Didascalia Apostolorum

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THE DIDASCALIA
APOSTOLORUM
An English Version
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STUDIA TRADITIONIS THEOLOGIAE

Explorations in Early and Medieval Theology
1
Series Editor: Thomas O’Loughlin,

Professor of Historical Theology
in the University of Nottingham
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THE DIDASCALIA
APOSTOLORUM
An English Version
edited, introduced and annotated
by Alistair Stewart-Sykes
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© 2009, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publisher.
D/2009/0095/80
ISBN 978-2-503-52993-6
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For Jeff and Asha Golliher

dhy-Mg Myx) tb# My(n-hmw bwt-hm hnh
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
1. the didascalia apostolorum 3
2. da as living literature 5
2a. Interpretative assumptions 7
2a.1. The validity of the source critical method, p.7 - 2a.2. The
conservative use of sources in antiquity, p.9 - 2a.3. A summary of the
interpretative assumptions, p.11
2b. The search for sources 11
2c. The search for redactors 22
2c.1. The apostolic redactor, p.22 - 2c.2. The deuterotic redactor, p.25
- 2c.3. The uniting of the sources, p.29 - 2c.4. The twenty-first
chapter, p.33
2d.Conclusions 44
3. the date and provenance of da 49
4. the significance of observing redactional layers in da 55
4a. Bishops, presbyters, deacons and widows in the community of DA 56
4a.1. A conclusion on ministries within DA, p.69
4b. The opponents of DA 69
4c. DA as a liturgical source 73
4c.1. Baptism and anointing, p.73 - 4c.2. The Eucharist, p.77 -
4c.3. The penitential process, p.81
5. conclusions 88
6. postscript on the translation 89
ANNOTATED TRANSLATION 93
APPENDIX: Material secondary to DA found in one family of 261
manuscripts
BIBLIOGRAPHY 277
INDICES 283
vii
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PREFACE
The specialist in Syriac literature is well-served through the edition of

Didascalia apostolorum produced by Vööbus. His edition far surpassed
any previous available. However for a historian or a liturgiologist the
work is less accessible and many still make use of the English version
produced by Connolly nearly eighty years ago. This work does not
intend to replace that of Vööbus, it is not even in the same league of
scholarship, but rather intends to replace Connolly’s work, having
taken Vööbus’ work on the text into account, by providing a readable
English version of the text.
Connolly also provided an extensive introduction to his version
and some very useful annotation. No such introduction has been pro-
vided since. Thus my aim has again been the same as that of Connolly,
namely to give the reader of the text some guide to interpretation,
although my view of the document is radically different from his.
Nonetheless my debt to Connolly, as well as to other great scholars of
the past, such as Achelis and Flemming, is manifest.
Many other more immediate debts of honour were accrued in the
production of the work.
Firstly I am deeply indebted to Iain Torrance (Princeton, formerly
Birmingham) by whom I was privileged to be taught and guided. He
oversaw my first studies in Syriac and New Testament studies, and
guided me in the patristic path on which I had already set out. When
I was first approached to translate the Didascalia for St Vladimir’s
Seminary Press I at first declined and he took the commission in my
stead. After several years, as my interest in the church orders and my
acquaintance with the Didascalia grew, I expressed to him my regret in
ix
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THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM
not having taken the commission. He instantly and gracefully allowed

me to take the commission back from him. I hope that he considers
that his pupil has done a reasonable job. In the process a debt has also
accrued to St Vladimir’s Seminary Press and to John Behr. The work
was translated under commission from that press; when it grew
beyond the confines of the series for which it was intended I was
released from my contract and allowed to seek publication elsewhere.
I must also thank two esteemed colleagues for their encouragement
over a number of years, encouragement which has seen this work to
publication. Paul Bradshaw (Notre Dame and London) heard me read
a paper on the redactional history of this document at a conference in
Edinburgh and persisted in encouraging me for several years since that
event suggesting that my hypothesis had significance and should be
made available to the scholarly community for testing. Our many
disagreements are well-documented, and so I would like to document
my regard and respect for him. Subsequently Juliette Day (Lampeter)
found me working on this text in the Bodleian Library, since when she
has taken a constant interest and sought out the work for STT. I am
glad to be publishing in this series, even while saddened that no British
publisher is interested.
A number of scholars have freely lent their assistance on various
points; in particular Yaakov Elman (New York), David Freidenreich
(also New York), Rémi Gounelle (Strasbourg), Olivia Robinson
(Glasgow) and Holger Zellentin (Berkeley) all generously lent their
assistance to me in understanding Roman, Jewish and Persian law and
custom. Their particular contributions are not acknowledged directly
in the text but at any point where these subjects are touched the
positive contributions are theirs.
As the work moved into the final stages before publication Shawn
Keough (Leuven) worked through the MS and saved me from com-
mitting a number of blunders.
Finally, the work is dedicated to two friends, Jewish and Christian.
Further comment on that score would be superfluous.
Sturminster Marshall Vicarage: On the Commemoration of George Herbert, 2008
x
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ADDITIONAL ABBREVIATIONS
AKathKR Archiv für katholisches Kirchenrecht

Apol. Apologia
AUSS Andrews University Seminary Studies
Bibl. Bibliotheca historica
D Didache
DA Didascalia apostolorum
Dem. Demonstratio
ECR Eastern Churches Review
Ep. Epistula
Haer. Adversus haereses
HE Historia ecclesiastica
Hom. Homilia(e)
JAC Jahrbuch für die Antike und Christentum
K Apostolic Church Order (apostolische Kirchenordnung)
Mand. Mandates (Hermas)
OCP Orientalia Christiana Periodica
Or. Oratio
P.Oxy Papyrus Oxyrhynchus
Pan. Panarion
Ref. Refutatio omnium haeresium
SecCent Second Century
Sim. Similitudes (Hermas)
St Li Studia liturgica
Strom. Stromata
SVTQ St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly
TA Traditio apostolica
TB Babylonian Talmud
TWT Two ways tradition
Vis. Visions (Hermas)
WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament
x1
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Chapter Intro.qxd:Chapter Intro 5/12/09 10:55 AM Page 1
INTRODUCTION
1. the didascalia apostolorum
The Didascalia apostolorum (henceforth abbreviated as DA) is an exam-

ple of the literature known as the church order literature. The term is
used to define documents contained in various versions in different
collections across the Christian east which regulate various aspects of
church life and of the life of a Christian and which are attributed either
explicitly to the apostles or claim apostolic sanction. However, the term
‘church order literature’ is vague; it is to be noted that the church orders
rarely deal with the same material, and so, by contrast to Traditio apos-
tolica (henceforth TA) and its derivatives, DA has no detailed treatment
of the eucharist or of catechumenate and baptism. Passing comments
refer to the liturgy, but are tangential to the fundamental concerns of
the redactor. Schöllgen notes that DA has a fundamental pastoral inter-
est in dealing with the real challenges of Christian life in the period in
which it was written,1 but we suggest below that this is largely because
of the material which is used in its construction, and that the funda-
mental aim of the redactor is to deal with the challenges posed by
Jewish Christians. This propagandist aim does not set it apart from
other church orders, however, as a propagandist aim may also be
discerned behind Apostolic Church order (henceforth K), TA, and Con-
stitutiones apostolorum (CA).2 We suggest below that the document has
1 Schöllgen, (1987), 149-157.

2
See Stewart-Sykes (2006) on K and (2001b) on TA and, on CA, Mueller, (2004).
3
been built up largely from other sources which themselves have relatives
elsewhere in the church-order literature. For instance, one of the
sources employed by DA was the same source which lies behind much
of the second part of K, and it is quite possible that another is related to
the Didache (henceforth D). This in turn means that DA may properly
be grouped with other members of the collections of church orders and
may be so termed, but in using this classification we should be aware
that the term is loose and that because of the range of literature which
DA includes it is really sui generis.3
DA is one of the longest of these church orders, and in turn became
the source for the first six books of the collection known as CA, pro-
duced in the latter part of the fourth century, as well as a major
element in the collection which was translated into Latin, also in the
fourth century, and is now known as the Verona palimpsest.4 DA gives
directions to Christians on the conduct of their daily life, gives instruc-
tion to bishops in their duties, particularly their economic and their
judicial duties, discusses the proper keeping of the Pascha, and in
particular warns against the dangers of Christians, particularly Chris-
tians who have converted from Judaism, keeping the Jewish law. The
elements which relate to church order are the passages regarding the
appointment of bishops, deacons and widows but far more emphasis is
3
Mueller (2007), 340-343, notes that the term is derived from the German refor-
mation, and is only secondarily applied to early Christian documents. He notes
distinct differences, moreover, between these ancient documents and the reformation
Kirchenordungen. One is led to wonder whether the term should not be abandoned
altogether; however these documents were, even in antiquity, brought together into
collections, and it is also to be noted that there is indeed a literary relationship
between a number of the foundational documents. We continue to use the term as a
convenient shorthand only. Mueller suggests that the tradition of the church orders
was an exegetical tradition, in which the Scripture of the Old Covenant is brought to
bear upon the realia of church life, but although this is quite possibly the manner in
which CA proceeds, we cannot be sure whether the sources of DA (on which see below)
were as exegetical as the finished product (it is possible that the long citations which
are included are the work of the redactor identified below as the ‘uniting redactor’)
and we may likewise note that such an insight does not readily lend itself to K, which
Mueller considers simply a version of D ‘along with other material’ (340). There is
certainly a case for the existence of what he calls ‘ecclesiological exegesis’ (which is
particularly prominent in 2.26-2.30 where the provisions of Numbers regarding the
Levites, the priests and the sanctuary are brought to bear upon the bishop) (see ad loc.
with the accompanying notes), but this does not of itself assist us in defining the
‘church orders’ as a group.
4
A palimpsest is a manuscript which has been re-used. The MS itself was copied
late in the fifth century, but the translation it contains is generally agreed to predate
the MS by around 100 years. See for discussion Vööbus (1979b), 28*-30*.
4
INTRODUCTION
laid on their conduct once in office than on their actual appointment

and nothing is said of the mode of ordination.5
Whereas it would be conventional to begin a discussion of a docu-
ment by considering its date and the place of its production, on this
occasion there are issues which must precede such a discussion. In par-
ticular many of the church orders are ‘living literature’, the result of
redaction by a number of hands in different periods; this has been
shown of TA and K,6 whereas CA is clearly a collection updating and
incorporating other earlier church orders (including, as has been
noted, DA) and the Canones Hippolyti and the Testamentum Domini
are derivatives from TA. We must ask whether the same is true of DA.
A major part of this introduction will argue that this is indeed the case,
and that there are three identifiable editions contained in the extant
document, the earliest of which incorporated earlier sources. This in
turn predisposes our answer to the conventional questions of author-
ship, date and provenance as well as causing us to read the information
contained within the text about life, belief and liturgy in new ways.
2. da as living literature
The first modern publication of DA came in 1856, edited from a single

Syriac manuscript.7 In the flurry of discovery and research into the
church orders of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, DA
was translated into French, English and German,8 and the Latin ver-
sion of the Verona palimpsest was published.9 In this period tensions
within the text were observed. Harnack and Schwartz both suggested
that the chapters regarding penitential discipline had undergone a
second redaction,10 Holzhey suggested that DA was a reworked version
5 There is an implication that the bishop is seated, as is observed ad loc., but this
is implied and not described.

6 By myself in (Stewart-Sykes) (2001b and 2006) and, independently, by
Bradshaw, Johnson and Phillips (2002).

7
By Lagarde (1856).
8
Nau, (1902); Gibson (1903); Achelis and Flemming (1904).
9
Hauler (1900); this work is now superseded by that of Tidner (1963).
10 Harnack (1895), 71, though he suggests nonetheless that redaction of DA consists
solely of ‘small omissions and additions’; Schwartz (1911), 16-24, considers that DA has
undergone secondary redaction to remove it from Novatianist tendencies. This is dis-
cussed in detail below.
5
of D11 and Nau likewise suggested that the work was built of redacted
sources, suspecting that the final chapter might be a secondary addi-
tion.12 However Connolly’s statement in 1929 represents what came to
be the consensus:
The internal indications of unity are . . . strong: the same language and
ideas are constantly re-appearing in different parts of the book, as also
certain quotations. It would be difficult to find an ancient document in
which the marks of a single authorship are more pronounced.13
It is this conclusion which must be questioned. For although the

work does seem for the greater part to flow we shall observe that
sources have indeed been employed and that although the redactor’s
use of the sources is relatively conservative a further hand occasionally
appears. If these different hands may be identified then some greater
clarity about the overall purpose and function of the production of DA
might emerge. Thus we may seek to discover the sources behind DA to
determine in turn its redactional purpose. In doing so we will find the
consensus overturned.
This is not simply a return to the early twentieth century for, as has
been noted already, recent studies have once again questioned the unity
of the church orders. Thus in discussing the status quaestionis of these
orders Bradshaw observes the manner in which TA is made up of vari-
ous layers and suggests that we should think of the other church orders
‘not as works of a single author at all, but rather as having a succession
of editors . . .’14 Bradshaw and I differ regarding the date and redac-
tional history of TA but are agreed nonetheless in seeing the work as
11
Holzhey (1898).
12
Nau, (1902), 2, states: ‘on peut se demander si ce texte grec n’était pas lui-même
un remaniement d’un ou de plusieurs ouvrages préexistants dont il resterait à
determiner la forme et le contenu.’ He voices his suspicions regarding the final
chapter at 164. We will note below that the final chapter is certainly the work of a
later redactor, but that this redactor has interpolated the text elsewhere. Hence we may
explain a tension within the text noted recently by Faivre and Faivre (2007), 63, who
find it surprising that the distinction between the laity and the bishop elaborated in
2.26-2.30 is undertaken solely on the basis of the ritual law of Numbers (and without
reference to New Testament Scripture) which in the final chapter is held not to be
binding on Christians.
13 Connolly (1929), xxxvi. Note also the opinion of Achelis in Achelis and Flemming
(1904), 257-266, who likewise believes DA to be the work of a single hand, with only
minor interpolations.
14 Bradshaw (2002), 93.
6
INTRODUCTION
‘living literature.’15 Nobody can now discuss any subject in TA without

considering whether items of evidence are derived from different levels
of redaction, even less may anyone naively accept the evidence of TA as
representing normal practice in third-century Rome. Similarly I have
argued that K is the result of the fusion of two, distinct, sources.16 How-
ever, scholarly studies continue to treat DA as a unity, and to see it as
evidence for actual practices within its supposed period of composition.
The purpose of this introduction is thus to extend Bradshaw’s sugges-
tion to DA by exploring the possibility that it too is the work of a series
of editors. Only when, firstly, some sources and, secondly, the editorial
hands which worked over these sources have been identified may the
questions of dating and provenance, the usual starting point of an
introduction, be addressed, questions which, inevitably, prove much
more complex than would be the case were DA simply the work of a sin-
gle author. Finally I intend briefly to discuss various significant aspects
of DA, showing the significance of the redactional study for the study,
in turn, of church order and liturgy. All of this allows the reader to
approach the text with eyes open to the variety of evidence for the his-
tory of the church which the document contains.
In view, however, of the unusual nature of this enquiry I begin by
briefly setting out and justifying certain presuppositions which are
germane to this enquiry.
2.a Interpretative assumptions
2.a.1 The validity of the source critical method

The first assumption is that the principles of source criticism as
applied to scriptural material may reasonably be applied to the church
orders.
This method of criticism was refined in the nineteenth century and
brought to bear firstly on the Hebrew Bible and subsequently on books
of the New Testament, in particular the Gospels. Students of the
Hebrew Scriptures hypothesize the combination of sources on the
grounds of inconsistencies, whether in narrative or content, repetitions
15
Stewart-Sykes (2001b); Bradshaw et al. (2002); Bradshaw (2004) and Stewart-
Sykes (2004).
16 Stewart-Sykes (2006), following, in part, Harnack (1895).
7
of material, doublets, or marked stylistic differences. In New Testament

studies this approach is largely applied to the synoptic Gospels, where
there are clear examples of close borrowing between different docu-
ments, which indicate that there has been literary borrowing between
the three. We need not be detained by the various solutions offered to
what is known as ‘the synoptic problem’ but note that many students
postulate a lost source for Matthew and Luke. If a lost source is to be
posited then the possibility of oral influence has to be discounted on
the grounds that the missing text is too long to be remembered and on
the grounds that the reconstructed text might make feasible sense as a
text. The criteria employed in the source criticism of the Hebrew Bible
are employed to a lesser extent in New Testament studies as there are
not the same obvious seams, and as these writings were formed during
a much shorter period. However students of the New Testament are
able to note on occasion editorial interventions, which may indicate
that a source has been redacted into pre-existent material.
Inevitably all of these criteria are debated, some fiercely;17 nonetheless
we may reasonably employ the same methods, in particular those
employed in study of the Hebrew Bible. We shall not employ stylistic
criteria here, as the sole complete version is itself a translation and, since
Syriac is not widely known, the texts are represented in translation in any
event, but even in a translation we may note inconsistencies and interrup-
tions in the flow of the text, such as internal tensions and, most par-
ticularly, changes in speaker or addressee. We may also note significant
parallels to material within DA, which might indicate some common
ground. In hypothesizing sources we will see that the hypothesized sources
are of a reasonable extent and themselves have a coherent logic as units.
Achelis nonetheless suggested that when Holzhey applied the
source critical methods employed in the study of the Hebrew Bible to
early Christian literature he had committed a fundamental error.18
One has to ask on what basis this is erroneous. If the church orders are
indeed ‘living literature’ then, like the Hebrew Bible, they are the
product of a series of hands over an appreciable period. The same
methods of criticism may therefore be employed in their exploration.
We may indeed suggest that it is the neglect of the methods of biblical
criticism by students of the church orders which has led to the present
impasse and that the failure to observe these methods, rather than
their use by Holzhey, is the fundamental error. To an extent the success
17 Note as summaries of the method Barton and Koch (1992).
18
Achelis and Flemming (1904), 261.
8
INTRODUCTION
of the method must be judged by the results it yields, but there is no a

priori reason why the method may not be employed.
2.a.2 The conservative use of sources in antiquity

The second assumption is that when a redactor followed a source in
the construction and reconstruction of the church orders, that source
is followed closely, exclusively and seriatim. Thus there is no complex
combination of sources and no re-ordering of the material from within
a single source, but rather the redactor may add material, or abbrevi-
ate, but not introduce snippets of material from another written
source except from memory, nor material from more than one source
at once. Longer sections within a source may result from free compo-
sition or from a second source being picked up, but when a second
source is picked up the first is put aside.
Although this may seem at first an arbitrary assumption, it is the
method of ancient historians. Thus Pelling, with regard to Plutarch, and
Luce, with regard to Livy, each deduce that a single chief source was
employed during each phase of composition by these respective authors,
and that that single source in turn was followed closely and in order.19
The procedure of employing a source exclusively and seriatim may, more-
over, be observed in the work of a Greek historian by comparing the his-
torical fragments of Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1610 to sections of Diodorus
Siculus Bibliotheca historica 11. Regardless of the question of the author-
ship of this fragmentary history it is clearly a source which underlies the
work of Diodorus Siculus at this point, and has been followed closely.
Thus in Diodorus Siculus we read:
po/lewn sofwta/thn kai\ e)pieikesta/thn xalepwta/thn
pro\j e)kei~non eu(ri/skomen gegenhme/nhn. (Bibl. 11.59.3)
To which we may compare:
sofwtathn kai dikaiwtathn . . .tathn kai xalepwtathn
genomenhn proj ekeinon oi d upolambanousin . . .(P Oxy. 1610
fr. 4 and 5)20
Soon after we read in Diodorus Siculus:
e)pi\ de\ tou/twn )Aqhnai~oi strathgo\n e(lo/menoi Ki/mwna to\n
Miltia/dou kai\ du/namin a)cio/logon parado/ntej, e)ce/pemyan
19
Pelling (1979) and Luce (1977), 185-229.
20 The presentation of the fragments is simplified through the removal of papyro-
logical marks indicating the degree of certainty in reading letters and the extent of
reconstruction.
9
e)pi\ th\n para/lion th=j )Asi/aj bohqh/sonta me\n tai~j

summaxou/saij po/lesin, e)leuqerw/sonta de\ ta\j Persikai~j e)/ti
frourai~j katexome/naj. [2] ou~toj de\ paralabw\n to\n sto/lon
e)n Buzanti/w|, kai\ katapleu/saj e)pi\ po/lin th\n o)nomazome/nhn )
Hio/na, tau/thn me\n Persw~n katexo/ntwn e)xeirw/sato, Sku=ron
de\ Pelasgw~n e)noikou/ntwn (Bibl. 11.60.1-2)
to which the following fragment readily compares:
Aqhnaioi de Kimwnoj tou Miltiadou strathgountoj
ekpleusantej ek Buzantiou meta twn summaxwn Hiona thn
epi Strumoni Perswn exontwn eion kai Skuron . . . (P.Oxy. 1610
fr. 6)
Soon after we read:
tw~n paraqalatti/wn po/lewn o(/sai me\n h~san e)k th~j(
Ella/doj a)pw|kisme/nai, tau/taj paraxrh~ma sune/peisen
(Bibl. 11.60.4)
The parallel is almost verbatim:
paraqalattiwn kaloumenwn polewn osai men ek thj
Elladoj hsan apwkismenai paraxrhma sunepeise (P.Oxy. 1610
fr. 8)
Diodorus continues:
Ki/mwn de\ punqano/menoj to\n sto/lon tw~n Persw~n
diatri/bein peri\ th\n Ku/pron, kai\ pleu/saj e)pi\ tou\j
barba/rouj, e)nauma/xhse diakosi/aij kai\ penth/konta nausi\
pro\j triakosi/aj kai\ tettara/konta. genome/nou d,a)gw~noj
i)sxurou~ kai\ tw~n sto/lwn a)mfote/rwn lamprw~j
a)gwnizome/nwn, to\ teleutai~on e)ni/kwn oi( )Aqhnai~oi, kai\
polla\j me\n tw~n e)nanti/wn nau~j die/fqeiran, plei/ouj de\ tw~n
e(kato\n su\n au)toi~j toi~j a)ndra/sin ei~lon. (Bibl 11.60.6)
To which the following fragments compare:
Kimwn punqanomenoj ton twn Perswn stolon peri thn
Kupron suntetaxqai diakosiaij penthkonta proj
triakosiaj kai tettarakonta parataxqeisaj de polun
xronon pollaj men twn kinduneuouswn barbarikwn newn
diefqeiren. ekaton d autoij andrasin eile zwgrhsaj ton . . .
(P.Oxy. 1610 fr. 9, 10 and 53)
Finally, in the next chapter we read:
. . . kai\ to\n me\n strathgo\n tw~n barba/rwn to\n e(/teron Fer-
enda/thn, a)delfidou~n tou~ basile/wj, e)n th~| skhnh~| . . . ( Bibl. 11.61.3)
10
INTRODUCTION
To which a ready point of comparison is available:

ton men strathgon autwn Ferendathn adelfidoun onta
ton basilewj en thi skhnhi . . . (P.Oxy. 1610 fr. 11)
There are further parallels with further fragments corresponding to
material later in the book, but the point has already been sufficiently
illustrated. This demonstration has been undertaken in detail because the
proof of such a procedure justifies what might otherwise seem an arbi-
trary assumption. If a procedure of close adherence to a single source is
followed by historians, whose aim is to create something original and dis-
tinct, one might expect that an author concerned primarily with the
preservation of tradition would be even more conservative. Moreover,
although this method of writing might have come about due to the
restrictions imposed by the physical conditions under which composi-
tion took place, namely on rolls, the consultation and marking of which
was difficult in the extreme, and thus limited the number of sources
which might be consulted simultaneously to one, once the method is
established it might well be continued even when there is a use of codices.
Indeed, a greater ease of consultation of an original as it is being redacted
might lead to even closer reliance upon the source, as the role of memory
is reduced. On this basis, therefore, we will assume that if DA is redacting
sources then the order and content of the source will lie intact, and that
later redactions of DA will leave the substance of earlier editions intact.
2.a.3 A summary of the interpretative assumptions

We may see that the interpretative assumptions which are made in the exer-
cise of constructing a compositional history for DA are, whilst assumptions
with regard to DA, entirely reasonable in themselves. If parallels to other
documents are present we may assume that there is a relationship, and may
assume moreover that redactors use their sources with a degree of conser-
vatism, as this was the method employed in the ancient world. Likewise
when inconsistencies or interruptions present themselves in the text we
may reasonably suggest that this is the result of the employment of a source
and may be justified in seeking out the nature of the source employed.
2.b The search for sources

As has already been noted, earlier students of DA suspected the existence
of sources lying behind DA. However, what they did not do was to suggest
a rationale for the use of these sources. In this they represented the state of
11
biblical criticism at the turn of the twentieth century which had come to
recognize sources behind the books of the Hebrew Bible and behind the
Gospels but had yet to develop the science known as redaction criticism by
which the use of the sources was understood. Although this study is also
an exercise in redaction criticism it is still necessary to establish as far as
possible what the actual sources were on which the redactors worked. We
have seen that it is reasonable to undertake such a search.
In seeking sources we shall not begin with the work of Holzhey, the
scholar who did most in the early days to seek the sources of DA, but
with a passage concerning the appointment of bishops:
If, however, the congregation in which the bishop is to be ordained is

small, and nobody of age is found of whom testimony to his wisdom and
suitability to stand in the episcopate might be given but, nonetheless,
there is a youth, of whom those with him bear witness that he is worthy
of the episcopate and who, in spite of his youth, shows evidence of
maturity in his meekness and good conduct, he should be tested and if
he receives such testimony from all he should be made bishop in peace.
For Solomon likewise was king over Israel at the age of twelve years, and
Josiah reigned in righteousness at the age of eight years, and Joash like-
wise reigned when he was seven years old.
Therefore, even if he is young, yet he should be meek, fearful and
peaceable, since the Lord God says through Isaiah: ‘On whom shall
I look, except upon one who is meek, peaceable, and always trembling at
my words.’ Likewise, in the Gospel, he speaks thus: ‘Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’ (DA 2.1.3-5)
What is particularly interesting about this passage is the evident

relationship with K. The corresponding passage reads:
If there should occur a shortage of men, and there are insufficient

competent to elect to the episcopate from among twelve, they should
write to the neighbouring churches, where one is established, so that
three selected men might come from there carefully to determine which
is worthy, whether any has a good reputation among the heathen, being
without fault, whether a friend of the poor, whether temperate, not a
drunkard, not a fornicator, not grasping or abusive, or a respecter of
persons or anything of that nature. It is good should he be unmarried,
otherwise he should be of one wife, having some education, and able to
interpret the Scriptures. Even if he is unlettered he should be meek,21 and
21 There is a textual problem here in K, and the translation given is not necessarily
of the original text.
12
INTRODUCTION
overflowing with love for all, so that a bishop should not come under
accusation on any account by the many. (K 16)
On this Connolly writes: ‘This and other passages leave little doubt
in my mind that there has been contact between the Apost. Ch. O. and
the Didascalia, and I have as little doubt that the borrowing was on the
part of the first-mentioned.’22 Bartlet similarly advances the opinion
that K had employed DA, though is inclined to think that the influence
was at an early redactional stage.23
Connolly reached this conclusion on the grounds that K prefers a
celibate bishop and on the basis of an expression concerning the offer-
ing of the Body and Blood within K, both of which seemed to him to
point to a fourth-century date for K. DA had already been determined
to belong to the third century, and so Connolly concluded that, since
DA preceded K, it must be the source for the passages the two docu-
ments hold in common. However, neither a preference for a celibate
bishop nor the use of the term ‘offering of the body and blood’ in K
necessitates a date in the fourth century.24 Moreover, quite apart from
the fact that Connolly’s arguments do not necessitate the conclusion
that DA preceded the completed K, and thus do not necessitate the
conclusion that K must have borrowed from DA, it is also conceivable
that the passage indicates that the redactor was acquainted not with K
but with one of K’s sources, which pushes back the date of influence
yet further, and making it all the more likely that the redactional rela-
tionship is not that suggested by Connolly. Obviously the source has
been thoroughly rewritten here, but we have to ask whether it is more
likely that K (or rather the source for K, which I have termed elsewhere
as kk)25 should take something akin to DA and produce what is
presently extant, or whether the influence is more probably the other
way around. DA is concerned with the election of a youthful bishop,
and the scriptural exempla are therefore directed at that problem,
whereas K is concerned with the election of any bishop, being con-
cerned that the election should be properly carried out when there is
not a quorum. In a discussion of manner in which a bishop should be
elected the general issue of a quorum is surely more likely to be
22
Connolly (1929), 31 n.
23
Bartlet (1943), 102.
24
See my discussion in (2006), 48-49.
25
In (2006). The existence of this document was first suggested by Harnack
(1897).
13
discussed than the issue of a young bishop. Moreover, a close reading

of K reveals the assumption that the presbyters provide the candidates
and the electoral college; it therefore less likely that a young bishop
would be elected, whereas the situation envisaged by DA is that in
which all participate in the election. Neither system can be said to be
earlier than the other, but they are different, and whichever, therefore,
used the other as a source would have to make the necessary alter-
ations. If an electoral college system were being written into a source
instead of a system of popular election then one would expect that it
would be more explicit than it is in K, whereas a popular election need
not be described, and thus the version of the material preserved in K is
probably the closer to the original. Finally, when the passage turns to
the qualifications of a bishop, the statement in the source for K simply
states that the bishop should be generous (or meek). DA, however,
expands the statement with further material but does this again pursu-
ing the question of the bishop’s youth, rather than moving the subject
on to the qualities expected of a bishop. Again, it seems less likely that
the discussion extant in K would emerge from that of DA, with no sign
of the question of a youthful bishop, than that the redactor of DA, or
its Vorlage, in pursuit of a particular issue in that community, should
recast directions for the election and particular qualities of the bishop.
We may thus conclude that DA employed, as a source, one of the
sources which was also employed by K.
Apart from the echoes of K there are echoes of D, or the didachistic
tradition, in DA. These are particularly prominent at the beginning of
the work, with the citation of the golden rule, and a treatment of the
commandments, which the hearers are encouraged to keep, ‘that we
may be sons of the light.’
For those, however, who are obedient to God there is one law, simple and
true and pleasant, indisputably binding upon Christians, that is: ‘What
you would not done to you by another, do not do to another.’ You do not
want anyone to turn his attention to your wife with evil intent, to lead
her astray; so do not yourself turn your attention to your neighbour’s
wife with evil intent. You do not want anybody to take away your cloak;
so do not take that belonging to another. You do not want to be hurt, or
to suffer injury, or to be insulted; do not deal thus with any other. But, if
anyone curses you, bless him, as it is written in the book of Numbers:
‘Whoever gives blessings is blessed, and whoever curses will be cursed.’
Moreover, it is likewise written in the Gospel: ‘Bless those who curse
you.’ Do not seek to harm in return those who seek your harm, but be
14
INTRODUCTION
patient, as the Scripture says: ‘Do not say: “I shall harm my enemy, as he
harmed me”. But be patient, as the Lord will assist you, and make you
triumphant over anyone who harms you.’ For again, it says in the
Gospel: ‘Love those who hate you, and pray for those who curse you, and
you shall have no enemy.’ Let us pay attention to these commands,
beloved, so that, when we perform them, we may be found to be sons of
light. (DA 1.1.7-1.2.4)
These echoes of D led Holzhey to suggest that DA was actually a

reworking of D.26 To prove this he set out to demonstrate a series of
parallels for each part of D within DA. Some are convincing, in partic-
ular those already noted, some, however are absolutely unconvincing.
For instance, whereas both deal with baptism the two passages have
absolutely nothing in common except that both mention water, which
is hardly surprising. To find parallels, moreover, Holzhey has to jump
all around DA, as the order in which the parallels are found at no point
corresponds to the order in which they appear in DA. We would have
to ask, were the redactor of DA employing D as a source, why he chose
to jump around the source document while creating something utterly
distinct, in direct contrast to the usual ancient method of using
sources noted above. Nonetheless when there are significant parallels
in close proximity to one another, such as at the opening of the work
with the citation of the golden rule, and when, as at the beginning of
DA 2, there is a wealth of parallels with D 2.3-7 and D 3.7-8, the possi-
bility remains open that there is some literary relationship. However, it
is to be noted that these parallels are all found in the section of
D incorporating material derived from what is known as the Two Ways
Tradition (TWT), which is widely believed to have had circulation
independent of D. Thus it is more likely that the redactor of DA
employed either the same source as D or, more probably given the
distance in time between the works, a document which had, like D,
incorporated TWT. There are two particular clues to this. Firstly we
may observe that the parallels do not conform to the order of D, which
is an implication that they were found in a document which had
employed TWT independently of D (or rather, of D’s source) and thus
did not list the commands and prohibitions in the same order.
26 Holzhey (1898). Interestingly Bradshaw (2002), 78, states that DA is ‘obviously
modelled on the Didache.’ This, however, is to disregard material from the sixth to the
fourteenth chapter of D inclusive, in other words most of the document, as DA jumps
from ethical direction to the appointment of officers in the congregation. As suggested
here, there is a relationship, but it is not as direct as Holzhey or Bradshaw suggest.
15
Secondly we may note the statement that those who follow the
commandments will be ‘children of light.’ This term does not appear
in D, but does appear in an Israelite version of TWT, which may well
stand close to the root of the tradition.27 We may, however, note the
peculiar form of the citation of command to love one’s enemies: ‘Love
those who hate you, and pray for those who curse you, and you shall
have no enemy.’ This diverges from the canonical form in adding ‘and
you shall have no enemy’, just as does D 1.3. However it differs from D
in adding ‘pray for those who curse you.’ Thus the parallel is more
probably the result of an oral tradition.28 The very fact that there are
several reminiscences of the sectio evangelica of D, an addition to TWT
occurring solely in D, might indicate a direct debt to D itself, but the
distinctions, such as the term ‘children of light’ make it equally prob-
able that the parallels are independent. This accords with the hypoth-
esis of Garrow that the sayings within the sectio evangelica of D had
existence independent of D or of any written Gospel.29 As such they
might find themselves in DA.
This does not exclude the possibility that at a later stage the redac-
tor of DA, or of one of the sources, also employed D, which may
account for some of the parallels. One particular example lies in the
citation of Isaiah in the direction regarding bishops which appears
above. This reads ‘always fearing the words’; the term ‘always’ (dia\
panto/j) appears in D as well as here, but does not appear in other
citations of the text within TWT apart from two late manifestations
from (probably) Egypt, which may themselves have been influenced
by D.30 Length precludes a longer engagement with Holzhey’s hypoth-
esis. There are parallels, and the thematic congruence is at times
notable. However, although there is a degree of thematic congruence,
we should note the different order in which these themes occur and
the different weight which is put upon them. Thus DA has no detailed
27
Namely the Community rule from Qumran. The term appears at 1QS 3.13,
which begins the setting forth of the two ways. The connection between this and
Christian forms of this material was first made by Audet (1952).
28 Niederwimmer (1998), 15, who suspects the direct influence of D upon DA at
this point, nonetheless accepts that this might be a possibility.

29
Garrow (2004), 77-83.
30
So Connolly (1923), 150. The term is present in the Latin text of DA and in the
parallel section of CA though omitted from the Syriac version. The two late versions
are the (themselves closely related to each other) Syntagma doctrinae and Fides patrum.
I argue (Stewart-Sykes, forthcoming) that the Fides patrum is a product of the late
fourth century. I am far from convinced, however, that there is a direct debt to D.
16
INTRODUCTION
description of the eucharist; the fact that it is mentioned in passing

shows no relationship with D 9-10. The differences are much greater
than those which would be necessitated by the centuries which sepa-
rate the documents, and so Holzhey accepts that there might be
several reworkings of D before that which was recognized as DA.31 As
such we have to ask whether the hypothesis tendered here, that there is
a common origin to some of the sources of the two works, is not
preferable. Holzhey certainly overstates his case wildly when he sug-
gests that DA is ‘eine erweiterte, vermehrte und verbesserte Ausgabe
der Didache.’32
A more cautious hypothesis along similar lines was suggested by
Bartlet; he suggested that the redactor of DA had employed D but
consciously rewrote it in order to supply a more positive view of the
Christian life.33 This has much to commend it, as these early chapters
employ D 1.3-4, which was not part of the original TWT adopted by D.
He goes on to suggest that the opening chapters of DA, before the elec-
tion of a bishop, were originally an independent document to which
the rest of DA was conjoined.34 We shall find evidence below to sup-
port such a hypothesis, though the document consisted of more than
the present first three chapters.
We may thus conclude that DA employs some document of a TWT
type, possibly D, or perhaps an independent and now lost recension of
D. We may go on to enquire into the nature of that document.
The statement of the golden rule and the other TWT material is
followed by directions addressed to men, with regard to dress, and to
women, on dress and on the matter of bathing. These very subjects are
also discussed by Clement in the Paedagogus, namely dress and luxury
(Paed. 2.8, 2.10) behaviour in the bath (3.5, 3.9), and male grooming
(3.3) (both are particularly opposed to depilation!), together with other
issues relating to the application of Christian principles to daily life in
the Empire. This is not to suggest a literary relationship, but rather to
31
In a subsequent publication (1901), which I have not been able to locate,
Holzhey suggested three recensions, the second of which was undertaken by Diony-
sius of Alexandria. This work was available neither to Connolly nor Achelis, and the
situation has not improved in the intervening years. Nau (1902), 165, gives this short
shrift, but does not disregard the possibility that the work went through a number of
editions and, as noted below, himself suspects the hand of the redactor whom we shall
term the ‘deuterotic’ redactor.
32 Holzhey (1898), 29.
33 Bartlet (1943), 77.
34 Bartlet, (1943), 77.
17
suggest that both Clement and DA are employing an established

tradition of instruction, whether aimed at catechumens or at the
baptized, which Clement had incorporated into his paedogogical
corpus. In DA we find it close to other catechetical material, which
indicates that the juncture may already have been made when it came
to the hands of the redactor. In other words it seems that the redactor
has incorporated another version of instructional material, found as a
source, in the collection of material which he is constructing. The
source first contained initial catechetical instruction on the command-
ments, and then more detailed directions for the instruction of the
faithful. This proximity to the early purpose of the TWT section of D,
namely the preparation and instruction of catechumens, is further
indication that the tradition, rather than D itself, is the source of the
DA material.
We may, moreover, note some contradictions in these chapters,
which indicate that a source is being worked. Thus at first it is said that
women should simply not enter mixed baths,35 and then states that
they may but should do so discreetly,36 and finally that they should do
so at a time set apart for women, a time when men would have com-
pleted their bath.37 Similarly, in the discussion of what a Christian
should read, the reader is first recommended to read the books of the
Kingdoms if historical narrative is desired, alongside the psalms for
poetry, and the prophets for philosophy.38 Some time later, after a
warning about an over-literal reading of the books of the law, King-
doms is mentioned again, this time to be used as a moral fable, the
prophets also receiving mention here.39 In other words the Scriptures of
the old covenant are recommended twice, once as reading in preference
to the books of the heathen, and subsequently as a supplement to the
reading of the Gospel. The significance of this point will emerge below.
Nonetheless we may see at this point that two sources have been
discerned, with some indication that a third hand has worked over
both of them, whether as a result of their juncture or prior to this.
It is after this catechetical section that DA turns to the appointment
of bishops, and here that the parallels with K are found. Hereafter
there follows the largest part of the work concerned with the duties
35
DA 1.9.1.
36 DA 1.9.2.
37 DA 1.9.4.
38 DA 1.4.4.-1.4.5.
39 DA 1.4.11.
18
INTRODUCTION
and responsibilities principally of bishops. These responsibilities are

fundamentally economic and disciplinary; whereas this whole could
be the work of the redactor of DA, it is also possible that this too is
derived from a source. In either event, there are interruptions in the
flow of the argument. One such is the sudden direction concerning
deaconesses and their role in baptismal ceremonies. This comes about
from a direction that bishops should appoint assistants in their work
of economic distribution, which rapidly turns to the baptismal liturgy,
before discussing deaconesses more generally, and then returning to
the original point, namely the qualifications of deacons.
So, bishop, appoint for yourself fellow-workers in almsgiving, assistants

who may co-operate with you towards life. You are to choose and ap-
point deacons from all the people who are pleasing to you, a man for the
administration of the many things which are necessary, a woman howev-
er for the ministry of women, since there are houses where you can not
send a deacon to the women because of the pagans but you can send a
deaconess, and in many other matters there is need for an office of dea-
coness. In the first instance it is required that when women go down in-
to the waters that they should be anointed with the oil of anointing by
deaconesses as they enter the waters . . . The deacons should be like the
bishops in their actions, (DA 3.12.1-2; 3.13.1)
Another is in the directions concerning the appointment of wid-

ows. Here in particular there is an indication of a source where, at the
beginning of the chapter, there is a sudden shift from singular to
plural, from the statement that a widow should be appointed to more
general directions concerning widows.
Widows who are to be appointed: should be less than fifty years of age,
who by reason of her age is far from the consideration of taking to
herself a second husband, lest, having been appointed whilst young to
the office of widow she does not remain a widow because of her youth
and is married. Then she shall bring shame on the glory of widowhood,
and give an account to God. First for having two husbands and second-
ly because, promising to God to remain a widow, and receiving as a
widow, she did not continue in widowhood. (DA 3.1.1-2)
This indicates that a chapter heading from a source has been

redacted into the document directly.
In view of the fact that this section begins with the appointment
of bishops, in a section directly comparable to K and, like K, goes on
19
to discuss the appointment of widows (albeit after a very long

discussion of the responsibilities and duties of bishops) and deacons,
we may suggest that this, like K, is a derivative of kk. It is so
expanded that it is now less a manual for churches than a manual for
bishops, but shows traces nonetheless of its origin. Nonetheless it
also shows signs of editorial activity beyond expansion; Schwartz
points out that there are some awkward shifts in the discussion of
penitence between the sixth and seventh chapters and between the
tenth and eleventh40 and although Galtier shows that the statements
are reconcilable,41 there is some indication nonetheless that the exist-
ing chapters were built of layers. The fact that in spite of the tensions
the text may be read in a coherent manner bears witness to the suc-
cess of the redactor in imposing some unity on his material. Simi-
larly we may note that although there are directions for the appoint-
ment of bishops, deacons and widows, there is none concerning the
appointment of presbyters. Although presbyters appear in this
section, their appearance is occasional and they are marginal to the
concerns being discussed.42 We may therefore suspect that they have
been imported in the process of redaction, perhaps even in the
course of including this source in DA.
At the end of the section directing the work of bishops the cate-
chetical manual is again picked up. There is perhaps some remnant
here of the doxology with which the directions to bishops concluded.
And we should have no doubt, for so he has counselled us, even should
we be burned in coals of fire, whilst yet we believe in our Lord Jesus
Christ, and in God, his Father, the Lord Almighty God, and in his Holy
Spirit, to whom be glory and honour for ever and ever. Amen.
God the Father Almighty raises us by means of God our Saviour, as
he promised . . . (DA 5.6.10-5.7.1)
The catechetical manual was last employed at the end of the third
chapter of the Syriac version (1.10.4). There women were addressed,
and the address to women concluded with mention of the refrigerium.
A following reference to the resurrection would not, therefore, be out
of place, though the vast amount of intervening material means that
such a logical link is completely obscured and the doxology in turn,
40
Schwartz, (1911), 16-24.
41
Galtier (1947), 319-336.
42 This matter is discussed further at 4a below.
20
INTRODUCTION
due to the apparent connection between the discussion of the resurrec-

tion and the immediately preceding material (on persecution), looks
like an interpolation.43
The catechetical manual is, however, extensively interpolated
hereafter. The twenty-first chapter is on the keeping of the Pascha, but
the transition to the subject is forced and sudden, deriving from a
discussion of swearing and behaviour.
Thus it is not lawful for any believer to swear by the sun, or by the other
signs of the heavens, nor by the elements, not to utter the name of idols
with his mouth, nor to issue a curse from his mouth, but rather blessings
and psalms and the dominical and divine Scriptures, which are the cer-
tain foundation of our faith. And especially in the days of the Pascha,
when all the faithful are fasting, throughout the whole world, as our Lord
and teacher said when they asked him . . . (DA 5.12.5-6)
Thus a passing mention of the Pascha leads the redactor to an

extensive digression discussing the chronology of the paschal fast.44
The following chapter, on the upbringing of children, thus seems
to be out of place, but if the detail concerning the Pascha is put aside
it may be seen as following naturally as part of a catechetical manual,
that is to say, the discussion of children follows on from a brief discus-
sion of oaths. After this the manual turns to a general discussion of
heresies and schisms, which may be seen as an appropriate conclusion
to a pastoral manual for the direction of catechumens and the newly
baptized; the change of address in these chapters, moreover, away from
bishops and back to people in general is observable. This source, how-
ever, as will be noted below, has been heavily redacted here; we may
nonetheless suggest that, with extensive interpolations, it extends to
the end of the extant DA.
Whereas we may suspect further sources, without any extant
documents for comparison we can for the moment go no further.
However we have shown that a redactor joined a catechetical manual
to a derivative of kk to produce the greater part of DA. It is interesting
to note that, just as kk was a fundamental source for K, as was a form
of TWT, so DA shares two common ancestors with K, and a common
ancestor with D as well, thus enabling us to see something of the
complex of interrelationships within the church order literature.
43
As Connolly (1929), 167, suggests. See further the note ad loc.
44 The oddness of this is observed likewise by Rouwhorst (1989a), 165.
21
However, whereas these two sources account for the greater part of
DA, small interpolations aside, much of the material in the final three
chapters, and much in the twenty-first chapter, does not, as we shall
note below, come from either source. Greater clarity with regard to
these chapters may emerge once the hands of the editors have been
discerned. However, we have identified two sources and may suggest
that, although minor irruptions and deviations such as apostolic inter-
ventions (which will be discussed shortly) enable us to see that the
unification of sources was not the end of the process by which DA
came to us, nonetheless the discussion of bishops, which forms a
substantial part of the whole, is, apart from occasional interventions,
the work of a single hand, and that this dominant hand gives DA a
misleading impression of unity.
2.c The search for redactors
2.c.1 The apostolic redactor

