were therein all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and fowls of the heaven. ¹³ And there came to me a voice saying: Simon, arise, slay and eat. ¹⁴ But I said: God forbid, Lord, for I have never eaten any thing defiled and profane. ¹⁵ And there came to me again another voice, the second time, saying: What God hath made clean, do not thou make profane. ¹⁶ Now this was done thrice: and the vessel was taken up to heaven.²² Thereupon I bethought me, and understood the word of the Lord, how that He had said: Rejoice,²³ ye gentiles, with the people,²⁴ and that everywhere He had spoken of the calling of the Gentiles; and I rose up and went my way. And when I was entered into his house and had begun to speak the word of the Lord, the Holy Spirit lighted down upon him and upon all the²⁵ Gentiles that were there present. God, then, hath given the Holy Spirit to them even as to us, and hath made no distinction between us and them in the faith, and he hath cleansed their hearts. Now therefore, why tempt ye God, that ye should lay a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we believe that we shall be saved even as they also.²⁶ For our Lord came and released us from those bonds, and said: Come unto me, all ye that toil and are laden with heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.²⁷ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light. If then our Lord has released and unburdened us,²⁸ why will ye lay snares for²⁹ your own selves?’

¹³ Then all the people was silent; and I James answered and said: Men, brethren, hear me.³⁰ ¹⁴ Simon hath told how formerly God said that he would choose him out a people from the gentiles to his name: ¹⁵ whereunto agree the words of the prophets, as it is written: ¹⁶ Hereafter will I raise up and build the tabernacle of David, that is fallen; and the ruins thereof will I build and raise up; ¹⁷ that the residue of men may seek the Lord, and all the gentiles upon whom my name is called, ¹⁸ saith the Lord who maketh known these things from everlasting. ¹⁹ Wherefore I say, that no man vex them that turn to God from among the gentiles, ²⁰ but that word be sent them on this wise: that they abstain from evil (practices), and from idols, and from that which is sacrificed, and from that which is strangled, and from blood.³¹ ²² Then we the apostles and the bishops and the elders, together with the whole church, thought it well to choose out men from amongst them and send them ⟨to Antioch⟩ in company with Barnabas and Paul, who were come thence. And we chose and appointed Judas, who was called Barsabbas,³² and Silas, notable men among the brethren, ²³ and wrote by them as followeth:—The apostles and elders and brethren to the brethren who are of the gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting. ²⁴ Forasmuch as we have heard that some have troubled you with words, that they might corrupt your souls, whom we sent not: ²⁵ we have determined, being all assembled together, to choose out and send men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and his companions, whom ye sent (hither). ²⁷ And we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you of these things by word (of mouth). ²⁸ For it hath seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, that no further burden be laid upon you, save that ye abstain from (these) necessary things: ²⁹ from that which is sacrificed, and from blood, and from that which is strangled, and from fornication. And from these keep yourselves, and do well. Fare ye well.

Now the epistle we sent; but we ourselves remained³³ in Jerusalem many days; and we were consulting and ordering together those things which were for the advantage of all the people, and writing also this Catholic Didascalia.