Before turning our attention to the final chapters, in which extensive
interpolation has been suggested already within this introduction, and
which were considered suspect, as we have seen, by Nau, we may note
the following intrusion in a passage concerning the treatment of
sinners within the church:
But if he pays no attention he should be rebuked before the entire

church, and if, moreover, he pays no attention to the entire church he
should be accounted by you as a pagan or as a tax-collector.’ Because the
Lord has said to you, bishops, that henceforth you should not receive
anyone such into the church as a Christian, nor have any commerce
with him, since you do not receive the pagan or the wicked tax collector
into the church, nor have anything to do with them, unless first they
repent, and promise that they believe, and that thenceforth they shall do
no evil deed.
On this account did our Lord and Saviour grant room for repentance
to those who sin. Indeed I, Matthew, one of the twelve apostles who are
speaking to you through these Didascalia, was previously a tax collector.
But since I believed I have received kindness, I have repented of what I
did before, and also have been deemed worthy of being an apostle and of
proclaiming the word. And also, in the Gospel, John the prophet
proclaimed to tax-collectors; he did not cut off their hope but taught
22
INTRODUCTION
them how they should act. And when they asked him for a statement he
said to them: ‘Take no more than what is commanded of you and what
is set out for you.’ And again, when Zacchaeus required it of him, the
Lord received him in repentance. And we do not even withhold life from
the pagans when they repent, put away and reject their error.
Anyone who has been convicted of wicked deeds or of falsehood
should be accounted by you as a pagan or as a tax-collector. (DA 2.38.
3-2.39.5)
The interruption of the central paragraph seems to be the result of

a device of pseudonymity, triggered by the mention of tax-collectors.
A similar phenomenon may be observed when the discussion of the
role of widows is taken in the direction of whether women may teach,
a prohibition which is then enforced by mention of the fact that the
Lord sent ‘us’, namely the male apostles, out to preach and to save the
world, and not the women who were with them. One of the peculiar-
ities about the apostolic attribution of DA is the relative absence of the
apostles from the greater part of the work; with the exception of brief
interruptions like those noted above they are absent for much of the
work and yet suddenly come to the fore, revealing their authorship,
towards the conclusion of the work. It is on the basis of the brief inter-
ruptions that we may identify a redactor who is responsible for these
sections. This redactor may be termed the apostolic redactor; this
redactor has worked through the text to create an illusion of apostolic
authorship, and, most significantly, has included an account of the
council of Jerusalem towards the end of the document.
It is not, moreover, difficult to identify the interests of this apos-
tolic redactor. As has been noted, after the (apparently misplaced)
chapter concerning the upbringing of children, (actually not mis-
placed but divorced from its context due to the discussion of paschal
chronology) the catechetical discourse turns to heresies and schisms.
However, it is after this discussion of heresies and schisms that the
apostles come to prominence, and where the account, supposedly
coming from the apostles, of the council of Jerusalem, at which the
release of the gentiles from the law is restated, is found. The apostles
then state that they had written DA in Jerusalem before returning to
the mission field. The concluding chapter then deals with the particu-
lar issue of the observance of the Jewish law by Christians. This redac-
tor thus intrudes into a general statement of the need to avoid heresy
in order to describe the beginnings of heresy, apostolic opposition to
heresy, and the apostolic council. It is clear that the fundamental aim
23
of this story is to dissuade Christians from keeping the Jewish law,

since this was precisely the issue behind the discussion at Jerusalem;
beyond this, however, it is here that the apostles emerge not simply the
authority by which the instructions are given, as elsewhere in the
church order literature, but specifically as those who had been Jewish
before coming to Christ.
. . .we may recognize that our Saviour is speaking not to the gentiles but
to us, who became his disciples from among the Jews . . .45
The provenance of these apostles thus relates directly to the redac-

tional intent of the apostolic redactor since it is being suggested that
there is apostolic precedent for Jews who come to faith in Christ to
abandon the observance of the law. The apostolic redactor is thus
principally concerned with law-observant Jewish Christians who are to
be dissuaded from their law-obedience in order properly to be recog-
nized as members of the catholic church. As Fonrobert puts it DA
‘re-inscribes that earlier conflict into its own contemporary conflict
and employs it as a lens through which to read the current conflict in
its audience.’46 As emerges in the next chapter, albeit from the hand,
we suggest, of a different redactor, the issue of law-observance is acute
for the community of DA. It is an issue addressed, however, as we may
deduce from this characterization of the implied authors, to Jewish
Christians and not to gentile Judaizers. It is for this reason that the
issue of circumcision, the fundamental issue behind the account in
Acts, does not receive attention here. Being Jewish converts these law-
observant Christians are in any event already circumcised.
The interventions of this redactor, once his existence is recognized,
are easy to spot. We note below that there is extensive interpolation by
this redactor in the chapter on the Pascha, but otherwise the interven-
tions are relatively minor and unimportant, though clearly this redac-
tor continues to be exercised by the role of women within the church.
The sole aim of the redactor was to strengthen the prohibition on the
observance of Jewish ritual law which was, we suggest in a moment,
already present in the work, and to do so by lending (Jewish) apostolic
45
DA 6.17.6. Fonrobert (2001), 499, takes this as the voice of the actual, rather
than the implied, author. In the earlier redaction this was the case, but with the apos-
tolic redaction these disciples from among the Jews are identifiable as the apostles
themselves and tell us nothing of the apostolic redactor himself, who is hidden behind
the apostolic mask.
46 Fonrobert (2001), 490.
24
INTRODUCTION
authority and example to encourage Christians of Jewish heritage to

abandon the law of their ancestors.
2.c.2 The deuterotic redactor

We may thus discern at least one redactor, whom we have termed the
apostolic redactor, whose principal interest was the dissuasion of
Christians from keeping the Jewish law. The material of the apostolic
redactor is not, however, the only material relating to this subject.
After the description of the apostolic council there follows a chapter
further discussing the law and its application to Christians. The argu-
ment is put forward that the law, beyond the Decalogue, was imposed
on the Jewish people as a punishment for idolatry, and thus that it is
now lifted under the new dispensation inaugurated by Jesus. This law
is called the deuterōsis, a term which may be translated as ‘secondary
legislation’. Nau suspected that this final chapter was secondary, as it
follows on from what would seem to be a natural conclusion to the
document, as the apostles state that they had written DA.47 There are
other references to the secondary legislation within DA, but these are
occasional and may be seen as interpolations. Thus, for instance, we
have already noted that in the section dictating what a Christian
ought to read there is a certain tension, as some books are mentioned
twice, with different rationales for reading them. This comes about
because of a caveat which is lodged and which interrupts the flow of
the argument:
If you wish for songs you have the Psalms, if the origin of the world’s
creation you have Genesis, and if laws and instructions you have the
glorious Law of the Lord. Therefore keep away completely from all such
foreign and devilish writings.
However, when you read the law be wary that you read it only, and
simply read it. Keep away from all its instructions and commands so that
you do not lead yourself astray and bind yourself and weigh yourself
down with ancient bonds which cannot be undone. (DA 1.6.5-7)
This interpolation is clearly the work of the hand which produced

the final chapter. It goes on, in brief, to set out the theology of the
secondary legislation which the final chapter sets out at length. That
there is a separate redactor, therefore, from the redactor of the major
47
Nau (1902), 164.
25
part of DA, and distinct from the apostolic redactor, would seem prob-
able. The question is whether Nau’s instinct is correct, and that this
redactor, whom we may term the deuterotic redactor, came after the
apostolic redactor, and has appended the chapter on the deuterōsis to a
completed work, or whether the apostolic redactor was the latter of the
two and that he deliberately prefaced the chapter discussing the theol-
ogy of the secondary legislation with his account of the apostolic
council in order to give more force to the chapter which follows with
its warnings of the dangers of Judaizing.
It is not easy to answer this on such purely literary grounds, but I
suggest that the apostolic redactor was the final redactor for two reasons.
Firstly I would argue inductively that the very appearance of mate-
rial concerning the avoidance of Jewish practice in an already existing
conclusion is what led to the idea of lending additional apostolic force
to this argument, casting the apostles as the authors of this theology
through preceding the main discussion of the deuterōsis with a scene
implying apostolic authorship of what followed. In other words the
final chapter is not a postscript but the preceding chapters are prefaces
to the final chapter.
Secondly, and deductively, we may observe that although the end
of the twenty-fifth chapter looks like a conclusion, as Nau believed,
the material which follows is not entirely the work of the deuterotic
redactor. Much of it is, but it is to be noted that just as the catechet-
ical manual is interrupted with the sudden introduction of an
account of the beginning of heresy with Simon Magus, so its actual
conclusion cannot be found at this point. After the account of the
council of Jerusalem, as will be noted below, there is a brief
re-appearance of material from this level, but then the apostolic
redactor intervenes again, before we hear the dominant voice of the
deuterotic redactor in the final chapter. Still the conclusion of the
catechetical manual has not been incorporated. However in the final
chapter a long discussion of ritual purity ends with the assurance
that marital intercourse does not defile and does not prevent a Chris-
tian from worship. The mention of this leads to the renewed warn-
ing that one should remain with one wife and with general warnings
concerning conduct, as then the author goes on to justify the sever-
ity of the writing. We may suggest that here is the original conclu-
sion of the catechetical manual. At the conclusion of the twenty-fifth
chapter it is stated that those who are evil should be driven out of the
church so that they may not spread, like an infection, to the rest of
26
INTRODUCTION
the body of Christ. This then dovetails with the material, again
employing medical imagery, with which DA ends.
Thus we have healed those who have repented of their erroneous

godlessness through much admonition, with the word of doctrine,
and with intercession, and have allowed them to take their places in
the church. But we have driven out those who are mortally wounded
by the word of error, and all the more those who have erred without
reason, as their wound is incurable, and so that they can do no harm
to the chosen holy catholic church of God, and so that the evil can-
not spread like leprosy and extend itself like an infection to all parts,
but that the church should remain pure and unspotted and unscarred
for the Lord God. This we have undertaken in every province
throughout the entire earth, leaving this catholic didascalia justly and
rightly to the catholic church as a commemoration to bear witness
for the strengthening of the faithful.
We could explain the didascalia to you more clearly with many
proofs like these, and so extend the writing, yet here we complete the
discourse so that the severity of the truth should not over-fill you with
the teaching with which we speak. And so do not be wearied of what
has been said; for our Lord and Saviour himself responded with harsh-
ness to those who deserved condemnation when he said: ‘Take them
away and throw them into outer darkness And there shall be weeping
there, and the gnashing of teeth’ and ‘Get away from me, you ac-
cursed, into the everlasting fire which my father has prepared for the
devil and his angels.’ And he has also compared the word to fire and
the sword as he said by Jeremiah: ‘The word of the Lord is like an axe
cutting stone, and a fire going around and burning up.’ It is a sword
and a fire and an axe not to those who hear the truth, but the saying
(refers) to the people who did not desire to hear when reproved by our
Lord and master, for they did not believe because they thought it like
iron and fire, and did not obey when they heard what was said to
them by him, for his words appeared to be harsh and severe to them.
And so he said to them: ‘Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not
do what I say?’
Likewise our writing may appear to some to be severe and harsh
because of its truth. But had we written gently, to please people, then
many might have fallen away from the faith and we would be respon-
sible for them. For just as a sensible physician, unable to contain an
ulcer through drugs and poultices, turns to a more severe form of rem-
edy, that is to the knife and to cauterization, by which alone he can
overcome the disease and heal the sick, so the word of the Lord is like
a poultice and a salve and a plaster to those who hear it and keep it,
27
but to those who hear and do not act it seems to be iron and fire. (DA
6.14.10-11; 6.23.1-7)
Because remains of an earlier source, namely the catechetical man-

ual (albeit, we shall note below, thoroughly reworked by the same
redactor who reworked the manual for bishops) may be found after
the conclusion of the work of the apostolic redactor we may conclude
that although the end of the twenty-fifth chapter looks like a conclu-
sion it is not, but rather is intended to lead on to the final warnings
about the deuterōsis. Therefore the argument that anything after that
must have been added on disappears; rather we may identify the
author of this chapter as a redactor prior to the apostolic redactor, to
whose work the apostolic redactor, as the last redactor in the chain, has
provided the appearance of apostolic authorship.
It has already been noted that this redactor had occasionally inter-
polated the catechetical source. The same redactor has done the same
in the discussion of the duties of bishops. Thus we may note:
He should be very assiduous in his teaching, and should be most as-

siduous in reading the divine Scriptures, so that he may interpret and
expound the Scriptures fittingly. He should make comparison of the
law and the prophets with the Gospel so that the statements of the law
and the prophets are brought into accordance with the Gospel. But
chiefly he should be skilful at distinguishing between the law and the
secondary legislation, so that he may determine and demonstrate
what is the law of the faithful and what the bonds of those who do not
believe, lest anyone under your authority should consider that the
bonds are the law, lay heavy burdens upon himself, and so become a
son of perdition. (DA 2.5.3-4)
And:
Be thus constant in working, with continuous labour and with offer-
ing, since the Lord has lightened your load and has taken away the
chains from around your neck and has removed from you the heavy
yoke, by removing from you the secondary legislation . . . (DA 2.34.7)
Thus the deuterotic redactor has not only supplied the final chap-
ter but has both extended the catechetical source and worked over the
manual for bishops. In doing so his sole interest is to point the entire
extant document in the direction of denying that Christians should
keep the Jewish law, and he has done so most particularly by extend-
ing an existing discussion of heresy and schism. The manner in which
28
INTRODUCTION
this has been done is obscured by the subsequent intervention of the

apostolic redactor, whose fundamental aim was the same, but we may
go on to suggest that the work of the deuterotic redactor was a devel-
opment of a tendency already present in DA even before it came into
his hands.
2.c.3 The uniting of the sources

We have thus isolated certain sources and two redactors, one of whom
was the final redactor. A further question is whether either of the two
identified redactors had joined the sources, or whether they had inher-
ited the sources already joined. Certainly the sources were not joined
by the apostolic redactor, as this is the final redactor, whereas both
major source-blocks have been interpolated, as noted above by the
deuterotic redactor. Thus either the sources were already joined when
the deuterotic redactor began his work or the deuterotic redactor him-
self joined them.
Whereas the latter option seems improbable, there are two positive
indications that the two were joined before the work of the deuterotic
redactor.
It has already been noted that the apostolic redactor has intervened
in a general warning, derived from a catechetical manual, about heresy
and schism, by giving particular direction to this warning, pointing to
the problems of the keeping of the Jewish law by Christians and that
the same is the interest of the deuterotic redactor, as the final chapter
concentrates particularly on issues of ritual purity. But, as already
noted, as this subject is left behind and the document closes with a gen-
eral defence of what has been written, employing the same medical
imagery of the hortatory function of the writing as is employed of dis-
ciplinary function of the bishop in the tenth chapter, which implies
that the same hand is now at work, and that at the conclusion of the
document we therefore have the conclusion of the catechetical manual.
The point here to be noted is that the same hand, a hand distinct from
either redactor identified thus far, had worked over both main sources.
A second indication that the same hand worked over both docu-
ments in uniting them may be found in a strange citation in a discus-
sion of forgiveness by bishops: ‘Brothers, they do not know what they
are doing or what they are saying. But if it is possible, forgive them.’
Whereas this might appear to be a very loose citation of Luke 23:34, the
same citation appears towards the end of the document in the context
of a discussion about heresy. This second appearance, moreover, is set in
29
the middle of material from the apostolic redactor, though at this point
the first person is lacking.
As regards the people, which does not believe in Christ and laid hands on
him, him whom they blaspheme is the Son of Man. The Lord said: ‘It
will be forgiven them.’ And likewise the Lord said of them: ‘Father, they
know not what they have done or what they are saying. If it is possible,
forgive them.’ Likewise the gentiles also deny the Son of Man, yet for-
giveness has come forth for them. To those who have believed, whether
of the people or of the gentiles, is forgiveness given . . .(DA 6.14.4-6)
We may therefore suggest that this is part of the version of the cat-
echetical manual over which the apostolic redactor has worked. But
although it follows on from the general warning about heresies in the
original work the appearance of the same citation in the material ulti-
mately derived from kk would suggest that the same hand has worked
over them both, and that this hand is neither of the redactors identi-
fied thus far. We term this author the uniting redactor.
In addition to the deuterotic and the apostolic redactors, therefore,
we may suggest that the work was brought together from its sources at
an earlier stage, and at this stage, moreover, the sources were thor-
oughly edited; it is the hand of this redactor which may be found
throughout the work, and to which the impression of unity is due. It
is also possible to provide a rationale for the work of this redactor. At
6.13 we have provisions for the retention or expulsion of those contin-
uing in heresy, at the very point at which we have identified the hand
of the uniting and the apostolic redactors. The passage reads as fol-
lows, with the work of the apostolic redactor italicized:
Thus we affirmed and established the decision which we had reached after
consultation and consideration with regard to those who had gone astray.
And we will return again to the churches where first we had preached in
order to exhort the faithful to avoid the offences discussed above and not to
receive them who come falsely under the name of apostles, and to recognize
them because of the changeability of the words and through the way in
which they act.48 It is of these whom the Lord spoke when he said:
‘Some will come to you wearing sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are
ravening wolves; you shall know them by their fruits. Be aware, for
false Christs will arise, and false prophets, to lead many astray. And the
48
Although the passage may seem to follow on here, this sentence actually con-
nects to a mention of false apostles which is found at 6.6, immediately before the
intervention of the apostolic redactor with the tale of Simon Magus.
30
INTRODUCTION
love of many shall grow cold because of the abundant wickedness. But
whoever shall endure to the end shall be saved.’
We decree and command that those who have remained and
have not erred, and those who repent their error, are to remain in the
church, whereas those who continue in error and are not penitent
are to be put apart from the faithful as they are become heretics. The
faithful are to be instructed to avoid them utterly and to have no
converse with them in speech or in prayer. For they are hostile and
opposed to the church. The Lord instructed us who are faithful
about these when he said: ‘Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and
Sadducees’ and ‘Do not go into the cities of the Samaritans.’ These
‘cities of the Samaritans’ are those of the heresies who wander in a
crooked way, of whom the Lord spoke in Proverbs: ‘There is a way
which people think is right, but which comes in the end to the
depths of hell.’ They are those of whom the Lord laid down a stern
and bitter sentence: ‘They shall have no release, either in this world
or in that to come.’
As regards the people, which does not believe in Christ and laid
hands on him, him whom they blaspheme is the Son of Man. The
Lord said: ‘It will be forgiven them.’ And likewise the Lord said of
them: ‘Father, they know not what they have done or what they are
saying. If it is possible, forgive them.’ Likewise the gentiles also deny
the Son of Man, yet forgiveness has come forth for them. To those
who have believed, whether of the people or of the gentiles, is forgive-
ness given for their evil deeds, as the Lord Jesus Christ said: ‘For this
reason I say to you: every human sin and blasphemy is forgiven, but
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this
world or in the world to come. And anyone who speaks a word against
the Son of Man will be forgiven; however there will be no forgiveness
for anyone who has said a word against the Holy Spirit, either in this
world or in the world to come.’ Those who blaspheme the Holy Spir-
it, those who readily and hypocritically blaspheme Almighty God,
that is to say the heretics who do not receive his holy Scriptures, or
who receive them in a perverted, hypocritical or blasphemous sense,
who blaspheme the catholic church, which is the receptacle of the
Holy Spirit, with wicked words, are condemned of Christ even before
the judgement which is to come, without prospect of defence. For
that which he said, ‘They shall have no release’ is the sentence of con-
demnation which issues against them.
And when, with one accord, we had established and agreed and set down
all of this we each went out to the provinces formerly allotted to us . . . (DA
6.13.1-6.14.8)
31
These provisions may be read in the light of the earlier disciplinary

and pastoral material. The provisions under which sinners are to
remain or not to remain part of the church is the fundamental aim of
a number of these chapters, alongside discussion of the proper conduct
of Christians. In this latter section it is belief, rather than conduct,
which is discussed, and the identity of the church over and against
Jews, pagans, but more particularly Christian heresies, is being estab-
lished, but the same provisions and approach regarding the treatment
of sinners are being proposed for the treatment of heretics. Thus the
two documents are united in order to give a law for Christians and a
basis by which that law is to be enforced by bishops.
This runs in part counter to the suggestion of Fonrobert that DA is
fundamentally a counter-Mishnah, intended to counter the codification
of law by the rabbinic schools.49 Nonetheless the intervention of the
deuterotic redactor is what makes it such. Prior to that, however, it per-
haps exhibits the same move towards codification that the Mishnah and
Tosefta represent. In particular we may suggest that, just as the very pro-
hibition on, for instance, keeping the Sabbath and using mikwaoth indi-
cates a degree of proximity between Jews and Christians, since it is clear
that Christians were doing precisely what was forbidden, much of the
material in DA before the intervention of the deuterotic redactor indi-
cates the same, as much can be paralleled from Jewish sources. Mar-
morstein, who indeed suggested that the redactor of what he considered
a single DA had learned in a rabbinic school, points out Jewish parallels
both to particular ideas, for instance that Korah had coveted the high-
priesthood or that Manasseh was forgiven, and to practices, such as an
insistence that men should cut their hair whereas women should cover
it, and the refusal to go to pagan law-courts.50 The two argue over com-
mon ground to the extent that DA denies the name of ‘Jew’ to Jews,51
since the extent of common ground is what gives DA an urge to define
itself as distinct. We may also note, with Fonrobert, the extent to which
both DA and Tannaitic documents employ similar exegetical methods,
since both are seeking to prove their practice from the same Scriptures,
as well as noting that much of this did not go without Jewish response.52
What is most notable is that this common ground and method is to be
found both in the work of the uniting redactor (and probably in the
49
Fonrobert (2001).
50
Marmorstein (1935), 232-233, with many refs.
51 DA 2.60.3.
52 So note Visotzky (1990) and the notes on 6.15.4 and 6.16.1.
32
INTRODUCTION
sources) and in the work of the later redactors. The contest with Judaism
is a thread which runs through the work, from the common ground of
the first chapter with ps-Clement Hom. 7.4, to the use of the idea of
deuterōsis as a punishment for the idolatry of the golden calf at the last,
through the observation that the Jews are brothers ‘even though they
hate you.’53 It is a struggle which seems to point to a continuing struggle
on the part of catholic Christianity, many of whose adherents were also
Jewish, to establish itself over and against Judaism. These Jewish paral-
lels derive from the work of different redactors; whatever their differ-
ences of emphasis they are each interacting with Jews.
We cannot, however, have any confidence about the extent to
which the uniting redactor worked over the sources. It is possible that
the extended scriptural citations are his, as extended citations from
Ezekiel occur in different parts of the work, and we have observed this
redactor’s use of medical imagery, a point to which we will return.
Nonetheless we may suggest that this is the overarching genius which
gave DA much of its shape and to whom the impression of unity which
it conveys may be attributed.
2.c.4 The twenty-first chapter

A further indication that the work was brought together by a redactor
working before the apostolic redactor lies in the twenty-first chapter.
The tendency with regard to this chapter in the history of scholarship,
by contrast to the unitative approach to DA generally, has been to
observe its complexity, and to attribute this to various levels of redac-
tion. This said, although there are repetitions and although the paschal
chronology proposed in the chapter is strange in the extreme, the fin-
ished product has its own internal logic. Thus although Schmidt does
not prove his case that the whole is the work of a single hand,54 albeit
employing traditional material, his view is not altogether ridiculous, as
he is right in seeing the internal logic and in suggesting that there is
more here than a random collocation of material but that a single hand
is responsible for the final product. Insofar as we have recognized the
apostolic redactor as the final redactor with particular agenda, we may
agree with Schmidt; the prominence of the apostles in this chapter is to
53
DA 5.14.23. This is probably from a separate source, as discussed in 2.c.4 below.
However although Hayman (1985) does not recognize redactional layers his point is
nonetheless good that DA’s reaction to Judaism is marked by tension and ambiguity.
54 Schmidt (1919), 649-677.
33
be particularly noted, and therefore we may deduce that the apostolic

redactor was especially active in the redaction of the chapter. More sig-
nificantly, if it is the case that the fundamental agendum of the apos-
tolic redactor was to dissuade Christians from the keeping of the law we
must see this chapter contributing to this agendum. But we may also
observe that the apostolic redactor is the last in a series of redactors and
so, in seeking the redactional levels within the chapter, we are at least
equipped now to recognize the latest levels, which may in turn assist in
identifying lower strata in the construction of the chapter.55
The first to observe the possibility of levels of redaction was
Schwartz, who divided the material into seven sections;56 though he
stopped short of assigning redactional levels throughout he suggested
that there were distinct levels. Our discussion may, however, begin
with the most recent attempt to discern levels of redaction within the
chapter, which is that of Rouwhorst, who likewise sees seven sections
within the chapter, though his division points are not the same as
those of Schwartz.57
His first, the ethical section, which is the beginning of the chapter
concerning the swearing of oaths, we may attribute to the catechetical
source; it is into this source that the section regarding the Pascha sud-
denly irrupts.
. . . it is not lawful for any believer to swear by the sun, or by the oth-
er signs of the heavens, nor by the elements, not to utter the name of
idols with his mouth, nor to issue a curses from his mouth, but rather
blessings and psalms and the dominical and divine Scriptures, which
are the certain foundation of our faith. And especially in the days of
the Pascha, when all the faithful are fasting, throughout the whole
world . . . (DA 5.12.5-6)
Almost immediately we are in the presence of the apostles.
On this account you are to pray and intercede for them that are lost
when you are fasting, as we also did . . .(DA 5.13.1)
55 It is because of the identification of the apostolic redactor as the final redactor
that we do not discuss the treatment of Gerlach (1998), 203-230, here. Gerlach’s treat-
ment is rhetorical rather than historical, but he does suggest that the earlier parts of the
chapter, including the work of the apostolic redactor, are earlier than the later parts of
the chapter, which are preserved by the E redaction (a later version of the text; see 2.d
below.) He attempts to justify this view at 209 but the recognition of the apostolic
redactor outweighs his considerations. Nonetheless he is right in his perception that the
E recension, with its reductions, makes the chapter far more readily comprehensible!
56 Schwartz (1905), 105-121.
57 Rouwhorst (1989a), 164-183.
34
INTRODUCTION
The statement that prayer is to be made for those who are lost dur-
ing the fast may derive from a source, but from ‘as we also did’ it is all
the work of the apostolic redactor as, even if the beginning of the dis-
cussion on the Pascha is derived from a source, the main discussion of
fasting within Pascha on behalf of the Jews, which follows on, must
derive from the apostolic redactor since it is in the mouth of the apos-
tles; either the apostles are speaking or Jesus is being quoted in his
statement to the apostles, and the speech is in the first person.
Rouwhorst recognizes this apostolic section as an interpolation, and,
moreover, recognizes that this is from the hand of the final redactor on
the same grounds as those proposed above for the activity of the apos-
tolic redactor, namely that this is the hand which strengthens the com-
mandments and instructions of DA through reference to apostolic
command and example.58 He believes that this apostolic section has
been placed within a direction of much greater antiquity, however,
likewise directing that fasting be undertaken on behalf of the Jewish
people, and that this is Quartodeciman in origin.59 This is entirely fea-
sible; the introduction to the subject, dealing with Jesus’ injunction to
fast in the absence of the bridegroom would thus derive from this
Quartodeciman source, into which the apostolic redactor has inter-
vened, and the conclusion of the section, addressed to gentiles, would
also be from the original Quartodeciman source. We may, however,
compare this to Schwartz’s suggestion that the whole section is primi-
tive on the grounds that it contains the ancient Quartodeciman
rationale for fasting, namely that it is a vicarious fast for the Jews.60
Although this rationale does appear in Quartodeciman literature it is
not the sole rationale; the probability is that Quartodeciman fasting
before Pascha originated from the Jewish custom of observing a short
fast before the paschal meal and, once its original rationale was forgot-
ten, found a number of alternative justifications.61 Evangelium Petri 5
implies that this is a fast in memory of the sufferings of the Saviour,
and it would seem that one of the purposes of the apostolic redactor is
to alter that understanding.
Rouwhorst’s third section, which he believes to the later than
the source of the second part, (that is, the second part before the
58 Rouwhorst (1989a), 169.

59
Rouwhorst, (1989a), 169-170.
60 Schwartz (1905), 115-118.
61 See also my discussion in (1998), 160-164.
35
intervention of the apostolic redactor), but still ancient, begins with

the description of the gathering of the priests and elders at the court of
Caiaphas.
The priests and the elders of the people assembled and went to the court
of Caiaphas the high priest . . . (DA 5.17.2)
However, once again we are rapidly put into the presence of the
apostles, with a description of Jesus at the house of Simon the leper.
They plotted to seize Jesus and kill him, but took fright and were
saying: ‘Not during the festival, lest the people be disturbed’, since
everybody was adhering to him, and considered him a prophet, be-
cause of his healing miracles which he was performing among
them. Now that day Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper and
we were together with him, and he told us what would happen to
him. But Judas went out from among us in secret, hoping to escape
our Lord’s notice, and he went to the house of Caiaphas, where the
chief priests and the elders were assembled, and said to them . . .
(DA 5.17.2-4)
It is possible, however, that the paragraph concerning Jesus at

Simon’s house has been interpolated into a source by the apostolic
redactor, because the scene at the leper’s house is left behind quite rap-
idly, and the narrative returns to the priests and elders, with their con-
spiracy to alter the date of the Pascha. The question of whether there
is a transition is not entirely clear as the narrative is continuous, as
Judas goes out from among the disciples to the priests and elders with
Caiaphas. Nonetheless, if the material which is evidently from the
apostolic redactor is excluded the narrative flows:
The priests and the elders of the people assembled and went to the
court of Caiaphas the high priest on the tenth of the month, on the
second day of the week, reckoning by the moon, as we reckon in ac-
cordance with the reckoning of the believing Hebrews. They plotted
to seize Jesus and kill him, but took fright and were saying: ‘Not dur-
ing the festival, lest the people be disturbed’, since everybody was ad-
hering to him, and considered him a prophet, because of his healing
miracles which he was performing among them.
However, on account of the crowds of the people who were com-
ing to the temple from every town and every village to keep the
Pascha in Jerusalem, the priests and the elders determined and
36
INTRODUCTION
ordered and established that they should keep the festival without de-
lay. (DA 5.17.2, 6)
The point of this strange chronology, and the tale of the priests and
elders conspiring to anticipate the Pascha in order to trap Jesus, is to
justify a keeping of a six-day fast prior to a Sunday Easter and in turn
to conform this to the statement of Exodus 12:3 that the Pascha is to
begin on the tenth of the month. This is hardly Quartodeciman, but
is not the work of the apostolic redactor either. Thus there are good
grounds for agreeing with Rouwhorst that a hand has intervened
before that of the apostolic redactor. We may reasonably suggest that
this hand is that of the uniting redactor who, in the process of expand-
ing the source, incorporated it into DA.
Noteworthy, moreover, is the fact that the disciples are now fasting
out of mourning for Jesus, an entirely separate motivation from that
already provided, and distinct from that of the apostolic redactor.
There are good grounds, therefore, for attributing the greater part of
this section to a level prior to the apostolic redactor but posterior to
the original Quartodeciman Grundschrift.
What then follows appears at first sight to be entirely rational and
to follow on neatly as, after the first three days of the paschal fast are
justified, the text goes on to describe the fast of the last three days of
the Paschal week.
Therefore, from the tenth, which is the second day of the week, you
shall fast in the days of Pascha. You shall sustain yourselves with bread
and salt and water only, at the ninth hour, until the fifth day of the
week. However on the Friday and the Saturday you shall fast entirely,
tasting nothing. (DA 5.18)
Rouwhorst, however, divides this, assigning the statement about

Friday and Saturday to a fourth section, suggesting that this is even later
than the third, and is intended to lead away from a Quartodeciman
understanding of the Pascha.62 Rouwhorst then sees a further, fifth, sec-
tion, beginning at the renewed statement that the fast of the Friday and
the Saturday is to be kept carefully, until the third hour of the night:
Thus fast on the Friday, because it was then that the people killed
62Rouwhorst (1989a), 173-175; cf. Schwartz (1905), 115, who sees the whole as the
work of a single hand.
37
themselves in crucifying our Saviour, and again on the Sabbath since

it is the Lord’s sleep. (DA 5.19.9)
He suggests that this belongs to the same source as the third sec-
tion, which ended with the statement that one should be nourished
solely by salt, bread and water until the Thursday. It is true that what
is said here is largely repetitive of what had previously been said, in
Rouwhorst’s fourth section, but we may note that the greater part of
this fourth section is made up of a further apostolic intervention, obvi-
ous in 5.19.2-3 but probably extending to 5.19.8. If this material is
assigned to the apostolic redactor, and discounted, much of the repeti-
tion disappears. Thus Rouwhorst is correct in suspecting some inter-
ference, but has failed correctly to identify the redactional levels; there
is no distinct source here, but rather the hand of the apostolic redac-
tor, intervening between the statement that the fast of the Friday and
Saturday should be absolute and the justification that Christians
should fast on Friday, ‘because it was then that the people killed them-
selves in crucifying our Saviour, and again on the Sabbath since it is
the Lord’s sleep’. Net of the interference of the (readily identifiable)
apostolic redactor the passage reads:
You shall sustain yourselves with bread and salt and water only, at the
ninth hour, until the fifth day of the week. However on the Friday and
the Saturday you shall fast entirely, tasting nothing. You shall come to-
gether and watch and keep vigil for the entire night, reading the
prophets and with the Gospel and with psalms, with fear and trem-
bling and constant supplication until the third hour of the night after
the Sabbath, and then break your fasts. Thus fast on the Friday, be-
cause it was then that the people killed themselves in crucifying our
Saviour, and again on the Sabbath since it is the Lord’s sleep. (DA 5.18-
5.19.1; 5.19.9)
The purpose of the intervention is, once again, to use the example
of the apostles’ fasting to justify the Christians’ fast and, once again, to
shift the blame for the crucifixion firmly onto the Jews and away from
Pilate, in order to clarify that the fast is vicarious.
From then on the section goes to discuss the Sabbath generally as a
fasting day (5.20.1-5). There are good grounds for seeing this as deriv-
ing from a source. The deuterotic redactor several times polemicizes
against Christian observation of rest on Sabbath, referring to it as
‘idling.’ As such this reflects one manner in which the Sabbath might
38
INTRODUCTION
be kept, namely as a day of holiday, a manner of Sabbath observance

represented in the Jewish tradition by TB Pesahim 68B and TB Shab-
bath 118A-B. However, older Jewish tradition set the day aside for study
with such seriousness that Suetonius believed, as does the source here,
that the sabbath was a day of fasting.63 This is the sabbath recognized
here, which is distinct from that known to the later redactors. As such
we must conclude that the discussion of the sabbath is not that of the
apostolic redactor but derives from an earlier level. For Rouwhorst,
however, this is all part of the fifth section.
Rouwhorst’s last two sections are very brief; first there is the state-
ment that the fourteenth should be observed. He thinks this Quar-
todeciman and links it to the beginning of the second section, before
the intervention of the apostles. Rouwhorst’s seventh is that prohibit-
ing fasting on Sunday. If the sixth section is Quartodeciman then this
is certainly anti-Quartodeciman, as one of the great objections to the
Quartodeciman method of keeping the Pascha was that the fast might
co-incide with a Sunday.
Rouwhorst’s reconstruction of the sources is thus:
a: A short direction concerning fasting which is ancient, and which
consists of the first, small part of the second section. (DA 5.12.6) The
section may be ancient and Quartodeciman, and has been extensively
interpolated by the apostolic redactor. This section, as interpolated,
extends to DA 5.17.1.
b: A different hand, proposing a chronology of Holy Week. (5.17.2-
5.18a)
c: A treatment of the fasting practice for the earlier part of Holy
Week. (5.18b-5.19.5) Rouwhorst suggests that this is the work of the
apostolic redactor. However, whereas this material is extensively inter-
polated by this redactor much, we suggested above, is from the same
source which proposed the paschal chronology, namely the uniting
redactor.
d: A treatment of the latter part of Holy Week, deriving from the
hand which created the chronology. (5.18.6- 5.20.9) Again, once the
work of the apostolic redactor is removed it can be seen that this is all
part of the same discussion, supplied in order to turn the original away
from Quartodeciman practice and to justify a six-day Holy Week with
Easter on the Sunday.
63 Suetonius, Diuus Augustus 76.4.
39
e: The statement of the fourteenth, deriving from the original,

ancient, document. (5.20.10)
f: A statement on Sunday. (5.20.11-12)
Thus Rouwhorst is broadly correct in seeing three levels in the
main part of the chapter, an ancient Quartodeciman source, a later,
anti-Quartodeciman, hand, and a third hand, supplying apostolic
example (the same as that already identified in this introduction.)
However he has failed consistently to observe the work of the apostolic
redactor which has, in turn, meant that he has failed to see that there
is a single chronological discussion set in the middle of the originally
Quartodeciman document. Entirely plausible is Rouwhorst’s sugges-
tion that at the bottom of this chapter there lies a Quartodeciman
source. As evidence for this we may note not only the emphasis on fix-
ing the Pascha according to a Jewish reckoning but the emphasis on
fasting when the Jews are feasting and the use of Evangelium Petri. The
chapter, net of the ethical introduction taken from the catechetical
source, and net of the interventions of the apostolic redactor identified
here, may be seen to flow entirely rationally.
Apart from the fact that the removal of this material leaves a coher-
ent text behind, the test of whether this division is correct must be that
of whether we can ascertain a purpose behind the additions attributed
to the apostolic redactor consistent with his agenda. It is not sufficient
simply to say that the provisions are reinforced, as elsewhere when
material is being recycled the additions are slight, whereas here the
involvement of the redactor is extensive.
One possibility might be to suggest that Quartodecimans are being
seen as Jewish Christians, and that therefore their practice is being
undermined by the same apostolic authority to which Quartodeci-
mans themselves traditionally appeal. This is Rouwhorst’s own expla-
nation; as evidence he points to the preservation of a primitive version
of this chapter in the work of Epiphanius, said to have been derived
from the diataxis of the apostles.64 This is found in the chapter of the
Panarion dealing with a group called the Audians who did not accept
the Nicene fixing of the paschal date as after the equinox. However, it
is not the case that the source preserved by Epiphanius is a source
for DA, rather it is DA itself, for Epiphanius describes this diataxis
as of apostolic authorship, and defends this authorship, moreover,
by stating that ‘every canonical rule is contained in it, and nothing
64 Rouwhorst (1989a), 181-182 with reference to Epiphanius Panarion 70.
40
INTRODUCTION
concerning the faith is counterfeit, nor anything concerning our con-

fession or church administration, the clergy and faith.’ As such he
describes DA, in apostolic dress, and thus DA as edited and after it has
left the hand of the apostolic redactor.65
We cannot on this basis reject an involvement with Quartodeci-
mans out of hand, but may suggest that whereas a response to Quar-
todeciman practice lies somewhere behind the redaction of this chap-
ter it does not do so at the level of the apostolic redactor, but before the
chapter came into his hands. This explains the contradictions observed
by Holl between Rouwhorst’s second section (which we have assigned
to the apostolic redactor) and what follows. In particular Holl notes
that at first the chapter is principally concerned with the latter part of
the week, and begins with an account of the Tuesday night, thus con-
centrating on the Wednesday and the Friday (here we are dealing with
the work of the apostolic redactor), whereas subsequently the chapter
is concerned to stretch out the fast to the entire week and brings in
new material regarding the effective betrayal by Judas on the Monday,
which is not what would have been expected in the light of earlier
material.66 Secondly he notes that from the point at which we come to
the court of Caiaphas, and the concentration on the entire week
beginning with the Monday there is reference to the days of the
month, which had previously not been found.67 Holl’s first objection
is more apparent than real, for although there is a certain tension,
which might indicate a different hand, it is not an absolute contradic-
tion. Indeed a six-day fast is mentioned early in the chapter and to take
this as an interpolation without other evidence, is to follow an
assumption rather than the evidence. However, the concentration on
the days of the month, rather than those of the week, ensuring that the
Monday of Holy Week corresponds to the tenth of the month, is dis-
tinct. This concentration on days looks as though the concern is the
contradiction of Quartodeciman claims. This in turn lends support to
Rouwhorst’s assignment of this section to a source other than the orig-
inal Quartodeciman source and distinct from the apostolic redactor.
Further support in turn is gained from Schwartz’s observation that the
65 Cf. also Schwartz, (1905), 110, who suspects that the Audians had a distinct edi-
tion of DA. This would be a good hypothesis were it not for our identification of the
apostolic redactor as the last in the chain.
66 Holl (1927), 210.
67
Holl (1927), 211.
41
justification of the fast as undertaken on behalf of the Jews is absent

from this section.68
Holl, however, sees this section as the interpolation, rather than the
earlier section. Again it is the recognition of the work of the apostolic
redactor which enables us to see that it is not this section which is
interpolated, but that the prior section, concerning the fast of the
Wednesday and the Friday, which is the later material in this chapter,
even if is based on tradition. We may therefore see that a document of
possible Quartodeciman origin has been extensively interpolated to
provide a chronology of Holy Week which provides for a six-day fast
concluding with Easter on Sunday. It is this which was taken by the
apostolic redactor and further expanded.
If we turn to the passages which may be assigned to the apostolic
redactor we may note the following:
The first section demonstrating the involvement of the apostolic
redactor is principally concerned to define the fast as a vicarious fast
for the Jews. It is in this section that the six-day fast seems almost an
afterthought, as the scriptural citation indicates that it is principally
concerned with the fast of Wednesday and Friday, which are in any
event weekly fasts. Weekly fast-days originate, as Holl points out, in a
Jewish context,69 and we may note that D’s selection of Wednesday
and Friday as weekly fast-days is given an anti-Jewish twist.70 Thus we
may suggest that the anti-Jewish tradition which lay behind the twice-
weekly fast is being extended to apply to the whole of the fast before
Easter. This is entirely in keeping with the agenda of the apostolic
redactor of putting distance between Christians and Jews. If the redac-
tional division above is correct this is already present in the tradition,
but is here given greater force and direction.
The next point of this redactor’s involvement is in the chronological
section, in which the beginning of the fast is set at the tenth of Nisan
on the basis that this was the day on which the Jewish leaders deter-
mined to crucify Jesus. This practice is then strengthened by the apos-
tles’ description of their own example of fasting and grieving; this is not
altogether successful, however, as in the chronology thus presented they
do not actually begin to fast until Jesus is arrested, on the eleventh, that
is to say the Tuesday of Holy Week! However, this very inconsistency
assists us in attributing this section to a distinct redactional level.
68 Schwartz (1905), 115.
69 Holl (1927), 214.
70
D 8.1. These fasting days are contrasted to those of the ‘hypocrites.’
42
INTRODUCTION
Finally the apostolic redactor returns to the issue of the fast, re-iterating
that it is undertaken on behalf of the Jews, and making it clear that the
death of Jesus was an entirely Jewish responsibility. We may at the last,
then, agree with Schmidt that the fundamental object of the redaction
of this chapter is to bring out the potentially anti-Jewish nature of the
paschal fast,71 rather than simply to confute Quartodecimans.
Thus the redactional history proposed for this passage is:
A short document of Quartodeciman origin, from which we may
recognize perhaps 5.12.6-5.13, 5.15.1-5.17.1a and 5.20.10, is edited to
take it away from a Quartodeciman basis, and a distinct chronology
of Holy Week is provided. The work of this redactor, supplementary
to the base document, may be identified as 5.17.2, 5.17.6-5.19.1, and
5.19.9-5.20.9, as well as the transition from the material deriving
from the catechetical document. As such this level of redaction may
be seen as similar to the construction of the fiction of Paul’s preach-
ing at the beginning of Vita Polycarpi, namely that it anchors an
Easter kept on Sunday within a Quartodeciman milieu.72 It is then
edited again by the apostolic redactor to slant the fast in an anti-Jew-
ish direction with the provision of 5.14.1-24, 5.17.1b, 5.17.3-5, and
5.19.2-5.19.8. What makes the identification of strata in this chapter
particularly difficult is the fact that the apostolic redactor, in
employing a tradition clearly derived from Evangelium Petri, and in
insisting on the anti-Jewish nature of the fast, is the product of a tra-
dition which, at root, is Quartodeciman. This is not to suggest that
the redactor is reacting directly to Quartodeciman practice but that,
as Schmidt suggested,73 Quartodeciman practice has left its mark on
the redactor. It is this which led, we suggest, to Schwartz’s conviction
that any discussion of fasting as vicarious had to derive from the
original Quartodeciman document, a conviction which, in turn,
vitiates much of his discussion.
71
Schmidt (1919), 671.
72 When he arrived [in Smyrna] Paul gathered those who were faithful and spoke
to them about the Pascha and the Pentecost, reminding them about the new covenant
of the offering of the bread and the cup, how they should be sure always to celebrate
it in the days of unleavened bread, holding fast to the new mystery of the passion and
the resurrection. Here the apostle is clearly teaching us that we should not do this out-
side of the period of the unleavened bread, as do the heretics, and especially the Phry-
gians, but that we should not be obliged to keep the fourteenth day; for nowhere is the
fourteenth mentioned, but he mentions the day of unleavened bread, the Pascha and
the Pentecost, in keeping with the Gospel. (Vita Polycarpi 2). On this passage see my
discussion in (2002), 13-18.
73 Schmidt (1919), 674.
43
The significance for this discussion with regard to the redactional

history of DA overall is simply this: that an original Quartodeciman
source has been redacted before it reached the hands of the apostolic
redactor. Although it is possible that the redacted source came to the
apostolic redactor and was at that point inserted into DA, it is far more
probable that, as already suggested, this was the work of the uniting
redactor, who has slotted this into a general discussion of the swearing
of oaths. The uniting redactor’s interest in conforming a Quartodeci-
man source to a six-day Holy Week with Easter on Sunday may be
read as an attempt to include Quartodecimans in his general assault on
the heresies, whereas the apostolic redactor is concerned particularly to
promote the anti-Jewish character of the fast.
2.d Conclusions
We have determined with some degree of assurance that that DA is
fundamentally created from two sources. We have with a degree of
assurance identified two redactors whom we have termed the
deuterotic redactor and the apostolic redactor and have suggested that
they each worked in turn on a document which had already been con-
structed by an earlier hand through the uniting and extension of the
main sources. The united work was intended as a disciplinary and pas-
toral manual but had particular regard to the discipline and treatment
of those whose beliefs and praxis put them beyond the catholic
church. The later redactors are concerned specifically with the issue of
continuing law observance on the part of Jewish Christians, and have
slanted the work in that direction.
The sources employed by the uniting redactor had themselves in all
probability been subjected to extensive redaction. Beyond the major
sources identified, moreover, there are smaller sources, such as the
Quartodeciman Grundschrift of the chapter on the Pascha. These can-
not all be identified readily, nor can the many editorial levels which
probably already existed within the material which came into the hands
uniting redactor be recovered. There are four examples, however, which
may be studied and serve to illustrate the point that, although it is
impossible generally to get behind the uniting redactor, this redactor’s
work was not the first in a line of editors. The demonstration of the
independent circulation of this material, moreover, advances the study
of the other documents in which this material is found.
44
INTRODUCTION
Our first example of a source which seems to have undergone some

redaction quite apart from its inclusion in DA is that regarding seating
at the beginning of the twelfth chapter.
Now, in your congregations in the holy churches your gatherings should

be conducted with good order. Appoint places for the brothers with care
and gravity; the place of the presbyters should be separate, at the east end
of the house, and the bishop’s seat should be set among them, and the
presbyters should sit with him. It is in another eastern part of the house
that the laymen are to sit, for so it is required. The presbyters are to be
seated in the eastern part of the house with the bishops, and then the lay-
men, and then the women, so that when you stand up to pray the lead-
ers should stand first, and then the laymen and subsequently the women.
For it is required that your prayers should be directed towards the east, as
you know what is written: ‘Give glory to God who rides upon the heav-
ens of heaven, towards the east.’
One of the deacons should continue to stand by the offerings of the
eucharist; another should stand outside the door observing those who
come in. And afterwards, when you are offering, they should minister to-
gether in the church. And if anyone is found sitting in a place which is
not his the deacon within should warn him and make him stand up and
seat him in the place which is his own, as is right. (DA 2.57.2-7)
Gamber points out that the direction about prayer is apparently

secondary, since it interrupts the flow of the discussion of seating.74
Beyond this, however, we will note below that in this passage the dea-
cons are performing duties assigned to presbyters in K. Again we may
suggest that the attribution to deacons is part of the editorial process.
A further example of a piece of tradition which seems distinct from
any identifiable source within DA is the direction to those who wish to
invite widows to an agapē.75 Some direction for suppers for widows is
in to be found at TA 30 and I have suggested already that the redactor
of TA was at this point employing a source.76 The directions here and
in TA are sufficiently distinct to suggest that, although a source may
underlie them both, DA is not here directly dependent upon TA, as the
word ‘agapē’ is preserved in DA, assuming that the Latin version is an
accurate rendition of the underlying Greek, whereas it has disappeared
from TA. It may simply be that this is an issue which was significant in
74
Gamber (1970), 340.
75 DA 2.28.1-5.
76
In (2001), 148.
45
both communities, but the existence of a common source remains

more than possible. The Syriac text of DA speaks of widows whereas
the Latin, supported by CA, speaks of ‘older women.’ Both might have
derived from a direction like that of TA which speaks of ‘widows, who
should have attained old age.’
Thirdly we may note the thirteenth chapter. This is certainly part
of the uniting redactor’s work, as the whole is an instruction which the
bishop is to pass on to the people. However, it does not directly con-
cern the bishop, who is rapidly forgotten as the chapter proceeds, but
is rather a more general exhortation to the people, to which, at the
conclusion, a note is appended concerning the behaviour of the young
in the church. Whereas no particular parallel is striking, as much of
the material is common, we may suspect nonetheless that the whole is
taken from a distinct source and included entire by the redactor.
Finally we may note a significant parallel between much of what is
now the eighteenth chapter, regulating fit and proper persons from
whom the bishop might receive offerings and a section in the ps-
Athanasian Syntagma doctrinae dealing which precisely the same issue.
DA reads:
But if there should be bishops who are uncaring, and inattentive to these
matters, through respect of persons, or through impure profit, or
through failure to make enquiry, the account that they shall give shall be
no ordinary one. For what they are receiving for ministry to orphans and
widows is from the rich, who have men locked in prison, from the
wicked who make poor provision for their slaves, or act with cruelty in
their cities, or oppress the poor, or from the impure, who abuse their
bodies with wickedness, or from evildoers, or from those who take inter-
est in lending money, or from lawless advocates, or from those who ac-
cuse falsely, or from hypocritical lawyers, or from painters of pictures or
from makers of idols, or from workers of gold or silver or bronze who
steal, or from corrupt tax-gatherers, or from those who watch the shows,
or from those who alter weights, or from those who measure deceitfully,
or from innkeepers who water (drinks), or from soldiers who act lawless-
ly, from spies who obtain convictions, or from Roman authorities, who
are defiled by wars and who have shed innocent blood without trial, and
from pervertors of judgement who deal corruptly and deceitfully with
the peasantry and all the poor in order to rob them, or from idolaters, or
from the unclean or from usurers and extortionists. Those who nourish
widows from these will be found guilty when judged on the day of the
Lord, since Scripture says: ‘Better a meal of herbs with love and compas-
sion than the slaughter of fattened oxen with hatred.’ (DA 4.5.4-6.6)
46
INTRODUCTION
Compare to this Syntagma doctrinae:
The priest should be vigilant concerning the sacrifices; for if he re-

ceives from a soldier who sheds blood, or a businessman, or one who
swears oaths, or one who is wealthy through fraud, or one who exacts
additional taxes, or a usurer, or one who raises prices on grain, or from
any sinner, such a priest, if he receives from such, offers the blind and
the lame to God from them.
A yet more extensive version is found in the Coptic version of a doc-

ument clearly related to Syntagma, the Fides patrum, (the Greek being
lacking for this section):
Regarding those who touch the offerings, it is proper for the priest of
God to be prudent and moderate, not to show contempt for his rights
to the firstfruits of foodstuffs. For if he receives from a soldier who
sheds blood, from one who causes loss to another, or from a prefect,
or from a businessman who swears oaths for shameful gain, or from a
general, accursed by those he has violated, or from a violent rich per-
son who is violent to his servants and does not feed them, or clothe
them, or from a murderer of from a thief, especially if they are unre-
pentant, or from somebody who practises usury with regard to his
debtors, or idolaters, or magicians, or incanters, or those who go to
pagan gatherings, or are effeminate, or artists who sculpt or paint the
images of idols, or tricksters and forgers who use fake weights, or
money changers, or drunkards or tavern keepers, or from false priests.
If the priest of God receives offerings from any of them, or allows any
group of sinners into the temple, he is not in conformity with those
things which we have said, and if he is not avoid those things which
we have proscribed, anything he offers at the altar of the Lord is lame
and blind. He is taking the fault upon himself, and he is polluting the
house of the Lord, because he has not preferred the Lord and his tem-
ple to his own wellbeing.77
The fundamental issue is the same, and both are concerned that
the bishop should not receive from usurers, innkeepers, soldiers, idol-
aters, the sexually impure, those who prepare medications or those
who conduct business dishonestly. Both the Syntagma and the Fides
77
The Syntagma doctrinae is edited by Battifol (1890), the Fides patrum also by
Battifol (1887). The Coptic version is edited by Revillout (1881), 25-57. The translations
here are from Stewart-Sykes (forthcoming), which also has a brief discussion, (the on-
ly discussion apart from that of Battifol), of the interrelationship of these documents.
47
patrum are clearly constructed out of diverse sources, and within DA

these proscriptions may be seen to interrupt the flow of the text,
although they are part of the wider treatment of the bishop’s economic
activity. We may suggest that a source has been both incorporated and,
particularly through the addition of a citation from Proverbs, edited,
by the uniting redactor.78
Before leaving the question of redactional levels within the final
document we should note that as DA was formed as living literature, it
continued to be so. One family of Syriac manuscripts here termed the
E recension contains a very different version of DA. In this family there
is an introduction setting out the apostolic authorship of the work, a
collection of other, independently produced, church-order material
added after the third chapter (which may be found in the appendix to
this version) and, towards the end in particular, there is extensive
abbreviation; in particular the twenty-first chapter is abbreviated to
such an extent that it may be described as a reworking. This is clearly
a ‘second edition’ of DA, of uncertain date.79
Beyond this it would seem that chapter divisions were added at a
later stage: as they stand they are certainly secondary. Not only is there
variety between the manuscripts regarding their exact form but in two
cases they are to be found in the middle of a sentence of the Latin ver-
sion, and in one case in the middle of a sentence of CA. Beyond this
there are traces of titles within some of the existing chapters. Nonethe-
less it is possible that the divisions in the Syriac version are based on an
earlier, original, chapter division. Each of the first six books of CA
begins at the same point as a chapter in the Syriac version. Moreover, at
each of these points there is a gap in the Latin version which indicates
that a chapter division might have stood there and at the thirteenth and
sixteenth chapters of the Syriac there is a title in the Latin version as
78
Connolly (1929), 158, in a note, also observes the parallel with Syntagma. How-
ever, he asserts that the author of Syntagma knew either DA or the content of DA
through CA. I fail to see why Connolly assumes this; he also asserts that the author of
Syntagma was acquainted with D, which is certainly not the case. It seems that Con-
nolly is working on the assumption that the earlier documents are always the sources
for later documents containing parallel material.
79 For a general discussion of this family see Connolly (1929), xiii-xv, to whom a
single exemplar of the family was available, and Vööbus (1979a), 33*-67*, who discuss-
es its character at length. Gerlach (1998), 205-206, suggests that the radical abbrevia-
tions towards the end of DA are such that the eyes of the redactors were ‘on a dimin-
ishing supply of parchment.’ Nonetheless he suggests that much of the twenty-first
chapter was in any event redundant as an adequate paschal chronology had been pro-
vided by the additional material inserted after the third chapter.
48
INTRODUCTION
well. All this indicates that, although the existing divisions in the Syriac
are secondary, they are based on an earlier division of chapters, indicat-
ing in turn that the tendency in the Syriac manuscript tradition has
been to simplify the division of the work.80
3. the date and provenance of DA
The recognition that DA went through a series of redactions and that

sources were employed, which themselves had undergone expansion
and alteration before they came into the hands of the uniting redactor,
means that the question of the date of DA has to be opened afresh.81 To
date the sources is insufficient; thus, for instance, on the basis of the
direction at 2.58.3 that a visiting bishop should be invited to offer the
blessing over the cup, a rite probably incomprehensible at any period
later than the mid-second century, Gamber suggests that DA is earlier
than generally reckoned.82 All this means, however, is that a very early
source has been preserved at this point. More generally an ante-Nicene
date is upheld on the basis that the twentieth chapter assumes that
Christians are persecuted, but this simply dates the source and not the
date of its inclusion in the final document.
In noting previous discussions we may begin with the contribution
of Galtier. He picked up on the discussion regarding the penitential
discipline of DA; it had already been suggested that the relatively lax
position of the penitential system described was a reaction to Novat-
ian, and thus that the system derived from the latter part of the third
century.83 To this Galtier responded with a series of impressive argu-
ments, pointing out that those who demanded strictness were, in the
purview of DA, within, rather than without, the church, and that
strictness was not, moreover, restricted to the Novatianists; he suggests
that the Montanists in Asia at the end of the second century were
equally rigorist. He also suggests that the use of the image of the ark,
80
For discussion of this point and full details of the divisions in the different ver-
sions see Hauler (1908) and Schöllgen (1991).
81 Catalogues of conventional opinions on the introductory issues such as date,
text, provenance and the relationship of the Syriac and Latin texts to that of CA may
be found in Cox (1975b) and Mühlsteiger (2006), 95-107.
82 Gamber, (1970), 344. See the discussion of this passage below.
83
In particular the suggestion of Schwartz (1911), 16-24. Note also the discussion
below.
49
in which both clean and unclean animals are found, to represent the
church84 is similar to the usage of Callistus early in the third century,85
and that the methods urged upon the bishop were those proposed and
employed by Polycarp, by distinction to the later codification of peri-
ods of penance which took the initiative away from individual bish-
ops.86 In agreeing with Galtier at all these points, however, we may
note that this simply enables us to date the source of the section deal-
ing with penitence, rather than the finished product. Galtier goes on
to point out that DA anticipates the possibility that Christians will be
persecuted for their faith but that no widespread persecution is pre-
supposed, rather persecution is sporadic and local. This fits the situa-
tion obtaining between the time of Trajan, the first emperor to declare
Christianity illicit but who suggested that Christians should not be
sought out for persecution, and Decius, the first emperor to initiate
widespread and systematic persecution.87 Again, while we may agree,
this simply dates the source, which in this instance is from the cate-
chetical manual.
Both these sources had their origin, we may suggest, late in the first
century, but both had been extensively edited and expanded before
they reached the hands of the uniting redactor. However, in agreement
with Galtier’s arguments, we may agree that they had reached their
present state by around the first quarter of the third century. Further
support for this dating may be found in the provisions of the eighth
and ninth chapters for the support of the bishop and deacons from the
goods of the congregation. Whereas in earliest Christianity the officers
of the congregation were financial supporters, patrons, of the congre-
gations, by this stage they have become financially dependent upon
the congregation. We cannot trace this whole movement here, but it
may be noted that this is a situation which became regular and normal
in the earlier part of the third century.88 This, however, does not date
the finished product, as at least two layers of redaction were to follow.
84
DA 2.14.9.
85
On Callistus’ usage see Hippolytus Ref. 9.7.
86
Galtier (1947), 341-348.
87 Galtier (1947), 348-350. Cf. Funk (1907), 281-282, who suggest that this may
equally fit a period at the close of the Decian persecution. We may, however, suggest
that this persecution brought about a fundamental change in the attitude of Chris-
tians towards persecution. Whereas this does not absolutely invalidate Funk’s sugges-
tion, further argument is needed.
88 See the discussion in Schöllgen (1998), 50-100.
50
INTRODUCTION
Similar considerations apply to other arguments adduced for a date

early in the third century by Connolly,89 such as the description of the
book of Proverbs as ‘Wisdom’, reckoned by Eusebius to be an ancient
use,90 but which is not consistent (‘Proverbs’ is used by the deuterotic
redactor) and the use of Evangelium Petri (which is found in one of the
sources of the discussion of Pascha in chapter 21.)
With regard to the final level of redaction, that of the apostolic redac-
tor, a third century date is possible on the basis that this is the period at
which there is a harking back to the apostolic age.91 Significant also in
this regard is the conflict with gnosticism, particularly the gnostic claim
of particular disciples such as Bartholomew and Philip as sources of
authority.92 Which is not to say that DA is any sort of direct response to
gnosticism, but rather that the anchorage of orthodoxy in apostolic wit-
ness is engendered largely by the debate with gnostics, and is the context
for the increasingly biographical nature of pseudonymity in the third
century. However, apostolic pseudonymity is not confined to the third
century and we may note that the pseudonymity of DA is somewhat
more sophisticated than that of, say, K in that, as already suggested, the
apostles do not simply stand as ciphers for authority but specifically as
Jewish voices of authority which accept Christ and therefore no longer
observe the secondary legislation. This would imply that the idea of
apostolic authority had reached the apostolic redactor from other litera-
ture and is secondarily applied to the traditional material which was in
his hands. Since we must assume that some time had passed for such
reflection to take place, we may perhaps give a date to the final edition
of DA rather later than that usually assigned, in the latter part of the
third century, or even in the fourth. A date after Nicaea is generally
rejected because of the references to persecution and the negative estima-
tion of the apparatus of the Roman state and secular justice, but these
may result simply from the unedited retention of material from an ear-
lier source. We may also note, with Funk, that the work is unknown to
Eusebius.93 A date beyond the middle of the fourth century cannot be
sustained as the completed DA was in the hands of the editor of CA by
that date, and not long after in the hands of Epiphanius, but the point
is made that although earlier sources are included, and that these sources
89
Connolly (1929), xc-xci.
90
Eusebius HE 4.22.
91 So note the essays in Hilhorst (2004).
92
On which see especially Parrott (1986).
93
Funk (1907), 280.
51
themselves are developments of earlier sources, the final product is not

as early as generally assumed on the basis of these sources.
A similarly relatively late date may also be suggested by the apostolic
redactor’s involvement in the twenty-first chapter. Although one thinks of
the Quartodeciman controversy as fundamentally an issue of the late
second century, the fall-out from the Nicene council’s decision to fix the
date of Easter on the Roman basis indicates that this continued to be an
issue. The twenty-first chapter presents a paschal chronology intended to
justify not only keeping Easter on a Sunday, calculated in accordance with
the usual Antiochene calculation presented at Nicaea, but also for the
keeping of an entire week of fasting beforehand. The first evidence of the
keeping of an entire Holy Week is not Syrian but Alexandrian, and comes
from the third century;94 we have suggested that this justification for an
entire week’s fasting is the work of the uniting redactor, who had interpo-
lated a Quartodeciman document. However, the further appearance of
the apostolic redactor is indication that for all that some Syrian churches
had moved to keeping Easter on a Sunday Quartodeciman observance is
not altogether forgotten. Such is still in the memory of Aphraahat in the
fourth century;95 like Aphraahat, the apostolic redactor is not a Quar-
todeciman but is formed in a tradition on which the Quartodeciman
heritage has left a mark. This does not give an absolute dating but does
nothing to make a dating in the fourth century unlikely or impossible.
We may further seek a later dating on the basis of the fundamental
issue which lies behind the work of the deuterotic redactor, namely the
issue over Jewish converts continuing to keep the law. In the second cen-
tury law obedient Jewish Christians were known to Justin; he is uncon-
vinced that their law obedience is necessary for salvation but is uncon-
cerned as long as they do not induce gentile Christians to keep the law
likewise,96 and whereas law-observant Jewish Christians and gentile
Christians co-existed in Jerusalem through the third century, Eutychius
reports that an attempt was made to detect Jewish Christians in
94 This is the letter of Dionysius of Alexandria to Basileides which, in discussing
the question of the exact hour at which the paschal fast is to be broken, makes refer-
ence to the manner in which the prior six days have been spent. Possibly of a similar
date and locale are Canones Hippolyti which likewise, in canon 22, prescribe a week of
fasting and, like DA, suggest that the fast be fixed with reference to the Pascha of the
Jews. Likewise bread and salt and water are prescribed as the food for the fast. Funk
(1907), 278-279, also notes that this fast is extended well beyond any period of pre-
paschal fasting known to Irenaeus, cited by Eusebius at HE 5.24, and thus deduces that
the whole is to be dated relatively late in the third century.
95 See the discussion of Rouwhorst (1982).
96 Justin Dialogus 47.
52
INTRODUCTION
Jerusalem during the reign of Constantine by making people eat pork.97

It seems unlikely that the state would prevent Judaizing so early, but
even if this account is taken at face value it indicates that law-observance
is particularly an issue in the fourth century. It is in the fourth century,
moreover that we find the Council of Laodicea legislating against Judaiz-
ing by observing the Sabbath,98 characterizing the Sabbath in a similar
way to the deuterotic redactor, and the polemic of John Chrysostom
against Jews and Judaizers.99 It would thus seem that whereas Jews in the
area addressed by DA might formerly have become Christians without
altering their mode of life or conduct the conditions of the fourth cen-
tury did not allow this so readily. As Stark suggests, it is in the fourth
century that the making of a Christian world becomes a possibility, for
which reason clear and final distinctions need to be made between Jews
and Christians.100 It is thus to the fourth century that the work of the
later redactors of DA may reasonably be attributed. So Connolly is exer-
cised by the mention of gathering in cemeteries, which was expressly for-
bidden under Valerian in 257 but soon after lifted, and enquires whether
DA precedes or follows this edict.101 We may be fairly sure, in contrast to
Connolly, that, whereas much of the content of DA preceded this edict,
the deuterotic redactor, in whose material gathering in cemeteries finds
mention, followed it, perhaps at some distance.
This raises the interesting question of how contemporary Jews
might understand the Jewish Christians addressed by DA, since if these
Jews continued in Jewish practice then, whereas they might be deemed
heretical through their acceptance of Jesus, they are nonetheless part of
the Jewish community through practice.102 The whole question of the
date and nature of the ‘parting of the ways’ is thus raised since if the
keeping of the law is a fundamental point of division it has to be made
97 PG111, 1016.
98
So Canon 29, in particular censuring idleness on the sabbath, and enjoining
work on that day.
99 In his homilies against the Judaizers. See, for some discussion, Wilken (1983).
100 Stark (1996), 66-67, concluding a chapter arguing for the persistence of
law-observant Christianity and the prominence of ethnically Jewish Christians in the

eastern Empire.
101 Connolly (1929), xc-xci.
102 Schiffmann (1981), 115-156, suggests that the two systems become separate reli-
gions only because of the gentilization of Christianity, with the resultant abandonment
of the keeping of the law. If, however, these Christians are keeping the law there is no rea-
son to treat them as without Israel. Setzer (1994), 177-178, notes the puzzlement caused
by Christians who whilst accepting Jewish Scripture do not keep the law. One may sur-
mise that Christians who kept the law found their own attitudes entirely consistent.
53
such by the redactors of DA. Is it possible that the struggle on the part
of catholic Christianity to establish itself over and against Judaism is in
part motivated by the fact that, as far as the synagogue was concerned,
Jews who continued to observe the law had never actually left the Jew-
ish community, even though they believed in Jesus? As far as the Chris-
tian redactors of DA are concerned, however, Jews who have not con-
fessed Christ are not part of the catholic church. Their failure is to
confess their guilt for the death of Christ. Quite apart from any social
factors which might lead to the attitude of DA’s redactors, this is a gen-
uinely felt theological attitude from which the belief that the Jews hate
the Christians may come about as a projection. The situation lends
support to Lieu’s characterization of the Jewish-Christian divide as less
a parting of the ways than a series of criss-crossing muddy tracks, not
navigable except to the expert (and, we may suggest, native) guide.103
A conclusion as to the date of DA may therefore only be hazarded
with a degree of circumspection. We may perhaps suggest the first quar-
ter of the fourth century for the work of the apostolic redactor and place
the work of the uniting redactor, who is fundamentally responsible for
DA in its present shape, somewhere after the first quarter of the third
century on the basis of the terminus ad quem provided for the catecheti-
cal manual by Galtier’s arguments. Such vagueness is difficult, but the
nature of the document leaves little room for a more positive conclusion.
Since the question of date is raised we should make mention of the
issue of provenance, even though this may be discussed relatively briefly.
Connolly may be allowed to speak for the consensus in placing the work
in Syria on the basis principally of the early circulation of the work in
Syria. He points out that the Syriac translation was made relatively early,
that the work was employed by the Audians, who originated in
Mesopotamia, that Evangelium Petri is employed in the twenty-first
chapter, and that the baptismal rituals which are described, as well as the
role of women within them, accord well with those found in Acta
Thomae.104 He also points out the close relationship which obtains
between DA and Jewish custom and the evidence that the author is
acquainted with a Semitic language, and thus concludes that the work
originated ‘between Antioch and Edessa: yet without excluding the pos-
sibility of lower Syria, or even Palestine.’105 Not all of these arguments are
103
Lieu (2002) in conclusion.
104
Acta Thomae 17, 121, 132-3, 157.
105 Connolly, (1929), lxxxix, in summary of several pages discussion. Achelis in
Achelis and Flemming (1904), 354-366, reaches similar conclusions on similar grounds.
54
INTRODUCTION
equally convincing, but the widespread and early circulation of the doc-
ument within the region of Syria, and the Syrian baptismal rite presup-
posed, in material which seems to derive from the deuterotic redactor,
would indicate that Connolly is correct and that this true at least of the
later levels of redaction. The sources may derive from elsewhere, but it is
noteworthy that K, which employs material of common ancestry, is like-
wise Syrian, and so it is likely that, even they did not originate in this area,
their widest circulation was in Syria, and so this again points to the Syr-
ian origin of the whole. We may have absolute certainty, however, only
with regard to the final levels of redaction. The parallels noted with
Clement in the catechetical material, the observance of a six-day Holy
Week in keeping with the statements of Dionysius of Alexandria, and the
reference to episcopal handlaying as the means of reconciliation (whereas
more common eastern practice, at least in a later period, is to anoint
returning penitents whereas handlaying is, again, the usage known to
Dionysius106) all raise the suspicion of an Alexandrian recension of DA. In
this light my failure to trace the word of Holzhey is all the more frustrat-
ing. However the description of a criminal trial at DA 2.52, describing a
procedure which is probably not Roman and the statement that ‘Jew’
interpreted means ‘confess’ at DA 2.59.3, which only makes sense in Syr-
iac, indicate that the uniting redactor is also Syrian. We may note that
Alexandrians travelled; quite apart from Origen’s removal to Caesarea,
Eusebius records two successive Alexandrian bishops of Laodicea, Euse-
bius and Anatolius.107 Thus it is easiest to account for these ‘Alexandrian’
elements by suggesting that they are traditions which travelled, and so to
continue to hold Syria as the place not only of the final redaction of DA
but also of its first construction from the two fundamental sources.
Thus an observation of the redactional levels within DA means that
the question of dating needs seriously to be re-examined; however the
consensus regarding its provenance is probably as secure as ever it was.
4. the significance of observing

redactional layers in da
If DA is the result of a series of overlaid editions, the contours of which

at least can be mapped, then any information deriving from this
source needs to be attributed to one of these layers. It is not possible
106
As recorded at Eusebius HE 7.8.
107 HE 7.32.5-6
55
simply to treat DA as a unity and to draw conclusions on that basis on

any subject. In the final part of this introduction, therefore, I discuss
various topics raised by DA with a view to seeing how a reading of DA
as living literature may transform previous discussions
4.a Bishops, presbyters, deacons and widows

in the community of DA
As DA lays out the qualifications for a bishop the duties expected
emerge. Having laid out basic qualifications with echoes of previous lists
such as those of the Pastoral Epistles, firstly generosity is emphasized and
secondly that the bishop should be no respecter of persons.108 These
indicate that the functions of the episcopate are principally economic
and disciplinary as emerges yet more clearly when the interpolation of
the deuterotic redactor at 2.5.4, stating that the bishop should be careful
in distinguishing the law and the deuterōsis, is discounted. And as soon
as the duties of a bishop are described disciplinary functions come to the
fore. Little is said of liturgical duties, except insofar that the liturgy is a
locus for disciplinary and economic activity such as the admonishment
of sinners and the collection of alms.
As Flemming notes, the bishop stands at the centre of the congre-
gation.109 We should clarify here that the bishop here is the head of a
single congregation rather than of a group of congregations, as he is
assumed to be the normal minister of baptism and has personal
responsibility for the exercise of discipline within the congregation.
He it is who ministers the word to you and is your mediator, your

teacher, and, after God, is your father who has regenerated you
through the water. He is your chief, he is your master, he your power-
ful king. He is to be honoured by you in the place of God, since the
bishop sits among you as a type of God. (DA 2.26.4)
However the very point that this is emphasized should give us

cause to suspect that the authority of the bishop was not unques-
tioned. The point of this issue was not, however, an alternative system
of governance; there is no trace of charismatic opposition to the
bishop, even if such a thing ever existed, nor is there a conflict between
108
DA 2.4.-2.5.
109
In Achelis and Flemming (1904), 269.
56
INTRODUCTION
female and male leadership, but the issue may be seen, quite simply, as
social division.
This may be deduced from a number of the directions which are
given to the bishops. In particular these chapters frequently exhort the
bishop not to show deference or respect to persons, nor to accept
bribes and gifts.
The bishop should not be a respecter of persons, not one who

stands in deference to the rich or who pleases them beyond what is
right. And he should not despise nor neglect the poor, nor be lifted up
against them. (DA 2.5.1)
Should, however, the person of the bishop be a stumbling-block,
how can he rise to search out anyone’s offences, how rebuke and how en-
force his directions? Whether through respect of persons or through hav-
ing received gifts he cannot. (DA 2.17.1-2)
But if you discover that the accusation of wrongdoing is false and
you, the shepherds, together with the deacons, have accepted the false-
hood as true out of respect for persons or on account of the offerings
you receive, if you desire to do the will of the evil one in giving false
judgement . . . (DA 2.42.1)
If your own mind is not pure, whether on account of respect of persons
or on account of the gifts of impure profit which you are receiving . . .
(DA 2.43.5)
The ancient world was a world which functioned largely on the

basis of what today would be recognized as bribery and corruption,
and through a network of relationships which worked to the mutual
advantage of those in positions of power. It is in the context of such a
world that these directions must be understood.
In a fictional dialogue between Epictetus and the diorthētēs, a high
official of the Empire, the diorthētēs reminds Epictetus that he is a
judge. When Epictetus asks him how he is qualified for such a position
the diorthētēs states that Caesar had written his recommendation.
What good, asks Epictetus, does that do? Moreover, he goes on, how
did he obtain such a recommendation? Through flattery, through
sleeping in front of doors so that he might salute powerful persons in
the morning, or through sending gifts?110 For such is the way in which
such an appointment might be obtained. At a lower level ‘presents’ to
officials were commonplace. P.Fayyum 117 is a letter to a son instruct-
ing him what to pay to various officials for their favours. Such venality
110
Epictetus Dissertationes. 3.7.29-33.
57
was so systematic that Ulpian advises that such gifts received should
not be too great but that provincial officials should not desist alto-
gether from the receipt of gifts.111
As such it is far from unreasonable to expect the church to be
affected by such a culture. That so much energy is spent in dissuading
bishops from respect for the rich and being influenced by bribes and
presents that we may suspect that some bishops indeed conducted
themselves thus but that the church nonetheless sought to mirror an
alternative society, in which justice was true and unaffected by class or
privilege. Justice extended to economic justice and the bishop thus had
a central role in the distribution of wealth, redistributed from those
same well-off Christians whose undue influence he has to avoid to the
poorer in the congregation, in particular to the widows and the
orphans. This role must be remembered in understanding what DA
has to say about the extent to which the bishop must be free of respect
for persons and of the undue influence of the wealthy.
The eucharist, insofar as one can tell from the short and sidelong
references within DA is not an occasion on which real food is eaten and
distributed, as once it had been, but remains an occasion on which col-
lections for the poor may be received. They are distributed, however,
separately. This, once again, means that the bishop might be prone to
the possibility of showing favouritism, or of fraudulently applying the
gifts meant for the poor to himself. Mention is made of this last possi-
bility, but it is not emphasized to the same extent that the danger of
respect of persons is emphasized, which indicates that in reality it hap-
pened less frequently. However, there is another angle to this discus-
sion of gifts and the distribution of goods to the poor as in the ancient
world the wealthy might use their wealth charitably but not necessar-
ily entirely disinterestedly. Gifts might be used to not only to gain sup-
port and respect from persons of equal status but also, through the
possession of a conspicuous clientela, to be a means of gaining social
status and advantage known as philotimia. It is for this reason DA is
most insistent that the bishop should be the agency by which charity
is given, for otherwise there would be a ready centre of opposition to
the bishop which the wealthy might orchestrate. Although we might
suggest that the bishop is not himself numbered among the well-off on
the grounds that he is professionalized and as such requires support
from the congregation in order to carry out his duties (for this would
indicate that he is not a person of means who does not need to work
111 Digesta 1.16.6.3.
58
INTRODUCTION
at a trade in order to support himself and his family), it is also possible

that this professionalization of the bishop’s role came about in order to
prevent the bishop cultivating a personal network. Any network
brought about by the bishop’s charity is thus a network of the church,
rather than of the person. The terms used of the bishop, ‘father’, ‘chief ’
and ‘master’ are terms used by a clientela of their patron, and it is no
co-incidence that the subject under discussion is the distribution of
goods in the community and the insistence that this be undertaken
not privately but through the office of the bishop.
Finally, having observed the extent to which the bishop had a judi-
cial role, we may note that this is engendered by very same culture of
corruption mentioned above. In particular the workings of justice
would tend to deny justice to the weak, whereas influence might read-
ily be bought or applied to one who is a client Although it may seem
odd that the bishop should be engaged in functioning judicially we
must note that the workings of official justice were so patchy that
Roman law makes provision for arbiters to be appointed and agreed in
civil disputes.112 We may see Christians accepting the bishop as an
arbiter in such disputes, in which case it is the more vital that the
bishop be free of undue influence.
Such economic and dicastic activity on the part of the bishop is not
an innovation; it is precisely the role of the proestōs, assisted by dea-
cons, described by Justin113 and, insofar as the duties of the bishop and
presbyters in K are likewise economic and disciplinary we may suggest
that in kk likewise these were the bishop’s duties. However, the fre-
quent insistence within DA that alms be given through the agency of
the bishop implies that, however ancient this practice, it remained
controversial as it effectively consolidated the influence of the bishop
over and against private patrons.
That the original duties of bishops and deacons were not liturgical
in the narrow sense but were fundamentally related to the sharing of
goods within the community was suggested by a number of studies in
the nineteenth century. Another point argued in these same studies is
that that gentile Christian communities knew only bishops (episkopoi)
and deacons (diakonoi), officers who held titles derived from officers
in secular society whose function in secular society was likewise eco-
nomic, and that this episcopal-diaconal system was combined with the
(Jewish) system of governance by presbyters to create the threefold
112
Digesta 4.1; Codex 2.55.1.
113
Justin 1 Apol. 1.55,57.
59
order.114 This is little heard today, and were this theory to be re-pre-
sented it would need a great deal of refinement; nonetheless I believe
that it comes close to representing the reality. Certainly it would seem
that the community in which the manual on the duties of bishops was
produced simply did not know the institution of presbyters. We may
observe in this respect that there are directions for the appointment of
bishops, deacons and widows but none concerning the appointment
of presbyters, and that when presbyters appear in this section they are
marginal to the concerns being discussed. Might we suggest in this
light that they are a redactional importation? One particularly clear
example of this possibility occurs in the eleventh chapter. The chapter
is addressed to bishops and deacons, and discusses their respective pas-
toral duties. In particular it states that the deacons are to be the
bishop’s eyes and ears. It goes on to discuss the resolution of lawsuits
and disputes:
But if they do not know the saying which was spoken by our Lord in
the Gospels, when he said: ‘How many times should I forgive my
brother when he offends me?’, and grow angry with one another and
become enemies, you are to teach them and you are to reprove and
make peace between them, since the Lord has said: ‘Blessed are the
peacemakers.’ And be aware that it is required of the bishop and pres-
byters to judge with caution; as our Saviour said when we asked him
‘How many times should I forgive a brother when he wrongs me?
As many as seven times?’ Our Lord, however, taught us and said
to us: ‘I say to you, not seven times only, but seventy times seven.’
(DA 2.46.5-6)
There has already been an allusion to this same logion concerning

forgiveness and so the citation is repetitive and otiose here. More to
the point the entire chapter so far has discussed the respective discipli-
nary functions of bishop and deacons. Suddenly presbyters intrude
and deacons disappear. This is a clear example of redactional intrusion,
bringing with it presbyters who do not belong in the source.
Thus at the very beginning of this section it is said that the
bishop is head of the presbytery,115 but from then on there is no
mention of a presbyter until the ninth chapter, in a list of types, in
114
Fundamentally Hatch (1881); note also Lietzmann (1958), an article first pub-
lished early in the twentieth century, and Harnack (1910).
115
DA 2.1.1.
60
INTRODUCTION
which the presbyters appear after the deaconess!116 The community

which produced the church-order on which this section of DA is
based seems indeed to have known no presbyters originally but to
have been managed by episkopoi and diakonoi. If, as suggested above,
the section on the episcopate is derived from the source of the com-
parable section of K, then we may note that significant alterations
have had to be made because, by contrast to DA, the system of gov-
ernance in this community was fundamentally presbyteral. It is for
this reason that the source continues to state that the bishop is the
head of the presbytery at its beginning, whereas the presbyters subse-
quently disappear. There is a single point at which a reader appears
and a single point at which a subdeacon appears,117 and in each
instance these ministries appear in the company of presbyters. The
passage concerning the subdeacon has long been suspected as an
interpolation;118 in agreeing with this assessment we may suggest
that the interpolation is more extensive than previously thought.
The context in which the reader appears is a free-floating and inde-
pendent piece of tradition which has been inserted into the text, pos-
sibly by the uniting redactor, in support of the argument that officers
of the congregation had a right to support. Presbyters may have
stood originally in this text, but it is not from the main source of DA.
In other words, presbyters were not known in the church which pro-
duced the version of kk which was incorporated into DA as this
continued operating the ancient episcopal-diaconal system. They
appear largely in material which is extraneous to the main source and
occasionally in redactional interventions, but never with any partic-
ular centrality, nor to any great extent in DA overall.
Before leaving this point we may note that in the following passage
two deacons are doing duties comparable to those of the two pres-
byters in K, indicating that the redactor has shifted responsibilities
from presbyters to deacons:
One of the deacons should continue to stand by the offerings of the

eucharist; another should stand outside the door observing those
who come in. And afterwards, when you are offering, they should
minister together in the church. And if anyone is found sitting in a
116
DA 2.26.7.
117 2.28.5 (reader); 2.34.3 (subdeacon)
118
So Achelis in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 265.
61
place which is not his the deacon within should warn him and make
him stand up and seat him in the place which is his own, as is right.
(DA 2.57.6)119
In view of this it seems that the suggestions of these earlier studies that
bishops and deacons, whose duties were economic, might have existed in
the absence of presbyters should be revisited and some of their conclu-
sions re-presented. The virtual absence of presbyters from the text, and
the corresponding prominence of bishops and deacons, observed first by
Nau,120 has caused great puzzlement and some suggestions which imply
a degree of desperation in the attempt to explain the phenomenon, for
instance that of Connolly, who explains DA’s virtual silence concerning
presbyters by suggesting that they existed but simply had nothing to
do!121 In this light the suggestion of Schöllgen that some of the problems
of interpretation in DA may be explained by reviving the hypothesis of
the unification of two forms of governance is noteworthy,122 although I
believe that in placing the unification of these two forms early in the sec-
ond century (on the grounds that such a unification is known from the
letters of Ignatius) he fails to see that an ununified form, namely contin-
uing episcopal-diaconal governance, without presbyters, lies behind a
large part of DA, and may have continued after the time of Ignatius.123
The recognition of redactional levels within DA thus enables DA to take
its proper place in the discussion and makes it yet more likely that the
instincts of these nineteenth-century scholars were correct.
The function and ministries of women may also be discussed in
the light both of the revelation of the role of patronage in the com-
munity and in the light of the redactional levels which have been
119 Cf. K 17-18: The bishop who has been installed, knowing the care and the love of
God of those who are with him, should install two presbyters of whom he approves . . .
The presbyters on the right are to assist those who oversee the altar, so that they may dis-
tribute the gifts of honour and receive them as necessary. The presbyters on the left are
to assist the congregation, so that it may be peaceful and without disturbance, once it has
been instructed in all submission.
120 Nau (1902), 27.
121 Connolly (1929), xxxix-xl; Achelis in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 272-273 ar-
gues along similar lines. For further literature and some discussion see Schöllgen
(1998), 92-93.
122
Schöllgen, (1998), 124.
123
This presupposes that the community of Ignatius is exceptional in that the uni-
fication of forms has taken place very early, but there is no reason why that might not
be the case. Polycarp, at the same period, has no knowledge of episkopē. Note the brief
discussion of Brent (2006), 24, with reference to the prescript of Polycarp Phil.
62
INTRODUCTION
observed within DA. Although this has received some attention in the
literature,124 having established that DA is made up of layers we may
examine the relevant passages in an attempt to determine the level of
redaction to which they belong which may in turn give a greater
clarity to the purpose behind these discussions.
Before DA turns to the to the appointment of widows, a relic we may
suggest of the original source since the same subject is discussed in K,
widows appear several times as the objects of charity.125 The receipt of
charity by widows thus seems to be the principal concern of the redac-
tor. Having briefly discussed the appointment of widows, following the
contours of kk, the redactor, in the fourteenth chapter goes on to state
bluntly that they may be recipients of charity only through the agency of
the bishop (3.4), thus returning to his principal interest. Beyond this,
moreover, widows are forbidden to teach (3.5), and subsequently to
baptize (3.9), a prohibition which appears to be from the hand of the
apostolic redactor since it is expressed in the first person plural. We may
suggest, especially in of the teaching and baptizing activity of women in
the Acta Pauli,126 as well as the prominent seats for widows in the assem-
bly of some Syrian churches,127 that the reason that these activities are
being forbidden to widows is that they had previously acted thus.128 The
greater part of the discussion, however, concerns the manner in which
widows should receive the goods of the church and the manner in which
they should behave. As the subject then turns to deacons there is, as has
already been noted, the sudden irruption of material regarding the
appointment of a deaconess, to which once again the apostolic redactor
lends support.
It is possible that the creation of deaconesses is brought about as
a substitute for the ministry previously performed by widows;129 in
particular we may note that the ministry of anointing at baptism
entrusted to the deaconess at 3.12.2 is, in Testamentum Domini 2.8,
performed by widows, in particular those widows who have promi-
nent seats. There is support, moreover, for seeing the deaconess as
supplanting the widow as a means of bringing women’s ministry
under episcopal control in K, which similarly pursues a strategy of
124
Note in particular Methuen (1995), Penn (2001).
125
E.g. at 2.4.1, 2.25.2, 8; 2.49.2.
126 Reported by Tertullian at Bapt. 17.
127 Testamentum Domini 1.19; 1.23.
128 So also Methuen (1995), 200, Bartlet, (1943), 121-2, Gryson (1976), 38.
129 So also Methuen, (1995), 202.
63
narrowly defining the functions of a widow. Therein a ministry

beyond pastoral care is effectively denied to women, and the pastoral
office of a widow is described which is directly comparable to that
proposed for deaconesses in DA. In K, however, there is no dea-
coness. Since the appearance of the deaconess in DA is the result of
redacting an earlier source130 we may suggest that this redactional
level has introduced a new and subtle means of control of women’s
ministry. Already in the redacted kk the widows are effectively
brought under episcopal control through restricting the means by
which they may be offered support to the agency of the bishop. We
shall examine the reasons for this in a moment. Then, at the next
level, the deaconess, who actively ministers in lieu of the widow, is
subject, like the deacon, to the bishop through being counted a
member of the clergy.131 Finally these provisions are strengthened by
the apostolic redactor. The whole exercise of authority is thus
brought under the bishop.
We may thus conclude that at later levels of redaction DA is con-
cerned to regulate the authority of women, but this does not explain
the earlier material restricting the receipt of charity by widows, which
forms the greater part of DA’s polemic.
To explain this we must re-examine the relevant chapters. We have
already noted that the section on the appointment of widows is
derived from a source, that the section on deaconesses is a sudden
intrusion and that the greater part of the discussion of widows is con-
cerned to prevent them from receiving except through the bishop. We
may suggest that a redactor took a source on appointment and
expanded it to clarify the means by which these appointed widows
should receive their charity, an expansion visible from the sudden
changes of address from general instructions, to specific directions to
the bishop. Widows, moreover, this same redactor suggests, should not
teach and should remain at home; this section receives some attention
130 As may be deduced from the sudden irruption of the discussion of deaconess-
es, noted above. Cf. Achelis in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 265-266, 282, who,
whilst recognizing the later nature of the office of deaconess over against that of the
widow, not only denies extensive redactional development of DA but specifically de-
nies that the institution of the deaconess is from any redactional level in DA beyond
the first. It may well be that this is the work of the uniting redactor, but it is nonethe-
less an interpolation into an original source.
131
So Achelis in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 281-282, Methuen (1995), 201-202;
cf. Penn (2001), [50], for whom the danger of the widow is symbolic, and for whom
the introduction of the deaconess into the ranks of the clergy is to consolidate clerical
power over the laity by bringing women’s ministry into the clerical frame.
64
INTRODUCTION
from the apostolic redactor, but the main part may be attributed to the
expanded source. Given that the main point of the chapter is episco-
pal control of charity we may suggest that this very episcopal control is
the reason why widows are enjoined to remain at home, namely so
that the bishop may control what they receive.132 If, as suggested
above, the principal concern of the bishop is the economic administra-
tion of the goods of the Christian community, then it is for the bishop
to control what is given to widows. Earlier we find a brief direction
concerning the giving of suppers to widows,133 implying that private
patronage might take place, and so we may suggest that the directions
to widows to remain stationary is less a control of widows than the
control of donors, of potential patrons who might usurp the role of the
bishop, since mobile widows are more likely to attract attention, in
particular as the source indicates that the reason they leave their homes
is to seek patronage. For this reason, moreover, the widow is forbidden
to reveal the name of the donor, as this again would threaten the
bishop’s position as agent by giving public recognition to a donor. It is
in this context that the prohibition on women teaching is found; again
we may suggest that this is bound up to the control of patronage, as a
teacher might in turn attract a patron. The prohibition on women
baptizing then intervenes suddenly in this discourse:
It is right and proper that anyone who prays or communicates with

anyone who has been expelled from the church should be reckoned
together with him, for this leads to the undoing and destruction of
souls. For anyone who is disobedient to the bishop is disobeying God
in communicating with or praying with anyone expelled from the
church, and is defiled along with him. And, moreover, he is not allow-
ing that person to repent. For if nobody communicate with him he
will repent and will weep, he will ask and pray to be received, repent-
ing of what he has done, and will be saved.
As to whether a woman may baptize, or whether one should be
baptized by a woman. We do not counsel this, since it is a transgres-
sion of the commandment and a great danger to her who baptizes
as to the one baptized. For were it lawful for a woman to be bap-
tized our Lord and teacher would himself have been baptized by
Mary his mother; he was, however, baptized by John just as others
132 The significance of the alms system for the consolidation of episcopal power is
observed by Penn (2001), [21].

133 DA 2.28.1.
65
of the people. Brothers and sisters, do not endanger yourselves by

acting outside of the law of the Gospel.
However, as regards jealousy, or spite, or as to accusations and grum-
bling, or as regards disputes . . . (DA 3.8.5-3.10.1)
It is to be noted that the subject is left behind almost as soon as it has

been taken up. It is, moreover, at least in part, the work of the apostolic
redactor. At this stage the baptizing activity of women had been forgot-
ten, and yet we may surmise it continued in some communities, and so
the apostolic redactor takes the opportunity to correct this. As such, this
accords with the suggestion of Methuen, but the subject of women bap-
tizing is not germane to the discussion. It is thus erroneous to connect this
prohibition to the earlier prohibition on women teaching catechumens,
as does Schöllgen,134 as the discussions derive from distinct redactional
levels. The issue in the original layer is that of control not of people per se
but of funds through the control of people, both donors and recipients.
The control of women’s ministry is an issue solely for the later redactors
as the teaching and baptizing activity of women in the Großkirche is
forgotten, and is the preserve of Christian communities outside the
catholic church. The main point, however, for the original level, is to con-
trol patrons through controlling the means by which they give.
Methuen suggests that the control of widows is a reaction to the
charismatic authority which might be exercised by the widows, an alter-
native to the bureaucratic authority of the bishops.135 She points to the
position of women in Montanist communities as evidence for the pos-
sibility that women’s authority might be construed as opposition to
episcopal control.136 Penn similarly suggests that the appointment of
the deaconess demonstrates a concern for ecclesial order. However, the
evidence for conflict between bureaucratic and charismatic forms of
authority is non-existent.137 Although women in Montanist communi-
ties held office, the point is that offices; which women might hold,
134 Schöllgen (1998), 165.
135
Methuen (1995), 203 in support of Achelis in Achelis and Flemming (1904),
275, 279-280 and Osiek (1983), 168-169, who, however, mentions this as a possibility
only and who also suggests that the position of women in other local Christian con-
gregations might have influenced the attitude of DA.
136
Methuen (1995), 212-213. Achelis’ suggestion that the widows exercised charis-
matic authority similarly derives from his hypothesis, based on the prophetic activity
of widows at K 21.1 cited at Achelis and Flemming (1904), 275-276, that the widows in
DA are the remnant of a prophetic order.
137 As I suggest in Stewart-Sykes (2005). There it is argued that the whole idea of
charismatic authority is a scholarly fiction based on a misunderstanding of Weber.
66
INTRODUCTION
existed. Thus a charismatic means of communicating the word of God

did not prevent a bureaucratic community organization.138
We may so conclude that although DA may be attempting to estab-
lish the authority of the bishop we may make no ready assumptions
about what the alternative source of authority might have been. We
may provisionally agree with Methuen’s statement that there may have
been groups in Syria which recognized the authority of women, and
agree moreover that DA opposes such groups, as K seems exercised by
the same concerns, but this takes place at the level of the deuterotic
redactor at the earliest, and is not part of the core source, even though
the core source indeed suggests the exercise of control over widows.
More convincing than the suggestion of charismatic authority is
Methuen’s suggestion that, as women might have positions of author-
ity in the synagogue, so the opposition to the power of widows in DA
is connected to the polemic against Jewish Christianity,139 as this
locates the opposition at the level of the deuterotic redaction, though
we may note here that this Jewish evidence does not concern the min-
isterial activity of women but their exercise of patronage.140 Thus even
if the deuterotic and apostolic redactors, who are most prominent in
their specific denial of ministerial functions to women, are motivated
by opposition to the role played by women within Judaism this moti-
vation does not apply to the greater part of the material. The principal
reason for the control of widows, a controlling tendency most promi-
nent in the material of the uniting redactor, is the control of widows’
patrons, and the concentration of patronage in the hands of the
bishop. This implies that, as in the Rome of Hippolytus, the funda-
mental conflict was not between charismatically and bureaucratically
oriented forms of governance, but between professional episkopoi and
powerful and wealthy patrons.141 Schöllgen is thus correct in seeing
this as the fundamental issue.
It is, moreover, an issue with a long history. At the beginning of
the second century Ignatius instructs that no baptism or agapē take
place without the consent of the bishop,142 thus describing two ritu-
als which construct patronage and suggesting that no act of patronage
138
As I also argue, with further examples, in (2001a), 272-274. There simply is no
fundamental conflict between prophet and episkopos in the early centuries.
139 Methuen (1995), 210.
140 So Rajak (1992), 22-24.
141 As I argue in (2001b).
142
Ad Smrynaeos 8.2.
67
take place without episcopal control. The redactor of DA is therefore

not having the bishop do anything new, as the evidence which sees
the function of the bishop as fundamentally economic derives from
the earliest sources,143 but opposition to this programme in the inter-
ests of private patronage is likewise nothing new. It is, however, fair to
say that as a newly professionalized class, the episkopoi find the prob-
lem of the rich undermining their control of the finances of the com-
munity even greater.144
We may conclude this discussion by returning to the statement
with which we began: ‘He is your chief, he is your master, he your
powerful king.’ (DA 2.26.4) Here the monarchical image is prominent,
but alongside this, throughout the eighth and ninth chapters, we find
the image of the episkopos as High Priest. So, bishops are told, ‘you are
now priests and prophets and leaders and nobles and kings to your
people’ (DA 2.24.7)145 Both images are closely related, as Schöllgen
suggests, to the professionalization of the clergy as both provide a
model by which the bishop might receive support from the congrega-
tion.146 However, one may also note that a bishop who requires eco-
nomic support in order to function would not be from the highest
strata of society, for those with private income need no economic sup-
port from the church. The exalted imagery also therefore serves as a
means by which a person of relatively low social status might exercise
power over persons of higher status. We may agree, moreover, with
Schöllgen as with Torjeson that a degree of opposition is being
encountered but suggest, in contrast to them, that this does not mean
that DA (here, probably, the underlying episcopal source) is seeking a
radically new intensification of episcopal authority,147 as the argument
is as old as Ignatius, even less that there is opposition from a source of
143
Cf. Schöllgen (1998), passim, who seems to imply that this is a new departure
relating to the new professionalization of the episcopate.
144 So note Schöllgen’s discussion of the problem of proswpolhyi/a (respect of
persons) in (1998), 173-194.

145
The evidence thus does not support the assertion of Torjeson (2001) that the
monarchical image is the more prominent of the two, as the two stand together
throughout the eighth and ninth chapters. Schöllgen (1998) likewise tends to em-
phasize the monarchical imagery, reckoning the extent of the bishop’s authority as a
new departure.
146
So, again, Schöllgen (1998).
147
As Schöllgen (1998) and Torjeson (2001) suggest, as indeed does Schlarb (1995),
39. See, however, 4.c.3 below where some extension (as opposed to intensification) is
suggested.
68
INTRODUCTION
charismatic authority (for there is no such thing) to be found among

the widows,148 but that the tension is economic and social.
4.a.1 A conclusion on ministries within DA

As has already been argued at length, a fundamental source of DA dealt
with the appointment of episkopoi and other ministers, among whom,
perhaps, widows are to be numbered. Although this source probably
originated in a presbyteral system, the source had been edited to reflect
an episcopal-diaconal system. Such a system continues to be funda-
mental to the community of DA, at least at the time of the uniting
redactor, even if presbyters have begun to appear. A fundamental con-
cern of the redactor is to bolster the power of the episkopos, having in
view the conflicting interest of private patrons, who may even have
formed a presbyterate. At the same time the ministry of widows is
downgraded and a ministry of deaconess introduced in order that
women’s ministries might come within episcopal control. The particu-
lar reason for the restrictions placed on the activity of widows, how-
ever, is, once again, the conflict with private patrons who might use
influence with the widows to undermine the position of the episkopos
as source both of worldly goods and, by extension, of spiritual graces.
4.b The opponents of DA

Not only does a recognition of redactional levels within DA re-open
the question of date and provenance in a new way, it also poses the
question of the opponents described in the chapters concerning
heresy. The deuterotic redactor self-evidently opposes law-observant
Christians, and is joined in this by the apostolic redactor, who also has
Quartodeciman groups within his purview, perhaps seeing them as
exemplifying Jewish Christianity. We may ask, however, whether this
is true of the heresies described at earlier redactional levels.
The critical passage is as follows:
And they had alike one single law, that they should not employ the
law and the prophets, and that they should blaspheme God the
Almighty and that they would not believe in the resurrection. And
148 So Methuen (1995) and Torjeson (2001), who ranks the widows alongside pow-
erful laity as centres of opposition.
69
they disturbed others with their various opinions. For some taught
that one should not marry, saying that those who did not marry had a
higher chastity, so defending their heretical beliefs by means of chasti-
ty. Yet others taught that one should not eat meat, saying that one
should not eat anything which had a soul, whereas others said that one
should abstain solely from pork, but should eat whatever the law de-
clares to be clean, and that, in accordance with the law, one should be
circumcised. Thus all manner of teachings were found, causing divi-
sions and enfeebling the churches. (DA 6.10.1-5)
In commenting on this passage, Methuen suggests that there are

two groups, for since those who practised abstinence in marriage
after childbirth or during menstruation presumably did not practise
abstinence the rest of the time, whereas DA holds forth against those
who state that people should not marry. Thus she suggests that there
are two groups, ‘a group of Jewish Christians who observe the Sec-
ond Legislation . . . and a group which rejects marriage, prohibits
meat-eating and has a theology “blaspheming God Almighty.”‘149
Fonrobert, however, takes issue with this categorization. Whilst
observing that it might be possible to identify these ascetics as actu-
ally Jewish, she suggests that there is no serious attempt to come to
grips with the vegetarians and the celibates, but rather the true anxi-
ety of DA regards those who keep the secondary legislation. DA is
describing a confusion of Christianities, but is most acutely troubled
by those who are observing the law. Fonrobert is right, as far as she
goes. However, although these practices are simply mentioned in
brief catalogues of heresies, we may identify these catalogues as
belonging to the original level of redaction, distinct from the
deuterotic redactor whose presence imposes itself so firmly on the
final chapters. As such it is reasonable to attempt an identification of
these groups quite apart from the Jewish Christian converts
addressed by the apostolic and deuterotic redactors, without falling
into the trap of which Fonrobert accuses Methuen of dividing the
groups too neatly. Nonetheless there is a degree of common ground
in the catalogue with Jewish catalogues of heretics, such as the state-
ment of Tosefta Sanhedrin 13.5 that ‘heretics, apostates, traitors, Epi-
cureans, those who deny the Torah, those who separate from the
ways of the community, those who deny the resurrection of the dead,
and whoever both sinned and caused the public to sin’ should go to
149
Methuen (1995), 204.
70
INTRODUCTION
Gehenna for eternity,150 and, as noted in the notes to the translation,

the beliefs ascribed to Simon and Cleobius in the letter to the
Corinthians (3 Cor.) included in Acta Pauli.
The common ground with the catalogue of DA is clear. However,
the common ground is in the first part of the statement, namely a
condemnation of those who deny particular tenets of belief, whereas
the second list, which focuses on practice, would seem to have more
point, and is a development from a more generalized and possibly tra-
ditional catalogue.151 Thus we may note the emphasis on celibacy
which marks many of the Syrian apocryphal acts of the period as pro-
viding a context for the statement about those who taught that one
should not marry. Whereas abstention from meat is a mark of some
Jewish Christian communities,152 it is equally possible that Mar-
cionite communities are intended here153 whereas eating by the provi-
sion of the law would indicate that groups of Christians continued to
keep the Mosaic law. Thus there is some point behind the heresy cat-
alogue; the catechetical discourse warns against other versions of Syr-
ian Christianity, though they are external to the church which is char-
acterized as catholic. And so we must differ from Fonrobert,154 for
whom the ascetic practices described are Jewish practices, on the
grounds that these ascetic practices, whilst known within Judaism, are
not exclusive to Judaism,155 on the grounds that the catalogue is fun-
damentally concerned with other Christian groups rather than other
religious groups (though the distinction between Judaism and Chris-
tianity may here admittedly be somewhat hard to make, and although
it is also possible that these Jewish ascetics are the point of origin for
150
Cf. also Mishnah Sanhedrin 10.1. The Tosefta passage would appear to be
another version of this traditional list. In the Mishnah R Akiba and Abba Saul add to
the categories of those excluded.
151 Similarly Strecker (1971), 252-253, observes the manner in which a general cat-
alogue is given point.