Notes

of the Catholic Church] τῆς εὐσεβείας AC: but cf. Lat.
men] lit. ‘them’ (masc.).
When . . . heresy] ‘of falling into heresy’ is lit. ‘that heresy should happen to her’: ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ τότε αὕτη ἡ αἵρεσις [ἰσχυροτέρα πρὸς πλάνην] ἔδοξεν εἶναι, καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὅλης κινδυνευούσης AC.
Cf. Acts xv 25.
worship . . . the Holy Spirit] θεὸν παντοκράτορα . . . σέβειν μόνον καὶ προσκυνεῖν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ παναγίῳ πνεύματι AC (vi 14. 2), clearly with alteration so as to introduce the author’s favourite form of doxology: S marg. adds ‘the Father’ after ‘God’ and ‘His Son’ after ‘Jesus’.
Cf. 1 Tim. iv 3.
Prov. xix 14.
He that created . . . the female] The exact order is ‘He that created from the beginning the male, and the female He said that He created’. In syr. cur. we find ‘He that made the male from the beginning, also the female He made, and said: Therefore’, etc.: syr. sin. omits ‘from the beginning’ and ‘and said’. Possibly in both syr. sin. and Didasc. Syr. the allusion to Gen. ii 24 was not recognized, so that καὶ εἶπεν formed a difficulty.
Mt. xix 4-6, Gen. ii 24.
the foreskin of your heart] τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν ὑμῶν LXX: but τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν AC. Quoted also in Ep. Barnab. ix 5 (τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν), and Iren. Haer. IV xxvii 1 (‘duritiam cordis’).
Jer. iv 3 f.
Joel ii 13.
Isa. i 16.
Acts xv 1 ff.
and conduct yourselves] Or ‘and converse’: as if representing καὶ . . . περιπατῆτε of Cod. Bezae. The verb does not mean ‘to walk’ in the literal sense, though it would be a natural rendering of περιπατεῖν in the ethical sense.
Acts xv 4.
Acts xv 5.
Acts xv 7 f.
Cf. Acts x 1 ff.
Acts x 9-16 (xi 4-10).
and a certain vessel, etc.] καὶ τέσσαρσιν ἀρχαῖς δεδεμένον σκεῦός τι ὡς ὀθόνην λαμπρὰν καὶ καθιέμενον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς AC: ‘(et uidit caelum apertum) ex quattuor principiis ligatum uas quodam et linteum splendidum’ Cod. Bez. lat. (at Acts x 11). This passage may suggest that the author of AC used a ‘Western’ text of Acts: it hardly proves that the author of Didasc. did so. On this question see further p. 208 and note.
Acts xi 16.
Rejoice, etc.] AC substitutes other texts.
Deut. xxxii 43 (Rom. xv 10).
Acts xi 15.
Acts xv 8-11.
Mt. xi 28-30.
unburdened us] lit. ‘lightened from us’.
lay snares for] or ‘put halters upon’: the same verb and noun as in 1 Cor. vii 35, where the Gk. is οὐχ ἵνα βρόχον ὑμῖν ἐπιβάλω.
Acts xv 13-29.
abstain . . . from blood] ἀπέχεσθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλισγημάτων τῶν ἐθνῶν, εἰδωλοθύτου καὶ πορνείας καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνικτοῦ AC. The only peculiarity in Syr. is the substitution (from v. 29) of εἰδωλοθύτων (rendered ‘from that which is sacrificed’) for τῆς πορνείας. But J. H. Ropes thinks that the position of καὶ πνικτοῦ in AC—at the end, instead of before καὶ τοῦ αἵματος— indicates that this term was absent from the Gk. of Didasc., and supplied by AC; and he expresses the opinion that ‘the text of the quotations from Acts in the Didascalia was originally completely “Western”, and has been occasionally modified by our Syriac translator’ (The Acts of the Apostles, 1926, pp. cxcv-vi). The grounds for so large a conclusion appear to me insufficient: Ropes makes no mention of Lat., which begins again (p. 209) just in time to include Acts xv 29 and has there no more trace of the Western text than Syr.; moreover, he has not remarked that Didasc. twice quotes the Golden Rule in the negative form (see pp. 4, 145), but in a text quite different from that of Cod. Bezae in Acts xv 20, 29.
Barsabbas] ‘Barnabas’ Syr., which may well be only a scribe’s slip: Βαραββᾶν Cod. Bezae.
τὴν μὲν οὖν ἐπιστολὴν ἐξαπεστείλαμεν, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐν ἱκαναῖς ἡμέραις ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐπεμείναμεν ἅμα συζητοῦντες πρὸς τὸ κοινωφελὲς εἰς διόρθωσιν AC, omitting here the mention of ‘the Catholic Didascalia’ which follows in Syr. and Lat.