152 So note ps-Clement Hom. 8.15.4 and 12.6.4 and Hegesippus’ report of James of
Jerusalem, recorded by Eusebius HE 2.23, in which it is stated that he would eat nothing
which had a soul, words directly reminiscent of those at DA 6.10.3 (though see below.)
153 So Harnack (1924), 341. Cf. Strecker (1971), 253 n. 35, for whom a general char-
acterization as ‘Gnostic’ is sufficient. However, it is true that vegetarianism is record-

ed of the encratites by Epiphanius Pan. 47.1 and of the followers of Saturninus of An-
tioch by Irenaeus Haer. 1.18.
154 Fonrobert (2001), 493-494.
155
Thus although, as already noted, it is said of James that he would eat nothing
with a soul the same is said of Apollonius of Tyana (by Philostratus at Vita Apollonii. 1.8,
10-11). It is thus possible that the Nazirite status of James, which is what Hegesippus is
describing here, is being fused with a more widespread Graeco-Roman ascetic lifestyle.
71
Christian asceticism in Syria) and on the grounds that the catecheti-

cal source is not primarily concerned with Judaism in the way that the
later redactors are.156
It is this warning which is taken up by the subsequent redactors
to whom, however, the most dangerous threat was posed by Chris-
tians close to Judaism. In its complete state it is this warning which
has the greatest prominence within DA. This should not, however,
be confused with the earlier discussion of external opponents. For
when the subject turns to law-observant Christians we are not deal-
ing with any external group but rather these persons are within the
community of DA; they are addressed as brothers, to whom a direct
appeal is made:
For this reason be silent, dear brothers who have come to faith from
among the people and who wish still to be bound with the bonds, and
who insist that the sabbath is prior to the first day of the week . . . (DA
6.18.11)
And so, dear brothers, avoid and shun all such pointless obser-
vances . . .(DA 6.22.10)
The proximity and mutual influence of Judaism and Christianity

within Syria has often been noted, but this address, like others, to
converts from Judaism, makes it clear that we are dealing here not
with Judaizing gentile Christians, as Connolly asserts,157 but with
Jewish converts who, whilst in some sense accepting the claims of
Christ and being baptized nonetheless continue to keep the law.158
This, we have already seen, is the point of the adoption of the apos-
tolic persona by the apostolic redactor and the same is made clear in
the above appeal to those who have come from ‘among the people’
on the part of the deuterotic redactor. These redactors are concerned
to buttress the church against external opponents, among whom
156
See also the notes to the translation on the critical passages.
157 Connolly, (1929), xxxiv.
158 So Strecker (1971), 254-355. However Strecker is misled in thinking that these Jew-
ish Christians are external to the community of DA. This misapprehension may come
about if DA is read without reference to redactional levels and statements elsewhere
about heretics misapplied to these Jewish Christians. In the same way Achelis in Achelis
and Flemming (1904), 267-268, asserts that the congregation was gentile, on the basis of
statements in 5.5.3, 5.15.2, and 5.16.5-7. However, the first statement is from the underly-
ing catechetical manual and the others from the Quartodeciman stratum of the 21st
chapter. The absence of any mention of circumcision is noted but, as already argued, any
such discussion would be redundant as the adult converts would be circumcised already.
72
INTRODUCTION
Jews must be counted, defining moreover the boundaries of Chris-

tians over and against their pagan neighbours through the adoption
of the catechetical manual, with its preference for bearded men and
unbathed women and defining both internal and external bound-
aries through adopting the penitential system of the uniting redac-
tor. But the existence of Christians whose practice is Jewish threatens
the security of this border far more seriously than any external threat.
4.c DA as a liturgical source

Although DA does not contain the detailed liturgical provisions of,
say, TA, passing reference is made to liturgical events in the life of the
church of which note may be taken. However, as a result of our redac-
tional study we may not naively take these as deriving from the early
part of the third century but should be aware of the redactional level
from which they derive. This is therefore significant for our assessment
of the information which is given. Negatively, however, it precludes
the construction of an overall picture of worship in this community
such as that drawn by Achelis from various points in DA.159
4.c.1 Baptism and anointing

Although there is no systematic treatment of baptismal rituals within
DA, there are a number of passing references which may prove inform-
ative. First we may note:
Thus if anyone who says such things as these to a layman should be

found to fall into so much condemnation, how much the more should
anyone dare say something against the deacon, or against the bishop
through whom the Lord gave you the Holy Spirit, through whom you
have learned the word and come to know God, and through whom you
have been made known to God, through whom you were sealed, and
through whom you have become sons of light, through whom in bap-
tism, through the imposition of the bishop’s hand, the Lord bore witness
of each of you, as his holy voice was heard saying, ‘You are my son, this
day I have begotten you.’ (DA 2.33.3)
159 Achelis in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 286-288. For a partial critique of
Achelis note Salzmann (1994), 352-366. However, whereas Salzmann rightly criticizes
Achelis for importing evidence from without DA to supplement the picture provided
by DA, he nonetheless gathers evidence from the different levels within DA to forge a
potentially misleading overall picture of his own.
73
First the candidate is said to have been sealed. Although the root of
the word used here is mtX, this does not exclude the possibility that
this is a reference to the ruš m’a, the signing, which is the more usual
term for pre-baptismal anointing, for the translator is working from a
Greek document and is thus rendering sfragi/zein. What follows is
the imposition of the bishop’s hand. The reference to the imposition of
the bishop’s hand is a reference to baptismal dipping, as may be illus-
trated from the same use in the Historia Johannis, and not to an
anointing.160 Most noteworthy, however, is the direct reference to the
baptism of Jesus, indeed Winkler, indeed, suggests that the words ‘you
are my son’ are said during the baptismal rite.161
Later we read, in a passage dealing with the reconciliation of peni-
tents:
And just as you baptize a pagan and at that time receive him, so lay the
hand on this man while everyone is praying for him, and then bring him
in and allow him to communicate with the church, for the imposition of
the hand shall take the place of baptism for him, as whether by the im-
position of a hand or by baptism they receive participation in the Holy
Spirit. (DA 2.41.2)
Once again we note the use of the term ‘imposition of the hand’ to
refer to the action within the font. Although there is that there is no
mention of any pre or post baptismal anointing this does not mean
that they did not take place but nonetheless the conveyance of the
Holy Spirit is seen as being through the baptism itself rather than
through any anointing. Thus for this community at any rate we can
discount the suggestion of Myers that in some Syrian communities the
anointing was primary and the baptism in water secondary.162
The most extensive account of baptism is to be found in an intru-
sion into a discussion of deacons. This immediately leads to the intro-
duction of the deaconess, and in turn to a discussion of the deaconess’
role in baptism. The order of events is clear: first the mark (ruš m’a) is
made upon the head by the celebrant and subsequently the whole
160 Winkler (1978), 36, assumes that the anointing must have accompanied the im-
position of a hand, in view of another passage in DA, namely 3.12.2-3, but our identi-
fication of distinct redactional levels means that this assumption must at the very least
be carefully scrutinized. This latter passage is from the hand of the uniting redactor,
and is really concerned to distinguish between the different roles of bishops and dea-
cons (male or female) at baptism.
161 Winkler (1978), 35-36.
162 Myers (2001).
74
INTRODUCTION
body is anointed; in the case of women this is usually performed by

another woman, preferably a deaconess. Finally the text refers to the
invocation of the divine names which takes place in the water.
The interest of this passage is, like that cited earlier, chiefly confirma-
tory of the process of baptism known to us elsewhere in the early Syriac
tradition, and in particular the descriptions of baptism in Acta Thomae
in which, likewise, there is a double pre-baptismal anointing, the second
of which, to the entire body, performed, in the case of female candidates,
by a woman.163 Brock and Winkler each suggest that this second anoint-
ing is a development from a single anointing on the head;164 no light is
cast by DA on the reason why such a development might have taken
place. The passage regarding baptism disrupts the flow of the discussion,
which is really about the ministry of deacons, but we may reasonably
ascribe the interruption to the uniting redactor. The work of this redac-
tor has been assigned to a period before the middle of the third century
and so, if the secondary anointing is a development, then we may state
that it is a development which had taken place by that time. However,
this simply serves to confirm what might otherwise have been suspected
on the basis of a reading of Acta Thomae. If the earlier passage, regarding
respect due to the bishop as the baptizer, is part of the substrate over
which this redactor worked, which is possible, then we may see that the
development from a single pre-baptismal anointing to a double anoint-
ing has occurred in the period since the substrate source reached its final
form around the turn of the third century.
Various significances have been lent to this pre-baptismal anoint-
ing. For DA it is linked to regal and priestly anointing:
As in ancient times the priests and kings of Israel were anointed so you
should do the same, anointing the head, with a laying on of a hand, of
those who come to baptism, both men and women . . . (DA 3.12.2-3)
As such this serves as yet further evidence that, as Winkler sug-

gested, the Syrian rites of baptism are modelled on the baptism of
Jesus, as the candidate becomes one of the messianic people.165 It is
163
Acta Thomae 27, 121, 132-3, 157.
164
Brock, (1977), 181; Winkler (1978), 31.
165 Winkler (1978), 29-39. One should note that there is a particular agendum here
of pointing to the significance of anointing the head, over and against the subsequent
anointing of the entire body. The bishop is himself to anoint the head at all times,
whereas anointing the body may be delegated to a deaconess in the case of women. As
such the anointing of the body is of secondary importance. See also the notes regard-
ing interpretation ad loc.
75
perhaps through the model of the baptism of Jesus that baptism comes
to be understood as the means by which the Holy Spirit is conveyed to
the believer, a belief which is very much present in the discussion of
baptism found in the work of the deuterotic redactor in the last chap-
ter, where it is argued that the belief that a person might be devoid of
the spirit during menstruation evacuates baptism of significance. The
same conviction, however, is conveyed in a passage which may cau-
tiously be attributed to the uniting redactor regarding insulting the
bishop. The point is made that if somebody calls even a layman a fool,
raqa, one is denying the presence of the Holy Spirit, given in baptism,
within that person; for the root meaning of raqa is empty, and so to
call somebody this is effectively denying the presence of the Spirit.166
The baptized person as vessel of the Spirit is clearly central to the bap-
tismal theology of the community of DA.
However, in the same section of the work of the deuterotic redac-
tor we may also pick up a different understanding of the nature of pre-
baptismal anointing in the statement ‘for there is no other way in
which an unclean spirit may be got to depart except by sacred purifi-
cation and holy baptism.’ (DA 6.21.5) Here we may pick up a hint that
the anointing before baptism is coming to be understood as exorcistic
and purificatory.
Thus far what DA tells us of baptism is confirmatory of informa-
tion available elsewhere, though equipped with an understanding of
the redactional levels within the document we are enabled to trace the
developments of the ritual. There is, however, an aspect to DA which
is unique. After the passage cited above regarding the respect due to
the bishop as the baptizer the text continues:
You then should honour the bishops, those who have set you free from
sin, who have begotten you anew through the water, who filled you
with the Holy Spirit, who nourished you with the word as with milk,
who raised you with teaching, who confirmed you with admonition,
who made you participants in the holy eucharist of God, who made
you share as joint heirs in the promises of God. (DA 2.34.2)
Again we see baptism as the means of conveying the Holy Spirit

to the believer, but it is noteworthy that there is mention of teaching
and admonition after baptism. This might be thought to be simply a
product of the manner in which the list is constructed but we like-
166 DA 2.32.3.
76
INTRODUCTION
wise read, in the passage regarding the role of deaconesses in bap-

tismal anointing: ‘When she who has been baptized comes out of the
waters a deaconess should receive her and instruct her and educate
her so that the mark of baptism may be kept intact in chastity and
holiness.’ (DA 3.12.3) It therefore seems that, in the rite known to the
uniting redactor, instruction and direction was given after baptism.
This does not appear to have been mystagogical, although of course
it might be the basis from which mystagogy grew, but ethical exhor-
tation. Nonetheless this is an element in the rite which is not known
elsewhere.
4.c.2 The Eucharist

There are a few passing references throughout DA to the eucharist. They
are not especially informative, but once again we should make the point
that we should not gather them together in an attempt to form a coher-
ent picture as they may well come from different redactional levels.
Possibly from the earliest level of the episcopal source is the follow-
ing statement:
Whenever you receive the oblation of the eucharist lay down whatever
happens to be in your hands, so that you may share it with strangers, for
it is collected by the bishop for the support of all strangers. (DA 2.36.4)
As in K, the eucharistic offering is not restricted to sacred elements,

though here it would seem that the offering is no longer divided at the
meal itself, for which reason the economic agency of the bishop has
become all the more important since the work of distribution hap-
pens, effectively, in private. We have already observed the statement
regarding the ministry of deacons and suggested that these were func-
tions performed by presbyters in the underlying source, and that a
redactor from a community with an episcopal-diaconal system has
been obliged to make the alteration. We may further note that the
responsibility of keeping order has been moved away from issues
regarding the distribution of gifts to the arrangement of people, as the
gifts are no longer distributed within an eucharistic context. Nonethe-
less, the proximity of these directions to those of K indicates that they
stood in the source of the uniting redactor and are thus relatively early
directions.
It is in the course of this same discussion that we meet the provi-
sion noted above for a visiting bishop to offer the prayer over the cup:
77
And should a bishop come he should sit with the bishop, and receive the
same honour which is due to him. And, bishop, you should invite him
to address your people since, the exhortation and admonition of
strangers is very profitable, especially since it is written: ‘A prophet is not
received in his own country.’ And he should offer the oblation. But if he
is sensible, and is unwilling, reserving that honour for you, he should
speak over the cup. (DA 2.58.2-3)
On this Connolly writes: ‘I take it that the visiting bishop is offered

the honour of celebrating the Eucharist; but this he declines. It would
appear therefore that the cup mentioned as an alternative was not the
eucharistic cup: more probably it was that offered later at the Agapē . . .
A partition of the eucharistic prayer is hardly to be thought of.’167 As evi-
dence for the offering of a cup at the end of an agapē he offers TA 25 and
Cyprian Ep. 63.16. However I have suggested, with some independent
support from Bradshaw et al., that the meal described in TA is actually
eucharistic,168 and whereas the meal described by Cyprian may be, as
Clarke suggests,169 a survivor of the domestic agapē, not only is Cyprian
referring to a private, family supper, as Clarke points out, but more
fatally, as evidence for an agapē joined to the eucharist, it takes place on
an entirely separate occasion and at a different time. Thus although we
cannot absolutely exclude the possibility that there is reference to some
other rite than the eucharist, which is celebrated at the same time, it is
more probable, as Metzger suggests,170 that the eucharistic prayer known
in this community is a series of distinct berakoth said over different items.
It is even possible that the source employed here is very early and that the
berakoth are not yet separated from an accompanying meal, as is the case
in TA 25 and in D 9-10.
However, by the time of the uniting redactor this direction is
already somewhat archaeological.171 And yet, although the goods are
no longer shared at the eucharist, the eucharistic gathering is still the
locus at which the goods are collected, a reality of which the redactor
has not lost sight. As such, although the eucharist is no longer an
actual meal, there is still some trace from this earlier practice in the
liturgical life of the uniting redactor. Also in this purview is the need
167
Connolly, (1929), 122-123.
168 Stewart-Sykes (2001b), 140-142; Bradshaw, Johnson and Phillips (2002), 160.
169 Clarke (1986), 299.
170
Metzger (1978), 202.
171
We may note that CA transforms this blessing over the cup to a blessing over
the people (CA 2.58.3.)
78
INTRODUCTION
for the congregation to be in a spiritual condition according to which

goods may reasonably be shared:
The offering to God which is ours is prayer and eucharist, but if you con-
tinue in anger with your brother, or he with you, your prayer shall not be
heard, nor shall your eucharist be accepted, and you shall be found want-
ing in prayer and in eucharist on account of the anger which you are
maintaining. (DA 2.53.4)
Bishops, it is so that your prayers and oblations may be acceptable
that, when you are standing at prayer in the church, a deacon calls out
in a loud voice: ‘Is there anyone who maintains anger with his neigh-
bour?’ And if persons who have a lawsuit or a quarrel between them-
selves are found you may persuade them, and make peace between
them. (DA 2.54.1)
It is perhaps due to the separation of the eucharist from any Sätti-

gungsmahl (or rather the reduction of the eucharistic repast from such a
meal) that the proclamation of the word is separate from the eucharis-
tic offering itself, rather than taking place at table.172 However this phe-
nomenon is interpreted by DA as the construction of a community of
purity which might make the offering. Thus we can be assured that,
within the community of the uniting redactor, catechumens and peni-
tents had been dismissed, since it is said several times that penitents
might hear the word, and that penitents are to be treated in the same
way as catechumens, and may reasonably deduce that the deacon’s
proclamation that the people should be reconciled173 was found at the
beginning of the anaphora since this is the position in which a similar
proclamation is found in Testamentum Domini,174 thus serving, once
again, to construct a community purified by mutual forgiveness which
might make a pure and acceptable offering of prayer and eucharist.175
Towards the conclusion of the work there are some passing men-
tions of the eucharist which are clearly the work of the deuterotic
172 Regarding the liturgy of the word itself there is little that can be said. There was
reading and preaching certainly (thus note 2.24.7, and 2.58.4) but little may be known
of the pattern of the readings or of the content of the preaching. There are small hints
such as 2.59.1, which charges that the bishop should exhort the congregation not to ab-
sent themselves. Salzmann (1994), 359-361, suggests that the content of the preaching
might be ascertained from the subjects which widows are charged not to discuss, but
this is not altogether a secure proceeding.
173 At 2.54.1.
174 Testamentum Domini 1.23.
175 So note 2.52.4.
79
redactor. Both indicate a high value attached to the epiklesis to the

Holy Spirit as the means by which the gifts are transformed, and one
speaks of a particular species of eucharistic ritual, namely that offered
in the cemeteries on behalf of the departed.176
. . .but you, in accordance with the Gospel and in accordance with the
power of the Holy Spirit gather in the cemeteries to read the Holy Scrip-
tures and to offer your prayers to God without hesitation and offer an
acceptable eucharist, the likeness of the royal body of Christ, both in
your congregations and in your cemeteries and on the departure of those
who sleep. You set pure bread before him, which is formed by fire and
sanctified by the invocation, offering without demur and praying for
those who sleep. For according to the Gospel those who sleep are not
dead . . .(DA 6.22.2-3)
Yet if the Holy Spirit is with you constantly there is no reason to stay
away from prayer and from eucharist and from the Scriptures. Consider
that prayer is taken up by the Holy Spirit, that the eucharist is sanctified
by the Holy Spirit, and that the Scriptures are holy because they are the
words of the Holy Spirit. (DA 6.21.2)
The meal is explicitly described as an ‘acceptable eucharist’; there

is thus no question of this meal being of an agapic genus. Moreover,
although it may be a particular species of the eucharist, being partic-
ular to the cemeteries, it is treated by the redactor as having the same
marks as any other eucharistic event. The eucharist is the work of the
Holy Spirit, as the possession of the church, now removed from the
people of old. This insight, however, is an insight which is to be
traced to one of the later redactional levels. We may see that here we
are living in a world apart from the gritty realism of the uniting redac-
tor; here the eucharist is the means of entry into the Kingdom, ush-
ered in by the coming of the Holy Spirit rather than a manifestation
of the caritative activity of the church and the offerings are offerings
of prayer rather than offerings of material goods. This view of the
work of the Holy Spirit in the eucharist may represent ancient Syrian
176
I have discussed the offering of the eucharist at martyria and in cemeteries in
Stewart-Sykes (2002), 64-84, suggesting that bread is baked on site and that this was a
species of eucharistic meal intended to enforce bonds of communion with the depart-
ed. Whereas some revision of this discussion might be desirable in the light of the
work of Volp (2002), which was not available to me, I would stand by the particular
conclusions reached there. Among significant references to the practice of the Eu-
charist at graves and in cemeteries note Canones Hippolyti 33,which likewise speaks of
prayers and offerings and Acta Johannis 72, 85-6.
80
INTRODUCTION
tradition, but it is nonetheless a distinct strand of tradition within

those which make up DA.
4.c.3 The penitential process

As has been noted already, the duties of the bishop, to which much of
DA is devoted, are fundamentally disciplinary and economic. The
description of the disciplinary functions leads us to a picture of
penance within the Syrian church.177 The early church is much beset
by debate about the possibility of the forgiveness of sin committed
after baptism. Immediately we may observe a tension within DA, for
whereas there are a great many admonitions to the bishop to forgive
sinners and to seek their restitution into the church, there is also the
statement that:
But not even those who thought that they had heard did hear, for they
cast themselves swiftly into the cruel destruction of heresy, on which
we shall soon speak. For we do not believe, brothers, that anyone who
has been baptized will again perform the disgusting wickedness of the
gentiles, since it is known to all that anyone who should commit any
grievous sin after baptism is condemned in a fiery Gehenna. (DA
2.6.16-2.7.1)
This stands out amidst chapters largely concerned to counter such a

rigorist view, with the pastoral aim of re-integrating sinners into the
community.178 This passage, and others which seem to breathe a rigorist
spirit, led Schwartz to suggest that an originally rigorist document had
been revised in order to take DA in a less determinedly rigorist direc-
tion.179 Galtier disputed this, pointing out that the whole direction of
the chapters is to lead the sinner to repentance and re-incorporation into
the church. At a broad level he is correct, but he does not deal in detail
with this short passage. However we may observe that this statement
precedes the actual discussion of penance altogether, and may well have
177 On this subject see in particular Bernhard (1967) with bibliography.
178 Cf. the suggestion of Bartlet (1943), 83-85, that DA is indeed a thoroughly rig-
orist document, a conclusion reached on the basis of such statements.
179 Schwartz (1911), 18-25. Harnack (1895), 71, likewise suggested that some anti-
Novatianist elements were introduced into the text; Achelis in Achelis and Flemming
(1904), 259, responded that the opponents of the redactor of DA were apparently with-
in rather than without the congregation, and so he is right to deny any actual connec-
tion with Novatian at 303; a rather less reflective form of rigorism is reflected here. The
debate is, moreover, within the redactional history of DA itself, and the congregations
which it represents. See also the discussion of Funk (1907), 276-277.
81
stood in the version of kk over which the uniting redactor, to whom the
discussion of penance is largely to be attributed, subsequently worked. It
would therefore be the uniting redactor who, a few lines later, urges that
the bishop should have no truck with those who wish to keep the church
pure even of repentant sinners.180 Similar considerations apply to
another passage, which seems to indicate that there are sins which, com-
mitted after baptism, lead to permanent alienation from the church:
The former sins of any who believes and is baptized are forgiven, as they
are after baptism, provided that he has committed no deadly sin, or been
party thereto . . . (DA 5.9.4)
These considerations apply because this is derived from the cate-

chetical manual and is not derived from the main discussion of
penance. Nonetheless, quite apart from the occasional apparent con-
tradictions, due I suggest to the redaction of the original, Connolly
raises a valid question when he questions whether the relatively mild
punishments prescribed as part of the period of penance, seven weeks
fasting being the maximum punishment mentioned,181 would cover
sins such as murder or apostasy, contrasting this to the long period of
penance prescribed by the eleventh canon of Nicaea.182 He is led to
wonder whether such sins are implicitly excepted.
There is a hint, nonetheless, that some grave charges might lead to
absolute excommunication:
Thus you are to give judgement in accordance with the gravity of the
charge. (DA 2.48.1)
Here the text goes on to suggest that mercy be primary, but the
possibility is raised nonetheless that a grave offence might lead to grave
punishment. The primary note, however, is sounded by passages such
as 2.14.10-11, concerned to counter judgemental attitudes.183
180
DA 2.14.3.
181
DA 2.16.2.
182 Connolly, (1929), lvi. Funk (1905), 60, also observes the extreme brevity of the
periods of penance prescribed by contrast to those prescribed at various councils, not

only Nicaea but those of other local councils, whose penalties are measured in years
rather than days.
183
It is on such grounds that Beaucamp (1949), 41, denies that there is any unfor-
givable sin. He asserts this ‘in spite of the difficulties of interpreting certain passages’
(at 43, here mentioning 2.7.1) claiming that length precludes offering any interpreta-
tion (having already rejected any redactional hypothesis at 40-41.)
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INTRODUCTION
You should not, therefore, pay attention to those who are willing to
put others to death, who hate their brothers yet love accusations, who
are ready to slay on any excuse. Rather you should assist those who are
weak, who are endangered, who are wandering, and set them free
from death, acting not in accordance with the hardness of human
hearts, or with human will and word, but in accordance with the will
and command of our Lord God.
However, our difficulty in answering this question, as with the

other questions posed by what DA says about penance, indicates,
quite apart from the confusions brought about by the different
redactional levels in the document, that these disciplinary questions
are foreign to the interests of the uniting redactor, who is responsi-
ble for much of the discussion of penance and that the questions we
are asking are not those which the text is seeking to answer. We may
recall that the primary interest of this redactor is opposition to
heresy, and it is in this light that we must read his work. He is set-
ting up a basis on which those coming to the catholic church hav-
ing been part of schismatic or heretical congregations, or returning
to the catholic church having been part of a schismatic or heretical
congregation, might be received. In doing so he is using a document
which had concerned the duties of bishops. That in turn, we may
suggest, had been subjected already to extensive editing, as is clear if
we compare its contents to those which survive in K from kk. How-
ever, one of the marks of the uniting redactor is the consistent use
of medical imagery, found at several points in the work applied to
the function of bishops184 and, at 6.23.7, the conclusion, when the
word of correction, referring to DA as it had left the hands of this
redactor, is compared to a salve, or alternatively to cauterization and
amputation, a context which enables us to see that this conclusion
dovetailed with 6.14.10, and that everything between is the work of
later redactors. The original document was concerned with disci-
pline but the uniting redactor is concerned with psychagogy, with
the welfare of individuals and the welfare of the church as a whole.
Whereas this has led to the suggestion that the author was medically
competent,185 the imagery is in widespread use among philosophers
184
DA 2.20.10-11; 2.40-2.41.
185
Originally by Achelis in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 381, followed by Bartlet
(1943), 89-90, Vööbus (1979b), 115, n. 32.
83
within the period186and so this, rather than any medical competence

on the part of the redactor, may reasonably be considered as its
source.
The point to note is that philosophers use these extended
metaphors to discuss the training of a soul as well as actual discipline.
So, for instance, the attitude required of the bishop of DA may be com-
pared to that of Lucian’s Demonax, who ‘confronted sins yet forgave
sinners, taking doctors as his example, as they heal sickness yet are not
angry with those who are ill.’187 And yet even this Demonax, who was
friend to all, avoided ‘those whose sinfulness put them beyond any
hope of a cure.’188 The function of the constant warnings and rebukes
which the bishop is to deliver is to turn the sinner to repentance. In the
same way Philodemus speaks of constant parrhsi/a to those who
need it, comparing it to the medical use of a purge.189
The most pertinent material for comparison, however, is to be
found in Dio Chrysostom. In his 32nd Discourse he states that there are
two cures for wickedness,
. . . as there are for other diseases. One of them is like dieting and drugs,
the other like cautery and the knife, which is better suited to rulers, to
laws and to juries, who are to remove whatever is abnormal and incur-
able. Better are those who do not do this readily. The other treatment, I
suggest, is for those who are able to soften and calm souls through per-
suasion and reason. These are saviours and guards for those capable of
salvation, who confine and control wickedness before it attains its final
stage. (Or. 32.17-18)
To this we may readily compare:
For this reason you are, like a compassionate physician, to heal all who
sin, employing wisdom and skill, offering a remedy which heals lives.
Do not be impatient to amputate the members of the church, but use
the word as bandages, and warning as a poultice, and intercession as a
compress. And if the sore is depressed, is diminishing the patient’s
flesh, feed it and fill up the gap with healing remedies. Should there be
186 Beyond the examples given here note the many further examples, describing
parrhsi/a (harsh criticism) as medicine and punishment as cauterization or amputa-

tion in dealing with the moral ills of an individual or of an individual within a com-
munity cited by Malherbe (1989), 127-132.
187 Demonax 7.
188
Demonax. 10.
189 Philodemus De libertate dicendi fragments 63, 64, 65.
84
INTRODUCTION
dirt in it, cleanse it with a caustic remedy, that is with a word of warn-
ing and reproof. If the flesh is swollen, reduce it and bring it down
with a strong remedy, that is the warning of judgement. But if gan-
grene is present, cauterize it with branding irons, that is with the im-
position of severe fasting, cutting away and clearing out the seepage in
the sore. And yet, should the gangrene increase and prevail even over
the cauterization, then cut; after taking advice and extensively con-
sulting with other physicians amputate the putrefying limb so that the
whole body is not infected. Yet do not be anxious to amputate speed-
ily, or run hastily to a saw with many teeth, but first use a scalpel to
cut into the sore, so that it may be closely examined and the cause of
internal pain be known, so avoiding harm to the entire body. Yet if
you see a man who will not repent, but has cut off his life from all
hope, then with grief and with sadness cut him off and expel him from
the church. (DA 2.41.3-8)
Dio goes on to remark that a good ruler is characterized by mercy,

whereas a poor philosopher is marked by gentleness. The bishop of DA
is both philosopher and ruler, harshness of speech being tempered by
merciful judgement. The point is that every effort is to be made to
keep the sinner within the fold of the church, whilst there is a recogni-
tion that some are beyond any therapy.
Thus whereas excommunication followed by the possibility of re-
entry to the church is known in earlier documents, DA would have
the bishop oversee a complex process. On being excommunicated the
sinner is set outside the church, but is always to be admitted to the
church to hear the word, even if not admitted to the sacraments. The
excommunicate is, moreover, cut off from social congress with
the members of the church. The whole point of the exercise is to seek
the restitution of the sinner and is meant to be reformative, rather
than simply punitive. On repentance, the bishop may appoint a
period of penance, such as fasting,190 before formal reconciliation
takes place within the assembly. The point which is also to be empha-
sized is that excommunication is undertaken only as a last resort. In
other words, these chapters are strongly opposed to a rigorist view,
and are full of exhortations to the bishop not to be hasty in discipline
or harsh in judgement. And yet, after repeated segregations, the
excommunication may become absolute:
190 Termed by Favazza (1988), 125, a ‘penance of segregation’, rather than a penance of
isolation. Rahner (1950) uses the terms ‘real excommunication’ and ‘liturgical excommu-
nication’ to describe the same phenomena, though Favazza criticizes this terminology.
85
Thus we have healed those who have repented of their erroneous god-
lessness through much admonition, with the word of doctrine, and
with correction, and have allowed them to take their places in the
church. But we have driven out those who are mortally wounded by
the word of error, and all the more those who have erred without rea-
son, as their wound is incurable, and so that they can do no harm to
the chosen holy catholic church of God, and so that the evil cannot
spread like leprosy and extend itself like an infection to all parts, but
that the church should remain pure and unspotted and unscarred for
the Lord God. (DA 6.14.10)
Thus, although reconciliation of those who stray is preferred, the

need to keep the church pure of infection means that final excommu-
nication is not impossible.
The very fact that these processes are described, rather than that
knowledge of them is taken for granted, is indication that the redactor
is undertaking a new exercise in regulating the penitential processes of
his community. It is possible, indeed, that the process as described, with
the twofold form of penitential isolation or excommunication, is the
result of redactional tensions and was never actually practised in the
manner described. The fact that a new enterprise is being described,
and may never even have been practised, should give us cause to hesi-
tate in drawing broad conclusions from the rites and view of penance
that DA describes.191 We may even suggest that the rite of handlaying,
with which the penitent is re-admitted, is the creation of this docu-
ment, and is modelled on the baptismal rite, as being the means by
which the penitent, having lost the rights of the baptized, is restored to
the baptismal covenant. The primary referent of this gesture is bap-
tismal, the laying bestows the Holy Spirit in the same manner as bap-
tism,192 and so provides a means by which those coming to the catholic
church from schismatic Christian groups might be admitted, which is
the real interest of this redactor. Although the propriety of this practice
is denied by Firmilian,193 it is known at Rome, is proposed as the means
of reconciling clergy coming from heretical congregations by the
canons of Nicaea,194 and, as the means of reconciling a penitent
191 Cf. Bernhard (1967) who, whilst recognizing that DA is something less than a
third-century Codex iuris canonici, sees its provisions as applying throughout Syria.
Mosiek (1965), 183, suggests that its provisions apply to a single community.
192 Cf. Bernhard (1967), 259-260, who seeks to deny ‘sacramental’ content to this
action.
193 (Cyprian) Ep. 74.
194 Nicaea canon 8.
86
INTRODUCTION
through the return of the Holy Spirit which had been lost through sin,
at Alexandria.195 This discussion of penitence is derived from the same
redactional level as the discussion of the receipt of the Holy Spirit
through the laying on of a hand at baptism noted above, and the same
significance is lent to the act. The absence of anointing is thus to be
observed here also, as later eastern practice was to reconcile, returning
the Holy Spirit, through anointing.196
It is at this point, moreover, that we may return to the topic of
opposition to the bishop. We argued above that DA, by which was
meant the underlying source, did not, by contrast to the assertions of
others, radically intensify episcopal authority and that the economic
functions of the bishop were those of the bishop from earliest
times.197 In the work of the uniting redactor, however, we find the
penitential process entirely in the hands of the bishop, as well as find-
ing the bishop as sole instructor, teacher and leader at the liturgy of
the word. It is indeed possible that here the duty of every Christian to
teach and to rebuke has been concentrated in the bishop’s hands. D
2.7, suggesting that some should be rebuked, is addressed to every
Christian and at 2.37.6-2.38.4 the instructions for dealing with dis-
putes at Mt 18:15-17 addressed to every Christian are applied solely to
the bishop and deacons. We may also note, once again, that widows
and laymen alike are specifically prevented from giving any advanced
instruction in material which may well be attributed to the uniting
redactor.198 If, indeed, there is some expansion in the monarchical
images applied to the bishop,199 which is hard to say with certainty,
we may relate that to the concentration of the penitential process in
episcopal hands and see the monarchy related to the teaching func-
tion of the bishop, the monarchy envisaged being that of the philoso-
pher ruler of Dio. Certainly, however, we may suggest that the
processes are new and, more particularly, are concentrated in episco-
pal hands in a way which was not the case before, and that this
explains the detailed description given.
In sum we may support Schwartz’s view that an originally rigorist
document has been edited. The point of the editorial process was not,
195
So Dionysius of Alexandria in Eusebius HE 7.8.
196
So the Council of Laodicea canon 7, and other instances cited by Galtier (1914),
507-509.
197 In 4.a above.
198 DA 3.5.4.
199 As Schöllgen (1998) and Torjeson (2001) suggest.
87
however, to establish a penitential system in response to widespread

rigorism, as the rigorist passages are simply leftovers from earlier doc-
uments in which rigorism is the agreed and assumed position both of
the author and his audience, though nonetheless the uniting redactor,
through seeing the bishop as philosopher as well as jurist, has, through
editing the material, effectively muted a rigorist view within the com-
munity. Although a muting of a rigorist view has resulted from the
editing of the material, this was not the point of the editing, rather the
aim of the uniting redactor was to bring about a process for the recon-
ciliation not of sinners alone, but of heretics, and to ensure that this
was controlled by the bishop.
5. conclusions
The major part of this introduction has been devoted to demonstrat-

ing that DA is living literature, the result of a series of redactions, each
intended to make the material current and applicable to the changing
situation of the church. Two main sources lie at the origin of the doc-
ument, namely a catechetical instruction and an extended instruction
for bishops on their duties. This second source was itself a derivation
of one of the sources of K, though probably much altered and
expanded, quite possibly to bolster the position of the bishop within
the economic life of the community over and against private patrons.
The catechetical source was derived, moreover, from a branch of TWT
akin to D.
These are united, and probably substantially edited, and added to
them is a Quartodeciman source on the Pascha, which is edited in an
anti-Quartodeciman direction. Other sources may, moreover, be dis-
cerned, although it is not always clear whether they had already been
brought into the main sources or whether their inclusion came about
through the construction of DA. The point of this redaction was prin-
cipally to define the catholic church over and against competing ver-
sions of Christianity and to determine the basis on which persons
might be received into the catholic church from other Christian
groups. There is also some extension of episcopal authority, in partic-
ular regarding the administration of penance, but this closely relates to
the primary issue since the model of the returning penitent is
employed as the basis for admission of Christians from non-catholic
congregations.
88
INTRODUCTION
The resulting production was then further edited in order particu-

larly to point the anti-heretical section against the keeping of Jewish
law. Finally, and intended towards the same purpose, a further redac-
tion lightly clothed the construction in apostolic dress, constructing a
fiction by which the whole is the teaching of the apostles. It is the
recognition of the apostolic redaction as the final redaction which clar-
ifies many of the mysteries of DA, in particular in the twenty-first
chapter.
As a result of these findings we may conclude that it is impossible
to speak blithely of any practice described by DA. Rather the docu-
ment speaks with a variety of voices from a span of history. Treatments
of historical developments in church and liturgy which use DA as evi-
dence must suggest the level of DA from which the evidence is drawn.
Nonetheless, when these levels are recognized, the historical develop-
ments taking place within the period of redaction emerge with much
greater clarity and DA becomes all the more precious as a source by
which we may understand the life and liturgy of this early Christian
community.
6. A postscript on the translation
Arthur Vööbus, to whose work every student of DA is profoundly

indebted, comments that there are two approaches to translation. Like
him ‘I do not want to argue here but say only what I wanted to do.’200
Vööbus offers a version which is very close to the Syriac. By contrast I
seek to present a text which, whilst conveying the meaning of the orig-
inal, reads as though it had been written in English, rather than a
translation which hugs the coastline of the original in its clausal order
and accidence.
In the case of DA, however, this is more complicated than it other-
wise might be. For although written in Greek, only a fragment of DA is
extant in this original language.201 Whereas some reference may be had
to CA, which was written in Greek and may contain some relic of the
original, the whole is extant solely in a Syriac version,202 which Connolly
200
Vööbus (1979b), 67*.
201 Ed. Bartlet (1917).
202 Ed. Vööbus (1979a).
89
and Vööbus agree was made as early as the fourth century,203 together
with substantial fragments in Latin preserved in the Verona
palimpsest.204 A few words may be determined from a tiny fragment in
Coptic.205 All this material is employed in the English version presented
here, though for a large part we are dependent on the Syriac version
alone. When Latin is extant it is used as the base (except in extended
scriptural citations, on which see below), but always compared with Syr-
iac and when they diverge the text of CA is allowed to act as arbiter to the
correct text where it appears to be close. When there is no independent
arbiter the translator has sought to determine the original on the basis of
sense and instinct. Divergences which affect the sense are noted in the
footnotes enabling the reader to be the arbiter of the text which is read
but variations like indicative verbs used instead of participles are not
noted, and may indeed be themselves blurred over in the process of
translation. In general it is to be noted that the Syriac version, like this
English version, is a thorough reworking of Greek into a Syriac idiom,
whereas the Latin is reads like a painstakingly literal rendition of a text
in another language. Thus a literal rendition of the Syriac would not be
a rendition of the original in the first instance. The Greek text is ulti-
mately irrecoverable, but the aim is to give an English reader the tools by
which to determine which text to read and so the contours of the Syriac
version are not followed closely in part due to recognizing that this is not
the only version of the text.
Such an eclectic edition is of limited value to the scholar, but is
intended to make the text readable for those whose primary interest is
not in philology but in ecclesiastical history, liturgy, and/or early
Judaism. An alternative would be Connolly’s approach of translating
the Syriac text as it stands and printing the Latin text, where it is
203 Connolly (1929), xxxvi-xviii, reaches this conclusion on the bases of the appar-
ent use of the Old Syriac version of the Gospels, of the archaic vocabulary employed,
and on the use by Aphraahat of DA. Vööbus (1979b), 26*-28*, reviews his arguments.
Dissenting from the position that the Old Syriac text was employed, on the grounds
that this is speculative, and unsure whether there is sufficient evidence to determine
Aphraahat’s dependence upon DA (although there is much in common between
Aphraahat’s work and DA the common ground may result from the use of a common
tradition and through the fact that similar issues, in particular issues caused by Chris-
tians of Jewish heritage, are faced), Vööbus nonetheless agrees that the translation is old
and predates the fifth century.
204 Ed. Tidner (1963).
205
Ed. Camplani (1996).
90
INTRODUCTION
extant, on parallel pages.206 The approach here is reasonable given

that the original versions are available in excellent critical editions to
which the scholar interested in the text may have ready recourse,
whereas my aim is to give English readers, particularly those with a
limited knowledge of Syriac, an accessible version of what, insofar as
it can be recovered, issued from the pen of the final redactor of DA
together with sufficient information to enable these readers to form
their own opinions.
Such an approach is not without its problems. A particular problem
is posed by the scriptural citations, for those in Syriac are often unique
readings, whereas the Latin translator frequently seems to be using an
independent Latin version, the Itala,207 though is also often close to
LXX, in disagreement with Syr. Whereas it is possible that the original
employed the LXX it is also likely that there were exceptions. In the light
of these conflicting phenomena it would be irresponsible to do
anything other than to translate the Syriac directly and to note major
divergences between the versions and in addition to note where the
influence of a particular version is obvious.208
A further issue for the translator is posed by the existence, noted in
2.5 above, of two recensions of the Syriac version. Although not every
variation between the two recensions is noted, on the basis that the
family named here as the A recension is certainly the original, major
variations, including a substantial omission in the twenty-first chapter,
are noted, though not the minor omissions which occur with increas-
ing frequency from the eleventh chapter on. The substantial amount of
additional material included in the second recension, named here the E
family, is included in an appendix, namely an introduction setting out
the apostolic authorship of the work and a collection of other, inde-
pendently produced, church-order material added after the third chap-
ter.209 Finally the reader may note the divisions of the work into books,
chapters and paragraphs. This is the system designed by Funk on the
basis of CA. Although it is not without fault it provides a convenient
method for reference to the text and is used throughout the book.
206
We may also note that of Funk (1905), who gives the Latin version, translating the
Syriac into Latin where Lat. is wanting. This may seem a strange approach but his work
was intended as an aid to the study of CA and not as a study of DA in its own right.
207 See Tidner (1938), 8, 9, 14, 170 etc.
208
Only the most major diversions are noted. Vööbus (1979b) has detailed notes
on the scriptural texts in the Syriac version.
209 For further discussion of the character of this MS family see 2.d above and the
accompanying annotation.
91
Chapter Opener.qxd:Chapter Opener 5/12/09 10:57 AM Page 93
ENGLISH
VERSION
THE CHAPTER-HEADINGS
OF THE DIDASCALIA,
THAT IS THE TEACHING
OF THE HOLY APOSTLES1
the first chapter

Teaching everyone in general the straightforward and natural law not
to do to your neighbour what is intolerable to yourself.
the second chapter

Teaches every man that he should be pleasing solely to his wife, and
should not adorn himself and be a stumbling-block to women, should
be no lover of idleness, should occupy himself with the Scriptures of
life and shun the scriptures of idolatry and the shackles of the second-
ary legislation, and that he shall not bathe in the bath with women,
and should not give his life to the wickedness of prostitutes.
the third chapter

The teaching for women, that they should be pleasing and respectful to
their husbands alone; they should care assiduously and sensibly for
their housework with diligence; and that they should not wash together
with the men, and that they should not adorn themselves so that they
become a stumbling-block to men, nor ensnare them. They should be
modest and gentle, and not quarrelsome with their husbands.
1
Although this contents page is not part of the original DA it is extant in both
manuscript families and is, according to Vööbus (1979a), 35*-36*, ancient. Strobel
(1977), 325-326, suggests that the reference to the triduum in the contents for the
twenty-first chapter indicates a late fourth-century or a fifth-century date. It has the
peculiarity, moreover, that it presents headings for twenty-seven chapters, whereas the
text has twenty-six, as the twenty-fourth chapter is divided into two. This, however, is
the chapter division found in MSS of the E family.
95
the fourth chapter

Teaches what sort of man he should be who is worthy of election to the
episcopate, and of what sort his conduct should be.
the fifth chapter

Teaching and admonition for the bishop; that he should preach on
judgement and admonish the people; and shun the disobedient; and
like God should judge those who go astray, and shall not spare any
who commit evil and who corrupt the people.
the sixth chapter

Again teaches the bishop that, like God, he should judge those who go
astray and not spare them; but he shall receive with mercy anyone who
repents and forgive him; and that he shall have no truck with the
insinuations of the worldly nor shut the door in the face of the repen-
tant, but, in accordance with the greatness of his honour, he shall bear
the burden and the sin of everyone. Together with proofs and threats
from Ezekiel concerning bishops who disregard their flocks, or about
the worldly who show contempt for the bishop.
the seventh chapter

Again a general instruction aimed at the bishop himself; that he
should be exceedingly diligent in caring for his flock, admonishing
and encouraging them, teaching them that they should not abandon
hope for themselves when they lapse; a great consolation to those
who are disturbed, and who return and repent; and a great condem-
nation on a bishop who does not receive those who repent; and again
a command to him that he should be merciful and gentle towards
those who are of his people; and that he should not be harsh and
angry.
the eighth chapter

Teaches the same bishop that he should not live luxuriously or glut-
tonously on anything that comes into the church for the relief of the
poor, but administer it justly to those who are in need, as a righteous
steward of God; and also may fulfill his own wants from it without
blame; and that he should also exhort the people that everyone
should participate in accordance with their ability, and supply
the wants of the church for the relief of the poor, and orphans and
widows.
96
THE CHAPTER HEADINGS OF THE DIDASCALIA
the ninth chapter

An exhortation to the people that they should bring offerings to God
of prayer and thanksgiving, and that they should honour the bishop as
God and fear him; and that they should do nothing without his con-
sent; that they should not even give alms to the needy without him but
that they should make everything known to him through the deacon;
and that he administer whatever has been given, so that every member
of the orders of the church should exercise his office and be honoured
as is right; and condemnation and verdict on those who speak
wickedly to the priests or despise them. They should consider them
their kings, they should give them gifts from their labour as though for
the supply of the needs of the poor and the widows and the orphans,
yet not keeping account with them whether they give or do not give.
the tenth chapter

Warning against false brothers and inquiry into those who are com-
plainants or witnesses against anyone; the sentence of judgement
decreed on those who are convicted of sin, and the consolation, and
reception into the church, of any who manifest repentance; and direc-
tion to the bishop that he shall give the hand and bind up those who
repent if they have sinned. And that they should not give judgement
in respect of persons if they stand condemned before God; and that
they should condemn any who makes false accusation, punishing
them in the manner fitting the one who was accused.
the eleventh chapter

Again an exhortation to the bishops and deacons that they should give
guidance in justice, and be one with each other in harmony and love.
And that they should not accept the testimony of the heathen against
anyone who believes; and that a Christian should not become vexed
with and come to despise his neighbour, and if they chance to have a
lawsuit they should not lay the matter before the heathens, but before
the church, and they should be reconciled, even if one of them should
make a loss in some corporeal matter. And if one of them is intractable
and refuses to accept reconciliation he should be banished from the
church until he repent. When the two persons approach, those who are
in judgement should judge without respect of persons, with careful
enquiry, on the second day of the week. They should enquire into the
conduct of the accuser, his conscience, and the reason for the lawsuit and
the matter of dispute; and also the one who is accused, in the same way.
97
And they should impose a just punishment on the one determined to be

guilty. And again with regard to those who are angry, that it is right that
they should forgive each other’s offences, as we in turn seek forgiveness
from God.
the twelfth chapter

Commanding bishops to be peaceful and humble, set apart from
harshness and anger. And it instructs them concerning the order of the
household of God, how a distinct place for sitting or standing should
be set aside for every rank as befits it; and if anyone comes from
another church he should have the honour which befits him; he
should have a suitable place. And let not Christ, who is compassionate
to strangers, be detested in him.
the thirteenth chapter

That no Christian should depart from the gathering of the church on
the occasion of prayer or eucharist for the sake of the labour of his
hands or for any worldly work. And that he should not go for any
spectacle of the theatre, hearing the words of the pagans and denying
his soul the hearing of the Scriptures of life, nor to any alien assembly
of heretics. And that the children of the church should hear and serve
within it without idleness. And that no Christian man should prefer
to desist from working at a craft, which is absolutely foreign to the
church.
the fourteenth chapter

Concerning widows and concerning the time of their institution in
the church. Praise of her who keeps her station of widowhood before
God, and condemnation of her who abandons her position. And
exhortation to the bishops concerning the widows and the poor and
the needy.
the fifteenth chapter

That it is proper for widows to conduct themselves quietly and mod-
estly, and that women should not teach, even be they widows of the
church, and likewise not laymen. And about the deceit of false wid-
ows, and about the conduct of chaste widows. That is right that wid-
ows be obedient to the bishops and deacons and that they should not
do anything without permission, and that they are to be condemned if
they do anything of this nature, or pray with those who are separated.
98
That it is not permitted for a woman to baptize. And regarding the

envy of false widows, once again, among themselves, and a rebuke on
those who curse on account of their envy.
the sixteenth chapter

Concerning the installation of deacons and deaconesses, and concern-
ing the right manner in which they should conduct themselves in their
ministry, without idleness or negligence.
the seventeenth chapter

It is right that the bishops should take care of orphans, and that those
left whilst young should be given out to be raised; and that sentence
has been passed upon you, upon those who have and are not in need,
who are greedy, who take the gifts which are given to the church for
the orphans and the poor.
the eighteenth chapter

An exhortation to the bishops that they should be careful and circum-
spect in not receiving gifts for the support of orphans, widows and the
poor from those who are blameworthy, even if they are compelled to
destruction, and that they are guilty should they accept them. And that
the prayers of the poor who have been supplied by these people are not
heard when they pray for such as these. It is right that they should
receive from those who are faithful and righteous to meet the needs of
the poor, as for redemption of prisoners and the downtrodden.
the nineteenth chapter

Exhortation to bishops that they should be solicitous for those who are
being persecuted or imprisoned on account of the name of Christ.
Them they should visit, but they should avoid any who has been tried
by judges on account of some crime and is being punished. And again
an exhortation to all Christians that they should suffer with those who
suffer on account of Christ, and that they should not deny nor abandon
them out of fear; anyone who denies them denies his own Christianity,
and Christ himself; and he should pray that he enter not into testing.
the twentieth chapter

We are taught concerning the resurrection of the dead not only from
the holy Scriptures but also from arguments from pagan books, and
also by means of arguments from nature. So let us be steadfast, as men
99
who believe and hold to the truth of the resurrection, not refusing
martyrdom on behalf of Christ, should we be so called.
the twenty-first chapter

Exhorting every Christian to keep himself away from any conversation
which is wicked or flippant, and from practices which are wicked or
pagan. Concerning the holy fast; and concerning the passion of the
Lord, and his crucifixion, and concerning the fourteenth of the Pascha
of the Jews, and concerning the Friday of the passion and the sabbath
of the Gospel and the first day in the week of the resurrection of our
Saviour. Concerning the sorrow of the sabbath day of the people of the
Jews, and concerning the rejoicing of the people of the Christians.
the twenty-second chapter

A commandment concerning children that they should be set to learn-
ing a trade, and should not learn the evil habits of idleness. And that
wives should be found for them when they are of age so that they do
not fall into sin, and their parents be held at fault for their sins.
the twenty-third chapter

Concerning heresies and schisms, and that those who divide the
churches are sentenced to the Gehenna of fire like Korah, Dathan and
Abiram, those who sought to divide Israel. Furthermore, teaching that
the church of God is one, and that those of the heresies are not
churches of God.
the twenty-fourth chapter

A declaration that God has departed from the synagogues of the peo-
ple and has come to the church of the peoples. And that Satan has
removed himself from the people of the Jews and does not continue to
test them, yet he has come to the church that he might bring about
schism and division within her. Firstly he raised up Simon the sorcerer
against her, and then false apostles from among the Jews who pres-
sured the Christians to conduct themselves as Jews.
the twenty-fifth chapter

Teaching that the apostles assembled themselves and put in good order
the troubles and contentions which were in the church, removing the
stumbling-blocks which false apostles had brought about, and setting
the people free from observing the law of Moses, and writing books to
100
all the churches of the peoples about what they should of necessity
observe; and they wrote this Didascalia.
the twenty-sixth chapter

It shows that the apostles turned themselves afresh to the churches of
the gentiles as they did when the proclamation began, and going
among them they put them in good order and established them firmly,
and set canons for them.
the twenty-seventh chapter

It teaches what the law is and what is the secondary legislation, warn-
ing all Christians to shun the shackles of the secondary legislation and
should not seek to bear them. And that any who desires to bear them
is subjected to that curse which the law lays down for him. And he
confirms the curse which is on our Saviour.
And so ends the Didascalia, and the preface which concerns them.
Thus concludes the presentation of the contents of the Didascalia,
that is to say the teaching of the holy apostles.
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Chapters.qxd:Chapters.qxd 5/12/09 10:58 AM Page 103
THE CATHOLIC DIDASCALIA,

THAT IS TO SAY THE TEACHING
OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES
AND THE HOLY DISCIPLES
OF THE SAVIOUR1
the first chapter:

On the simple and natural law
[1] God’s planting of the vineyard, his catholic church and those who are
chosen, who have believed in that which is a true religion without error,2
who bring forth the fruit of his eternal Kingdom, and through faith in
his Kingdom receive strength, and a share in his Holy Spirit, who are
armed by him and are equipped by fear of him, who share in the sprin-
kling of the glorious and innocent blood of Christ,3 who have received
confidence to address the all-powerful God as Father, who are co-heirs
and co-participants with his chosen child,4 hear the sacred teaching,5
looking forward to his promise, which is6 from the command of the
Saviour and is in keeping with his glorious pronouncements.
[1.1] Be careful, sons of God, to do everything in submission to God,
and be well-pleasing in everything to the Lord our God. If anyone
follows after wickedness, and does what is contrary to the will7 of our
1 On the translation of this title see Cox (1975a). Cf. Connolly (1929), xxvii-xxviii.
2 ‘Without error’: so Lat. and CA. Syr. reads ‘simplicity’, misreading the Greek
a)planh~ (without error) as a(plh~n (simple).
3 ‘Christ’: so Lat. and CA; Syr. reads ‘the great God Jesus Christ.’
4 Lat. puer and CA pai~j; this usage is a mark of antiquity, which indicates the age
of the source, here the catechetical manual.

5 So Lat. and CA. Syr.: ‘Hear the didascalia (transliterated) of God.’
6
So Lat. and CA. Syr: ‘Which is written.’
7 So Syr., supported by CA qelh/mati. Lat. has ‘name’ (nomine). Hauler (1900)
emends nomine to numine, in an attempt to explain the error.
103
Lord God, he should be considered ungodly, a heathen far from God.

2. Keep yourself therefore from all avarice, and malice, and covet noth-
ing.8 For it is written in the law: ‘You shall not covet anything that is
your neighbour’s: neither his field, nor his wife, nor his servant, nor his
maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything of his property’9 for anything
such is from the evil one. 3. For whoever desires the wife of his neigh-
bour, or his servant or his maid is even now an adulterer and a thief and
is considered a wrongdoer10 by our Lord and teacher Jesus Christ, to
whom be the glory for ever. Amen.
4. For it says in the Gospel, repeating and confirming and fulfilling
the decalogue of the law, ‘whereas it is written in the law: “You shall
not commit adultery”, I however say to you . . .’,11 that is, I who spoke
in the law through Moses now however myself speak to you: ‘Anyone
who looks upon the wife of his neighbour with lust has even now com-
mitted adultery with her in his heart.’ Thus anyone who desires12 is
condemned as an adulterer.13 5. Moreover is anyone who covets his
neighbour’s ox or ass not intending to steal or abduct it? Or again, is
anyone who covets a field not giving consideration to overrunning his
boundaries so that he may sell him his own property for nothing?
6. For this reason there come about murders, deaths,14 and the con-
demnation of God upon such persons.15
7. For those, however, who are obedient to God there is one law,
simple and true and pleasant,16 indisputably binding upon Christians,
that is: ‘What you would not done to you by another, do not do to
another.’17 8. You do not want anyone to turn his attention to your
8
Cf. D 1.3.
9 So Syr. with support from CA. Lat. follows Ex 20:17; Dt 5:21: ‘You shall not
covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his servant, nor his maid.’
10 Syr. adds ‘Like those who lie with males’. Connolly (1929), 4, suggests that the
addition has come about through a paraphrase of the phrase, found at D 5.2 and
reflected in Lat., kai\ w(j fqoreu\j ke/kritai.
11 Mt 5:27.
12 So the Syr. MSS, and CA. Editors of the Syriac have read ‘desired’ as Lat. desider-
auit. However Lat. desiderauit may reasonably be emended to desidauerit, a form

which appears earlier in the chapter in the same context.
13 There is an obvious lacuna in Lat. here, which may be confidently restored from
Syr. and CA.

14
Cf. D 3.2.
15
Lat. has a small lacuna here; Syr. and CA supply the content satisfactorily.
16 Lat. omits ‘pleasant’. Connolly (1929), 4-5, suggests that the word renders xrhsto/j,
which would result in a play with ‘Christians’ in the line below. CA has simply zw~n.
17 Cf. Tob 4:15; D 1.2.
104
TRANSLATION OR VERSION
wife with evil intent, to lead her astray; so do not yourself turn your
attention to your neighbour’s wife with evil intent. 9. You do not want
anybody to take away your cloak; so do not take that belonging to
another.18 10. You do not want to be hurt, or to suffer injury, or to be
insulted; do not deal thus with any other. [1.2] But, if anyone curses
you, bless him, as it is written in the book of Numbers: ‘Whoever gives
blessings is blessed, and whoever curses will be cursed.’19 Moreover, it
is likewise written in the Gospel: ‘Bless those who curse you.’20 2. Do
not seek to harm in return those who seek your harm, but be patient,
as the Scripture says: ‘Do not say: “I shall harm my enemy, as he
harmed me”. But be patient, as the Lord will assist you, and make you
triumphant over anyone who harms you.’21 3. For again, it says in the
Gospel: ‘Love those who hate you, and pray for those who curse you,
and you shall have no enemy.’22 4. Let us pay attention to these com-
mands, beloved, so that, when we perform them, we may be found to
be sons of light.
the second chapter

On husbands
Teaching every man that he should be pleasing solely to his wife, and should
not adorn himself and be a stumbling-block to women, should be no lover of
idleness, should occupy himself with the Scriptures of life and shun the scrip-
tures of idolatry and the shackles of the secondary legislation, and that he shall
not bathe in the bath with women, and should not give his life to the wicked-
ness of prostitutes.
[1.3] Bear with one another, you1 servants and sons of God; 2. thus a
man should not be haughty or arrogant towards his wife,2 but should
be generous, and his hand should be open in giving. To his wife alone
he should be captivating, and pay court to her alone, and should seek
to be loved by her alone, and by none other.
18
Cf. ps-Clement Hom. 7.4.
19
Num 24:9.
20 Lk 6:27-28 and par. Cf. D 1.3.
21 Prov 20:22.
22
Mt 5:44 and par. Cf. D 1.3.
1
Following Syr. Lat. has sicuti; possibly the vocative w) has been read as w(j.
2 Lat. breaks off here.
105
3. Do not adorn yourself so that a strange woman may see you and
desire you; if you are forced by her and sin with her, a fiery death,
everlasting in unremitting and bitter fire, will come upon you as con-
demnation from God. You shall know and understand this when you
are undergoing grievous torture.
4. If you do not do such a corrupt thing, but keep yourself away
from her and avoid her, you have sinned in one respect only, that
through your adornment you have caused the woman to be taken
with desire for you. For you brought it about, it happened on your
account, that she committed adultery in her lusting. 5. But you are
not held accountable for sin, in that you did not desire her. There will
be compassion for you from the Lord, for the reason that you did not
give yourself up to her, that you did not consent when she sent for
you, and did not turn in thought to that woman who was taken with
lust for you, 6. but she encountered you by chance, and was taken in
her thought and sent for you. You, however, as a man who fears God,
denied her, and kept far from her, and did not sin with her, whereas
she was agitated in her heart because you are young and fair and
handsome and made yourself attractive and on this account caused
her to desire you. And so you find yourself guilty of her sin, since this
came about because of your adornment. 7. Beseech, then, the Lord
God that this is not written to your account. 8. And if you wish to
please God and not people, if you are looking for and hoping for life
and everlasting repose, do not adorn the beauty of your nature which
is given you from God, but in humility and neglect make yourself
poor in human sight.
Again, you should not grow your hair, but cut it;3 nor should you
comb it and dress it or perfume it, so that you do not attract those women
to yourself who are intent on capturing, or who have been captured by
lust. 9. Also you should not dress in fine clothes, nor put shoes on your
feet which are worked with the lust of foolishness.4 Nor should you put
3
So also Philo, De Specialibus legibus 3.37, and ps-Phocylides Sententiae 210-212,
indicating the possibility of a Jewish origin to some of this material.
4
The prohibition on the wearing of fine clothes is not simply a prohibition of
conspicuous consumption but may be seen as the avoidance of being drawn into net-
works of influence, as Epictetus Dissertatio 4.6.4 suggests that the wearing of fine and
decorated clothes is a manner of gaining attention so that one is perceived as being
wealthy, and therefore able to offer amicitia. Advice on clothing is not lacking in an-
cient literature; thus Quintilian Institutio oratoria 11.3.137-144 advises the orator on the
correct manner of dress, which should be uirilis and Valerius Maximus Facta et dicta
memorabilia 3.6 discusses the occasional liberty in dress taken by great men.
106
golden rings upon your fingers,5 for all these things are the crafts of whore-
mongering, and everything that you do is contrary to nature. 10. For you,
a faithful man of God, it is not lawful to grow the hair of your head and
to comb it and to dress it, for this is a delicacy of lust. You shall not arrange
it or adorn it or style it to make it beautiful. 11. You shall not destroy the
hairs of your beard,6 nor alter the form of your face to make it unnatural
and different from the manner in which God created it in order to please
people;7 if you do such things your soul will be lacking in life and you will
become hateful in the sight of the Lord God. 12. Therefore, if you are a
man whose desire is to please God, be careful to do no such thing as these.
And shrink from everything which the Lord despises.
[1.4] And you should not wander around and hang about the
market places, watching the idle spectacle of those who behave badly,
but persevere in your craft and in your trade, and be willing and
ready to do what is pleasing to God. Moreover you should be con-
stantly meditating on the sayings of the Lord. [1.5] If, however, you
are rich, and have no need to make a living by working at a trade, do
not wander around and hang about aimlessly, but at all times go
among the faithful and those who are of one mind with you, medi-
tating and learning together with them through the living words.8
2. Otherwise stay at home and read from the law, and the book of
Kings and the prophets9 and the Gospel which fulfils them.10 [1.6]
The books of the pagans, however, avoid! 2. What do you have to do
with strange sayings, or laws and false prophets, which readily pres-
ent errors to simple-minded people?11 3. For what is lacking in the
word of God that you should throw yourself onto these pagan tales?
4. If you desire stories, you have the book of Kings.12 If, however,
5
Epictetus Dissertatio 1.22.18-20 introduces a figure of a white-haired old man
with fingers encrusted with rings, who is gross and ignorant. Cf., moreover, again,
Quintilian Institutio oratoria 11.3.142, who states that the orator’s hand should not be
over-encumbered with rings.
6 Depilation for men is mentioned at Rome by numerous authors, e.g. Seneca
Ep. 56, Martial Epigrammata 3.74, Suetonius Diuus Julius 45. Nonetheless the men
depicted at Dura Europos are all clean shaven.
7
Such was the use of cosmetics by men in the Empire that Juvenal charges that the
emperor Otho carried his cosmetics and mirror to war (Satura 2).
8
Cf. D 4.2.
9 Lat. resumes here.
10 So Syr. Lat. reads ‘the fulfillment of all of these’, CA ‘which is their fulfillment.’
11 So Lat., supported by CA. Cf. Syr.: ‘which turn away the young, those who are
young, from the faith.’

12
Lat. here is corrupted by the addition of the word legere, which Connolly (1929),
13, suggests was a gloss.
107
rhetoric and poetry,13 you have the prophets, in which you shall find
wisdom and understanding14 greater than that of all poetry and rhet-
oric, for they are the words of the one God, only wise.15 5. If you
wish for songs you have the Psalms, if the origin of the world’s cre-
ation you have Genesis,16 and if laws and instructions you have the
glorious Law17 of the Lord. 6. Therefore keep away completely from
all such foreign and devilish writings.18
7. However, when you read the law be wary that you read it only,
and simply read it.19 Keep away from all its instructions and com-
mands20 so that you do not lead yourself astray and21 bind yourself and
weigh yourself down with ancient22 bonds which cannot be undone.
For this reason, if you should read the secondary legislation, read it
with this mind, that you know and glorify God who sets us free from
such great bonds as these.23 8. Let this be before your eyes, that you
know what in the law24 is the law and what the bonds of the second-
ary legislation which, subsequent to the law, was imposed bringing
13
Translating sofistica et poetica, (so also CA: cf. Syr. ‘wise men and philosophers’,
probably deriving from a misunderstanding of sofistika/.)
14 So Syr. Lat. reads narrationem. CA (a)gxi/noian) is closer to Syr. Connolly
(1929), 13, suggests a copying error for gnarationem, which seems a little strained but is
not impossible.
15
So Syr. and CA. Cf. Lat., ‘ . . . for they are the wisdom and the words of the one
and only Lord.’
16
So Lat. and CA. Cf. Syr., ‘Genesis of the great Moses.’
17 Cf. Syr: ‘The law, the book of Exodus.’ e1ndocon has been misread as e1codon.
18 ‘Writings’ is absent in Syr. and CA, but its inclusion seems to be necessitated by
the context. That the original audience for this material was of a relatively high social
status should already be abundantly clear; the implication that the audience was liter-
ate thus fits in with this. Given the use of a source we should be wary, however, of
assuming that the congregation addressed (at any point in its redactional develop-
ment) by DA (which may be taken as coming into existence with the work of the unit-
ing redactor) necessarily exhibited a large number of such socially superior persons.
19 There is a phrase missing in Lat., and this has been rendered from Syr. Many
Syriac MSS (and one marginal note) read: ‘When you read the law be wary of the
secondary legislation that you read it only . . .’
20 Lat. reads creaturis; this is clearly corrupt and so the word is supplied from Syr.
Again Connolly (1929), 13, suggests an unfamiliar usage has been miscopied, though is
unable to suggest one.
21 ‘Lead yourself astray and’ om. Syr.
22
‘Ancient’ (ueteribus) appears in Lat. only.
23 So Lat. Syr. reads: ‘From all these bonds.’ CA gives no guidance.
24
‘In the law’ om. CA and Lat. However, the phrase seems necessary, as the point
is that the reader should be able to discern, within the books of the law, what is law
binding on Christians and what is secondary; the omission of the phrase is, moreover,
readily comprehensible.
108
severe burdens for those who under the law, and under the repeated
legislation, sinned so severely in the wilderness. 9. For the law is that
which the Lord God spoke before the people made the calf and turned
to idolatry, that is the decalogue and the judgements.25 However, after
their idolatry he commanded, and justly laid bonds26 upon them, but
do not therefore lay such chains upon yourself,27 10. for our Saviour
came for no other reason than to fulfill the law and weaken the
chains28 of the secondary legislation. Therefore he calls out to those
from the people29 who believed in him, releasing them from these very
chains as he says: ‘Come to me, all who labour and are heavily bur-
dened.’30 11. You, therefore, who are unburdened, read the simple law,
that which is in accordance with the Gospel, and the Gospel itself, and
the prophets, and the Kings, so that you may know from them that the
kings who were just were prospered by the Lord in this age, and con-
tinued in the promise of eternal life,31 and that those kings who were
idolaters and turned away from God perished miserably and quickly
through the just judgement of God,32 and were excluded from the
Kingdom of God, and received punishment instead of rest. 12. There-
fore, when you read these things you will be able to grow the better in
the faith and be built up.
13. And again,33 when you walk in the marketplace, use the male
baths,34 so that you do not fall into a snare, or cause a woman35 to be
25
A point elaborated at greater length in the twenty-fourth chapter below (6.15 ff.)
26 Lat. reads ‘legislation’. Ligationes has been miscopied as legationes.
27 So Lat., with some support from CA. Syr. reads simply ‘but do not lay them on
yourself.’
28
‘Weaken the chains’, Lat. and CA. Syr. reads ‘loosen the bonds.’
29
‘From the people’ om. Syr. CA gives no guidance as the whole phrase is simply
rendered as ‘us.’ However the fact that this is an issue relating directly to those who
had come into the church from Judaism is made clear below. Thus see 6.18.11 and the
introduction 4.b.
30
Syr. adds: ‘And I will give you rest.’
31 So Syr., CA. Lat. reads ‘eternal life in the Kingdom of God.’
32 Lat. reads ‘perished miserably and quickly’ Syr. reads ‘Perished miserably
through a summary judgement.’ However the middle term would seem to be CA,
which is rendered here.
33
Syr. reads: ‘Afterwards, when you arise . . .’; the phrase is absent in Lat. and CA.
34 Syr. adds ‘and not in the women’s (bath).’ The absence of this phrase in CA and
Lat. indicates that this is an interpolation of the translator. Schöllgen (1995), 183, sug-
gests that the interpolation means that the issue is of particular importance to the
translator. On mixed baths generally see 1.9 below with the accompanying notes.
35 Lat inserts ‘readily’ here. Connolly (1929), 17, suggests that facile is actually the
beginning of the following word, facias.
109
ensnared on your account, when you show your body unclad in an

unseemly manner. 14. Be careful not to do these things, and you shall
live36 to God.
[1.7] We learn, then, what the holy word says in Wisdom:37
2. ‘Son, keep my words, and hide my commandments within your-
self. Son, honour God, and you shall be strengthened, and beside
him fear no other.38 3. Keep my commandments, and you will be
able to live well, and my words like the apple of an eye. Put them on
your fingers, and write them on the table of your heart. 4. Say that
wisdom is your sister, and make acquaintance with understanding,
that you may keep yourself from any foreign and wicked woman, if
she begins to flatter you with precious words. 5. She looks forth into
the street from the window of her house, to see if any foolish young
man is going around the corner to her house, and speaks to him in
the shades of evening when it is dark and quiet, 6. and the woman
goes out to him with the appearance of a prostitute, so that the
youthful heart flutters. She is wanton and bold, and her feet are not
quiet in her house, for she goes out into the public places, and
spends her time on the streets, at the corners. 7. And after this she
grabs him and kisses him, and says to him, with a brazen face, 8. “I
have a peace-offering with me, and today I pay my vows. Because of
this I have gone forth into your path, desiring your face, I have
found you. I have spread my bed with a coverlet, and I have laid out
rugs from Egypt. I have sprinkled saffron on my bed, and my house
with cinnamon. 9. Come, and let us enjoy intimacy until the dawn,
come and let us embrace in desire. For my husband is not at home,
he has gone on a long journey, with a money-bag in his hand. He
will come to his home after many days.” 10. And so she seduced him
with many words, and she drew him into the snare with her lips.
11. Whoever follows her is struck down, just as an ox is led to
slaughter, and a dog to the leash, and just as a stag is struck in the
36
Syr. Lat. reads ‘you live’, probably an error (uiuis being written for uiues.) CA
paraphrases.
37
The citation is from Proverbs 7:1-27; 5:1-14; however ‘Wisdom’ is used of
Proverbs frequently in the second century. Eusebius states at HE 4.22 that the term was
used by Hegesippus, Irenaeus, ‘and a crowd of elder writers’; we also find the term at
Justin Dial. 129 and 1 Clem. 57.3. It is used throughout DA; thus note 1.8.2, 1.8.19,
1.8.20, 1.10.2, 2.5.5, 2.14.7, 2.34.6, 2.43.3 and 4.11.2.
38
‘Beside him fear no other’ is present in both Syr. and Lat., but is a reading unique
to the LXX, an indication, as Nau, (1902), 13, points out, that the Greek version
employed LXX.
110
liver with an arrow. He hurried like a bird into a snare, not knowing
that his soul is at risk. 12. Now, children, hear me and listen to the
words of my mouth. Do not let your heart wander; for she harms
and murders many, and those she has killed are without number.
And the ways of her house lead down to hell, to the depths of death.
13. Children, listen to my wisdom and lend your ear to my under-
standing, so that you may keep hold of good thoughts. I announce
to you the meaning of my lips. 14. Do not listen to a false woman,39
for honey drips down from the lips of a prostitute, which at the time
is pleasant in your throat, but which you will afterwards find more
bitter than wormwood, and sharper than a double-edged sword. 15.
For the feet of folly lead those who use her into hell with death, and
her footsteps are not seen. Her path does not lead to life, her ways are
falsehood and they are not well-known. 16. Therefore, children, lis-
ten to me, and do not make light of what I say. Keep yourself far
from her, and do not approach the gates of her house, so that you do
not betray your life to others, and your habitation to those who are
without mercy, so that strangers are not satisfied with your strength
and your labours do not contribute to the houses of foreigners, and
you are sorry at the last, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
and you say: “Why did I hate discipline, and my heart disregard cor-
rection, and why did I not listen to the voice of the one who sought
to guide me and not incline my ear? I am set about by every evil.”’
17. And so that we should not overextend this instruction with
many words, if we have omitted anything choose, as wise people,40
what is good from the holy Scriptures and from the Gospel of God so
that you may be strengthened, and drive away and cast from yourselves
all that is evil, and be found faultless in life everlasting with God.41
the third chapter

The teaching for women, that they should be pleasing and respectful to their
husbands alone; they should care assiduously and sensibly for the works of
39 ‘Do not listen to a false woman’, a reading from LXX, is found in Lat. and CA
but not in Syr.

40 Lat. fails here.
41 Cf. this conclusion to K 15, concluding the two ways section of K. Although the
catechetical manual continues for some time this interim conclusion is an indication
that the catechesis was given in parts and possibly separately to distinct groups, as
Grapte teaches the women (Hermas Vis. 1.4).
111
their houses with diligence; and that they should not wash together with the
men, and that they should not adorn themselves so that they become a
stumbling-block to men, nor ensnare them. They should be modest and gen-
tle, and not quarrelsome with their husbands.
[1.8] Again, a woman should be subjected to her husband, since the

head of a woman is a man,1 and the head of a man who walks in
the way of righteousness is Christ, 2. after the Lord who is over all,
our God and Father of worlds, of that which is and that which is
to be, and the Lord of every breath and of all powers, and his living
and Holy Spirit, to whom be glory and honour for ever and ever,
amen.2
O woman, fear your husband and revere him, and to him alone be
pleasing, and be ready to serve him, and let your hands be ready for the
wool and your mind on the spindle,3 just as it says in Wisdom:
3. ’A valiant woman, who can find her? For she is worth more than
precious stones of great price. Her husband’s heart relies on her, and he
is wanting4 in nothing. In everything she is a helpmeet to her husband,
and ensures that his household is lacking in nothing, 4. making wool
and linen with her accomplished hands. She is a good provider, like a
merchant ship, and has gathered her wealth from distant lands. 5. Ris-
ing in the night she has given covering5 to her household and work to
her servants. She looked upon a cultivated field and bought it, and has
planted a possession from the fruits of her hands. 6. She has girded her
1 Eph 5:22; 1 Cor 11:3.

2 Although Syr. is translated here as extant, we may note the suggestion of Vööbus
(1979b), 20, that the original text has undergone some expansion as the doxology
seems out of place at this point. However, if we overlook the (later) chapter division it
may be observed that there is a change of address at this point as women are then
addressed directly. It may be that the statement that a wife should be subject is the
conclusion of the earlier address (to husbands) and that the doxology therefore
concluded that section of the source.
3 Cf. Mishnah Ketuboth 5.5: ‘These are the tasks that the wife must carry out for
her husband: she must grind corn and bake and do washing, cooking, and suckle her
child, make his bed for him, and work in wool. If she brought him one
bondswoman, she need not grind or bake or wash. If two she does not have to cook
or give suck to her child; if three, she is not required to make his bed or work in
wool; if four, she may sit on a raised seat. R Eliezer says, “Even if she brought him a
hundred bondswomen, he can compel her to work in wool, since idleness leads to
lewdness.”’
4
Some MSS follow the Peshitta, and have ‘she is wanting’.
5 Cf. ‘food’ in Peshitta, LXX and CA.
112
loins with strength, and made her arms firm, and tasted that labour is
good, and her lamp is not extinguished throughout the night. She has
put forth her arms in diligence and her hands to the spindle. 7. She
stretched forth her hands to the poor, and has given of her fruits to the
needy, 8. and her husband has no anxiety regarding the house, since all
in his household have been clothed with a double garment. She has
made garments of fine white linen and purple for her husband. 9. Her
husband is notable when he sits at the gates in the council of the
elders. 10. She has made linen in her house, and girdles which she sold
to the Canaanites. She has strength and honour for clothing, and she
shall rejoice at the last day. 11. She has opened her mouth with wis-
dom and understanding, and her tongue speaks good order. The ways
of her house are strict, and she has not eaten bread in idleness. She has
opened her mouth, rightly, in wisdom, and the law of mercy is on her
tongue. 12. Her sons arose and grew rich and praised her, and she shall
rejoice in them in her last days. Her husband also gave her praise, and
her many daughters have become rich. She did many deeds of great-
ness, and she is exalted above all women. 13. For a woman who fears
God shall be blessed, and the fear of the Lord shall glorify her. 14. Give
her the fruits that are worthy of her lips, and let her husband be
praised in every place.’6 15. And again: ‘A valiant woman is her hus-
band’s crown.’7
16. Thus you have learnt that a woman who is chaste and loving
towards her husband receives great praise from the Lord God. She is
found faithful, and desirous of pleasing God. 17. You, therefore,
woman, shall not adorn yourself in order to please other men; do not
dress your hair with the hairstyle of a harlot, nor dress yourself in the
clothing of a harlot, nor shod yourself with shoes so that you resem-
ble those of this kind, so that you do not bring upon yourself those
who are attracted by such things. 18. Even if you do not yourself sin
and actually defile yourself, nonetheless you have sinned in that you
have forced and caused someone to desire you.8 Yet if you have
sinned, you have also lost your life,9 and are held guilty, moreover, for
6
Prov 31:10-31.
7 Prov 12:4.
9 Cf. Syr.: ‘Have destroyed your life from God.’
113
his soul as well. 19. And after this, when you have sinned with one,
you will grow reckless and go on to another, as he says in Wisdom,10
‘When the wicked has come to the depth of evils, he has no heed of
them, and dishonour and reproach will come upon him.’11 For such
is one who, stricken in her soul and taken with desire, entraps the
souls of the foolish.12
20. Therefore let us learn the manner in which the holy word
exposes13 such through the same Wisdom, for it says:
‘Beauty, to a woman who does evil, is like a golden ring in a pig’s
nose.’14 21. And again: ‘A wicked woman destroys a man like a worm
in wood.’15 22. And again: ‘A stupid and vexatious woman, who
knows no shame, comes to lack bread. She sits on a stool in the gates
of her house, and steps into the streets and calls out to those who pass
by, to them who are passing this route, and says: 23. “Whoever of you
is foolish, make your way to me.” And to those without understand-
ing to govern them, saying: “Touch the bread which is hidden with
love, and stolen waters which are sweet.”16 24. And being unaware
that giants perish through her, he falls onto a springboard into the
depths.17 But flee from her speedily, and do not recollect her place.’18
And again: ‘It is better to live in a dark corner than with a garrulous
and nagging woman.’19
10 ‘As he says in Wisdom’ is missing in Lat.

11 Prov 18:3.
12 So Syr. Lat. is possibly corrupt, reading ‘Such is one who wounds and entraps
the souls of the foolish’, whereas CA indicates that the verb ‘wound’ is a passive partici-
ple, hence leading editors to emend uulnerat to uulnerata. On the other hand, where-
as Syr. conveys the meaning of CA, it is possible that there is some expansion in the
material, for CA simply reads ‘such is one who, so grievously stricken, entraps the souls
of the foolish.’
13
The translation of this word is borrowed from Connolly (1929). The Greek,
represented by CA, has qriambeu/ei, which has the rare meaning of ‘noise abroad.’ Lat.
translates directly as ‘triumphat’, though the Latin word simply means ‘enjoy triumph
over.’
14 Prov 11:22.
15 Prov 12:4.
16
Cf. Lat.: ‘You shall eat loaves hidden in snow (pruina being read for pruna) with
delectation, and you shall drink secret water which is sweet’
17
As Vööbus (1979b), 26, points out, Syr. here is influenced by Peshitta. Lat.
transliterates Greek pe/tauron, so indicating that this passage has been translated
accurately. Hence at this point Lat. is followed.
18 Prov 9:13-18.
19 Prov 21:9, 19.
114
26. Therefore, you Christians should not imitate those women who
are like this. If you wish to be a believer,20 look after your husband so
that you are pleasing21 to him alone. And when you walk in the street
cover your head with your robe so that your great beauty is concealed
by your veiling.22 27. And do not paint the natural face which God has
made for you,23 but complete your journey looking downwards so that
your robe can fall over you.
[1.9] And refuse to bathe where men wash, because this is unneces-
sary for a woman.24 For if there is a women’s bath in your town or area
a believing woman is not to bathe in the bath in which men bathe.25 If
you conceal your face so that you may not be seen by other men, how
can you go naked in a bath with other men? 2. However, if there is no
women’s bath which you may use, and you wish to bathe with men, in
opposition to nature, bathe in moderation, and with awareness and
with care. 3. And do not bathe in such baths with frequency, nor for
an extended period, not at noon, but not, if at all possible, daily.26
20
In this statement we may perhaps note some indication of the catechetical
origin of this section.
21 Lat. is corrupt here but Syr. is clear.
22 Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae. 267 A-B indicates that the covering of the head
was usual for women in the eastern Empire. The women depicted in the Dura Euro-
pos mural of the finding of Moses all wear veils over their heads.
23
For other early Christian condemnation of cosmetics for women, apart from the
material in Clement of Alexandria Paedagogus noted in the introduction, see Tertullian
De cultu feminarum 2.5.
24 ‘Because this is unnecessary for a woman’ is absent in Syr. Possibly the word
‘unnecessary’ reflects the word a1takton, which means ‘disorderly’, applied to the bath
in CA. Similarly, when, in 9.2 below, it is said that women should bathe in moderation,
and with awareness and with care, this may reflect eu)ta/ktwj meta\ ai)dou~j
memetrhme/noij found at the corresponding point in CA. Although Schöllgen (1995),
184-186, suggests that the term quod superfluum est mulieri here is a deliberate alteration
by the translator and likewise that CA has added both a1takton and eu)ta/ktwj, the
Coptic fragment published by Camplani (1996), reading here 6nou`wke7nataktos,
strongly supports the retention of these terms. This witness, we should note, was un-
available to Schöllgen.
25
Lat. reads ‘even if there is not a women’s bath . . . a believing woman is not to
bathe in the bath in which men bathe . . .’ Tidner (1963) and Connolly (1929) bracket
non for, as Connolly suggests, two instances are being considered, namely the situation
where there is a women’s bath and the situation where there is not, but Schöllgen
(1995), 184-185, suggests again that this a deliberate alteration by the translator. This is
possible, in view of the emphasis put on the fact that the bath is unnecessary. The pas-
sage is also discussed by Corssen (1900) and Nestle (1901).
26 This sentence is rendered from Lat. with strong support from CA. Syr. reads
‘And not at all times, nor every day, and not at noon . . .’
115
4. The tenth hour should be set for you for that unnecessary27 bath. It
is fitting that, as one who is considered to be among the faithful, you
should altogether avoid the gaze of eyes and the looks which are to be
met in such a bath.28
[1.10] Nor should you be at strife with anyone, and especially not
with your husband. Since you are of the faithful, exclude this evil
from yourself. If your husband, whether he is of the faithful or a
heathen, is offended on your account and blasphemes against God
you too will receive woe from God. ‘Woe betide’, he says, ‘any
through whom my name is blasphemed amongst the gentiles.’29 2.
If, however, your husband is of the faithful, he may be obliged to say
what is written in Wisdom: ‘It is better to live in a dark corner than
with a garrulous and nagging woman.’30 3. Women should demon-
strate religion through modesty and gentleness,31 so that those who
are of the heathen may be turned and grow into faith, whether they
be men or women.
4. And if we have admonished and corrected you sisters and daugh-
ters and members of ourselves, in brief, you should seek out, as those
27 So Syr. and CA. Lat. reads ‘unnecessary bath’, repeating the word used in the
phrase above ‘unnecessary for a woman.’

28
Mixed bathing had a chequered history throughout the Empire; in general it
was considered scandalous, and women who bathed in mixed baths were consid-
ered indecent. Mixed bathing was banned by Hadrian, the ban being lifted by Mar-
cus Aurelius, and then re-imposed by Elagabalus. Whereas even villages might have
a public bath in the east of the Empire, only larger towns would have a women’s
bath, such as those known in the Imperial Palace and in Antioch. Smaller mixed
baths might attempt to enforce separation, through having separate entrances and
changing rooms, or, as appears to be suggested here, through separate hours for
women and for men. Thus noon is specifically disallowed as a time when women
should bathe, and the tenth hour (4pm) suggested, this being a time at which men
would probably have finished bathing, and the bath be set aside for women. Chris-
tian men are specifically instructed not to bathe with women, on the grounds that
this is pagan practice, by the thirtieth canon of the Council of Laodicea. For other
early Christian condemnations of mixed bathing note Clement of Alexandria Paed.
3.5 (indebted, as is suggested in the introduction, to the same catechetical tradition
as this part of DA) and Cyprian De habitu virginum 19. On the whole subject see
Yegül (1992) and, on the moral climate in particular, Schöllgen (1995) with the lit-
erature cited.
29
Cf. Is 52:5 to this agraphon, and also 2 Clement 13.2: ‘For the Lord says: “My
name is blasphemed among all the gentiles” and again: “Woe to those through whom
my name is blasphemed.”’
30
Prov 21:9, 19.
31 So Lat. and CA; Syr. reads ‘through a veil of modesty and humility.’
116
who are wise, those writings which are good and without the fault of
this present age, so that you may know the means by which you will be
able to approach the Kingdom of our God, and find rest through pleas-
ing him well.
the fourth chapter 1

Teaches the kind of man who should be elected to the episcopate, and what his
conduct should be like.
[2] Hear this concerning the bishop.2 [2.1] The shepherd who is
appointed as overseer3 of the presbytery in the church4 in every con-
gregation should be without blame, irreproachable,5 set apart from
any evil, a man not less than fifty years old, for so it will be evident
that he has put aside youthful manners6 and devilish vices, and is free
from the slanders which false brothers cast at many because of their
ignorance of the word of God7 which is in the Gospel: ‘Whoever says
an idle word shall answer for it at the day of judgement. By your own
words’ it says, ‘shall you be justified, and by your own words shall
you be condemned.’8 2. If possible, he should be learned,9 but if he
1
It is immediately before this chapter that MSS of the E family incorporate the
large block of extraneous material found in the appendix.
2 There is a blank space in Lat. in lieu of the first clause, which indicates that this
might have been read as a title. Certainly the phrase is to be included as a version of it
is rendered in CA.
3 Overseer: Syr. reads ‘bishop and head’ )$Yrw )PwQSYP), whereas
Lat. has constituitor in uisitatione (representing ei)j e)piskoph/n) and CA

kaqista/menon e)pi/skopon. ‘Bishop and head’ would thus appear to be an over-
translation on the part of Syr. Although, as argued in the introduction, the church-
es known to DA had not originally had presbyters, the source is fundamentally
presbyteral and, as I argue at greater length in (2006), the episcopate within the
community of kk had developed from the presbytery. The expression here makes
this brutally clear.
4 Lat. reads ‘churches.’ Although this plural is supported by CA, I suspect that both
versions understood the bishop to be set over a number of congregations rather than a
single congregation, which is the assumption behind the original.
5
Cf. 1 Tim 3:2.
6 Cf. 2 Tim 2:22.
7 ‘Word of God’ is translated in accordance with Lat. and CA. Syr. has ‘that word.’
8 Mt 12:36.
9
So Lat., ‘eruditus’ and CA pepaideume/noj. Syr. adds ‘and able to teach.’
‘Capable of teaching’ appears in 1 Tim 3:2, which may be the source here.
117
is unlettered10 he should be persuasive and skilful with words,11 and

of advanced years.12
3. If, however, the congregation in which the bishop is to be ordained
is small, and nobody of age is found of whom testimony to his wisdom
and suitability to stand in the episcopate13 might be given but, nonethe-
less, there is a youth,14 of whom those with him bear witness that he is
worthy of the episcopate and who, in spite of his youth, shows evidence
of maturity in his meekness and good conduct, he should be tested and
if he receives such testimony from all he should be seated15 in peace. 4.
For Solomon likewise was king over Israel at the age of twelve years,16
and Josiah reigned in righteousness at the age of eight years,17 and Joash
likewise reigned when he was seven years old.18
10 The possibility that the bishop might be illiterate is countenanced in kk. An
illiterate bishop would not be all that unusual, since, as has been noted in the introduc-
tion, the fundamental duties of the bishop are economic and disciplinary. Thus, in dis-
cussing K, Harnack (1895), 10, cites several examples of illiterate bishops from the third
century, and Funk (1887), 61, two examples from the fifth. Only with Justinian (Novella
6.4) do we find a prohibition on illiterate bishops. In part this is because written litur-
gies had now developed whereas, of course, no such thing existed in the third century.
11 Cf. Lat. notitiam habens uerbi diuini and CA e1mpeiroj tou~ logou~. It is thus
possible that Syr. has translated a single term with two words. The situation is compli-
cated as the MSS read, for the first word sPM (expert) whereas here, with Flemming
in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 13, I have read sYPM. Connolly (1929), reading
sPM with the MSS, translates as ‘versed and skilled in the word.’
12
Cf. Lat. stabilis aetate and CA, possibly connecting the phrase to the former
statement about the bishop’s skill in words, kaqh/kwn th|~ h(liki/a|.
13
The words ‘suitability to stand in the episcopate’ are absent in Lat. but present
in CA.
14 Some Syriac MSS have ‘a brother who is young’; others read as here, which is
also the reading of Lat.

15 Thus CA, which reads kaqisqa/sqw, with support from Syr. which reads ‘let
him sit.’ Lat. paraphrases and reads ‘he should be made bishop.’ On the significance
of this see below.
16
Whatever the source for this information, it is not Scripture. Nonetheless the
age of entering offices was flexible in reality, as this passage shows. Thus Gregory
Thaumaturge is appointed bishop, according to Eusebius HE 6.30, whilst young.
The need for a minimum age for one to act in the priesthood is debated at TB
Hullin 24B, and we may note that when the (young) Eleazer b. Azariah is
appointed leader of the academy at Yabneh white hairs appear in his beard as a sign
of the confirmation of the appointment (TB Berakoth 27B). See for some discussion
Blokscha (1931) and, with greater concentration on a later period, Eyben (1995). The
point of the discussion here, as elsewhere, is probably to prevent the appointment of
children as ‘honorary’ bishops, in the manner that child archisu᎑nagogoi appear to
have been appointed (such as the three-year old archisu᎑nagogos recorded at CII 587.)
17 2 Kg 21:1.
18 2 Kg 11:21.
118
5. Therefore, even if he is young, yet, he should be meek, fearful

and peaceable, since the Lord God says through Isaiah: ‘On whom
shall I look, except upon one who is meek, peaceable, and always
trembling at my words.’19 Likewise, in the Gospel, he speaks thus:
‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’20 6. He also
should be merciful, since he says: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for God
shall show mercy towards them.’21 7. Likewise he should be a peace-
maker, since again he says: Blessed are the peacemakers, since they
shall be called sons of God.’22 8. He should also be without malice, or
wickedness or ill-will, since he says, again: ‘Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God.’23 [2.2] ‘He should be sober, chaste, sta-
ble and orderly,24 not violent, not given overmuch to wine, not a back-
biter, but innocent, not contentious, not greedy, not a new convert so
that he should puffed up and so come under the judgement of Satan,25
since ‘anyone who lifts himself up shall be humbled.’26 2. Thus a
bishop should be ‘the husband of one wife, who conducts the affairs of
his household well.’27
3. So he should be tested when he is accepted with the imposition
of hands to sit in the place of the episcopate;28 if he is chaste, if he has,
19 Is 66:2. The term ‘always’ is included following CA and Lat. though NB Syr. om.
This is of greater significance than might appear at first sight, for the term is present
in the citation in D but not otherwise within TWT. Thus the matter of whether D was
a direct source is raised. Thus note the brief discussion of this point in the introduc-
tion, 2.b. In particular, given the omission in Syr., we may wonder whether Lat. and
CA are independently influenced by D.
20
Mt 5:5.
21
Mt 5:7.
22
Mt 5:9.
23 Mt 5:8.
24 ‘And orderly’ is missing in Lat. but present in CA.
25 1 Tim 3:2-3, 6. So Syr. Lat. reads ‘come under judgement.’ Decisive is CA which
reads kri/ma ...tou~ diabolou~.

26 Lk 14:11.
27
1 Tim 3:4.
28 Cf. Lat.: ‘with the imposition of hands and so ordained to the episcopate’. Some
Syriac MSS have ‘with the imposition of hands of bishops.’ As above, the Lat. translator
does not understand references to a rite of seating. This rite, however, is found else-
where in early Christianity, alongside the imposition of hands, as a significant part of
ordination rituals for bishops. This rite reflects a scholastic pre-occupation, since the
chair is the place of a teacher, and is arguably a rite which has been inherited from rab-
binic practice. For further references to the rite and some discussion see Stewart-Sykes
(2001c). There is reference (possibly from an independent source) to the bishop’s seat
(qro/noj in CA) at 2.57.4 below.
119
or had, a wife who is chaste and faithful,29 if he has raised his children
in the fear of God and has admonished and taught them,30 if those
who are within his household treat him with reverence and honour,
and are all subject to him. 4. For if those who are his family accord-
ing to the flesh make trouble for him and do not obey him, how then
are whose who are outside his household31 to become his and be sub-
ject to him.
[2.3] And he should be examined to determine whether he is with-
out blemish in the affairs of the world, and also in his body,32 for it is
written: ‘Observe that there be no blemish in him who stands up to
be priest.’33 2. He should also not be prone to anger, for the Lord says:
‘anger even destroys the wise.’34 3. And he should be merciful, com-
passionate and full of love, for the Lord says: ‘love covers a multitude
of sins.’35 [2.4] And his hand should be stretched out to give, and he
should be compassionate to the orphans together with the widows,
and compassionate to the poor and to the stranger. He should be
illustrious in his ministry and faithful in the ministry. He should have
contrition in his soul, and not shame.36 And he should know who
deserves to receive, 2. for if there is a widow who has possessions, or
has the means by which she might provide for the nourishment37 of
her body, and another who, though not a widow, is in need, whether
through sickness, or through raising children, or through bodily infir-
mity, it is to her that he should stretch forth his hand. 3. But if there
should be someone who is dissolute, or drunken, or idle, and is in
need of bodily nourishment, he is not worthy of charity, and not from
the church.
[2.5] The bishop should not be a respecter of persons, not one who
stands in deference to the rich or who pleases them beyond what is
29
So Lat. and CA: cf. Syr.: ‘ . . . if his wife likewise is a believer, and chaste.’
30
Cf. Lat.: ‘raised his children purely and educated them thoroughly.’ CA is here
closer to Syr.
32 ‘And also in his body’ is not found in CA, and Schöllgen, (1998), 104-105 (and
refs) notes the possibility that this clause is an interpolation, though determines that it
is not.
33
Lev 21:17.
34 Prov 15:1.
35 Cf. to this agraphon 1 Pet 4:8.
36
Flemming in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 15, takes this to mean that he should
have genuine repentance and not false modesty.
37
Reading here )trBYS. Some MSS read )twBYS (old age).
120
right. And he should not despise nor neglect the poor, nor be overbear-
ing upon them. 2. He should be moderate and sparing in his food and
drink so that he can be vigilant in admonishing and correcting the
undisciplined. He should not be cunning or calculating.38 He should
not be fond of luxury. He should not be pleasure-seeking. He should
not be fond of delicacies to eat. 3. He should not be impatient, but
forbearing in his admonition.
He should be very assiduous in his teaching, and should be most
assiduous in reading the divine Scriptures, so that he may interpret
and expound the Scriptures fittingly. He should make comparison of
the law and the prophets with the Gospel so that the statements of
the law and the prophets are brought into accordance with the
Gospel. 4. But chiefly he should be skilful at distinguishing between
the law and the secondary legislation, so that he may determine and
demonstrate what is the law of the faithful and what the bonds of
those who do not believe, lest anyone under your authority should
consider that the bonds are the law, lay heavy burdens upon himself,
and so become a son of perdition. 5. Therefore, bishop, be assiduous
and attentive to the word, so that you can, in accordance with your
ability, expound every word, so that with much instruction you can
give ample food and drink to your people. Thus is it written in Wis-
dom: ‘Take care of the green of the field so that you may shear your
flock; and gather the grass of summer so that you may have sheep for
your clothing, give care and attention to your pasture so that you
may have lambs.’39
[2.6] Thus the bishop should not be fond of impure profit, espe-
cially not from the heathen; let him be deceived rather than be a
deceiver. And he should not be fond of wealth. He should not bear
ill-will to anyone, nor bear false witness. He should not be irascible.
He should not be quarrelsome. He should not love pre-eminence.
He should not be double-tongued or double-minded,40 and he
38 The meaning of the Syriac word rendered here, qYPN is unclear and a variety
of renderings have been offered as CA offers no guidance. Thus Flemming in Achelis

and Flemming (1904) opts for weltgewandt, on the basis that the peal root means to ‘go
out’, but Vööbus (1979b), 47, points out that expertise is within the range of meanings
of the pael. Connolly (1929), 34, translates as ‘extravagant’, though this is a stretch for
the meaning of the root. He was influenced by da/panoj, which appears in CA, how-
ever CA is abbreviating and paraphrastic at this point, so gives little guidance.
39
Prov 27:25-26.
40
Cf. D 2.4 and elsewhere in TWT.
121
should not be somebody who turns his ear to slander or disparage-

ment. He should not be a respecter of persons. And he should not be
fond of the festivals of the pagans, nor concern himself with vain
error. He should not be lustful or money-loving, since all these
things derive from the work of demons.41
2. The bishop should command and direct the people in all these
things. 3. He should be wise and lowly, and should admonish and
teach in the doctrine and discipline of God. He should have clarity
of vision42 and shun all the evil artifice of this world, and all the
wicked longings of the heathen. 4. He should have keen discern-
ment so that he may know in advance those who are evil, and pre-
serve you from them. But he should be a true friend to all, as an
upright judge.
Whatever of good is to be found among people is to be found in
the bishop. 5. For since the shepherd is remote from any evil, so he will
be able to compel his disciples and persuade them by his worthy
behaviour to be imitators of his good works. As the Lord has said
through his twelve prophets: ‘The people are to be as the priest.’43
6. Thus it is required that you should be an example to the people.
Since you have Christ as an example to yourselves, so you likewise
should be a worthy example to your people, for the Lord said in
Ezekiel: 7. ‘The speech of the Lord was upon me, saying: “Mortal
man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them: 8. ‘When I
bring a sword upon a land, the people of the land should take one
from among themselves and make him their watchman. He shall see
the sword coming upon the land and shall blow the horn and warn the
people. Everyone who hears the sound of the horn shall obey. If he
pays no notice and the sword comes and removes him, his blood is on
his own head. Because he heard the sound of the horn and took no
notice his blood shall be on his own head. But the one who takes
notice shall save his life. 10. However, if the watchman sees the sword
coming and does not sound the horn, and the people is not warned,
should the sword come and take a life from among them he has been
taken in his sins and I shall demand his blood at the hands of the
watchman.’”’44 11. Now the sword is judgement, and the horn is the
Gospel, and the watchman is the bishop who is set over the church.
41
Cf. 1 Tim 3:3; D 15.1.
42 Some MSS have ‘beauty of vision.’
43 Hos 4:9.
44 Ez 33:1-6.
122
the fifth chapter:1

An instruction concerning judgement 2
12. Bishop, it is required of you that you bear witness in confirmation

of judgement as of the Gospel when you preach, since the Lord has
said to you: 13. ’Son of man, I have given you as a watchman to the
house of Israel so that you may confirm and proclaim the saying you
have heard from my mouth. 14. And when I say to the wicked that the
wicked shall surely die, but you do not state in your preaching that the
wicked man should withdraw from his wickedness, then in his wicked-
ness shall the wicked man die, and I will demand his blood at your
hands. 15. But if you warn the wicked with regard to his way, and he
pays no heed, then in wickedness shall the wicked one die, but your-
self you shall save.’3 16. And since the blame of those who sin through
ignorance likewise falls upon you, so you should bear witness and pro-
claim, and openly admonish and rebuke those who conduct them-
selves without discipline.
Even if we frequently repeat what we say we are not to be held
blameworthy, for through frequent teaching and frequent hearing a
man may be shamed into doing good and abstention from evil. 17. For
the Lord said in the law: ‘Hear O Israel’,4 and to this day they have not
heard. Likewise in the Gospel he reminds us saying: ‘Let everyone
hear, who has ears to hear.’5 But not even those who thought that they
had heard did hear, for they cast themselves swiftly into the cruel
destruction of heresy,6 on which we shall soon speak.7 [2.7] For we do
not believe, brothers, that anyone who has been baptized will again
perform the disgusting wickedness of the gentiles, since it is known to
1 The first sentence of this chapter is part of the previous sentence in CA, an
indication that the chapter divisions are somewhat later.

2 Some MSS of the E family have a more extended title here.
3 Ez 33:7-9.
4
Dt 6:4.
5 Mt 11:15.
6 Lat. resumes here. There are numerous minor divergences from Syr. here. Syr.
is followed unless there are pressing reasons to prefer Lat., such as an obvious error
in Syr.
7
Translated following Lat., supported by CA. Syr. has a copying error which makes
the clause read: ‘on which the word of condemnation is swift.’ Flemming in Achelis
and Flemming (1904) suggests that tY)rYNG (quickly) has been miscopied as
)NYdrzG (condemnation).
123
all that anyone who should commit any grievous sin after baptism is
condemned in a fiery Gehenna.8
[2.8] Indeed we feel that the heathen will blaspheme us on account
that we neither mix nor have communication with them, and that our
brothers have attained the truth through the falsehood of the heathen.
In the Gospel it is said, concerning them: ‘Blessed are you when they
revile you and speak all kind of evil against you. Rejoice, be happy, for
great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets.’9
2. If anyone is falsely blasphemed, then he is blessed even as he is put
to the test. So says Scripture: ‘Somebody who is not tested is not
proved by God.’10 3. But anyone convicted of any evil deed is no
Christian but a liar, whose fear of the Lord is hypocrisy. 4. The bishop
who is without offence should scrupulously avoid him and not recog-
nize anyone of this nature who has been properly convicted.
[2.9] But if the bishop is himself not of a clean conscience, and
accepts persons on the basis of defiled gains, or on the basis of offer-
ings received,11 and spares any who sin wickedly, allowing them to
remain in the church, [2.10] he has defiled his congregation before
God and before people, and alongside himself he loses many who are
newly baptized,12 catechumens, and young men and women, through
his greed. 2. Since they are impressionable, when they see somebody
like this among them they will be confused in themselves and imitate
him, and shall themselves cause scandal, and through sharing in
the effects of his weakness they will perish with him. 3. However, if
anyone who sins sees that the bishops and the deacons are innocent,
and free from blame, and maintain the purity of the flock, he will not
8 This rigorist statement should be compared to the rather more reconciliatory
tone below. We suggest in the introduction that such tensions derive from the fact that
the Vorlage, from which this statement may be presumed to have derived, was in ten-
sion with the view of the uniting redactor.
9 Mt 5:11.
10 No text comes to mind as fitting this citation. NB Tertullian Bapt. 20: ‘The say-
ing that nobody would attain to heavenly kingdoms except through testing had already
proceeded’ and Cyril of Jerusalem Catecheses mystagogicae 5.17: a)nh\r a)pei/rastoj
a)do/kimoj, for which no citation is given beyond ‘it says elsewhere . . .’ The thought is
similar to, e.g., Jas 1:12 and Sir 2:1, but not the expression. The saying is also cited by the
Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum, an anonymous collection of homilies probably of the
fifth century, which elsewhere appears to have had knowledge of DA.
11 The mention of the receipt of offerings is found in Syr. and CA but om. Lat.
12
Following Lat. and CA; Syr. does not understand the term ‘neophytes’,
employed here, and translates ‘those admitted to share who are young in their minds.’
The construction of the sentence also follows Lat., though not as punctuated.
124
dare in the first instance to enter the congregation as he is reproved

by his own conscience. 4. And if he should be impertinent and
unashamed, and should enter the church, and is rebuked and repri-
manded by the bishop, 5. and looking around should find nobody
who gives cause for offence, either in the bishop or in those who are
with him, he shall be put to confusion, and shall go out remorsefully,
shamed and weeping. And the flock will remain pure. He, however,
when he has departed shall weep and groan before God, and be sorry
for what he has done, and there is then some hope for him. And the
entire flock, when it sees his tears, will be fearful, understanding that
whoever sins will perish.
[2.11] Therefore, bishop, strive to be pure in what you do, and to
know that your place is that of God the Almighty, and make yourself
like Almighty God. 2. And so sit in the church and teach, as one who
has authority to judge on behalf of God, them who sin. The Gospel
addresses you bishops when it says: ‘Whatever you bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven also.’13
the sixth chapter

Concerning offenders, and concerning those who repent. Again instructing the
bishop to judge any who offend, as does God, and not to spare any, but to receive
any who repent in love and to pardon. And that he should not be subject to
worldly passions, and shut the door in the face of those who repent, but that he
should carry the burden and sins of everyone in accordance with the greatness of
his honour. Together with a proof and a threat from Ezekiel regarding bishops
who despise their flocks or about the worldly who disrespect the bishop.
[2.12] Therefore, bishop, judge strictly as does God Almighty,1 and

receive in love those who repent as does God Almighty. So you should
rebuke, and win over and instruct, since the Lord God promises for-
giveness with an oath to those who sin, as he says in Ezekiel: 2. ‘Mortal
man, speak to those of the house of Israel: “Thus you have said: ‘Our
wickednesses and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting in them; how
then can we live?’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord Adonai, ‘I have
no desire for the death of a sinner but that he should turn himself from
his way, and live. Turn yourself, therefore, and repent your evil ways,
13
Mt 18:18.
1
Lat. breaks off here.
125
and you shall not die, house of Israel.’”‘2 3. Here, then, he gives hope to
those who sin, that when they repent they may have salvation through
their repentance, and not cut off their hope, and continue in their sins,
or add to them, but should repent and sigh and weep over their sins and
be converted with all their heart.
[2.13] However, let those without sin continue without sin, lest
they find themselves obliged to weep and groan and grieve and find
forgiveness. 2. For from whence, sinner man, do you come to know
the days that are left you to live in this world, in which you may
repent? For since you have no knowledge of your departure from the
world, perhaps you may die in your sins, and have no opportunity for
repentance. As it says in David: ‘In Sheol who is there who confesses
you?’3 3. For this reason, whoever preserves his life and remains sinless
is kept from all danger, so that likewise the righteousness he had pre-
viously done is kept to his account.
4. You, therefore, bishop, give your judgement at first with strict-
ness, and subsequently receive (the sinner) with kindness and compas-
sion on making a promise of repentance.4 Rebuke him, and chasten
him, and then let yourself be moved by him [2.14] because of the word
which is thus spoken in David: ‘Do not betray the soul which is
entrusted to you’,5 2. and, again, in Jeremiah he speaks thus concern-
ing the repentance of those who sin: ‘Shall the fallen not rise up? And
any who have turned away not return? For what reason have my peo-
ple turned away with shameless perversity, and hold to their own opin-
ions, and have not desired to repent and to return?’6
3. For this reason you should receive anyone who repents without
the slightest uncertainty, and do not be put off by those who have no
compassion and who say: ‘We should not be defiled with such as these.’
4. For the Lord God has said: ‘The fathers shall not die in the stead of
the sons, nor the sons in the stead of the fathers.’7 5. Again, in Ezekiel,
2 Ez 33:10-11.
3
Ps 6:5.
4 Flemming in Achelis and Flemming, 159-160, and Vööbus (1979b), 54, are in
agreement with Lagarde that there is something wanting in this text, as a mere promise
of repentance seems inadequate. CA reads: ‘promising salvation if he should somehow
repent and move to conversion’, and so the suggestion, originating with Lagarde, that
the text read: ‘receive with kindness and compassion, promising salvation if he should
repent’ may be given serious consideration.
5 Ps 73:19.
6 Jer 8:4-5.
7 Dt 24:16.
126
he speaks thus: ‘The word of the Lord was upon me, saying: “Mortal
man, if a land should sin against me and do wickedness before me, I
shall lift up my hand against her and shall destroy the staff of bread
within her and I shall send famine upon her and destroy men and
beasts within her. But if these three men should be within her, Noah
and Daniel and Job, they shall deliver their souls through their right-
eousness, says the Lord Adonai.”’8 6. The Scripture thus clearly demon-
strates that if a righteous man should be found alongside a wicked man
he shall not perish alongside him, but each shall live by his righteous-
ness. And if he is hindered it is through his own sins that he is hindered.
7. Again he says in Wisdom: ‘Everyone is tied by the cord of his own
sins.’9 8. Thus everyone who is in the world is to render an account of
his own sins, and nobody is harmed through the10 sins of others. 9. For
Judas caused us no harm when he was praying together with us, but he
alone perished. For in the ark likewise Noah and two of his sons were
saved and blessed, but Ham his son was not, rather his seed was
cursed.11 Those that went in as animals came out so.12
10. You should not, therefore, pay attention to those who are will-
ing to put others to death, who hate their brothers yet love accusations,
who are ready to slay on any excuse, for one should not die on another’s
account.13 11. Rather you should assist those who are weak, who are
endangered, who are wandering, and set them free from death, acting
not in accordance with the hardness of human hearts, or with human
will and word, but in accordance with the will and command of our
Lord God.14 12. Bishop, as the head you should not pay attention
to the tail, that is to any layperson or contentious person who would
8 Ez 14:12-14.
9 Prov 5:22.
11 Gen 9:20-27. MSS of the E family add ‘because he mocked his father.’
12 The various Syriac versions confuse this sentence in different ways but Lat. clar-
ifies the matter. The ark as an image of the church containing both pure and impure
is found elsewhere. Thus, according to Hippolytus Ref. 9.7, Callistus justified his
position of allowing digamist clergy using this image, whereas Tertullian De idolatria
24 suggests that in spite of the presence of unclean animals none represents idolatry,
and thus that no idolater has a place in the church.
13
‘For one should not die on another’s account’ is found in Lat. but om. Syr. CA
contains the phrase and goes on: ‘but “everybody is tied in the cord of his own sins”
(Prov 5:22) and “Look, a person and his work is before his face.” (Is 62:11)’
14
‘ . . . but in accordance with the will and command of our Lord God.’ So Lat.
and CA; om. Syr.
127
readily lead another to destruction, but solely be led by the word of the
Lord God. 13. He forbids and excludes the idea and intention of
wicked people that anyone could perish on account of another’s sins, or
be held guilty alongside another, through Ezekiel, as our Lord God says
this: 14. ‘And the word of the Lord came to me saying: “Mortal man,
why in the land of Israel do you use this proverb, saying ‘The fathers
have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are put on edge’?
As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall be nor more used in
Israel. For all souls are mine; just as is the soul of the father, so the soul
of the son is mine. And whichever soul should sin, that same shall die.
15. If a person is righteous, and gives just judgement, and does not eat
upon the mountains, and does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the
house of Israel, and does not pollute his neighbour’s wife, and does not
approach a woman who is menstruating, and does not oppress the poor
man, and returns pledges to those who owe, and does not seize booty,
and gives his bread to the hungry, and clothes the naked with a gar-
ment, and does not lend his money on usury, and does not take it back
with interest, and turns his hand away from wickedness, and gives just
judgement between a fellow and his neighbours, and walks in my direc-
tions, and keeps my laws and fulfills them, then such is righteous and
shall live says the Lord God. 16. Yet if he begets a wicked son, who
sheds blood and who acts wickedly, not walking in the way of his right-
eous father but eating on the mountains, polluting his neighbour’s wife,
oppressing the beggar and the pauper, seizing booty, not returning his
pledge, turning his eyes towards idols, doing evil, lending on interest
and accepting overpayment, then such will not live, but shall die on
account of the evils which he has committed, and his own blood will be
on his hands. 17. If he, however, should beget a son who sees all the
evils which his father does, and is fearful and does not act in this man-
ner, not eating on the mountains, and not looking upon the idols of the
house of Israel, and not polluting his neighbour’s wife, and not oppress-
ing the poor man, and taking no pledge, and seizing no booty, and giv-
ing bread to the hungry and clothing the naked with a garment, and
turning his hand away from evil and accepting neither interest or over-
payment, doing justly and walking in my ways, then he shall live, and
shall not perish on account of his father’s wickedness. 18. However his
father, who oppressed and who robbed and who sinned in the midst of
my people shall perish in his iniquity. 19. And you say: ‘Why is the son
not made to pay for his father’s wickedness?’ Because the son was just
and showed mercy, he kept all my laws and performed them, and he
128
shall indeed live. Should a soul sin, that same shall die; but the son will
not suffer on account of the father’s unrighteousness, nor shall a father
suffer on account of his son’s unrighteousness. The righteousness of the
righteous shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be
his. 20. And the wicked, should he turn away from all his unrighteous-
ness, and do justly and mercifully, shall live indeed and not die. What-
ever sin he committed shall not be remembered, in the righteousness
which he himself performed shall be live indeed. I never desire the
death of the unrighteous, says the Lord God, rather that he should turn
from his evil way and live. 21. If a righteous person should turn away
from righteousness and should act wickedly following all the evils
which the wicked do, none of the righteous acts which he performed
shall be remembered, but in the evil which he performed, and in the
sins in which he sinned of himself, in these shall he die. 22. And you
have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not straight.’ Hear now, all the house
of Israel: my way is straight, but yours is not straight. And if the right-
eous should turn from doing justice and should commit sin, he likewise
shall die. He shall die in the very sin which he committed. And if the
wicked turns from the wickedness which he performs and acts with
judgement and justice, then his life shall be preserved. And in despising
and turning himself way from all the wickedness which he had done he
shall live indeed and shall not die. 23. And the House of Israel says:
‘The Lord’s way is unfair.’ Is my way not fair, house of Israel? Is it not
your way which is unfair? Therefore, house of Israel, I shall judge each
in accordance with his own way, says the Lord God. Be converted, and
turn yourself from all your transgression, and you shall not be subject
to punishment on account of your wickedness. Put far from yourselves
all your transgressions which you have thoughtlessly committed against
me and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit, and you shall
not perish, O house of Israel. For I desire not the death of a sinner, says
the Lord God, but that you be converted and live.”‘15
[2.15] You see, beloved and dear children, the extent of the mercy of
the Lord our God, and his goodness and love towards us,16 as he encour-
ages those who have sinned to repent. He speaks frequently of such mat-
ters, and gives no place to those who are hard of heart and lacking in
15
Ez 13:1-32. There are numerous divergences between Syr. and Lat. in this cita-
tion of Ezekiel, demonstrating the influence of different versions of Scripture on the
scribal tradition.
16 Cf. Hermas Sim. 8.6.1,5.
129
mercy, and who desire to judge and utterly17 to expel those who have
sinned, as though there were no repentance. 2. But God is not so, but he
calls those who have sinned to repentance and gives them cause for
hope. And he teaches those who have not sinned that they have no part
in bearing the sins of others, 3. but that they should receive those who
repent with rejoicing. Similarly, he speaks through the same prophet
concerning repentance:18 4. ’And you, mortal man, say to the sons of
your people: “On the day that the righteous man does evil, his righteous
deeds shall not save him, and on the day that the wicked man repents of
his wickedness, his wickedness shall do him no harm, and on the day
that he sins the righteous man shall not live. 5. And when I say to the
righteous that he shall live indeed, and so, in reliance on his righteous-
ness, he does a wicked deed, then all his righteousness shall not be
remembered, but the wickedness which he did, and in it he shall die. 6.
And when I say to the wicked that he shall surely die, and he turns from
his sin and acts with judgement and righteousness, and repays the
pledge which he has taken and the spoil which he has seized, and walk
in the judgements and commandments of life, and sin not, he shall live
indeed, and not die, and all the sins which he committed shall not be
remembered; as he has performed judgement, so he shall live indeed.
7. And when the sons of your people say: ‘The way of the Lord God is
not fair’, say to them: ‘It is your ways which are not fair.’ If a righteous
man turns away from his righteousness to wicked deeds, in his wicked-
ness shall he surely die. And if the wicked turn away from wickedness to
perform judgement and righteousness, in these shall he live.”‘19
8. Thus, bishops, it is required of you to judge those who sin in
accordance with the Scripture, with compassion and mercy. If you
abandon somebody who is walking on the brink of a river and is slip-
ping you have pushed him, you have thrown him into the river,20 you
have committed murder. But if somebody is slipping on a riverbank
and is close to perishing you would stretch a hand out to him quickly
so that he would not altogether perish. Act in this way so that your
17 Lat. reads aperte (‘openly’). Flemming in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 162,
prefers this reading, noting that only an initial letter needs to be altered in Syr. to make
the emendation, tY)YLM being misread as tY)YLG. However CA, te/leion,
tends to support Syr.
18
19
Ez 33:12-19.
20
It is hard to see precisely how this clause works, and all translators have had
some degree of difficulty with it. CA appears confused, which does not help. Nonethe-
less the overall sense is clear enough.
130
people may learn to act wisely, so that anyone who sins should not
perish utterly.
[2.16] When you see somebody sinning be angry at him, and demand
that they cast him out. And when he is cast out they should be angry at
him, and argue with him, and keep him outside the church. And then
they may come in and plead for him. For our Saviour likewise pleaded
with his father for those who sinned. Thus is it written in the Gospel: ‘My
father, they do not know what they are doing or what they are saying. But
if it is possible, forgive them.’21 2. And then, bishop, demand that he
come in, and enquire of him whether he repents. And if he is worthy of
return to the church appoint a period of fasting for him in accordance
with his transgression, two weeks or three or five or seven, and speaking
all that is righteous in admonition and instruction so send him away and
let him go. Rebuke him, and say to him that he should be by himself in
his humiliation, and that in the period of his fasting he should pray and
beseech that he be found worthy of the forgiveness of sins, as it written in
Genesis: ‘Have you sinned? Be silent and your repentance will be with
you and you shall have power over it.’22 3. To Miriam, the sister of Moses,
also it was said by the Lord, when she had spoken against Moses and
afterwards repented and had been found worthy of forgiveness: ‘If her
father had spat in her face she should have been ashamed and to be sepa-
rated from the camp for seven days before coming in.’23 4. It is required
that you too should act thus, that you put out of the church those who
promise to repent of their sins, as is right on account of their transgres-
sions, and then receive them again as merciful fathers.
[2.17] Should, however, the person of the bishop be a stumbling-
block, how can he rise to search out anyone’s offences, how rebuke and
how enforce his directions? 2. Whether through respect of persons or
through having received gifts he cannot. Nor are deacons who have an
unclean conscience able to raise themselves to assist the bishop. For
they are afraid lest they hear from an insolent man the saying written
in the Gospel: ‘Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye and see
not the beam in your own eye? You fraud! First take out the beam from
your eye and then you will be able to see to remove the speck from
21 Whereas this might appear to be a very loose citation of Luke 23:34, the same
appears at 6.14.4 below, which leads me to agree with Connolly (1929), 52, that it may
derive from an apocryphal source. MSS of the A family read ‘Brothers’ (yX) ). The
E family correct to yB) (my father), and this reading is adopted in conformity to
the reading below, which is extant in both versions, both of which read ‘my father’.
22 Gen 4:7.
23
Num 12:14.
131
your brother’s eye.’24 3. The bishop, together with his deacons, should
be careful25 not to hear that saying of the Lord from a sinner, as from
an insolent man, who does not know how dangerous it is that a man
should speak against the bishop, and that he should become a scandal
through the entire district. For anyone who sins lacks understanding,
and his soul is no more spared. Hence, for whatever reason the bishop
is afraid, he makes himself ignorant of whomever it is who sins, pass-
ing over him, neither rebuking nor correcting him.
When Satan gains an opportunity in this way and by means of some-
body like this he begins to rule over others also, which God forbid, 4. and
when this happens the flock becomes such that it cannot again be set
right. And evil grows strong when many are to be found who sin, as those
who sin are not corrected or reproved so that they might repent, and so
everybody is stirred up to sin, and the saying is fulfilled: ‘My house is to
be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a robbers’ den.’26
5. If, however, the bishop is not silent concerning those who sin but
rebukes and reprimands and corrects and admonishes and chastens any
who sins he causes others likewise to fear and to tremble. 6. For it is
required that the bishop should, by his instruction, prevent sinning, and
exemplify and instigate righteousness; by the exhortation in his instruc-
tion giving guidance to good works, glorifying and exalting those good
things which are to come, and which are promised by God in the place
of everlasting life, proclaiming the wrath that is to come in the judge-
ment of God through threatening the grievous fire which cannot be
quenched and cannot be borne. And he should know the meaning of
the will of God that he is to despise nobody, since our Saviour said: ‘See
you do not despise any of these little ones who believe in me.’27
[2.18] The bishop therefore should have concern for everyone; for
those who have not sinned, so that they may remain as they are, with-
out sin, and for those who have sinned that they may repent, and that
he may grant them forgiveness for their sins. Thus is it written in
Isaiah, when the Lord says: ‘Loosen every knot of iniquity, and cut all
bands of violence and oppression.’28
24
Mt 7:3, 5 and par.
25
The reading of the Syr. MSS lXdd lYKh )LwtM is here emended in ac-
cordance with CA, eu)labei/sqw, as suggested by Flemming in Achelis and Flemming
(1904), 163, to lXdd lYKh LtM ; otherwise it would read: ‘The reason that the
bishop should take care . . .’ though Connolly (1929), 53, defends the text on the basis
that ‘it is the author’s complaint that the bishops and deacons are afraid.’
26
Mt 21:13.
27
Mt 18:10.
28
Is 18:6.
132
the seventh chapter

Addressed to bishops1
2. Thus, bishop, you are to teach and to rebuke and to loose by means
of forgiveness. And know that your place is that of Almighty God, and
that you have received the power to remit sins. For it was to bishops that
it was said: ‘All that you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and all
that you loose shall be loosed.’2 3. Since you have thus received the power
of loosing, be mindful of your life, of your conduct and your words in
this existence, that they should be fitting to your place.
4. However, there is nobody alive who does not sin; as it is written:
‘There is no-one clean of impurity, even should he live but one day in the
world.’3 5. It was on this account that the life, and the manner of life, of
the just and of the earliest patriarchs was written, namely that we might
know that a small sin was to be found in each of them, and that the Lord
God alone is without sin. Just as it is said in David: ‘That you may be
justified in your words and prevail in your judgements.’4 The slight pol-
lution of the just is some relief and consolation to us and a hope that,
should we sin but a little, we may also have hope of forgiveness.
6. Nobody is free of sin, but you should be careful, insofar as you are
able, to be in nothing reproachable.5 And you are to be concerned for
everyone, that nobody should be made to stumble, and perish on your
account. For the layman6 has to care for himself alone, whereas you bear the
burden of everybody, and very great is the burden that you are given to bear.
‘From those to whom the Lord has given much is much required by him.’7
Thus, as you are carrying the burden of everybody, you must be watchful.
For it is written: ‘The Lord said to Moses: “You and Aaron are to take the
sins of the priesthood.”‘8 7. For just as you are to give an account for many,
so you should care for all, preserving those who are healthy, admonishing
1
One MS of the E family has an extended title.
2 Mt 18:18.
3 Job 14:4-5
4
Ps 50:6.
5
Here following CA rather than Syr., which is unclear.
6 Reading )ML) rB (literally ‘son of the world’, the usual rendition in Syr.) The
main MSS of the A family read )M) rB (‘son of the people’), corrected by the E fam-
ily, and denoted by a marginal note in one MS of the A family. The emendation is sug-
gested by Auon (2007), 72.
7 Lk 12:48.
8
Num 18:1.
133
and rebuking and chastening those who sin, then relieving them by means
of forgiveness, receiving any who has sinned, but repented and wept. Lay
(your) hand upon him while the whole church is praying,9 permitting him
henceforth to be in the church. Bring back, and stir up and make firm and
seek out and make sound those who are drowsy and slack. For you know
what your reward will be should you do so.
8. But should you be neglectful, then shall danger come upon
you, for the Lord has spoken in Ezekiel concerning bishops who
despise their people in this manner: 9. ’The word of the Lord was
upon me saying: “Mortal man, prophesy against the shepherds of
Israel saying: ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Woe to the shepherds of
Israel who tend themselves whereas the shepherds do not tend my
sheep. 10. You consume the milk, you clothe yourselves in the wool
and you slaughter the fat one; and you do not tend the sheep. You
have not healed the sick; you have not strengthened the weak; and
you have not bound up the broken; you have not brought back the
stray; you have not sought out the lost; but have enslaved them with
violence. The sheep were scattered because there was no shepherd,
and they became as food for all the beasts of the field. My sheep were
scattered over every high mountain and on every high hill, and over
all the face of the earth were my sheep scattered, and there was none
to seek them out or find them.”10
11. Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord God: “Inas-
much as my sheep have become prey and food for every beast of the field
because there was no shepherd, and the shepherds have not sought my
sheep, but the shepherds have tended themselves and the shepherds have
not tended my sheep, therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.”
Thus says the Lord God: “Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will
seek out the sheep which they are holding, and I will stop them tending
9
Note also 2.41.2 for the use of the gesture in reconciliation, as well as the com-
ments in the introduction at 4.c.3. Funk (1905), 66-67, notes that the participation of
the people in re-admission of penitents was regular, citing Cyprian Ep. 64.1, complain-
ing that a bishop Therapius had reconciled a penitent former presbyter Victor without
consulting the laity, and the report preserved by Eusebius at HE 5.28.12 of Natalius’
return to the church, in which he clothes himself in sackcloth and ashes and abased
himself in supplication both to the clergy and the laity. Funk also notes that according
to Cyprian Ep. 17.2.1 the clerus participated in the handlaying. Although there is a less
developed corpus of clergy in the community of DA one can see the praying participa-
tion of the whole church in the same light. On the gesture of handlaying at baptism see
the note at 2.33.3 and (possibly) in healing see 3.8.1 with the accompanying annotation.
10
MSS of the E family go from here to 2.20.8b, ‘Leave the ninety-nine on the
mountain.’ This part of the chapter is then supplied as a separate chapter seven.
134
my sheep thenceforth; the shepherds shall no longer tend themselves,

but I shall save my sheep from their hands, and they shall no longer have
them as food.” 12. Therefore the Lord God says this: “Therefore I will
seek out my sheep and look out for them, as a shepherd looks out for his
sheep on a stormy day, as he is in the midst of them. So will I look out
for my sheep11 and gather them in from every place to which they were
scattered on the day of cloud and darkness. And I shall lead them forth
from the nations, and I shall gather them from all the countries and
bring them into their own land, and I shall graze them on the mountains
and in the valleys of Israel, and in every part of the land. 13. I shall graze
them in good pasture, on the high mountain of Israel. And their sheep-
folds shall be there, and there shall they sleep and there shall they rest; in
the best pasture, in fat meadows, shall they graze, in the mountains of
Israel. I shall feed my sheep and I shall tend them, and they shall know
that I am the Lord.” 14. The Lord says this: “I shall seek out whatever is
lost, and I shall bring back whatever has gone astray, and I shall bind
up whatever is wounded and I shall strengthen whatever is weak
and whatever is strong I shall keep so. And I shall feed them with
justice.” 15. And you, sheep, this is what the Lord God says: “I shall
distinguish between ewe and ewe, and between ram and ram. Yet is it a
small thing to you that you should graze in good and fat pasture,
and that you tread down the rest of the pasture with your feet, and
my sheep drink the water you have churned up with your feet?”12
16. Therefore the Lord God says this: “Look, I will judge between ewe
and ewe, and between them that are sick, because you shoved them
with your sides and your shoulders, and butted the sick ones with
your horns until you scattered them abroad.13 And I shall set my sheep
11
Lat. resumes here. However Syr. has an entirely different version of the Scrip-
ture from Lat. As indicated in the introduction translation of scriptural citations
follows Syr. However one can never be sure which translator has made a substitution.
Lat. has a tendency to be close to LXX (as here) and there are grounds to suspect that
this was the usual version employed in the Gk original, but this does not mean that
there would be no exceptions.
12
Cf. Lat.: ‘Yet is it not enough for you that you should graze in good pasture, and
that you tread down the rest of the pasture with your feet, and that you should drink
fresh water and that the rest you churn up with your feet? And my sheep graze on the
pasture you have trodden with your feet, and drink the water you have churned up
with your feet.’ CA follows Syr. closely here, indicating that on this occasion Syr. rep-
resents the more original reading.
13 So Syr. Cf. Lat.: ‘Look, I shall judge between the sheep that is healthy and the
sheep that is sick. You have shoved them with your sides and your shoulders, and have
made worse whatever was wrong.’
135
free, and no longer shall they be a prey, and I shall judge between ewe
and ewe. 17. And I shall raise up a single shepherd for them, and my ser-
vant David14 shall reign over them, and shall be their shepherd, and I,
the Lord, shall be their God,15 and David shall be ruler in the midst of
them. I, the Lord, have spoken. And I shall make a covenant of peace16
and exclude wicked beasts from the land, and they shall dwell securely17
in the desert, and shall sleep in the woods. 18. I shall give them a bless-
ing round about my mountain, and I shall send rain in season, a
blessing of rain.18 And the trees in the field shall give forth fruit, and the
land shall yield her increase. They shall dwell securely in their land, and
they shall know that I am the Lord when I cut the bands of their yoke.
And I shall deliver them from the hand which led them into slavery; no
longer shall they be a prey for the nations, no longer shall the beasts of
the field eat them up. They shall dwell in safety, and none shall terrify
them. 19. I shall raise up for them a plantation for fame.19 No more shall
they be few and forsaken in the land,20 no longer shall they be put to
shame by the nations. 20. And they shall know that I the Lord am theirs,
and they are the people of Israel, my house,” says the Lord. “And you,
the sheep of my flock, are men, and I am the Lord your God,” says the
Lord God.’”’21
[2.19] Hear then, bishops, and hear, laity, what the Lord is say-
ing: ‘And I shall judge between ram and ram and between ewe and
ewe’, that is between bishop and bishop and between layperson and
layperson, and between layperson and bishop. [2.20] Therefore be sure
to honour the bishop and to fear him like a father and master and as
you love God.22 For it was said through the apostles to the bishop:
‘Whoever hears you, hears me; and whoever rejects you rejects me, and
14 Mention of David is lacking in Syr., though this could be by omission.

15 ‘I the Lord shall be their God’ is absent in Syr.
16 Lat. follows LXX and adds ‘with David’.
17 Om. Lat. with LXX.
18 Cf. Lat.: ‘Around my mountain shall I give, and I shall give to you rain as a
blessing.’
19
So Syr. Lat. follows LXX: ‘for peace.’
20 Cf. Lat. and LXX: ‘no longer shall there be hunger among them’
21 Ez 34:1-31. Cf. Lat.: ‘And you are the sheep of my flock, and I am the Lord your
God, says the Lord God.’

22 Cf. Syr.: ‘Whether layperson loves layperson, and whether again the layper-
son loves the bishop and honours and fears him.’ Lat. is followed with support
from CA.
136
the one who sent me.’23 2. In the same way the bishop24 is to love the
laypeople as children, cherishing them and brooding over them with
loving care like eggs from which fledglings will hatch, or brooding over
them and training them like fledglings so that they may become
winged birds. Therefore teach everyone, and rebuke those who deserve
it. Chide and afflict them, but in order to bring about conversion, and
not perdition. Admonish in order to bring about repentance and cor-
rection, make their ways straight and fair, so that they may properly
conduct their lives in the world.
3. ’Keep safe whatever is strong.’ That is, keep safe any who is
firm in the faith, while shepherding the entire people in peace. And
‘strengthen whatever is weak.’ That is, strengthen by means of admo-
nition any who is tempted. ‘And heal whatever is sick.’ That is, heal
through instruction any who are sick through doubt about their
faith. 4. ’And bind up whatever is wounded.’ That is, bind up, heal-
ing through the intercession of admonition, any who is injured or
stricken or wounded by sin and is limping away from the way of
righteousness, lightening the burden of his offences, comforting him
and showing that there is indeed hope, binding and healing and
bringing him to the church. And entreat25 whatever has gone astray.
That is, do not leave outside anyone who has been put out as a
rebuke for continuing sin, but instruct and admonish and restore
him, receiving him into your flock, that is, to the people of the
church. 5. And ‘seek out whatever is lost’, that is do not let anyone
perish altogether who has lost hope and abandoned himself to
destruction due to the frequency of his lapses. Otherwise he may lie
down to sleep through neglect and utter carelessness, being forgetful
of his life through the weight of his sleep, being far removed from his
flock, that is to say from the church, ending in destruction. For while
he is outside the fold and far away from the flock wolves will eat him
while he is wandering and he will perish utterly. But you are to seek
him out, to instruct him and bring him back, to visit him and
encourage him to awake and to let him know that there is hope
indeed for him. You are to cut off from their consideration that they
should say or think what they said of old, ‘Our wickedness and sins
23 Lk 10:16.
24
25
Syr. reads sYP), rendered here. Connolly (1929) 62, suggests, in accordance
with CA, e)pi/strefe, emending to yhYNP).
137
are upon us and we are rotten with them; how then are we able to
live?’26 6. It is not right that they should say or should think that they
are cut off from hope on account of the greatness of their sins, but
that they should know the greatness of the mercy of God who has
sworn in the kindness of his intent, promising forgiveness for those
who sin.
7. However, if anyone who does not know the Scriptures should
sin, and has not been made aware of the longsuffering and the char-
ity of God, and does not know the extent of forgiveness and repen-
tance, he will perish on account of what he does not know. 8.
Therefore, as a compassionate shepherd, loving, forgiving and
attentive to your flock, you are to visit and to count your flock, to
seek whatever has gone astray, as the Lord God, Jesus Christ, our
good teacher and Saviour said: ‘Leave the ninety-nine upon the
mountains and go seek the one who has gone astray. And when you
have found it, bear it upon your shoulders, while you rejoice since
you have found the one which went astray, and return it and mingle
it with the flock.’27 9. Take heed, then, bishop, and visit the one
which is lost, and go after the one which has gone astray, and restore
the one which is far off, for you have the authority to forgive the
sins28 of any who offend, since you have donned the person of
Christ. The Saviour says through you29 to those who sin: ‘Your sins
are forgiven you. Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace.’30
10. Now peace is the church of tranquillity and rest, into which
those who are released from sins are restored as healthy and unspot-
ted, having a good hope and active in good works, and in priva-
tions. For as a wise and compassionate physician he was healing all
who were afflicted31 by sins. For those who are healthy have no need
of a physician, but only those who are ill.32
11. You, bishop, are set over the church as a physician; do not
therefore cease to offer medicine to those who are sick in their sins,
26
Ez 33:10.
27
Cf. Mt 18:12-13. Note the extent of the liberty with the text that a narrative has
become a command.
29 ‘Through you’ is absent in Syr., but present in Lat., supported by CA.
30 Mt 9:2. There is the possibility that this is become a liturgical formula.
31 So Lat. and CA. Syr. has misread peplhgme/nouj as peplanhme/nouj, ‘gone
astray.’ At 2.20 4 above where Syr. rightly reads ‘stricken’, reflecting to\ peplhgme/non,
CA reads to\ peplanhme/non, the same error in reverse.
32 Mt 9:12.
138
but cure them in every way, and heal them, that they may return,
healthy, to the church, and so that you are not reproached by that
statement made by the Lord: ‘You were subduing them both by force
and derision.’33 [2.21] Do not then be forceful nor unforgiving nor
hard nor judgemental nor merciless. Do not mock the people which
is in your charge, nor keep from them the opportunity of repen-
tance. For it says this: ‘You were subduing them both by force and
derision.’ 2. If you act harshly with the laypeople34 and correct them
through force, if you expel them and thrust them out and do not
receive back those who have sinned, but mercilessly keep from them
the possibility of repentance and conversion, you will assist in the
perversion of evil35 and scatter the flock ‘as food for the beasts of the
field’,36 that is for the wicked men of this world (not men at all, but
beasts, namely the heathen and the heretics.) 3. For they rapidly
attach themselves to anyone who is expelled from the church, and
reckon him as meat,37 as a wild beast looks upon a lamb. Because of
your judgemental nature anyone expelled from the church shall
revert to the heathen or be sunk among the heresies,38 and be alto-
gether alienated from the church and from any hope in God. And
you will be guilty of their loss, 4. because you were only too ready to
expel those who sin, and not to receive back any who repents. You
will fall under the sentence of the word of the Lord, which says:
‘Their feet run to wickedness, they are keen to shed blood. Affliction
and misery are in their ways, and they know not the way of peace.’39
5. Now the way of peace is our Saviour, who also says to us: ‘Forgive
the sins of those who sin so that you may be forgiven; give and it will
33 Ez 34:4. Interestingly, as Nestle (1900) points out, cited according to the trans-
lation of Theodotion.
34 So Lat., laicis. Syr. kM) yNB should perhaps be emended to kML) yNB
as at 2.18.6 above.
35
The phrase is translated following the suggestion of Vööbus (1979b), 79. Connolly
(1929), 65, had difficulty understanding the word translated ‘perversion’
()tNKPhtM), and proposed the omission of the word ‘evil’, thus rendering the
phrase ‘and become a helper for the overthrow [of evil] and scattering of the flock’ though
Vööbus (1979b), 79, considers that this meaning is entirely possible. Lat. has ‘since you
were not assisting them you scatter the flock . . .’ It is hard to account for the divergence
and although Vööbus’ rendering is coherent I suspect that Connolly may be right.
36
Ez 34:5.
37 So Lat. and CA; cf. Syr. ‘consume him as meat.’
38
‘Sunk among the heresies’: CA and Syr, om. Lat.
39 Is 59:7-8.
139
be given you.’40 That is, grant forgiveness of sins, and you shall
receive it. For he taught us constantly to pray: ‘Remit us our debts,
just as we remit the debts owed to us.’41 6. So, if you have not remit-
ted the debts of those who sin, how shall you receive remission? Do
you not confound yourself, is not your own mouth against you,
when you say that you have forgiven, but have not forgiven, but
murdered?42 7. For anyone who mercilessly43 drives a person from
the church is wickedly killing him and mercilessly shedding his
blood. If a just man is unjustly killed by a sword he is received by
God into peace and rest. 8. Anyone, however, who expels anyone
from the church and does not take him back is killing him eternally,
painfully and bitterly, as well as giving him who is expelled as food to
an endless and terrible fire, for he has no regard to the mercy of the
Lord and does not recall his goodness to those who are penitent,44
nor takes note of those many who, in repentance of their many
transgressions, received forgiveness of God.
[2.22] Therefore it behoves you, bishop, to have that which hap-
pened of old before your eyes, so that you make comparison from
them, learning the cure of souls and the admonition, rebuke and inter-
cession of those who repent and are needful of intercession,45 and that
when you judge you may compare cases, and seek out the will of God
with great investigation. In your judgements you must be as he was.
2. Therefore, bishops, hear a helpful example in regard to this. 3.
It is written in the fourth book of Kings, and in the second of
Chronicles,46 that is the remainders, thus:47
40
Cf. Lk 6:37-38. Lat. omits the second half of this citation, included here follow-
ing CA and Syr. The first part of the citation is closer to the Gospel text in Lat. and CA
alike, but is cited here following Syr., given that it is likely that a scribe would make a
citation conform to the original text.
41 Mt 6:12. Some MSS of the E family read ‘forgive us our debts and our sins’; that
this is indicative of liturgical use is implied by the appearance of the same form in
Acta Thomae 144.
42 There are minor differences in this clause between Syr. and Lat., whereas CA
seems to conflate the readings through repeating the relevant parts. The translation
above is fundamentally based on Syr.
43
So Syr.; Lat. has ‘qui convertitur.’
44
Syr. adds here’ does not bear the example of Christ’. The phrase appears neither
in Lat. nor CA and, more to the point, seems redundant in that an extended exemplum,
that of Manasses, is about to follow.
45 The first part of this sentence rendered solely from Syr.; Lat. is obscure and
probably corrupt.
46 Syr. uses the Hebrew title: ‘Of the works of those days.’ The following, ‘in those days’
is perhaps a confusion caused by the repetition of the title, here made part of the citation.
47 Lat. has a title: ‘Concerning Manasses’.
140
4. In those days48 Manasses was twelve years old when he was reign-
ing, and he reigned fifty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was
Hepzibah. 5. And he did evil before the Lord, like the uncleanness of
those nations which the Lord destroyed from before the children of Israel.
He turned again to rebuild the high places49 which his father, Hezekiah,
destroyed, and set up pillars to Baal, and erected an altar to Baal,50 and
made abominations, as Ahab the King of Israel had done, and made altars
for all the service of heaven, and worshipped all the host of heaven. And
he built an altar51 in the house of The Lord, of which the Lord had said:
‘I will set my name in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.’ 6. And Man-
asses served the shrines and said: ‘My name will endure for ever.’52 And he
built altars for the service of all the host of heaven in the two courts of the
House of the Lord. And he himself made his sons pass through the fire in
the valley of Bar Hinnom. He practised augury, and cast spells, he
appointed soothsayers and enchanters and diviners, and increased his
wickedness in the eyes of the Lord so as to provoke him to anger. 7. And
he set up the molten and graven image of abomination which he had
made in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had spoken to David,
and to Solomon his son: ‘In this house in Jerusalem, which I have chosen
from all the tribes of Israel, shall I set my name into eternity, and I will no
longer move my feet from the land of Israel, which I gave to their fathers,
yet only if they keep all that I have commanded them, keeping to all the
precepts which my servant Moses commanded them.’ And they heeded
him not, and Manasses seduced them into doing what is evil in the sight
of the Lord, in accordance with the deeds of the nations which the Lord
had removed from before the children of Israel.
8. And the Lord spoke against Manasses and against his people by
the hands of his servants the prophets and said: ‘Because of the
wicked abominations which Manasses the King of Judah has done,
48 Actually part of the Hebrew title of Chronicles, which has confused the transla-
tors. In what follows there is extensive departure from the canonical version. Insofar as
the versions are largely agreed on these departures, only the most significant are noted.
49 MSS of the E family read ‘high places for sacrifice.’
50 The second part of this clause is not found in Syr., but both are in CA. Only the
second is found in canonical versions. Possibly Syr. is correct, and the conflated ver-
sions of CA and Lat. are the result of comparing the reading of DA with that of the
canonical version.
51 So Lat. and CA. Syr. has ‘altars’ to demons. Although Lat. and CA are closer to
LXX, the Syriac reading is not universal in the MSS, and has some proximity to Peshit-
ta, which may be evidence of the influence of a canonical version on the Syriac trans-
lator.
52 Although this passage is not found in canonical versions it is in all versions of DA.
141
like the Amorites before him, causing Judah to sin with his idols, the
Lord God of Israel says this: “Look, I shall bring evils upon
Jerusalem and upon Judah53 so that the ears of all who hear them
shall tingle. And I shall stretch out the measuring line of Samaria
against Jerusalem and the plumb-line of the house of Ahab. I shall
wipe out Jerusalem as a pot of water54 is wiped out when it is turned
upside down and falls on its face. The residue of my inheritance55
shall I deliver up to the sword, and I shall deliver them into the
hands of their enemies, and that shall be a victim and prey for all
who hate them, because they have done evil in my eyes. Since the
day I brought their fathers out of Egypt until this day they have
angered me.”’ 9. Manasses, moreover, shed much innocent blood,
filling Jerusalem from one side to another with those whom he had
slain through the sins which he sinned. And he caused Judah to sin,
doing what is evil before the Lord.
10. And the Lord brought down upon them the nobles of Assyria;
and they seized Manasses, and tied him up, and put ropes around him,
and led him away to Babylon,56 and shut him in a prison, bound and
tied down with iron. Bread of bran was weighed out for him, and
water mixed with a little gall was given him, so that he might survive
yet be afflicted and severely battered. 11. And when he was very greatly
afflicted he besought the face of the Lord his God. And he humbled
himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed before the
Lord God, saying:
The Prayer of Manasses:
12. ’O Lord God of my fathers, God of Abraham, and of Isaac and
of Jacob and of their righteous offspring: who made the heaven and the
earth together with all their adornment, who bound the sea and set it
in place through the commandment of your word, who bound the
chaos and sealed it with your fearful and glorious name. Everything
fears and trembles before your power, the greatness of the beauty of
your glory is unbearable. Nobody is able to stand before your wrath and
anger against sinners. Without limit and without measure are the mer-
cies of your promises, for you are a Lord who is long-suffering, merci-
53
Lat.: ‘Upon that place’, unsupported by any other version.
54Lat. reads ‘jar of ointment’. Perhaps influenced by Mt 24:7 and parallels.
55
56 MSS of the E family add ‘in a brass statue.’ This tradition is also found in the tar-
gums, as Vööbus (1979b), 51*, notes.
142
ful, of great compassion, who may have a change of heart regarding the
evil that people perform, and, Lord, in the gentleness of your goodness
you have promised forgiveness to those who turn from their sins, and
in the multitude of your mercies have established repentance for the
salvation of sinners.
13. If, indeed, Lord God of the righteous, you did not establish
repentance for the righteous, for Abraham, and for Isaac and for
Jacob, for those who sinned not against you, yet you have established
repentance for me, a sinner, since my sins have become more numer-
ous than the sands of the sea, and I have not enough breath to raise
my head due to the extent of my wickedness. See, Lord, I am justly
afflicted, and my vexation is as I deserve. Look, I am bound and bent
under many bands of iron, so that I cannot lift up my head. Because
of the greatness of the malice of my wickedness I am unworthy to lift
up my eyes, or to look up and behold the height of heaven, since I
have done evil deeds before you and provoked your wrath and set up
idols and multiplied abominations. 14. Look I am bending the knees
of my heart before you, and I beseech your kindness. I have sinned,
Lord, I have sinned, and since I know that I have sinned I am beg-
ging before you. Forgive me, Lord, and do not destroy me together
with my offences. Do not be angry with me for ever, or hold evils
against me, nor condemn me, and cast me off to the lower parts of
the earth. You are the God of those who repent; so show your good-
ness, Lord, even in me, and deliver me57 in accordance with your
great mercy, although I am unworthy. And I shall glorify you for ever
throughout my life. All the hosts of heaven praise you, and praise
you into eternity.’
15. And the Lord listened to the voice of Manasses, and had mercy
on him. A flame of fire was formed around him, and all the iron around
him was melted. And he delivered58 Manasses59 from his affliction, and
restored him to his Kingdom in Jerusalem. 16. And Manasses acknowl-
edged the Lord saying: ‘He alone is the Lord.’ And he served the Lord
God alone with all his heart and with all his soul all the days of his life,
and was accounted just. And he slept in peace with his fathers. And
Amon, his son, reigned in his place.60
57
Lat. resumes here.
58
So Syr. CA and Lat. read ‘healed.’
59 So Syr., CA. Lat. reads ‘him.’
60
2 Kg 21:1-17; 2 Chr 33:1-13.
143
[2.23] Dearest children, you have heard how the Lord forgave
Manasses, who was an idolater and slew the innocent, yet repented.
Surely there is no sin worse than idolatry, but there is room for
repentance. 2. But anyone who sins deliberately shall find no for-
giveness;61 as it is written: ‘If you should say in your heart “I shall
have success because I shall walk according to the will of my own
heart” so I shall stretch out my hand and shall make him into a
byword and an example’ says the Lord.62 3. For Amon, the son of
Manasses,63 conceived the idea of doing evil64 and said: ‘My father
did much evil in his youth, and repented in his old age. So I now
shall walk as my heart desires, and in the end I shall return to the
Lord.’ 4. And he did evil before the Lord, and reigned two65 years
only, and the Lord God speedily destroyed him from the good
land.66
[2.24] Take heed then, laypeople,67 lest any of you should find
in your heart the same thought as Amon, and speedily perish. 2. In
the same way, bishop, keep safe as far as you are able those who have
not sinned, that they may remain without sin, and receive and heal
those who have turned away from their sins. 3. If, however, you do
not receive a penitent back, being without mercy, you have sinned
against the Lord God, since you would not have obeyed nor trusted
in God our Saviour, nor acted as did he on account of the woman
who had sinned, when the elders set her before him and departed,
leaving judgement in his hands. He looked into her heart and
asked whether the elders had condemned her.68 When she said not,
he said to her: ‘Go, nor do I condemn you.’69 4. You should have
him, our Saviour, our King and our Lord, before your eyes, bishops,
imitating him, being quiet, meek, compassionate, merciful, peace-
makers, without anger, teachers, encouragers, receivers, exhorters,
not prone to anger, nor overbearing, nor insolent, haughty or
proud.
61
Clause absent in Syr., supplied from Lat. with support from CA.
62
The apparent citation is a combination of Dt 29:18 and Ez 14:9.
63 ‘The son of Manasses’ absent in Lat. but present in Syr. and CA.
64 ‘Doing evil’. so CA and Lat. Syr. reads ‘transgress the law.’
65
So Syr. and CA. Lat. has ‘twelve’.
66
Cf. 2 Kg 21:19.
67 So Lat. and CA. Syr. has ‘you without faith.’
68 So Lat. and CA. Syr. is completely recast in order to employ direct speech.
69 Cf. Jn 8:3-11.
144
the eighth chapter

Warnings to bishops how they should conduct themselves1
You shall not be lovers of wine,2 not drunkards, not extravagant,3 not
spendthrift,4 employing the gifts of God as your own, and not as the
funds of another.5 You have been appointed good stewards of God,
who shall demand an account of the management of the stewardship
entrusted to you.6 [2.25] Food and clothing, and whatever else is nec-
essary, is enough for you. You shall not make use of revenue beyond
what is right, as though from alien funds, but moderately, 2. not
procuring pleasure and luxury from the revenues of the church, for
‘clothing and food is sufficient for a labourer.’7
Like good stewards of God, do well in distributing the church’s income
and gifts, in accordance with the commandment,8 to orphans and to wid-
ows, to those who are troubled and to strangers. You should be like those
who know that God, who committed his stewardship to you, shall require
an account from you; 3. and thus give, sharing with all who are in want.
However, you too are to be supported and live from the revenues of
the church. Do not consume them simply by yourselves, but share
with those who are in want, and you shall have no cause for blame
before God.9 God charges those bishops who greedily make use of the
revenues of the church for themselves, but do not allow the poor to
share in them when he says: ‘You consume the milk and clothe your-
selves with the wool.’10 4. You bishops may be supported from the rev-
enues of the church but you are not to devour them, for it is written:
1 Two MSS of the E family have a more extended title.

2
Tim 3:2. In Lat. this follows as part of the sentence of the last chapter, implying
once again that the chapter divisions are secondary.
3 Syr. has ‘Much puffed up’. Lat. is followed with support from CA; the Syriac ren-
dering can be explained as a corruption of nYQYPN into nYXYPN.

4
So Syr. and CA. Om. Lat.
5 There is some confusion in Syr., which states that the bishop should use the funds
as though they were not his own, whereas CA and Lat. read as given here, which is in con-
formity, moreover, with what is said below. Some later Syr. MSS attempt a correction.
7 Cf. Mt 10:10. A version of the saying closer to the canonical version is found at
Epiphanius Pan. 80.5.

8
CA clarifies the commandment as that regarding tithing.
9
Cf. Hermas Vis. 3.9.2.
10
Ez 34:3.
145
‘You shall not muzzle a threshing ox.’11 5. Thus, just as the ox which
labours without a muzzle on the threshing floor eats, but does not con-
sume it all, so you likewise, labouring on the threshing floor which is
the church of God, may be supported by the church, in the same man-
ner as the Levites who served in the tent of witness, which was entirely
a type of the church. Even its name indicates this, for it is the tent ‘of
witness’, foreshadowing the church in advance.12 6. Now the Levites
who served therein were unrestrainedly supported by those things
which were given as offerings to God by all the people, by the gifts and
separated offerings, and firstfruits and tithes and sacrifices and offer-
ings and holocausts, they and their wives and their sons and their
daughters, since their task was the service of the tabernacle alone. And
on this account they received no inheritance of land among the chil-
dren of Israel, since the inheritance of Levi and his tribe was the pro-
duce of the people.13
7. In this way you bishops are today are priests to your people, and
Levites who serve the tent of God, the holy catholic church, who stand
continually before the Lord God. So you are now priests and prophets
and leaders and nobles and kings to your people, mediating between
God and his faithful ones, receiving his word and proclaiming and
declaring it, knowledgeable of the Scriptures and the sayings of God,
bearing witness to his will, bearing the sins of all as you are to give
answer on behalf of all. You are they who have heard how the word
sternly threatens you who neglect and fail to preach the will of God, who
are in grave danger of destruction should you neglect your people.
Again, it is to you that the great promise of ineffable grace and great
glory, that does not deceive and is not withheld, is made by God, should
you minister well in the tent of God, which is his catholic church.
8. Just as you have taken on the burden of all, thus you should
receive the ministration of food and of clothing and of whatever else is
needful from all your people. It is necessary that you should receive
11
Dt 25:4; 1 Cor 9:9; 1 Tim 5:18.
12 Nestle (1900) suggests that a connection is being made between the Hebrew word
for witness, twd(, and the Syriac word for church, )td). That the redactor was
trilingual (in Greek, Syriac and Hebrew) is not impossible, (though Schöllgen (1998), 88,
doubts this), but nonetheless the suggestion can remain only that. It is more likely that,
as Connolly (1929), 80, states, ‘our author may only be playing on the Gk. word
martu/rion/
13
Cf. Num 18:8-31, which is cited in extenso below. Since Paul cites the same texts
to the same effect in 1 Cor 9 Faivre and Faivre (2007), 65, suggest that this Pauline pas-
sage is in the redactor’s mind. Whereas this is possible it is also possible that the two
are drawing on a common tradition.
146
from all of your people set under your charge. And in the same way
you should support the deacons, the widows and the orphans, those in
need and strangers, from the gifts which are given you by the people
under your charge. As a faithful steward, bishop, you are to care for all;
for just as you bear the sins of all who are set under your charge, so
beyond any should you receive the abundant glory of God. 9. For you
are an imitator of Christ, and just as he has taken on himself the sins
of us all, so you are to bear the sins of those in your charge. 10. For
thus is it written in Isaiah concerning our Saviour: ‘We have seen him
without brightness or beauty. His appearance was marred and humili-
ated beyond that of humans, as one who suffers and who knows what
it is to endure sickness. For his face was transformed, he was despised,
and accounted nothing in our eyes. But he endured our sins, he
groaned for our sake, yet we accounted him as one stricken and
afflicted and humiliated. But he was struck for our sins, and afflicted
for our iniquities, and all of us are healed through the blows he bore.’14
11. And again it says: ‘He bore the sins of many and was betrayed on
account of their iniquity.’15 And in David and in all the prophets and
also in the Gospel our Saviour entreats on account of our sins,
although he was without sin. 12. Thus, having Christ as an example
you are likewise to be an example to the people in your charge. Just as
he has taken on our sins, so you likewise are to take on the sins of the
people. For you are not to think that the burden of the episcopate is
easy or light.
13. Since, therefore, you have taken on the burden of everybody so
the fruits which you receive from the entire people should be yours
with regard to anything that is necessary. And, like people who are to
render an account for a creditor who makes no mistake and cannot be
avoided, give good nourishment to those who are in need. 14. For if
you are serving in the office of the episcopate you should be supported
from that very office of the episcopate as are the priests and Levites and
deacons who minister before God, just as it is written in the book of
Numbers:
15. ’The Lord spoke with Aaron and said: “You and your sons and
your father’s house shall take upon themselves the sins of the sanctuary
and you and your sons shall take upon yourselves the sins of your
priests. 16. And the sons of your father, your brothers, the tribe of Levi,
should be close to you, should be counted an addition to you and
14 Is 53:2-5.
15
Is 53:12.
147
should serve you. And you and your sons together with you should
minister before this tent of witness, and yet the sons of Levi should not
approach the vessels of the sanctuary not the altar, or else they shall die,
they and you also. But they shall be added to you, and they shall
observe the observance of the tent of witness, in accordance with all the
service of the tent. And a stranger shall not come near you. 17. You shall
observe the observances of the sanctuary and the observances of the
altar, and no anger shall be directed against the children of Israel. Look,
I have taken the sons of Levi, your brothers, from among the children
of Israel, and they are given as a gift to the Lord so that they may serve
in the service of the tent of witness. 18. And you, and your sons
together with you, observe the priesthood which is yours, in accordance
with all that pertains to the service of the altar and of that which is
within the veil. Serve in your service, as that is your priesthood which
is given to you, but the stranger who approaches shall die the death.”
19. And the Lord spoke with Aaron and said: “Look, to you have
I given the observance of the firstfruits of everything that is conse-
crated to me from the children of Israel, I have given them to you as a
ministry, as to your sons after you, as an eternal law, as yours from
every holy thing which is consecrated from their fruit and from their
offerings and from all their sacrifices and from all their trespass offer-
ings and from all their sin offerings. All the consecrated things which
they offer shall be for you and for your sons. You shall eat it in the
sanctuary; every one of your males should eat it, you and your sons,
and it shall be a holy thing for you. 20. These shall be the firstfruits for
you of what is given, from all the oblations of the children of Israel.
I have given them to you, and to your sons and your daughters
together with you as an everlasting law, and all within the house who
are clean shall eat them. All the firstfruits of oil, and all the first fruits
of wine and the firstfruits of wheat; all that they give to the Lord shall
be yours. All who are clean within your house shall eat from them, and
all that is consecrated by the children of Israel shall be yours, 21. and
anything which opens the womb of all flesh, all which is offered to the
Lord, shall be yours whether human or animal. Nonetheless human
firstborn shall be redeemed, and the firstborn of animals which are not
clean which are offered.16 Their redemption shall be: From one month
and onward you shall redeem with the price of five shekels in the
shekels of the sanctuary, which is twenty shekels of money. But you
shall not redeem the firstborn of oxen and the firstborn of sheep or of
16 ‘Which are offered’ is not found in Hebrew, Peshitta on LXX.
148
goats: they are holy. You shall pour out their blood in front of the altar
and you shall send up their fat as an offering of sweet savour to the
Lord. And their flesh shall be clean for you. And the top of the breast
of the sacrifice and the right shoulder shall be yours. 22. To you, and
to your sons and your daughters together with you, have I given all the
sacrifices of the sanctuary which the children of Israel set apart for the
Lord. This is a law for ever and a covenant for ever before the Lord for
you and for your seed after you.”
23. And the Lord spoke with Aaron and said: “You shall not inherit
in their land, and among them you shall have no portion. For I am your
portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel. Look, I have
given all the tithes of the children of Israel to the sons of Levi as an
inheritance due to the ministry which they serve in the tent of witness.
And the children of Israel are not again to approach the tent of witness
so that they may not receive the sin of death, but the Levites are to serve
the ministry of the tent of witness, and take their sins, as a law lasting
for ever to their generations. And they shall inherit no inheritance
among the children of Israel because I have given to the Levites all the
tithes of the children of Israel as their inheritance, whatever they have
set apart as offerings for the Lord, because I said to them that they
should not inherit any inheritance among the children of Israel.”
24. And the Lord spoke with Moses and said: “Speak with the
Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive the tithes from the chil-
dren of Israel, which I have given to you as an inheritance from them,
you also should set apart an oblation to the Lord from them, a tithe
of the tithes. Your oblation shall be accounted to you as the crop of
the threshing floor and the oblation of the winepress. So you also
shall set apart an oblation to the Lord from all the tithes which you
receive from all the children of Israel, and from them you shall make
an oblation for the Lord to Aaron the priest. From all your gifts you
shall set apart an oblation to the Lord, from the firstfruits which are
consecrated to him.’ 25. And say to them: ‘When you set apart the
firstfruits from them, they shall be counted as the produce of the
threshing floor and the produce of the wine-press. You and the peo-
ple of your households may eat it anywhere, since it is the award
counted to you for your service in the tabernacle of witness. And you
shall contract no sin on this account when you set aside the firstfruits
from it, and you shall not defile the holy things of the children of
Israel, and you shall not so die.’”’’17
17 Num 18:1-32.
149
the ninth chapter

An exhortation to the people that they should honour the bishop1
[2.26] Now hear this also, you who are laymen, who are the elect assembly
of God, since the people of old also were called a church,2 but you are the3
catholic church, holy and perfected, a royal priesthood, a sanctified multi-
tude, a people who has been adopted, a great church, a bride adorned for
the Lord God. So you now should hear what was said of old: Put aside
portions and tithes and firstfruits for Christ, the high priest, and for his
servants, tithes of salvation, for him whose name begins the decade.4
2. Listen then, sacred and catholic church, who escaped the ten plagues,
and received the ten words, and learnt the law and held to the faith, who
know the decade5 and have believed in the iota at the beginning of the
name,6 and are established at the last in his glory. There are prayers and
petitions and thanksgivings where there were sacrifices, and now are there
offerings which are offered through the bishops to the Lord God7 where
there were firstfruits and tithes and portions and gifts. 3. For they are your
high priests,8 and there are deacons and presbyters and widows and
orphans where there were Levites, 4. but the bishop is high-priest and
Levite.9 He it is who ministers the word to you and is your mediator, your
1 Three MSS of the E family have an extended title.

2 The Greek word for church, e)kklhsi/a, meaning an assembly, is used of Israel in
the Old Testament.
3
Lat. resumes here.
4
The Greek letter iota, which is the first letter of the name of Jesus in Greek,
stands for ten. The decade, commenced according to this argumentation by the name
of Jesus, is the ten commandments. A later Midrash, Midrash Tehilim 5.1, attributes to
R Yehoshua ben Levi (of the early third century in Palestine) the same gematric read-
ing of the (Hebrew) letter yud. See Fonrobert (2001), 503.
5 ‘Know the decade’ is absent in Syr. but is supplied from CA and Lat.
6 That is to say the first letter of the name of Jesus.
7
Lat. adds ‘for the remission of sins,’ CA adds ‘through Jesus Christ who died for
us.’ It is possible that Syr. does not represent the whole of the original but no certain-
ty is to be had.
8 Cf. D 13.3.
9 Faivre and Faivre (2007), 61-62, detect here a reference to Num 3:32: ‘The chief
of the chiefs of the Levites was Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed
to guard those who guarded the sacred things.’ We may thus see a connection with
what follows regarding those who might not approach the sanctuary. Subsequently
Eleazar is described as e)pi/skopoj (Num 5:16, LXX.) Faivre and Faivre suggest that
the text is in the author’s mind as this is the sole occasion in Scripture on which a
religious official is described using this term.
150
teacher, and, after God, is your father who has regenerated you through
the water. He is your chief, he is your master, he your powerful king.10 He
is to be honoured by you in the place of God, since the bishop sits among
you as a type of God.11 5. The deacon, however, is present as a type of
Christ, and is therefore to be loved by you. 6. And the deaconess is to be
honoured by you as a type of the Holy Spirit. 7. The presbyters are also to
be reckoned by you as a type of the apostles, 8. and the widows and
orphans are to be considered among you as a type of the altar.12 [2.27]
Therefore just as it was not allowed to a stranger, that is to anyone who was
not a Levite,13 to go up to the altar, or to make any offering without the
high priest, so you likewise should do nothing without the bishop.14 2. If
anyone does anything without the bishop he does it in vain, and his good
work will not be put to his account, because it is improper that anything
should be done without the high priest. 3. Therefore you should make
your offerings to the high priest, doing so yourself or through the deacons.
He will share what he has received with each as each deserves, 4. for the
bishop knows best who is in trouble, and gives to each as is most fitting,
and so one will not be receiving with frequency, on the same day or in the
same week, while another is receiving nothing at all. The high priest, act-
ing as God’s steward, knows who is in the most need and gives comfort as
it is needed.
10
There is some difference in the arrangement of these clauses between Lat. and
Syr.; Syr., rendered here, is supported by CA. Cf., to much of this, K 12.
11
‘As a type of God’: so Lat. Cf. Syr. ‘ . . .in the place of God.’ (Cf. above.)
The confusion has come about through a misreading of tu/poj (type) in the
Greek original as to/poj (place). For some discussion on this point see Schöllgen
(1998), 117-121.
12 The language and typology here is Ignatian in origin (see, e.g., Magn. 6), but DA
has put a new twist on it by linking it less to the worship of heaven as to the offering of
sacrifice. On the somewhat ‘un-Ignatian’ use of the typology note Brent (1991). The
deaconess is a new addition since Ignatius, as are the widows and orphans; we may
deduce that the redactor is extending a traditional list. Widows are compared to the
altar by Polycarp at Phil. 4 in that the widows are to be pure as the altar. The basis for
the typology, however, regardless of any other use to which it is put (so see 3.6.3 below
on the immobility of the altar) is the intercessory function of widows so that the gifts
which they receive are so sanctified through their prayers (this ministry of prayer being
noted by Schlarb (1995), 71, as central to the widow’s role), just as gifts placed on the
altar are sanctified (as Thurston (1985) explains.) On the use of the symbol generally see
also Osiek (1983).
13 ‘ . . .not allowed to a stranger, that is to anyone who was not a Levite’: so Syr.
and CA. Lat. simply reads ‘ . . .not allowed to anyone who was not a Levite.’
14 To do nothing without the bishop is, once again, a constant Ignatian refrain.
See, e.g., Ad Magnesios 7, Ad Trallianos. 2. Here it is clear that the reason for the
prohibition relates to the proper distribution of goods which are offered, which
may well, likewise, be the reason for Ignatius’ insistence.
151
[2.28] Those who wish to give an agapē,15 and to invite the wid-
ows,16 should send more frequently for her whom he knows to be in
distress. And if anyone gives gifts to widows he should especially send
to her whom he knows to be in need.17 2. And the portion which is to
be set apart for the pastor18 should be set aside in accordance with the
rule, even though he be not present at the agapē or the supper, in hon-
our of Almighty God. 3. And in the same way should anything be given
to one of the widows,19 a double portion is to be given to each of the
deacons in honour of Christ, and a quadruple portion to the one who
is pre-eminent, to the glory of the Almighty. 4. And anyone who wishes
to honour the presbyters should give a double portion as to the dea-
cons, for these are to be honoured as the apostles, as the counsellors of
the bishop, and as the crown of the church. For they are the supports
15 A history of agapic meals is beyond this work and there is no recent overall treat-
ment of the phenomenon. Nonetheless early Christianity knew a variety of ritual

meals the purpose of which was to re-inforce bonds of fellowship between the partic-
ipants. The term employed in Syr., )tXYN, is that employed for funeral suppers,
which may well have originally been eucharistic in intent. Lat. preserves the Greek
word agape (transliterated), and thus the translator employs what seems to be an
equivalent term.
16 Cf. Lat. aniculas and CA presbu/teraj (‘old women’). The same divergence of
readings appears below in the paragraph. The whole paragraph raises questions regard-
ing the transmission of church-order material. Some direction for suppers for widows
is in TA 30; I have suggested, however, in commenting on that section in (2001b), 148,
that the redactor was employing a source. The directions here and in TA are sufficient-
ly distinct to suggest that, although a source may underlie them both, DA is not here
directly dependent upon TA, as the word agape is preserved in Lat. whereas it has
disappeared from TA. DA probably, therefore, represents the more original reading.
The absence of the second part of the clause in some versions is, however, puzzling. TA
likewise speaks of sending food, but the reference here is to a sportula which is to be
collected, rather than to the sending of food parcels. We may therefore suggest that,
although a similar phenomenon is envisaged by both, the second clause in each is
redactional. It is interesting that this piece of tradition should be detached. If there is
a connection with TA 30 then this may explain the divergence in readings, as TA speaks
of ‘aged widows.’ It is possible that both stood in the Gk and that CA and Lat. on the
one hand, and Syr. on the other, have each taken part of the clause. Note also the dis-
cussion by Schöllgen, (1998), 150-151.
17 This sentence is not present in Lat. or CA, and Connolly (1929), 89, suggests
that it is a gloss representing later practice, but Schöllgen (1998), 92, n. 378, presents
strong arguments for its retention. There is certainly nothing inconsistent here with
the practice of DA.
18
Pastor: so Syr. and CA. Lat. has sacerdoti. Given the sacerdotalization of the epis-
copate within DA Lat. may reflect the original reading.
19 Lat. has praesbyterorum (sic), whereas CA has ‘older women’ (presbuti/dwn),
which is perhaps the original, though note the footnote above. It is easy to account for
the corruption in Lat.
152
and council of the church.20 5. If 21 there is a reader he should receive in

conjunction with the presbyters.22 Every layperson, therefore, should
pay the honour which is due to every office, with gifts, with honours,
and with earthly reverence.23
6. They may show great boldness24 towards the deacons, not trou-
bling the chief at all hours, but making known their needs through the
servants,25 that is through the deacons. For one cannot approach the
Lord God Almighty except by means of Christ. Thus they should
make known anything that they desire to do to the bishop through the
deacons, and do it only then.
7. For previously, in the Temple of the sanctuary, nothing was done
or offered without the priest. 8. And likewise the idol-temples of the
filthy, abominable and detestable heathens are to this day imitators of
the sanctuary. Although any likeness between the house of impurity
and the sanctuary is to be utterly rejected, nonetheless they neither
make any offering nor do anything else in their ridiculous rites with-
out their unclean priest, considering that the unclean priest is the
mouthpiece of the stones. And they await his commandment before
doing anything. And they consult their unclean priest in everything
that they intend to do, and do nothing without him. Because they
consider that what they do is acceptable they honour him and vener-
ate him as though for the honour of the dumb stones which are fixed
in the walls and as for the honour of the filthy, evil and cruel demons.
9. If, in their vanity, those whose conduct is false and who are without
hope, being led astray by an empty hope, look upon the sanctuary
20 Thus reflecting the view of the presbyterate expressed by Ignatius Ad Magnesios
6 and TA 7.2. This is not the view of DA more generally.

21
22 CA adds: ‘As the reward of the prophets’, which, as Harnack (1895), 71, suggests,
is unlikely to have been an editorial addition. The point is that the reader now per-
forms part of the function formerly performed by prophets. This is the sole mention,
however, of this ministry in DA, which leads once again to the suggestion that this
section is derived from an independent source. At 2.30, immediately below, it is the
deacon who receives the reward (honour) of the prophets.
23 Schöllgen (1998), 92, suggests, not without reason, that this solely relates to the
portions served at the agapē, and has nothing to do with the right to support enjoyed
by the clergy. Certainly this was the case in the original setting of this piece of tradition,
as indeed may be the case at the direction found at 1 Tim 5:17, but set in its current
context we may wonder whether this is intended as guidance towards the proper com-
pensation of ecclesial officials. Certainly in its context it serves as part of an argument
that it is proper that officials of the congregation should be supported by their gifts.
24 The Syriac translator transliterates parrhsi/a.
25
The Syriac translator transliterates u(phre/thj.
153
with the desire to imitate it, bestowing all kinds of honour on those
who stand before their ridiculous idols, why then should you, whose
faith is in a truth which is known and manifest, whose adherence is to
a hope which is trustworthy, who are waiting for the glorious prom-
ise26 which passes not away and is not destroyed, not honour the Lord
God through those who stand at your head?
Thus you should look upon the bishop as the mouth of God.
[2.29] For if Aaron was called a prophet because he interpreted for
Pharaoh the sayings which were given through Moses (as the Lord said
to Moses: ‘Look, I have given you to Pharaoh as a God, and Aaron
your brother as your prophet’),27 then why should you not regard
those who are mediators of the word to you as prophets in this way,
worshipping them as God? [2.30] But now, for us, Aaron is the deacon
and Moses is the bishop. If, indeed, Moses was called a god by the
Lord, so the bishop should be honoured by you as God, and the dea-
con as a prophet.28
[2.31] For this reason, namely the honour of the bishop, you are to
make him aware of everything that you do that it may be com-
pleted through him. 2. And if you know of anyone who is grievously
oppressed, of whom the bishop does not yet know, then let him know.
Apart from him you are to do nothing; he is not to be dishonoured
and shamed as one who despises the poor.
3. Anyone who spreads a malicious rumour against the bishop, either
by word or by deed, is offending against Almighty God and if anyone
should speak malice against a deacon, either by word or by deed, he is
stumbling against Christ, since it is written in the law: ‘You shall not
despise your gods and you shall not speak evil of the leaders of your peo-
ple.’29 Nobody should think that the Lord is speaking of idols of stone,
but he refers to those who stand at your head as ‘gods’. [2.32] Moses also
says, in the book of Numbers, when the people were grumbling against
him and against Aaron, ‘You are not grumbling against us alone but
against the Lord God.’30 2. And Our Saviour also said: ‘Anyone who
does wrong to you does wrong to me, and to the one who sent me.’31
26 Syr. actually reads ‘king’ due to a vocalization error, as both words unpointed
read )KLM. CA’s e)paggeli/an assures us that the word is ‘promise’.

27 Ex 7:1.
28 This sentence is omitted in MSS of the E family, and the previous sentence
adjusted to take account of the alteration, with the omission of the words ‘as prophets.’
29 Ex 22:28.
30
Ex 16:8; cf. Num 14:2.
31 Lk 10:16.
154
Thus there is but little hope for anyone who speaks malice against
a bishop or against a deacon. 3. For even anyone who calls a layman a
fool, or raqa, ‘is liable to the assembly’32 as one who has risen up
against Christ, because he has called his brother ‘empty’, someone in
whom Christ dwells, who is not empty but filled.33 Or has called
somebody a fool in whom dwells the Holy Spirit of God, filling him
with all wisdom, as if he had become foolish from the Spirit dwelling
within him. Thus if anyone who says such things as these to a layman
should be found to fall into so much condemnation, how much the
more should anyone dare say something against the deacon, or against
the bishop through whom the Lord gave you the Holy Spirit, through
whom you have learned the word and come to know God, and
through whom you have been made known to God, through whom
you were sealed,34 and through whom you have become sons of light,
through whom in baptism, through the imposition of the bishop’s
hand,35 the Lord bore witness of each of you, as his holy voice was
heard saying, ‘You are my son, this day I have begotten you.’36
[2.33] Therefore, man, know your bishops, those through whom you
are become a son of God, and the right hand, your mother.37 And love
him who, after God, is become your father and your mother, for who-
ever despises his father and mother shall die with the death. 2. You then
should honour the bishops, those who have set you free from sin, who
have begotten you anew through the water, who filled you with the Holy
Spirit, who nourished you with the word as with milk, who raised you
with teaching, who confirmed you with admonition, who made you
participants in the holy eucharist of God, who made you share as joint
32 Mt 5:22.
33 Some indication that DA originated in a Syriac speaking area may be gained
from the author’s recognition of the derivation of )Qr from qr, ‘to be empty.’
34
As noted in the introduction, although the word here is nwtMtXt) this
does not exclude the possibility that the action is that more generally called the ruš m’a
as may be clear from CA e)sfragi/sqhte, which is certainly a representation of the
Greek original here.
35
The hand was placed on the head of the candidate in order to dip the candidate.
Thus observe the same usage in the Historia Johannis 40 (English) dM, (Syr.): ‘The
holy man drew near and placed his hand on the head of the procurator and dipped
him . . .’
36
Ps 2:7; Lk 3:22. Cf. to this K 12.3: ‘You shall honour him [a teacher] as much as
you are able from your sweat and from the labour of your hands. If the Lord through
him has made you worthy to be given spiritual food and drink and eternal life, much
the more should you bring him corruptible and temporary food.’
37 Funk (1905), 114-115, explains this image as a reference to the imposition of the
bishop’s right hand at baptism as noted above.
155
heirs in the promises of God. 3. These you should revere, and honour
with all honour, for they have received authority from God over life and
death; not to judge those who sin and to condemn them to death in
everlasting fire through expelling and excommunicating those who are
judged (God forbid that this should ever happen!) but by receiving and
reviving those who return and repent.
[2.34] Thus they should be your leaders, regarded by you as
kings. Offer them tribute in service as though to kings, for they, and
those who are with them, should be sustained by you. 2. For thus is
it written in the first book of Kingdoms: ‘Samuel spoke all the say-
ings of the Lord to the people who had asked of him a king, and he
said to them: “This is the law of the king who shall be reigning over
you. He will take you sons and set them upon his chariots, and
cause them to run before them. And he will make for himself
captains of thousands and captains of hundreds. They shall reap his
harvest, and gather his vintage and make weapons for his chariots.38
Your daughters will he take for weavers39 and as servants for his
house.40 He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and
your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will tithe your
seed stock and your vinestock and will give them to his servants and
his eunuchs. And he will take your servants and your maids and
the best of your cattle and your donkeys and tithe them for the serv-
ice of his work. He will tithe your flocks, and you shall yourselves be
his servants.”’41
3. The same rationale applies to the bishop. For if the king who
reigned over such a numerous people (as it is written in Hosea ‘The
people of the children of Israel was as numerous as the sand beside
the sea, which can neither be counted nor measured’42) took the ser-
vices he needed in accordance with the number of the people, like-
wise the bishop takes from the people those whom he considers wor-
thy of office,43 appointing presbyters as counsellors and assessors for
38
Lat. resumes here. Once again there are differences between its scriptural
citation and that of Syr.
39 So Syr. Cf. Lat. (and LXX), unguentarias.
40 So Syr. Lat. follows LXX (which coheres with Hebrew and Peshitta) ‘millers and
bakers’.
41 1 Sam 8:10-17.
42
Hos 1:10.
43 ‘Worthy of office’: so Lat. Syr. reads ‘worthy of himself and of his office.’ CA
gives no guidance.
156
himself, and deacons and subdeacons44 who may serve within his
house. 4. What more is there to say? For the king who wears a dia-
dem only reigns over the body, binding and loosing only on earth.
But the bishop reigns over body and soul, binding and loosing on
earth with heavenly effect, for the authority given to him is heavenly
and divine. 5. Therefore love the bishop as a father, fear him as a
king, honour him as God. Offer him the fruits and the work of your
hands so as to receive a blessing, giving him your tithes and your
firstfruits and your vows and your part-offerings, so that he may be
supported by them, and may give them to all who are in need, to
each as he deserves. 6. And your offering shall be received by the
Lord your God as a smell of sweetness in the heights45 of heaven and
in the sight of the Lord your God. And he shall bless you, and
increase the good things he has promised you, as it is written in
Wisdom: ‘Every simple soul shall be blessed; and a blessing shall be
upon the head of anyone that gives.’46
7. Be thus constant in working, with continuous labour and with
offering, since the Lord has lightened your load and has taken away
the chains from around your neck and has removed from you the
heavy yoke, by removing from you the secondary legislation, in the
abundance of his mercy. As it is written in Isaiah: ‘Say to those who are
in chains: “Go forth.”’47 And again, ‘Let loose the chains that bind.’48
And in David he says: ‘He has not despised the imprisoned.’49 Like-
wise he also says in the Gospel: ‘Come to me all who labour and are
laden heavily with burdens,50 and I shall give you rest. Take my yoke
upon yourselves and learn from me, for I am gentle and of humble
heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light.’51
44
Given that this is the only appearance of subdeacons within this text we may
well suspect an interpolation of the word (so Achelis in Achelis and Flemming (1904),
265). The fact that it appears in all versions does not militate against this (cf. Schöll-
gen (1998), 93) but simply means that it is a relatively early interpolation.
45
Lat. has ‘breadth’, which interestingly is close to the appeal for the acceptance of
the offering in Syriac Liturgy of St James. We may well suspect that this is a citation of
a prayer which in time would find itself in fixed liturgical forms.
46 Prov 11:25-26.
47 Is 49:9.
48
Is 42:7.
49 Ps 68:34.
50
Lat. omits ‘heavily’ from the citation, in greater accordance with the received
text, though that of Syr. is attested in Syrian sources.
51
Mt 11:28-30.
157
[2.35] If, through the abundance of his grace, the Lord has set you
free and given you rest and led you into refreshment, no longer are you
bound to sacrifices and offerings for sins and for purification, and gifts
and offerings and holocausts and burnt-offerings52 and idling53 and
shewbread and by the observation of ablutions; nor indeed to tithes,
firstfruits, part-offerings, gifts or oblations. All of these were imposed
upon them as a matter of obligation in giving, but you, however, are
not bound by them. Of you it is required that you know the saying of
the Lord, who said: ‘Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the
scribes and the pharisees you shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven.’54
2. When you do what is written, ‘Sell all you have and give to the
poor’,55 then shall your righteousness exceed their tithes and first-fruits
and part-offerings. 3. On this account, therefore, do this, and do it
through the bishop and priest and mediator with the Lord God. It is
demanded of you that you give, and of him that he dispense.
4. You are not to demand an account of the bishop, nor are you to
observe the manner of his dispensation and the performance of his
stewardship, when he gives, or to whom, or where or whether he does
it ill or well. For the Lord God will make enquiry of him, for he deliv-
ered his stewardship into his hands and held him worthy of the priest-
hood of this whole office. Since you are not to observe the bishop, nor
demand an account of him, nor speak evil against him, so opposing
God and offending the Lord, [2.36] have before your eyes what is said
to you in Jeremiah: ‘Does the clay say to the potter “You do no work
and have no hands”? As if anyone might say to his father or his
mother: “Why did you beget me?”‘56 2. But simply labour, working in
the house of God, and at all times let the saving voice of the renewal of
the law be written and established in your heart, recalling what the
Lord says: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul and
with all your strength.’57 3. Now your strength is your worldly prop-
erty. You shall not love the Lord with your lips alone, like that people
whom he upbraids when he says: ‘This people honours me with their
lips, but their heart is very far from me.’58 4. You are to honour the

53 Specifically intended is idling on the sabbath.
54
Mt 5:20.
55 Mt 19:21.
56 Is 45:9-10.
57 Mk 12:30.
58
Is 29:13.
158
Lord your God with all your strength, and to bring your offering at all
times, always.
And do not distance yourself from the church. Whenever you
receive the oblation of the eucharist lay down whatever happens to be
in your hands, so that you may share it with strangers, for it is col-
lected by the bishop for the support of all strangers. 5. On this
account you should save and keep by as much as you can, for the Lord
has said in the law: ‘You shall not appear before me empty.’59 6.
Therefore do good works, and put by for yourself everlasting treasure
in heaven ‘where the moth does not corrupt nor thieves steal.’60 7. But
when you do this do not be judgmental towards the bishop, nor
towards those who are your companions, since it said to the laymen:
Do not judge lest you be judged.’61 8. For if you judge your brother,
and condemn him, you have reckoned your brother as guilty, that is
you have brought your own life to condemnation; you shall be judged
among the guilty. 9. For it is to the bishops to be judges, it is to them
that it is said: ‘Be approved money-changers.’62 [2.37] The bishop,
like somebody who examines coins, is obliged to separate the wicked
from the good, to reject and cast aside those which are altogether bad,
and to leave in the melting pot those which are ill-made or for any
reason lacking, like underweight (coins).63 2. But a layman is not to
judge his neighbour, nor to take upon himself a burden that is not his
own, for the weight of this burden is not for laypeople but for bish-
ops. 3. As a layperson, therefore, you shall not lay snares for yourself
but leave judgement in the hands of those who will have to give an
account of it. You are to strive to make peace with all, to love those
who are members together with you, since the Lord said: ‘Love your
neighbour as yourself.’64
59
Ex 23:15.
60
Mt 6:20.
61 Mt 7:1.
62
This agraphon also appears in Clement of Alexandria Strom. 1.28.
63 The term translated ‘lacking’ and ‘underweight’ is the same, and the word ‘coins’
is supplied to make sense. Coins in the Roman world were valued on the basis of their
metal content; thus it was possible to trim off metal and for a coin to be worth less than
its face value on the basis of being underweight. Likewise wear and tear might reduce
the metal content of a coin. Money-changers and assayers, who were generally small
independent traders, would therefore test and weigh currency presented for exchange.
Exchange was necessary within the eastern Empire because some cities continued to
mint their own coinage, and also because large denomination coins might be
exchanged for smaller denominations. For some discussion see Andreau (1999), 36-38.
64
Mt 19:19.
159
the tenth chapter

A warning with regard to brothers who are false; and an enquiry into those
who are accusers, or who are witnesses against anyone; and a verdict giving
judgement against those convicted of sin; and the consolation and reception
into the church of those who show repentance; and the commandment to the
bishop that they should impose a hand and bind up those who have sinned
if they repent; and that they should not judge with respect for persons and so
be convicted in the sight of God; and that they should convict anyone who
makes a false accusation, punishing in the same measure as is just for the one
who was accused.
4. If there should be false brothers who, out of the jealousy or spite of

Satan and the enemy acting within them, bring false accusations against
anyone of the brotherhood, or even one which is true, it should be
made known to them that anyone who goes into such matters for the
purpose of making accusations against somebody or of blaspheming
somebody is a son of wrath, 5. and where there is wrath then God is not
there. Wrath is from Satan, and it is by means of these false brothers
that he does not permit there to be peace in the church.
6. Thus when you become acquainted with those who are thus
wanting in understanding you should give no credence to them. And
you, the bishops and the deacons, should take care to avoid them. And
when you hear them speaking anything against one of the brothers,
[2.38] be aware of the one against whom they are bringing accusation,
investigate cautiously and weigh his conduct. And if he be found guilty
then act in accordance with the teaching of our Lord as it is written in
the Gospel: ‘Rebuke him between yourself and him, and if he repents
and is converted, then save him. And if he be not persuaded then
rebuke him before two or three,’1 so that the saying should be fulfilled
that everything should be proved by the mouth of two or three wit-
nesses.2 2. But for what reason, brothers, is it required that testimony be
proved by the mouth of two or three witnesses? Because the Father and
the Son together with the Holy Spirit bear witness to human deeds.
Indeed, wherever there is the admonition of teaching, there also is dis-
cipline and there restitution of those who wander. On this account,
then, is everything proved by the mouth of two or three witnesses.
3. But if he pays no attention he should be rebuked before the entire
1
Mt 18:15-16.
2
Cf. Dt 19:15 and, indeed, 1 Jn 5:7.
160
church, and if, moreover, he pays no attention to the entire church

he should be accounted by you as a pagan or as a tax-collector.’3
4. Because the Lord has said to you, bishops, that henceforth you
should not receive anyone such into the church as a Christian, nor have
any commerce with him, since you do not receive the pagan or the
wicked tax collector into the church, nor have anything to do with
them, unless first they repent, and promise that they believe, and that
thenceforth they shall do no evil deed.
On this account did our Lord and Saviour grant room for repen-
tance to those who sin. [2.39] Indeed I, Matthew, one of the twelve
apostles who are speaking to you through these Didascalia, was pre-
viously a tax collector. But since I believed I have received kindness,
I have repented of what I did before, and also have been deemed
worthy of being an apostle and of proclaiming the word. 2. And also,
in the Gospel, John the prophet4 proclaimed to tax-collectors; he did
not cut off their hope but taught them how they should act. And
when they asked him for a statement he said to them: ‘Take no more
than what is commanded of you and what is set out for you.’5 3. And
again, when Zacchaeus required it of him, the Lord received him in
repentance.6 4. And we do not even withhold life from the pagans
when they repent, put away and reject their error.
5. Anyone who has been convicted of wicked deeds or of falsehood
should be accounted by you as a pagan or as a tax-collector. 6. Subse-
quently, should he promise to repent, like the pagans who promise
and desire to repent, and who say ‘I believe’, and who are received
into the assembly so that they may hear the word,7 but with whom we
do not communicate until they have received the seal and become
perfected, so we do not communicate with these until they show
forth the fruits of repentance. Should they wish to hear the word they
should certainly come in so that they do not perish utterly, but they
3
Mt 18:16-17.
4 MSS of the E family read ‘John the baptist.’
5 Lk 3:13.
6
Lk 19:2-10.
7
Bradshaw (1999), 143, notes that some form of repentance and expression of faith
is required even before the catechumen may enter the assembly. His point is that
entry to the assembly to hear the word is not automatic in this community but is
dependent upon some progress in the catechumenate. Not this passage alone, but
2.38.4 above, suggest that he is correct. I suspect he is mistaken, however, in linking
this to the formal rite of renunciation before baptism, though this question cannot be
pursued further here.
161
are not to communicate in prayer but depart. These, when they see
that they do not communicate with the church, will submit them-
selves and repent of their former deeds and seek reception into the
church for prayer. Similarly, those who see them depart like heathens
and tax collectors shall be afraid and take heed for themselves that
they do not sin lest so it should happen to them too, that they should
be put out of the church having been convicted of sin or of falsehood.
[2.40] By no means, however, are you, bishop, to prevent them
from entering the church to hear the word. For not even Our Lord and
Saviour shunned or cast out tax-collectors and sinners, he even ate
with them. On this account the pharisees murmured against him and
said: ‘He eats with tax-collectors and sinners.’ Our Saviour then
answered, speaking against their thinking and murmuring, saying:
‘Those who are whole have no need of a physician, but they who are
sick.’8 2. Therefore have involvement with those who are convicted of
sins and who are in sickness; associate with them, and take care of
them, and speak to them and comfort them and keep hold of them
and enable them to return. [2.41] And then, as each repents and shows
forth the fruit of repentance, accept him into the prayer as you would
a pagan. 2. And just as you baptize a pagan and at that time receive
him, so lay the hand on this man while everyone is praying for him,9
and then bring him in and allow him to communicate with the
church, for the imposition of the hand shall take the place of baptism
for him, as whether by the imposition of a hand or by baptism they
receive participation in the Holy Spirit.
3. For this reason you are, like a compassionate physician, to heal all
who sin, employing wisdom and skill, offering a remedy which heals
lives. Do not be impatient to amputate the members of the church, but
use the word as bandages, and warning as a poultice, and intercession
as a compress. 4. And if the sore is depressed, is diminishing the
patient’s flesh, feed it and fill up the gap with healing remedies. Should
there be dirt in it, cleanse it with a caustic remedy, that is with a word
of warning and reproof. 5. If the flesh is swollen, reduce it and bring it
down with a strong remedy, that is the warning of judgement. 6. But if
gangrene is present, cauterize it with branding irons, that is with the
imposition of severe fasting, cutting away and clearing out the seepage
in the sore. 7. And yet, should the gangrene increase and prevail even
8
Mk 2:17.
9
See 2.18.7 and the note ad loc. on this gesture and on the participation of the
people.
162
over the cauterization, then cut; after taking advice and extensively con-
sulting with other physicians amputate the putrefying limb so that the
whole body is not infected. 8. Yet do not be anxious to amputate speed-
ily, or run hastily to a saw with many teeth, but first use a scalpel to cut
into the sore, so that it may be closely examined and the cause of inter-
nal pain be known, so avoiding harm to the entire body. 9. Yet if you see
a man who will not repent, but has cut off his life from all hope, then
with grief and with sadness cut him off and expel him from the
church.10
[2.42] But if you discover that the accusation of wrongdoing is
false and you, the shepherds, together with the deacons, have
accepted the falsehood as true out of respect for persons or on
account of the offerings you receive, if you desire to do the will of the
evil one in giving false judgement, expelling and removing from the
church somebody accused who is innocent of the charge, you shall
render an account on the day of judgement. For it is written: ‘You
shall not be a respecter of persons in giving judgement.’11 Again, the
Scripture says: ‘A bribe blinds the eyes of seers, and perverts straight
words.’12 Again it says: ‘Save the downtrodden, do justice for orphans
and righteousness for widows’13 and ‘Judge with right judgement in
the gates.’14
2. Be careful, then, not to be respecters of persons and so to stand
under judgement of the word of the Lord which he spoke: 3.’Woe to
those who make the bitter sweet and the sweet bitter, and to those who
call the light darkness and the darkness light, and who declare the evil
righteous for a bribe and ignore the righteousness of the righteous
man.’15 4. But be careful that you do not wrongly condemn a man and
give aid to the wicked. For when you judge others you are bringing
judgement upon yourselves, as the Lord said: ‘With the judgement
with which you judge you are bringing judgement upon yourselves
and just as you condemn, so shall you be condemned.’16
On this account you should remember and have in mind this say-
ing: ‘Forgive, and you shall be forgiven; and do not condemn, and you
10
On this medical imagery see the introduction, 4.c.3.
11
Dt 1:17.
12 Ex 23:8.
13 Is 1:17.
14 Zech 8:16.
15 Is 50:20, 23.
16 Mt 7:2.
163
shall not be condemned.’17 5. Bishops, if you give judgement without

respect to persons, then be watchful of the one who accuses his brother
lest he be a false brother who has brought his accusation out of envy or
jealousy in order to destroy the church of God and kill whomever is
accused by him through his expulsion from the church and his deliv-
ery to the raging fire. Thus judge him severely because he has brought
evil upon his brother. 6. His own particular intent, had he caught the
judges’ ear beforehand, was to kill his brother in fire. It is written:
‘The blood of anyone who sheds a man’s blood will be shed, because
of the blood which he shed.’18 [2.43] Expel from the church with stern
rebuke as a murderer anyone who is found to be such. After a period,
if he promises to repent, then warn him and put him under discipline,
then lay a hand upon him and receive him into the church.19 Yet be
watchful, observing anyone like this who may once again cause distur-
bance to others. 2. And if, after he has come in, you observe that he is
once again contentious, accusing others, plotting and scheming, mak-
ing false complaints against many, expel him, so that no longer he may
cause disturbance and difficulty to the church. Somebody like this,
even though within the church, is not fitting, is superfluous to her,
and there is no good in him. 3. Indeed, it may be observed that some
people are born with superfluous members on their bodies, such as
fingers or other surplus flesh. But although they are on the body they
are a shame and a disgrace to the body and to the man alike because
they are superfluous to him. However when they are removed by the
surgeon the form and the beauty of his body are restored to the person.
Nothing is lacking to him, as what was removed was superfluous to
him; rather he is perceived in his proper form.
You pastors should conduct yourselves in this way for the church
is a body, and its members are those who believe in God, who exist in
love in the fear of the Lord in accordance with the commandment of
perfection20 which we have received. On this account, anyone who
devises evil plans against the church, who troubles her members, who
loves the fault-finding and grievances of the enemy, namely distur-
bances, quarrels, backbiting, grumbling, strife, disputes, accusations,
17 Lk 6:37.
18
Gen 9:6.
19
See, on this gesture, 2.18.7 above with the annotation and further references ad loc.
20 Or ‘tradition’, depending on the vocalization of the Syriac word )twNML$M.
If the word is vocalized to mean ‘tradition’ this would mean ‘the command handed down.’
The phrase ‘perfect torah’ is employed by R Yohanan b Zakkai at TB Menahoth 65B.
164
charges, vexations, who loves these things, and does them, or rather
the enemy working in him, and remains within the church, is foreign
to the church, and native to the enemy. It is him, indeed, whom he
serves, that he might work through him in scattering and breaking up
the church. Should anyone of this nature remain within he is a cause
of disgrace to the church because of his blasphemies and the extent of
his disturbance. The church of God is in danger of being scattered by
means of him. Therefore deal with him as it written in Wisdom:
‘Drive out an evil person from the congregation and his strife will
leave with him. Put an end to contention and disgrace, lest he bring
disgrace on you all by sitting in the congregation.’21 4. When he has
left the church on two occasions he is rightly cut off. And the church
is beautiful, in her proper form, since she is at peace, which previously
she lacked, and blasphemy and disorder is gone from the church from
that hour.
5. If your own mind is not pure, whether on account of respect of
persons or on account of the gifts of impure profit which you are
receiving, and you tolerate the presence of one who is evil among your-
selves, or put forth and expel those of good conduct from the church,
fostering many who are evil, those who are contentious and divisive
and ill-behaved, you will bring blasphemy upon the assembly of the
church, you will be in danger of scattering her through these people,
and will bring the mortal danger on yourselves of losing eternal life
through pleasing people, turning away from pleasing God because of
your respect of persons and the extent to which you have accepted
pointless gifts. And you shall have scattered the catholic church, the
beloved daughter of the Lord God.
the eleventh chapter

A further exhortation to the bishops and deacons that their leadership is to be
just, and that they are to dwell together in love and concord; and that they
should not accept the testimony of pagans against anyone who believes; and
that a Christian should not be molested, and have a lawsuit against his com-
panions, and if it should so happen that they have a lawsuit they should not
tell it before the pagans but before the church. And they should be pacified, even
should one of them lose something corporeal; and if anyone is obdurate and
resists peace he should be expelled from the church until he repents. And when
21 Prov 22:10.
165
the two persons approach, those who are in judgement should judge without
respect of persons. On the second day of the week they should investigate the
conduct of the complainant with great care, and his conscience and the reasons
for his lawsuit and his dispute. And likewise, in the same manner, the accused;
and that they should punish the guilty with justice. And concerning those who
are angry, that it is right that they should forgive one another’s offences, since
we are seeking forgiveness from God.
[2.44] Therefore, bishops, together with the deacons, you are to seek to be
true to the Lord, since the Lord says: ‘“If you are true with me, I also will
be true with you, and if you act unfairly towards me, I will act unfairly
towards you,” says the Lord of hosts.’1 Be true, then, so that you may be
deserving of praise from the Lord, rather than the opposite, rebuke.
2. Thus the bishops and deacons are to be of a single mind, and are
to be diligent in shepherding the people, with one accord. It is required
that you become a single body, as Father and Son, for you are in the like-
ness of the Lordship. 3. The deacon should make everything known to
the bishop as did Christ to his Father. The deacon should settle such
matters as he is able, and the bishop should determine the other, remain-
ing, matters. 4. But the deacon should be the hearing of the bishop, and
his mouth, and his heart and his soul. For when you are of a single
accord then there is also peace in the church through your unanimity.
[2.45] The fairest praise for a Christian is that he has no evil word
with anyone. But if it should so happen that, through the operation of
the enemy, somebody falls into temptation and has a lawsuit, he
should seek to be saved from it, even should he lose something. Above
all he should not go to pagan courts, 2. and do not accept the testi-
mony of pagans against any one of yourselves, for it is by means of the
pagans that the enemy plots against the servants of God. 3. Thus,
because the pagans are prepared to stand on the left, he called them the
left hand.2 Indeed our Lord and Saviour addresses us thus: ‘Do not let
1
The citation corresponds directly to no known source, though the latter part corre-
sponds to Lev 26:23-24, 27-28. It is cited by Macarius Chrysocephalus in the fourteenth
century and attributed to Clement of Alexandria, but is not in any of Clement’s extant
works. It is also cited by Praedestinatus (PL 53.610). See for further details Funk (1905), 138.
2
The Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum refers to a ‘book of canons’ which explains
that the right hand is the Christian people, which is at the right hand of Christ, where-
as others are at the left. Mt 6:3 is thus interpreted as stating that pagans should not see
Christian charity. Given that CA has so rewritten this passage, it seems that the author
of the Opus, who also cites the version of the story of Manasseh found in the seventh
chapter above, had read DA.
166
your left hand know what your right hand is doing.’3 [2.46] The
pagans are not to know of your lawsuits, and you are not to accept tes-
timony against yourselves from them. And do not go to court before
them, as also in the Gospel he says: ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s
and to God what is God’s.’4 2. Thus you should be willing to lose, and
to seek to make peace. Even should you lose some worldly goods for
the sake of peace you shall gain from God, as you have feared God and
acted according to his commandments.
3. If, however, there should be brothers who quarrel with one
another, which should not be, and which should not occur, it is incum-
bent upon you who are leaders5 to know immediately that this is no
deed of brotherhood in the Lord on the part of those who dare to act in
this way. 4. But if one of them is found to be one of the sons of God,
who is humble and who is suffering wrong, then he is a son of the light.
Yet anyone who is intractable and insolent and domineering and
blasphemous is a hypocrite, and the enemy is working in him. Rebuke
him, therefore, and shame him and chasten him and put him out, as a
warning to him. And afterwards, as we said above, receive him that he
does not perish utterly, for when people like this are corrected and
reproved there will not be many lawsuits among you. 5. But if they do
not know the saying which was spoken by our Lord in the Gospels,
when he said: ‘How many times should I forgive my brother when he
offends me?’6 and grow angry with one another and become enemies,
you are to teach them and you are to reprove and make peace between
them, since the Lord has said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’7
6. And be aware that it is required of the bishop and presbyters to
judge with caution; as our Saviour said when we asked him ‘How
many times should I forgive a brother when he wrongs me? As many
as seven times?’ Our Lord, however, taught us and said to us: ‘I say to
you, not seven times only, but seventy times seven.’8 7. For the Lord
desires that they who in truth are his should bear no grudge at all
against anyone, and should not be angry with anyone; so how much
the less does he desire you to have lawsuits against each other. [2.47]
But if anything should occur through the operation of the enemy they
3 Mt 6:3.
4
Mt 22:21.
5 A significant group of manuscripts add here ‘that you should make peace’
6 Mt 18:21.
7 Mt 5:9.
8
Mt 18:21-22.
167
should be judged in front of you, in the same manner that you are like-
wise to be judged.
First of all your judgements should be given on the second day of
the week, so that should it so happen that somebody rises up against
the statement of your judgements you have opportunity until the sab-
bath to rectify the matter and to bring about peace between those who
are at odds one with the other and to reconcile them on the Sunday.9
Thus the presbyters and the deacons should always be present with the
bishops in every case. Judge without respect of persons.
2. Now when the two persons, those who, as Scripture says, have a
suit and a quarrel one with another, come and stand in the place of
judgement give the statement of judgement and sentence when you
have heard them properly. And be careful in maintaining kindness
towards them before the statement of judgement and sentence
emerges from you lest a sentence of earthly judgement emerges from
you against a brother. Judge in such a way that you are likewise so to
be judged, as in this very judgement your co-participant, assessor,
counsellor, witness and judge is Christ.
3. If there are those who are being charged and who are accused of
not walking properly in the way of the Lord, once again you should
listen to the two persons and make diligent investigation, as you are
passing sentence in matters of everlasting life or of harsh and bitter
death. For if somebody is fittingly reprimanded and convicted and
departs from the church he is cast out of eternal life and glory, becom-
ing contemptible in human company and condemned before God.
[2.48] Thus you are to give judgement in accordance with the gravity
of the charge, whatever it may be, and with great mercy, and be
inclined to save alive, without respect of persons, rather than to
destroy those who are being judged through your condemnation.
2. If there is anyone who is innocent who is condemned by the
judges through respect of persons it will do him no harm before God,
rather it will be to his advantage. Since although for a short time he is
wrongfully judged by humanity, subsequently, on the day of judgement,
he shall be the judge of the unjust judges, as he has been wrongfully
convicted. 3. For you shall have been arbiters of wrongful judgment, and
thus you shall receive retribution from God and cast out of the catholic
church of God. And it shall be fulfilled, concerning you: ‘With the
judgement with which you judge you shall be judged.’10
9
Jewish courts likewise sit on fixed days. See TB Baba Qamma 82A.
10
Mt 7:2.
168
[2.49] For this reason, when you sit in judgement the two persons
should stand before you. We do not call them brothers until there is
peace between them. And investigate carefully and with caution those
between whom there is a lawsuit, or who have a quarrel with one
another. 2. And apprise yourself of the accuser, whether he is himself
accused of anything, whether he has brought charges against others,
and again whether he has brought the accusation out of some former
hostility, or through a quarrel, or through envy. And also what his con-
duct is, whether he is humble, and not irascible, and not slanderous,
and whether he is kind to widows and to the poor and to strangers, and
not a lover of impure profit. And whether he is peaceable, and friendly
to all and kind to all, whether he is compassionate and open-handed in
his giving, not a glutton, nor greedy, and not rapacious and not a
drunkard, and not a prodigal, and not idle, since ‘the perverse heart
devises evil, and at all times disturbs towns,’11 and whether he has acted
wickedly as does the world, in adultery and fornication. 3. And if the
accuser is free of all this he is clearly trustworthy, and his accusation is
manifestly truthful. Yet if he is known to be perverse, quarrelsome and
not a performer of good deeds, it is evident that he is bringing false wit-
ness against your brother. 4. When you discover such a one and know
that he is a deceiver, admonish him and cast him out for a while, until
he repents and is converted and weeps, lest he blaspheme against some
other of the brothers who conducts himself properly, or lest others of
those who are seated in the congregation who are like him should see
that he has not been rebuked and should dare likewise to take action
against one of the brothers and should so perish before God. 5. If, how-
ever, the one who has sinned is rebuked and cast out for a while, any-
one who considered imitating him and acting likewise will see that he
has been cast out will be afraid lest the same be done to him and will be
prevented, and so will live before God and be not ashamed in human
sight. [2.50] And again, the same with regard to the person subject to
judgement. Observe his conduct and his actions in the world; take
counsel together and consider among yourselves, observing his conduct
and his actions in the world, whether there are frequent complaints
heard about him, or whether many bad deeds have been done by him.
2. Since if it is determined that he has done bad deeds it is all the more
likely that the complaint being brought against him is true. Again,
however, it may so happen that he has previously committed some sin
and yet is innocent of the charge on this occasion. 3. On this account
11 Prov 6:14.
169
investigate these matters thoroughly that your statement of sentence

may be made with certainty and caution.
Pass sentence with rectitude on the one who is found to be guilty;
4. and any who does not stand by your judgement should be rebuked
and cast out of the assembly until he repents and begs of the bishop or
of the church and confesses that he has sinned and that he has
repented. Thus advantage shall accrue to many, lest anyone who sees
that a person is sitting in church, and that he has not been corrected or
chastised, should dare to do the same as he, thinking that he is alive in
human company whereas he is perishing towards God.
[2.51] If you hear a single person on his own, without the other being
present to answer the charge laid against him, and you swiftly declare the
verdict, without taking counsel and without investigation, convicting on
the basis of lies, which you have believed, and when the one you have
convicted is not present to answer the charge for himself, you shall be
associated, before God, with the one who brought the false witness, and
you shall be tormented by God together with him.12 For the Lord says
in Proverbs: ‘Whoever incites trouble which is not his business is like
somebody grabbing a dog’s tail.’13 And again, in another place, he says:
‘Judge with right judgement.’14 And again: ‘Save the oppressed, and cut
every bond of wickedness.’15 And again: ‘Do justice for orphans, and
righteousness for widows.’16 2. But if you are like those elders who were
in Babylon, who bore false witness against Susanna, and wickedly
condemned her to death you will be associated with them in their
judgement and in their condemnation. For the Lord saved Susanna
from the hand of the wicked by means of Daniel, but he condemned to
fire those elders who were guilty of her blood.17
[2.52] Whereas we set the things of the sanctuary far from the
things of the world, nonetheless, brothers, we say this: Observe, when
a murderer is brought before the civil power, how the judges interro-
gate carefully those who bring them, and from them learn what he has
done. And they address themselves to the doer of wicked deeds, and
ask whether these things are so. Even should he confess, and say yes,
12 Cf. Hermas Mand. 2.2.

13
Prov 26:7.
14
Dt 1:16.
15
Is 58:6.
16
Is 1:17.
17 Dan 13. To this whole passage regarding the practice of law and judgement with-
in churches cf. the provisions of TB Sanhedrin 40A-41A, with its associated Mishnah.
170
they do not send him straightaway to death, but question him again
for many days and, drawing the curtain, take much thought and coun-
sel together. When, at length, they pass the sentence of death upon
him they raise their hands to heaven and claim: ‘We are innocent of
this man’s blood.’18 They do all this, even though they are pagans and
know not God, and know not the recompense which they shall receive
from God on account of those they judge and condemn unjustly.
2. And do you, you who know who is our God, and who know what
his judgements are, dare pass sentence on one who is not guilty? 3. We
counsel you therefore that you make careful investigation, with great
caution, since the sentence which you pass when you are in judgement
ascends straightaway to God. And if you have judged justly you will
receive a recompense of justice from God, both now and in what is to
come, but if you have judged unjustly you shall receive like recom-
pense from God. Strive therefore, brothers, to be worthy to receive
praise from God, and not blame. Praise from God is everlasting life for
people, but blame for God is everlasting death for people. [2.53] Thus
you should be careful, bishops, not to be rushed in sitting in judge-
ment with haste, lest you be compelled to condemn somebody; but
warn them before they come to stand in the place of judgement, and
make peace between them. Warn those who have a quarrel or a lawsuit
18
This is a puzzling passage. One thing which may readily be explained is the cur-
tain, which would seem to have been an appurtenance of courts in the east. Thus Basil
informs us that judges (a1rxontej) consider the death sentence behind a curtain
(Ep. ad Eustathium 79.123), and Chrysostom (Hom. in Matt. 17.61; Hom 5 in 2 Tim)
speaks of judges seated behind a curtain. There is also a reference in the Acta Pilati 9.5
to such a curtain, as Pilate draws the curtain before sentencing Jesus. Finally in the Acts
of Sharbil, of uncertain date but set in Edessa, the judge lowers a curtain before open-
ing it in order to pass sentence. Since Persian royal ritual in the Sassanid period had
the king enthroned behind a curtain, a custom which is ancient (it is already estab-
lished in the Achaemenian courts (so Xenophon Agesilaus 9.12), it is possible that the
practice has derived from custom further east. However, although the curtain may
have travelled from its Persian origin to be found in Roman courts within the east, the
care taken over the questioning of witnesses, the plurality of judges and the hesitation
over passing sentence are more reminiscent of Persian law, and indeed Talmudic law
(note for instance TB Sanhedrin 32A on the care taken in questioning witnesses and
34A for the extent to which verdicts and sentences might be debated) than of Roman
law (so contrast the somewhat summary sentences passed in the Acta of the martyrs,
and the robust attitude on the part of Roman judges towards the sentence of death ev-
idenced by Bauman (1996), 141-159.) Of the practice of declaring personal innocence
in passing sentence I can find no trace beyond the words and action of Pilate in Mt
27:24. However the Jewish translators at Ep. Aristeae 306 claim that when they wash
their hands they are asserting their innocence. One wonders whether the whole pas-
sage is a commonplace piece of paraenesis derived by the redactor from general tradi-
tion, possibly having its origin outside the Empire.
171
between them, teach them that, in the first place, it is not right that
anybody should be angry, since the Lord has said: ‘Everyone who is
angry with his brother is condemned to judgement.’19 2. Secondly,
moreover, should it come about through the operation of the enemy
that some anger arise, it is necessary for you that very day to be
straightaway reconciled and pacified, and to be at peace with one
another. For it is written: ‘Do not let the sun go down on your anger
against your brother.’20 And again he says in David: ‘Be angry and do
not sin.’21 That is, be quickly reconciled, lest anger should remain, and
that lasting anger should in turn beget sin. He says in Proverbs: ‘The
soul which retains anger shall die.’22 3. And again our Lord and Sav-
iour also said: ‘If you are making your offering upon the altar and there
recall that your brother is angry with you, leave your offering before
the altar and go first to be reconciled with your brother. Then go to
make your offering.’23 4. The offering to God which is ours is prayer
and eucharist, but if you continue in anger with your brother, or he
with you, your prayer shall not be heard, nor shall your eucharist be
accepted, and you shall be found wanting in prayer and in eucharist on
account of the anger which you are maintaining. 5. A person should
pray carefully at all times, but God does not hear those who bear anger
and rebuke towards their brother. Even should you pray three times in
an hour it shall avail you nothing, as God will not listen to you on
account of your hostility towards your brother. 6. On this account, if
you are seriously seeking to be a Christian, follow the saying of the
Lord which states: ‘Loosen all ties of wickedness, and cut the bands of
violence and oppression.’24 7. For the Lord has laid on you the author-
ity to forgive your brother when he offends you as many as seventy
time seven, seven, that is four hundred and ninety. 8. Thus, how many
times have you forgiven your brother that you desire no more to for-
give but to continue in anger and to maintain the hostility and to go
to law? Your prayer is thus refused. 9. But even if your fulfil the four
hundred and ninety times, add more for your own account, and out of
your own goodness, without anger forgiving your brother. Even if you
do not do this for your brother, do it for yourself. Forgive your
19 Mt 5:22.
20
Eph 4:26.
21
Ps 4:5.
22 Prov 12:28.
23 Mt 5:23-24.
24 Is 58:6.
172
neighbour and your prayer will be heard and the offering which you
make shall be acceptable to the Lord.
[2.54] Bishops, it is so that your prayers and oblations may be
acceptable that, when you are standing at prayer in the church, a dea-
con calls out in a loud voice: ‘Is there anyone who maintains anger
with his neighbour?’25 And if persons who have a lawsuit or a quarrel
between themselves are found you may persuade them and make peace
between them. 2. Those who enter a house and say: ‘Peace be in this
house’ are both proclaiming peace and granting peace. 3. Thus, if you
are announcing peace to others, it is all the more incumbent upon you
to be yourself at peace with your brothers. 4. As a son of light and
peace you are to be light and peace to all. You are to contend with
none, but be in concord and peace with all.
And be a helper for God, that the number of those being saved may
increase, for this is the will of the Lord God. 5. Those, however, who
love enmity and strife and disputes and lawsuits are enemies to God.
[2.55] For the Lord, in the beginning, called each generation to repen-
tance and life through the prophets and through the righteous.
2. Moreover we, the apostles, who have been accounted worthy to be
witnesses of his appearance and heralds of his divine word, have heard
from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ and we have secure knowl-
edge as we say that his will and the will of his father is that none should
perish but that all should believe and be saved.26 [2.56] For this is what
he taught us to say when we pray: ‘Your will be done on earth as in
heaven.’27 Just as the angels of heaven and the powers and all (his)28
servants give praise to God, so everyone on the earth should give praise
to God. 2. Thus it is his will that he should give life to all, and it is his
pleasure that those who are saved should be numerous. Anyone who is
contentious, or who is in enmity with his neighbour, is reducing the
people of God, for either he drives out from the church the one whom
he accuses, and so reduces her, and deprives God of a human soul
25
Vööbus (1979b), 59* and (1979a), 128, points out that this reading of Mt 5:23
reflects the old Syriac version. ‘Something against his neighbour’, which is the reading
of the Greek, appears in some parts of the Syriac MS tradition, reflecting the process
of correction. This diaconal announcement may be an extract from a longer state-
ment, such as that of Testamentum Domini 1.23, a proclamation by the deacon before
the anaphora which begins: ‘If anyone is angry with his neighbour he should be
reconciled.’ Note also the introduction, 4.c.2.
26 Cf. 2 Pet 3:9.
27 Mt 6:10.
28
This addition to the text seems demanded by the context.
173
which was being saved, or else, through his contention, expels and
throws himself out from the church, and so again sins against God.
For so said God our Saviour: ‘Anyone who is not with me is against
me; and whoever does not gather with me is scattering.’29 3. And thus
you are of no help to God in gathering the people since you are a dis-
turber and a scatterer of the flock, and an adversary and enemy to
God. Thus you should not constantly be carried away with quarrels or
conflicts or complaints or with enmity or with lawsuits, lest you scat-
ter anyone away from the church. For we, by the power of the Lord
God, have been gathering from all nations and languages and have
brought them to the church through much labour and toil and danger
every day that we might do the will of God and fill the house, that is
the holy catholic church, with guests who rejoice and exult and praise
and glorify God who called them to life. 4. Thus you laypeople should
be like wise doves, at peace with one another, striving to fill the
church, converting and taming those who are wild, bringing them into
her midst. And this is the great reward should you deliver them from
fire and present them to the church, established and faithful.
the twelfth chapter

It commands bishops that they should be gentle and humble, and that they
should be far removed from all harshness and anger. And it teaches them about
the ordering of the house of God, and how the places for sitting and standing
should be separated from each other, for each rank, as is right. And anyone who
should come from another church should have the honour which is due, and
be honoured with the place that befits him. And that Christ, who loves
strangers, should not be despised in him.
[2.57] And you, bishops, shall not be harsh, nor tyrannical, and shall
not be irascible, and shall not be ill-tempered with the people of God
which is delivered into your hands. You shall not disperse the Lord’s
household, nor scatter his people, but convert everyone, so that you
may be fellow-workers with God. You shall gather the faithful with
great humility, with forbearance, with patience, without anger, with
instruction and with petitions, as servants of the eternal kingdom.
2. Now, in your congregations in the holy churches your gatherings
should be conducted with good order. Appoint places for the brothers
29 Mt 17:30.
174
with care and gravity; 3. the place of the presbyters should be separate,
at the east end of the house, 4. and the bishop’s seat should be set
among them, and the presbyters should sit with him. It is in another
eastern part of the house that the laymen are to sit, for so it is
required.1 5. The presbyters are to be seated in the eastern part of the
house with the bishops,2 and then the laymen, and then the women,
so that when you stand up to pray the leaders should stand first, and
then the laymen and subsequently the women.3 For it is required that
your prayers should be directed towards the east, as you know what is
written: ‘Give glory to God who rides upon the heavens of heaven,
towards the east.’4
6. One of the deacons should continue to stand by the offerings of
the eucharist; another should stand outside the door observing those
who come in. And afterwards, when you are offering, they should
minister together in the church. 7. And if anyone is found sitting in a
place which is not his, the deacon within should warn him and make
him stand up and seat him in the place which is his own, as is right.5
8. For our Lord compared the church to a pen,6 for there we may
observe that dumb animals, by which we mean oxen and sheep and
goats, lie down and get up, feed and chew the cud, in family groups,
and none is separated from its own species. Similarly the wild animals
on the mountains each go with their own kind. And so should it be
1
The prescriptions here fit remarkably closely with the archaeological evidence
supplied by the house church excavated at Dura Europos, significantly enough in
Syria. It would not be unreasonable to see this community worshipping in a similarly
converted domestic complex. There two rooms were turned into a single, long room
and a dais built at the east end. For descriptions and diagrams see White (1997), 121-131.
2
As Connolly (1929), 119, notes, the plural is puzzling. Also puzzling, however, is
the absence of deacons. The prominence of presbyters is a clear indication that this
section has been included from a distinct source, but the plural bishops and absence
of deacons is nonetheless odd. It is possible that the plural has come about through a
misreading of tw~n e)piskopou~ntwn as tw~n e)pisko/pwn (on the assumption that
the preposition is meta/), that is to say it is the deacons, or other presbyters, who are
overseeing the altar and what occurs there, and that the reference is to them.
3 By contrast to Testamentum Domini there are no prominent positions for
widows. This may well simply result from independent developments within the com-
munities and should not be read in the light of comments about widows below as a
deliberate downgrading of widows within the community.
4 Ps 67:34. The eastern direction for prayer is widespread, though justifications
vary. Note, among other early sources, Origen De Oratione 32, Clement of Alexandria
Strom. 7.7, Tertullian Apol. 16.9-10.
5
Cf. to this K 17-18 cited and discussed in the introduction at 4.a. Note again that
here deacons are doing the duties ascribed to presbyters in K.
6 Jn 10:1.
175
with the church. Those who are young should sit separately, if there is
room, and not stand on their feet. Those who are elderly are to sit sep-
arately. The children should stand on one side, or they should go to
their fathers or mothers, and stand on their feet. The young girls
should sit separately, and if there is no room they should stand on their
feet behind the women. And the young women who are married and
have children should stand separately. And the elderly women and
widows should sit separately. 9. And the deacon should observe that
each who enters goes to their proper place, and that nobody is setting
in the wrong place. 10. And the deacon should also observe that
nobody is whispering or going to sleep or laughing or gesticulating,
11. for it is fitting that they should be7 watching in the church respect-
fully and attentively, with ears alert to the word of the Lord.
[2.58] Should anyone come from another congregation, a brother or
a sister, the deacon should enquire and ascertain whether she is married
or a widow, whether faithful,8 a daughter of the church, or whether she
is a member of one of the heresies, and he should lead her and set her
in a place which is right for her. 2. But if a presbyter from another con-
gregation should come, you presbyters should receive him in your place
with fellowship. And should a bishop come he should sit with the
bishop, and receive the same honour which is due to him. 3. And,
bishop, you should invite him to address your people since the exhor-
tation and admonition of strangers is very profitable,9 especially since it
is written: ‘A prophet is not received in his own country.’ And he should
offer the oblation.10 But if he is sensible, and is unwilling, reserving that
honour for you, he should speak over the cup.11
4. If, however, when you are seated, some other man or woman
should arrive who is honoured in the world, whether from the same
district or of some other congregation, you should not, bishop, leave
off your ministry of the word, whether you are speaking it, or hearing
it, or reading, in order to show them to a place, but remain as you are
and do not interrupt the word. Rather the brothers should themselves

8
Syr. is slightly unclear and Lat. does not assist, as it reads: ‘a widow, or of the
faithful.’ The phrase is lacking in CA.
9
So Syr. and CA. Cf. Lat.: ‘when a stranger addresses them, it is profitable to the
people. For it is written . . .’
10 As Anicetus is reported by Irenaeus at Eusebius HE 5.24.17 to have ceded the cel-
ebration of the eucharist to the visiting Polycarp.

11 See, on this passage, the introduction, 4.c.2.
176
receive them. 5. But if there should be no place, one of the brothers

who is charitable and full of goodwill to the brothers and is courteous
should get up and offer his place, and stand. However, if an elderly
man or woman should rise and give up a place while those who are
young are seated, you are to look around at the young who are seated
and see which man or woman of them is youngest and make them get
up and seat the person who had got up and had given up their place.
You are to make the person who had not got up and had not yielded
their place to stand behind the others so that those others may learn to
give up their places to those who are more honourable.12 6. But if a
poor man or woman should arrive, whether from the same district or
of another congregation, most especially if they are well on in years,
and they have no place, then you, bishop, should act for them from
your heart, even should you sit on the ground yourself. There should
be no respect of persons with you, but you should please God, through
your ministry.13
12 So Syr. and CA. Lat. has ‘greater in age.’ One suspects, in the context, that Lat.
may be the correct reading.

13 The whole passage on seating is significant. Although such attention to place,
as well as segregation of different groups, may seem strange, seating was another way
in which social distinction was noted in Graeco-Roman society. Segregated seating
was commonplace, and indeed was legally directed by the Lex Julia theatralis at the
theatres and public displays within the Empire, with particular seats being reserved
for senators, others for members of the equestrian order, others for soldiers who had
won the corona civilis (Pliny Historia naturalis 16.13), and such decrees were indeed
enforced (note Martial Epigrammata. 5.8, 14, 23, 25, 27 regarding the ejection of var-
ious individuals from seats which were not properly theirs.) Likewise at private din-
ners and public banquets a great deal of attention was paid to seating arrangements
which would reflect the social hierarchy of those attending. This matter is discussed
by Plutarch in Quaestiones convivales 1.2-3 (615D-619). Thus the concern for good
order in the seating of the congregation demonstrated in 2.7.2, at the beginning of
this discussion, is directly comparable to the concern expressed in part of Plutarch’s
discussion that a)taci/a be avoided (615E). In synagogues likewise there were seats
of honour (Mt 23:6, Tosefta Sukkah 4.6). As such the concern for order and segrega-
tion in the seating of the congregation is not surprising. However, what is distinct is
the directive that the bishop should not interrupt his discourse at the arrival of a
wealthy person and even more the concern shown for the poor and elderly. Thus
compare the tale told of Augustus’ horror that no seat was given up for a senator
who arrived late for games at Puteoli (Suetonius Diuus Augustus 44.1). Schöllgen
(1998), 183-184, is certainly right in suggesting that this is intended to bolster the po-
sition of the bishop over and against potential patrons who might offer alternative
influence, yet in its position we may also suggest that this is an addition (probably
by the uniting redactor) to a source regarding seating which to an extent overturns
the more conventional concern for order demonstrating status which is implicit in
the source.
177
the thirteenth chapter

That no Christian person is to leave the assembly of the church at the time
of prayer or of the eucharist on account of manual labour or on account
of any other worldly labour. He is not to go the theatrical displays to hear
pagan words, depriving his soul of hearing the words of the lifegiving
Scriptures, and not to the foreign assemblies of the heretics. And that the
children of the church should be obedient and serve her without idleness,
And that no Christian person should love to desist from working at a
craft, for this is rejected by the church.
[2.59] When you are teaching you are to command and exhort the
people that they should gather in church, and come together always,
that none should be absent and so reduce the church through their
withdrawal, so as to make the body of Christ defective in a limb. Peo-
ple should not simply be thinking of others, but of themselves, since it
is said: ‘Whoever does not gather with me, is a scatterer.’1 2. Since you
are members of Christ you should not scatter yourselves from the
church by failing to gather with others. Since, as he promised, you
have Christ as your head, present with you and communicating him-
self to you,2 do not neglect yourselves, nor distance the Saviour from
his own members, and do not tear or scatter his body, not lend prece-
dence to worldly affairs over the word of God,3 but put them aside
each Lord’s day and hurry to the church;4 for she is your glory.5 3. For
what excuse shall they who do not assemble on that day6 to hear the
saving word and to be nourished with divine and everlasting food, give
to God?7 [2.60] You are concerned to gain things which are temporary,
lasting a day or an hour, but neglect those which are eternal. You
are concerned about bathing, and the nourishment of food and drink
1 Mt 12:20.
2
Some Syriac MSS read ‘me’ and others ‘us’. ‘You’, however, is supported by Lat.
and CA.
3
Lat. lacks ‘of God’.
4 There is a certain thematic coherence here with TA 35 ⁄41. Whereas no direct lit-
erary relationship is suggested it is possible that there is some common source. Cer-
tainly the manner in which this material is included by way of instruction to bishops
in what they should teach indicates that it is a secondary addition to the episcopal
manual.
5
‘For she is your glory’ is absent in Lat. CA offers no assistance.
6
‘On that day’ Lat, CA. Syr. reads ‘on the Lord’s day.’
7
Lat. breaks off in the middle of this sentence.
178
for the belly, and for other things, but there is no concern for things
eternal; rather you are neglectful of your souls and have no interest in
the church, for hearing and receiving the word of God.
2. What excuse do you have, by comparison to those who are
astray? For every day the pagans go in the morning to worship and
serve their idols when they rise from sleep, and before any work or
business they go first to worship their idols; likewise they do not
absent themselves from their feasts and festivals but are faithful in their
attendance, not only those from the locality but those who attend
from afar. And likewise they all assemble and attend the spectacle of
their theatre. 3. The same is true of those who vainly are called Jews;
after six days they remain idle for a day, and assemble in their syna-
gogue. They do not absent themselves, and do not neglect their syna-
gogue and do not neglect their idleness. They are denuded of the
meaning of the word, of the name, Jew, by which they call themselves,8
since they do not believe. For ‘Jew’ is to be interpreted as ‘confession’,9
but these are no confessors, for they do not confess the murder of
Christ,10 which they brought about through transgressing the law, and
so repent and be saved. 4. Thus, if they who are not saved are attentive
at all times to things which bring them no profit and which help them
in nothing, what excuse before the Lord God shall the one who
absents himself from the assembly of the church have? He does not
even imitate the gentiles, but through failing to assemble grows neg-
lectful and scornful and distances himself and does evil. 5. He it is
whom the Lord addresses by means of Jeremiah: ‘You have not kept
my laws, you have not even acted in accordance with the laws of the
gentiles; you have nearly surpassed them in wickedness.’11 And ‘Do the
gentiles exchange their gods, which are not gods. But my people have
exchanged their honour for what is worthless.’12 How then shall any-
one who is neglectful, and who has no concern for the assembly of the
church of God, excuse himself?
8 Cf. CA: ‘They are emptied of the power of the Word through their unbelief, as
of the name, Jew, by which they call themselves.’ This could well be a more accurate
reflection of the original.
9
The Syriac for ‘confess’ is ydw), from which the author has derived )YdwhY.
It is significant that this is a verbal association which can only be made in Syriac, which
provides further evidence of the Syriac speaking milieu of this part of DA at least.
10
Cf. CA ‘the passion of Christ.’
11 Ez 5:7. The attribution to Jeremiah is not an error introduced by the Syriac
translator as CA has the same attribution.

12 Jer 2:11.
179
6. And if there is anyone who is delayed by worldly work, and

becomes hindered, he should know that the trades of the faithful are
termed unnecessary works; for their true works are religion. 7. Pursue
your trades, therefore, as unnecessary works, for your support, but let
your true work be religion.
[2.61] So you should be concerned never to withdraw from the
assembly of the church. If anyone should leave the church and go to the
assembly of the gentiles, what shall he say, what excuse should he give
to God, on the day of judgement? He has deserted the holy church, and
the words of the living God, which are living and lifegiving, which are
able to redeem, to deliver from fire, and to save alive, and has gone to
the assembly of the gentiles through craving for the spectacle of the the-
atre. 2. He shall, on this account, be reckoned as one of those who went
into it out of craving to hear and to receive the words of their stories,
which are of dead men, and of the spirit of Satan.13 They are dead and
they are deathly, turning away from the faith and leading on to everlast-
ing fire. 3. Yet your care is for this world, and your concern for material
matters, whilst disdaining to attend to the catholic church, the beloved
daughter of the Lord, God most high, where you may receive the teach-
ing of God, which endures for ever, and which is capable of saving
those who receive the word of life.
4. Be constant, therefore, in assembling with those faithful who are
being saved, in your mother, the church, which is living and lifegiving.
[2.62] Be careful not to assemble with those who are perishing in
the theatre, which is the assembly of the pagans, of error and
destruction, for anyone who enters the assembly of the gentiles shall
be counted as one of them, and shall receive the woe. 2. For the
Lord God speaks by means of Isaiah to those who are such: ‘Woe,
woe to them that come from the spectacle.’14 And again he says:
‘Come, you women who are coming from the spectacle, since it is a
people without understanding.’15 So it is that he refers to the church
as women, whom he called and rescued and brought forth from the
theatre. He kept hold of them and received them and taught us to
go there no more. For he says through Jeremiah: ‘You shall not learn
13 On early Christian attitudes towards Greek myths note particularly the critique
of Aristides Apol. 8-11.

14 Funk (1905), 176, notes that the nearest identification found for this citation is
the targum of ps-Jonathan on Dt 28:9: ‘You are cursed when you enter your theatre-
houses and the places of your shows, to make void the precepts of the law. And you are
cursed when you come forth to your business.’
15
Is 27:11.
180
in accordance with the ways of the gentiles.’16 And again he says, in

the Gospel: ‘You shall not go in the way of the gentiles’,17 3. thus
warning us in demanding that we shun every heresy, which are the
‘towns of the Samaritans’, and furthermore that we stay far away
from the assemblies of the gentiles and that we enter not any gath-
ering of strangers, and that we should stay far away from the the-
atre, and from their festivals, because of the idols. 4. A believer
should go nowhere near a festival, except to buy nourishment for
his body and soul.18 So avoid any idolatrous spectacle, and the fes-
tivals of their feasts.
[2.63] The young in the church should serve diligently, without
laziness, in every matter required of them, with abundant reverence
and purity.
Thus every one of you, the faithful, every day and at all times,
whensoever you are not in the church, should be constant in your
work, so that through the course of your entire life you are either con-
tinuing in the Lord’s affairs19 or labouring at your work, and are never
idle, 2. as the Lord has said: ‘Look to the ant, you who are workshy,
imitate her ways, and be wiser than she. For she has no tillage, there is
nobody to compel her, and none is set over her. Yet she gathers food
for herself in summer, and stores much food for herself in the har-
vest.’20 3. And again he says: ‘Go to the bee, learning the manner of her
labour; for she labours working in wisdom, and food is brought forth
for rich and poor from her working. She is beloved and praised, and,
though slight in strength, she honours wisdom and is commended.
4. How much longer, you malingerer, will you sleep, and when will
you rise from your sleep? You shall sleep a little and doze a little, and
sit around a little and lay your hand upon your breast a little, and
poverty shall overtake you like somebody running, and want like an
assiduous man. However, if you are not lazy, your goods will increase,
16 Jer 10:2.
17 Mt 10:5. Connolly (1929), 128, supported by Vööbus (1979b), 139, suggests that
in the light of the comment below the citation is incomplete and should go on with
‘and do not enter the cities of the Samaritans.’
18
This is clarified by CA; the nourishment is for the body so that the believer is
kept alive.
19 The term ‘Lord’s affairs’ is translated following Connolly (1929) and Vööbus
(1979b), 139, reading )twrM rather than )twMr, which would be hapax
legomenon. Cf., however, Flemming in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 185, who reads
)twMr and renders as ‘assembly.’
20 Prov 6:6-8.
181
and overflow like a fountain and, like a feeble runner, poverty shall be
far away from you.’21 5. Thus, be working at all times, for idleness is a
vice for which there is no cure. ‘If anyone among you will not work, he
should not eat.’22 Indeed the Lord God also despises the workshy, for
it is not possible for one who is workshy to be a believer.
the fourteenth chapter

Concerning the time for the ordering of widows1
[3.1] Widows who are to be appointed: should2 be less than fifty years
of age,3 who by reason of her age is far from the consideration of tak-
ing to herself a second husband 2. lest, having been appointed whilst
young to the office of widow she does not remain a widow because of
her youth and is married. Then she shall bring shame on the glory of
widowhood, and give an account to God. First for having two hus-
bands and secondly because, promising to God to remain a widow,
and receiving as a widow, she did not continue in widowhood.
3. Should there be a young woman who has been with her husband a
short time, and her husband die, or there be some other cause for separa-
tion, and she spends her time in on her own, the honour of widowhood
shall be hers.4 She shall receive good things from God, being like the
widow of Sarepta of Sidon, with whom rested the holy angel, the prophet
of God.5 Or she shall be like Hannah, who received testimony as she
praised the coming of Christ.6 She shall be honoured on account of her
virtue, being honoured on earth by people and praised by God in heaven.
21 Prov 6:8-11.
22 2 Thes 3:10.
1 Some of the later Syr. MSS have a more extensive title than this.
2
This sudden shift from plural to singular has caused editors to propose correc-
tions. It may be the result, however, of the inclusion of a source of which the first
words were the title.
3 Cf. 1 Tim 5:10 which stipulates the age as sixty. CA likewise has sixty, but we may
agree with Schöllgen (1998), 153, that CA has corrected DA in order to return the text
to the provisions of Scripture.
4
Perhaps this should be rendered ‘the honorarium of widowhood.’ This is the
sense in which CA understands the underlying Greek timh/, which may have either
meaning. It is in this sense that she may receive ‘good things from God.’ The passage
is thus consistent with the statement following in 3.2 that younger widows should,
even if not in an order of widows, receive support.
5 1 Kg 17:8-24.
6 Lk 2:36-38.
182
[3.2] Widows who are young should not be appointed to the office
of widows, but they should be assisted and supported, so that they do
not desire out of need to marry a second time, which is damaging.7
2. For you know that she who has had one husband may lawfully take
another, but after this she is a harlot.8 [3.2] On this account take care
of those who are young that they may continue in chastity to God. So
take care of them, bishop. 2. Be mindful of the poor, support them and
feed them, [3.4] even though there may be those who are not widow-
ers or widows yet are in need of help on account of want, sickness, the
raising of children, and are in distress.
It is incumbent upon you that you labour for all and take good care of
all. 2. On this account those who give gifts do not give them to the wid-
ows by their own hands, but bring them to you, as you are well aware of
those who are afflicted, and so that you, like a good steward, may distrib-
ute among them whatever has been given. For God knows by whom it is
given, even though he be not present. 3. And when you are distributing
you are to say the name of the donor, so that they may pray for him by
name.9 4. For in all the Scriptures the Lord remembers the poor and com-
mands concerning them, for you are to do good to all people, not discrim-
inating between one and another. For the Lord says: ‘Give to all who
ask.’10 Clearly this means to all in need, whether friend of foe, whether
family member or stranger, whether unmarried or married.11 And again
he adds through Isaiah: when he says: ‘Break your bread for the hungry
and bring the poor man who has no shelter into your house, and cover
any you see to be naked, and do not neglect anyone who is of your own
flesh.’12 Thus in every way you should take good care of the poor.
7 Cf. 1 Tim 5:11-12
8 There is general hostility to further marriage within early Christianity, stopping
short of an outright ban. Thus note, among other sources, canon 19 of the Council of
Ancyra, canon 3 of the Council of Neocaesarea, Vita Poycarpi. 14-16 and the anti-Mon-
tanist of Epiphanius Pan. 48.
9 In some ancient rites, including at least some Syrian rites, as is evidenced by
Theodore of Mopsuestia Hom. catecheticae 15.43, intercessions for the living were
made at the liturgy, closely connected to the offertory, through the reading of the dip-
tychs. It may be that the announcement of the name of the donor at the distribution
of the offering outside the liturgy reflects the same liturgical practice, insofar as those
who have made the offering are thus commemorated.
10 Lk 6:30.
11 These two sentences are rendered from CA. Syr. is evidently corrupt and
lacunose, breaking off after ‘gives command’ and picking up with ‘even if they are
married’ but CA makes sense, and fits in with the remains of Syr., indicating that the
original text is substantially preserved within CA.
12
Is 58:7.
183
the fifteenth chapter

The right manner in which widows should conduct themselves1
[3.5] Thus it behoves every widow to be gentle and peaceable and

gentle. She should be without malice and without anger, not talkative,
or loud,2 or garrulous3 or fond of strife. And should she see or hear
anything detestable she should act as though she had not seen it or
heard it. 2. For a widow should have no other concern except to pray
for those who give and for the entire church. 3. And if anybody should
ask her about anything she should not answer quickly, except concern-
ing righteousness and faith in God; she should send those who wish to
be instructed to the leader. They should give a single answer only to
those who enquire, 4. concerning the destruction of idols and that
there is but one God alone.4 But neither a widow nor a layman should
speak with regard to punishment, and the rest,5 and the Kingdom of
the name of Christ, and the divine plan, for when they speak without
knowledge of doctrine they blaspheme the word. 5. For our Lord com-
pared the word of his message to mustard;6 mustard is bitter and sharp
1 Again, some MSS have a more extensive title.
2
Vööbus (1979b), 144, renders this word ‘glamorous.’ Perhaps a misprint for
‘clamorous.’ MSS of the E family extend the statement and have ‘not lifting up her
voice when she speaks.’
3
Schlarb (1995), 42, connects this concern with widows’ speaking to the prohibi-
tion below on teaching. It is possible that a traditional (dis)qualification list has been
extended since, as is noted in the introduction, 4.c.3, the uniting redactor is concerned
to extend the teaching authority of the bishop. CA extends the catalogue yet further.
4
Funk (1905) and Flemming in Achelis and Flemming (1904) follow Syriac MSS
and place a full stop after ‘enquire’ and run this sentence on, connecting what is said
about the destruction of idols and the oneness of God to what a widow is not to teach.
The punctuation here is that of CA, as followed by Connolly (1929) and Vööbus
(1979b) and supported by Schöllgen (1998), 162-163. Funk (1905), 188, whilst unwill-
ing to emend the text, likewise suspects that CA has the correct understanding of the
text. Syr. is defended by Schlarb (1995), 45-46, largely because she is mistrustful of the
witness of CA. She further suggests that the unity of God with the eschatological result
forms a miniature catechism. One must acknowledge some force in Schlarb’s argu-
ment, but may also suggest that the second sentence is a redactional addition which
Syr. has taken as part of the original.
5 This word is not present in CA, and Vööbus (1979b), 144 n.8, surmises that it is
added in Syr. Odae Salamonis 3.5 speaks of the rest, as does Odae Salamonis 16.12 of the
rest of God at the end of creation. Cf. Also Joseph and Asenath 8.11: ‘Let her enter into
the rest which you have prepared for your elect.’ The idea also appears in Acta Thomae
147. But, as Schöllgen (1998), 162 n. 146, points out, this Syrian background does not
necessitate us seeing the word as an interpolation as the redactor is himself Syrian.
6 Mt 13:31 and par.
184
for those who employ it if it is not prepared with skill. For this reason
our Lord said in the Gospel to widows and to all the laity: ‘Do not cast
your pearls before swine, lest they trample on them7 and turn against
you and tear you up.’8 6. When the gentiles hear the word of God, but
not spoken with clarity,9 as it should be, to build up for everlasting life,
and particularly when a woman speaks of the incarnation10 and suffer-
ing of Christ, they shall sneer and scoff, rather than glorifying the
word of the old woman,11 and she shall be subject to a harsh judge-
ment for her sin. For the Lord says: ‘When words are many, sin is not
absent.’12 [3.6] Thus it is neither fitting nor necessary that a woman
should teach, in particular about the name of the Lord13 and the
redemption of his passion. 2. For you women, and especially widows,
are not appointed to teach but solely to pray and beseech the Lord
God.14 For the teacher himself,15 when he sent us, the twelve, to
instruct the people and the nations did not send with us the women
disciples who were with us, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the daughter
of James and Salome,16 to instruct or save the world. If it were neces-
sary for women to teach our master would himself have commanded
them to give instruction alongside us. 3. Thus the widow should know
that she is the altar of God, and she should sit constantly at home, not
7 CA and some Syr. MSS add ‘with their feet.’ Although this variant is present in
two MS traditions, the Syrian MSS are the later and less reliable MSS, and so the
co-incidence may represent independent attempts to conform the citation to the text.
8 Mt 7:6.
9 The Greek fragment begins here. As it is both corrupt and lacunose some refer-
ence to Syr. is inevitable.

10 Cf. Syr.: ‘How our Lord clothed himself in a body.’
11
So Greek, supported by CA. Syr. has ‘word of doctrine.’
12
Prov 10:19. The citation is not in Syr. but is supplied from the Greek fragment.
13
So Greek. Syr. has ‘Christ.’
14 Cf. the approach of K in which widows, whose function in kk is prophecy along-
side prayer, are brought to fulfill in its stead the pastoral role among women which
here is assigned to female deacons. As such this ministry is brought under tighter epis-
copal control.
15 So Greek. Cf. Syr.: ‘The Lord God, Jesus Christ, our teacher’. The title ‘teacher’
alone is surely correct given that K 22 and 26 likewise use this title alone, and indeed
in a similar context, employing apostolic example to restrict the role of women and to
regulate the church.
16
So Greek. Syr. has ‘the other Mary.’ Cf. also the list in CA which is further
extended. Cf. also Testamentum Domini 1.16, where Mary, Martha and Salome are
present with the apostles in a post-resurrection appearance. The instructions given
them by Jesus, in a transitional section which is probably the work of the compiler of
the document, imply a similar use of apostolic example to regulate and to restrict the
roles and functions of women within the ministry of the church.
185
wandering or going to the houses of the faithful to receive, for the altar
of God does not wander or go anywhere, but is fixed in a single place.17
4. A widow, therefore, should not wander or go from house to house.
Those who roam and who have no shame cannot be still even within
their own houses. They are not widows, they are begging bags,18 and
have no care other than being ready to receive. And because they are
gossips, garrulous and complaining,19 they cause quarrels. They are
bold and shameless. Those who are like this are unworthy of the one
who called them.20
5. For in the assembly of rest on the Lord’s day such men and
women do not gather or keep watch, but either go to sleep or chat
about some other matter, so that others are taken captive by the
wicked enemy, who does not allow them to be watchful in the Lord.
And so they who go empty into the church emerge even emptier, since
they have not heard the words of those who teach or those who read,
unable to receive it with the ears of their hearts. 6. So they are like
those indicated by Isaiah when he said: ‘Hearing shall you hear, and
not understand, and seeing you shall see, and you will not see. For the
heart of this people is grown fat, and their ears hear heavily, and their
eyes are shut, so that they may not see with their eyes or hear with their
ears.’21 [3.7] In the same way widows who are like this have the ears22
of their hearts stopped. They do not stay within their houses address-
ing the Lord but run about impatiently after gain, and do what the
enemy would have them do through their chattering. 2. Such a widow
is not in conformity to the altar of Christ, as it is written in the Gospel:
‘If two shall agree together and ask concerning anything it shall be
given them. They may say to a mountain, “move yourself and fall into
the sea” and so it shall be.’23
17 On widows as altars see 2.26.5 above and the accompanying note. The immo-
bility of the altar is a new twist on the image.

18 Syr. has ‘blind’. Although the Greek fragment is lacunose at this point, the
error can easily be explained as a misreading and the text restored through CA, espe-
cially since a pun is intended. The Greek word for widows, xh/ra, sounds like that for
‘begging bag’, ph/ra, a word which, in turn, was misread by the Syriac translator as
pera/ (blind).
20
The Greek fragment concludes here.
21 Is 6:9-11.
22
So Syr. and CA. Lat. reads ‘eyes’.
23 Lat. misses out part of this citation. It is a combination of Mt 18:19 and 17:20
(or 21:21.)
186
3. So we see that there are some widows who act improperly, begging
for gain.24 They think of this as trade, and are greedy in receipt. And
rather than doing good works, giving to the bishop for the support of
strangers and the refreshment of those in distress, they let it out at bitter
usury, caring only for mammon, for their God is their purse.25 Where
their treasure is, there is also their heart. 4. For she who is in the habit of
wandering around, running around to receive, gives no thought to any
spiritual work but serves mammon, that is to say, money. She cannot
please God, nor be faithful to her ministry through constant prayer and
intercession, because her mind is taken up with many things, and notably
with making money.26 5. So when she stands for prayer she thinks of
where she might go to take some money, or that she has forgotten to tell
her friend about something. So when she stands her mind is not on her
prayer, but descends on whatever comes into her head. So the prayer of
anyone such is not heard, because she quickly leaves off her prayer and her
mind is distracted and she does not offer prayer to God with her whole
heart, but wanders off with thoughts inspired by the enemy, which can-
not save, her, and goes to talk with her friends. So she is unaware of the
position which has been entrusted to her27 or of the dignity of her rank.
6. A widow who wishes to please God sits within her house and
meditates night and day, offering prayer and intercession with purity of
heart before the Lord. And she obtains whatever she asks, since her
prayer is pure,28 and her mind is fixed on this alone. Her mind is not
greedy, and set upon receiving, nor is her desire to spend large sums
upon herself, nor does she desire with her eyes as she looks upon noth-
ing thus, nor is her mind withdrawn, nor, because she does not wander
or go about, does she hear wicked words, or pay attention to them. On
these grounds, therefore, nothing prevents her prayer. 7. Such is her
purity and tranquillity that they are apparent before God, and whatever
she asks of God, her prayer is answered. For such a widow, one who
seeks not after money, who does not love wealth, who is not greedy or
24 So Lat., though the clause is absent in Syr. and CA. Nonetheless, as Connolly
(1929), 137, notes, the cause is probably original in view of the following sentences.
25 Syr. adds ‘and their belly.’ Given that this is neither in Lat. nor CA this is prob-
ably added to conform the citation to Phil 3:19.

26
There are many minor variations here between Syr. and Lat. CA indicates that
Lat. is closer, and this has been followed here.
27 Syr. has ‘How she has believed.’ Although CA is wanting here, Lat. is certainly
correct as Syr. can easily be ascribed to an error of translation.

28 ‘Since her prayer is pure’ is to be found neither in Syr. nor CA, and may there-
fore not be original.
187
avaricious, but is constant in prayer, is meek, is undisturbed, is faithful

and reverent, sits in her house 8. and works at her wool, so that she may
provide for those in distress, or may make return for what she has
received from them.29 She has in mind that widow to whom the Lord
bears witness in the Gospel, who came and put into the treasury two
small coins, namely mites.30 When our Lord and teacher, the tester of
hearts, saw this he said to us: ‘My disciples: this impoverished widow
has put in more alms than anyone. For everyone else has deposited
from what was superfluous, whereas this one has laid up treasure for
herself in heaven from all that she possessed.’31
[3.8] Widows, therefore, should be modest, submissive to the bishops
and deacons, fearing the bishop as God, and holding him in reverence and
respect. They should do nothing on their own authority, without the coun-
sel or command of the bishop,32 nor desire to go to anyone to eat or drink,
or to fast with anyone, or to accept anything from anybody, or to lay a hand
on anyone with prayer,33 as we said above, without the advice of the bishop
or deacons. Should she do anything which has not been commanded she
should be corrected on account of her lack of discipline. 2. How, woman,
do you know, from whom you are receiving, or from whose ministry you
are feeding, or on whose account you are fasting, or on whom you are lay-
ing your hand? Do you not know that you will have to render an account
to the Lord for each of these things on the day of judgement, since you have
29
On this entire paragraph Connolly (1929), 138, writes: ‘There is much diver-
gence here between Syr. and Lat., which CA does not help to explain. Syr. is probably
paraphrastic, while Lat. appears in places to be corrupt.’ The approach in rendering
the paragraph has been to accept the reading of CA as decisive where it offers guidance,
and secondly to prefer Lat. except where it is evidently corrupt. The result, of course,
is nothing other than a paraphrase based on guesswork.
30 Syr. renders: ‘Two mites, which is one dinar.’
31
Mk 12:41-44. The introduction ‘My disciples’ is not in any version of Scripture
but is attested by Syr. and Lat. It is the work of a redactor, intent on constructing an
apostolic fiction.
32 Syr. adds: ‘nor speak to anybody by way of response.’ This is in neither CA nor Lat.
33
References to the laying on of a hand are omitted by CA. We cannot be sure of
the purpose of this handlaying; it is unlikely that, like the action of the bishop described
at 2.18.7 above, its purpose its reconciliation, as much of the point of the discourse there
is to bring reconciliation under the sole control of the bishop. Laying hands to dismiss
catechumens (as at TA 19.1) is a possibility, for even though the redactor is attempting
to limit the catechetical role of widows it is possible that this continues, However since
handlaying is mentioned below in the context of visiting those who are sick this is the
most probable purpose of the handlaying mentioned here. Laying hands on the sick is
mentioned in the long ending of Mark and by Irenaeus at Haer. 2.32.4 and the practice
is known to Origen since, at Hom. in Leviticum 2.4, he interprets the instruction of Jas
5:14 that the elders should pray over a sick person as laying on hands.
188
had a part in all their deeds? 3. And yet, undisciplined widow, you see your
fellow widows and your brothers laid low in sickness yet make no effort to
visit your members, or to fast on their behalf or to pray for them, or to lay
hands on them, but claim that you have not time, or feign illness, but are
well prepared and hasty to visit those who are in sin, or put out of the syn-
agogue, on account of their generous gifts. You who are so should be
ashamed because you desire to know more, and know better, not only than
men, but than the presbyters and the bishops. 4. Be aware, therefore, sisters,
that you are being obedient to God when you give ear to the demands of
those who are your pastors together with the deacons. And should you
communicate with anyone at the bishop’s behest34 you are blameless before
God. So it is for all brothers of the laity, if you obey the bishop and are sub-
missive to him, since it is they who are to render an account for everybody.
But if you are not obedient to the will of the bishops and deacons they will
be set free from your offences, but you, men and women, shall render an
account for whatever you have done of your own will.
5. It is right and proper that anyone who prays or communicates
with anyone who has been expelled from the church should be reck-
oned together with him, for this leads to the undoing and destruction
of souls. For anyone who is disobedient to the bishop is disobeying
God in communicating with or praying with anyone expelled from
the church, and is defiled along with him. And, moreover, he is not
allowing that person to repent. For if nobody communicate with him
he will repent and will weep, he will ask and pray to be received,
repenting of what he has done, and will be saved.
[3.9] As to whether a woman may baptize, or whether one should be
baptized by a woman, we do not counsel this, since it is a transgression of
the commandment and a great danger to her who baptizes as to the one
baptized. 2. For were it lawful for a woman to be baptized our Lord and
teacher would himself have been baptized by Mary his mother; he was,
however, baptized by John just as others of the people. 3. Brothers and sis-
ters, do not endanger yourselves by acting outside of the law of the Gospel.
[3.10] However, as regards jealousy, or spite, or as to accusations and
grumbling, or as regards disputes and mocking and idle speech, or as to
contentiousness: already have we said to you that a Christian should
have no truck with such things. It is improper that such things should
even be named among widows. 2. But since he who is the author of evil
has many wiles and devices he enters those who are not widows and
glorifies himself in them; indeed there are those who say of themselves
189
that they are widows but do no deed deserving of the name, as it is not
the name of widowhood which is rewarded by entry to the Kingdom
but fidelity and good deeds. She who does good shall receive praise, and
be received, but she who does evil, who works the work of the evil one,
shall receive blame, and be cast out of the eternal Kingdom because she
has abandoned the eternal, and desired and embraced what is temporal.
3. For we observe and we hear that there are widows who are envious
of one another. 4. Yet when a fellow aged woman has been clothed, or has
received anything from somebody, you, widow, if you are indeed a
widow, should say: 5. ’Blessed be God who has brought relief to my aged
companion’ when you see your sister relieved, and you should praise
God. And afterwards you should say: ‘May his deed be received in truth’
with regard to the one who ministered, and ‘Remember him for good,
O Lord, on the day of your retribution, and the bishop who has minis-
tered before you and has managed the alms rightly; for my fellow aged
woman was naked and is supplied, so add glory to him, and give him
likewise a crown of glory in the day of the revelation of your coming.’35
6. Likewise the widow who has received charity should pray for him who
has administered this service, concealing his name like a wise woman so
that his righteousness may be with God rather than in human sight as he
said in the Gospel: ‘When you undertake almsgiving do not let your right
hand know what your left hand is doing.’36 Otherwise, should you pro-
nounce and reveal the name of the donor in your prayer his name may be
disclosed and reach the ear of a heathen,37 and the heathen, being a man
of the left hand,38 would know it. 7. Otherwise one of the faithful might
hear it, and go out and talk, (and it is improper that what occurs or what
is spoken in church should emerge and be revealed. Anyone who goes out
and speaks of them is being disobedient to God and becomes a traitor to
the church.) But when you are praying for him, conceal his name, and so
shall you, and the widows in acting in this manner, fulfil what has been
written. For you are the holy altar of God, Jesus Christ.
35
There is some variation between CA and Syr. here about what is prayer and what
is rubric. Syr. is rendered, as it is impossible to say which is correct, but the point
should nonetheless be noted.
36
Mt 6:1.
37 Note that the prayer is said out loud. Origen De oratione 11.4 speaks of prayers
being answered as the result of being heard by people competent to answer the prayer,
such as a doctor who overhears the prayer of one who is sick, or a wealthy person over-
hearing the prayer of a poor person. A context is thus provided for the advice given
here to conceal the name of the donor.
38 For an explanation of this term see 2.45.3 above and the note ad loc.
190
8. Now indeed we hear that there are widows who do not conduct
themselves in accordance with the commandment but care only that
they may wander around and about begging.39 And she who has
received alms from the Lord is without sense in revealing when asked the
name of the donor. And she who hears it complains and blames the
bishop who has made the dispensation, or the deacon,40 or him by
whom the gift was originally given and says: ‘Do you not know that
I was nearer to you than she, and in more distress than she?’ She does not
know that this was done not by human will but in accordance with the
command of God. 9. For if you speak up and say to him: ‘I was nearer
to you than she, and you do not know that I was more naked than she’
you should know who it was who commanded that it be done this way,
to be silent and not to blame the one who ministered. Rather you should
go into your house and fall upon your face, giving thanks to God on
behalf of your fellow widow, praying for the donor and for him who
administered it, praying to the Lord that he would open to you likewise
the door of his favour. And straightaway the Lord would hear your
prayer, without malice, and would send you more mercy than your fel-
low widow, from whence you had no hope of receiving any ministry.
And such a demonstration of your patience would be praised. 10. Or do
you not know what is written in the Gospel: ‘When you are acting char-
itably, do not publicly sound a trumpet as do the hypocrites, so that they
might be observed. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.’41
11. If God has decreed that a ministry should be secretly adminis-
tered, and he who administered it administered it thus, then why do you,
who received it secretly, openly proclaim it? Or you, why do you question
it? For not only are you complaining, and casting blame, like one who is
no true widow, but even cursing like pagans. 12. Or have you not heard
what the Scripture says, that everyone who blesses is blessed, and every-
one who curses is cursed.42 And again, in the Gospel, he says: ‘Bless those
who curse you.’43 And again he says: ‘When you enter a house say: “Peace
be on this house.” And if the house be deserving of peace your peace shall
come upon it, but if it is not deserving your peace shall return to you.’44
39 Literally ‘asking’, which may be interpreted as ‘asking questions.’ ‘Begging’
seems to be dictated by the context.

40
MSS of the E family read ‘or the presbyter.’
41 Mt 6:2.
42
Num 24:9.
43
Lk 6:28.
44
Mt 10:13.
191
[3.11] (Now if peace returns to those that send it, how much more shall a
curse return upon those that put it forth without cause, if the one upon
whom it was put does not deserve to receive a curse?) 2. Indeed, anyone
who curses somebody else without cause is cursing himself, since it is
written in Proverbs: ‘As birds, small and large, fly, so do undeserved curses
return.’45 And again he says: ‘Those who send out curses are lacking in
understanding.’46 3. The likeness of a bee is also applied to us as the Lord
says: ‘Look to the bee, and learn how she labours. She undertakes her
labours in wisdom, and food is brought forth from her work for rich and
poor. She is beloved and praiseworthy, although she is slight in
strength.’47 The bee is slight in strength because when she stings some-
body she loses her sting, and so grows weak and rapidly dies. The same is
true of us, the faithful, by similitude, for by whatever evil we do to
another we harm ourselves. For ‘Whatever you would hate to be done to
you, do not to another.’48 Since everyone who blesses is blessed in turn.
4. And so warn and rebuke those who are without discipline and
exhort, encourage and assist those who act rightly. And widows should
keep away from cursing, as they have been appointed for blessing. 6. And
for this reason a bishop, a presbyter, a deacon or a widow should set forth
no curse from their mouths, so that they should not inherit a curse, but a
blessing. And your concern, bishop, should likewise be that no layman
puts forth a curse from his mouth, for the care of all is committed to you.
the sixteenth chapter

Concerning the appointment of deacons and deaconesses, and the right man-
ner in which they should conduct their ministry, without mental idleness, and
subject to regulation
[3.12] So, bishop, appoint for yourself fellow-workers in almsgiving,1

assistants who may co-operate with you towards life. You are to
choose and appoint deacons from all the people who are pleasing to
45 Prov 26:2.
46 Prov 10:18.
47 Prov 6:8.
48
Tob 4:15.
1 So Flemming in Achelis and Flemming (1904); Connolly (1929) alleges an error,
stating that the proper translation is ‘in righteousness’ but, as Vööbus (1979b), 156,
notes, either rendering of )twQYDz is possible, though in his translation he follows
Connolly (1929).
192
you, a man for the administration of the many things which are
necessary, a woman however for the ministry of women, since there
are houses where you can not send a deacon to the women because of
the pagans but you can send a deaconess, 2. and in many other mat-
ters there is need for an office of deaconess. In the first instance it is
required that when women go down into the waters that they should
be anointed with the oil of anointing by deaconesses as they enter the
waters.2 When there is no woman present, and particularly no dea-
coness, it is necessary that he who baptizes should himself anoint her
who is being baptized. But if a woman is present, and particularly a
deaconess, it is not right that a woman should be seen by a man.3 But
anoint the head alone, with a laying on of a hand. As in ancient times
the priests and kings of Israel were anointed so you should do the
same, 3. anointing the head, with a laying on of a hand, of those who
come to baptism, both men and women and subsequently, whether
you yourself baptize or command deacons to baptize, or presbyters, a
woman deaconess, as we said above, should anoint the women.4 But a
man should pronounce over them the invocation of the divine names
in the water.
When she who has been baptized comes out of the waters a dea-
coness should receive her and instruct her and educate her so that the
mark of baptism may be kept intact in chastity and holiness. 4. On this
account we declare that the ministry of a woman, a deaconess,5 is par-
ticularly useful and important. Our Lord and Saviour also received
ministry at the hands of women, Mary Magdalene, and6 Mary the
2
Some MSS of the E family add here: ‘It is necessary that they be anointed by a
deaconess, and it is not right that the oil for anointing should be given to a woman,
apart from the deaconess, to touch. For it is necessary for the priest who baptizes to
anoint her who is being baptized.’
3 MSS of the E family recast this, excluding the possibility that any woman other
than a deaconess should have contact with the oil or undertake the anointing.
4 CA tidies this up, and clarifies that a male deacon anoints the head and that a
woman deacon complete the anointing of the rest of the body. Vööbus (1979b). 157,
n. 10 seems to make this determinative of the meaning here. However Schlarb (1995),
65, points out that the singular address here is to the bishop. The bishop is to anoint the
head and subsequently, that is to say after anointing the head, a woman may anoint the
bodies of other women (here the sentences have been repunctuated, removing a
full-stop before ‘and subsequently.’) Schlarb links this to what she sees as the general
strengthening of the position of the bishop.
5 Or, perhaps, ‘a woman deacon.’
193
daughter of James and mother of Joses,7 and the mother of the sons of
Zebedee. You too have need of the ministry of a deaconess in many
things, so that they may go into the homes of pagans, where you may
not go, where there are believing women, that they may minister as
necessary to those who are sick and bathe those beginning to recover
from sickness.8
9[3.13] The deacons should be like the bishops in their actions,
working yet harder than he, not receiving impure profit, diligent in
their ministry. They should be numbered in proportion to the size of
the church,10 so that they can be aware of all, and relieve all: older
women who are infirm, brothers and sisters who are in sickness, min-
istering effectively in their proper service.
A woman should be devoted to ministry among women, and a
male deacon to ministry among men. He should be ready and willing
to serve and minister at the command of the bishop; 2. each should
know his own place and carefully fulfil it. And wherever he is sent to
minister, or to speak to anybody about some matter, he should labour
and toil. And you should be of one mind, and one purpose, as two
bodies bearing a single soul.11 And know what your ministry is, 3. as
the Lord God says in the Gospel: ‘Whoever wishes to be great among
you should be your servant,12 and whoever wishes to be chief must be
your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to receive service but to
serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’13 You deacons should act
thus, if it falls to you in your ministry to lay down your life for your
brothers. Do not doubt this.14 For our Lord and Saviour had no hesi-
tation about ministering to us, as it is written in Isaiah: ‘To justify the
7
So Syr. Lat. may be read this way, or as ‘Mary the mother of James and Joseph.’
Cf. Mt 27:56.
8 Lat. adds ‘in baths’. The passage, however, is possibly corrupt. MSS of the E fam-
ily have ‘anoint.’ It is possible that some kind of nursing was intended; K 21.2 entrusts
this duty to a widow.
9
Lat. here has a subtitle: ‘What sort of person the deacon should be.’
10
It is noteworthy that there is no restriction as to the number of deacons, as in
K 20.1 and as occurred later in Rome.
11
So Lat. Syr. is equally probable, and preferred by Connolly (1929), 149: ‘One
soul dwelling in two bodies.’ CA paraphrases, stating that they should minister
o(moyu/xwj.
12
Syr. omits this first part of the citation. Flemming, in Achelis and Flemming
(1904), 194, suggests through homoioteleuton.
13
Mt 20:26-28.
14 ‘Do not doubt this’ is absent in Syr. but present in Lat. and CA; the punctuation
in Lat. is uncertain but CA reveals the proper significance of the phrase.
194
righteous, performing well a service for many.’15 4. Therefore, if the

Lord of heaven and earth performed a service for us, suffered and bore
all things for us, how much more should we do the same for our broth-
ers, since we are his followers and appointed to the place16 of Christ.
For written in the Gospel you will find the manner in which our Lord
put around himself a linen cloth and poured water into a basin, and
washed our feet while we were seated at supper, and wiped them with
the cloth.17 5. So he showed us brotherly love so that we in turn might
do the same.18 Thus if the Lord should do this, you, deacons, should
not hesitate to do the same for the weak and sick, since you are labour-
ers in the truth and bear the likeness of Christ. 6. Minister therefore
with love, without complaining or hesitating, which would be service
as for human sake, and not for God, for which you will receive a
reward, in accordance to your ministry, on the day of visitation.19
7. Thus it is required of you deacons to visit all in need, and to report
to the bishop regarding any in distress. You shall be his life and his
mind, with regard to all matters, labouring in obedience to him.
the seventeenth chapter

That it is right for the bishop to take care of orphans who are left while young,
and hand them over to be raised, and that there is condemnation for those who
have, and are in no need, who are greedy and who take the gifts which have
been given to the church for the orphans and for the poor
[4.1] If any of the Christians’ children, boy or girl, be orphaned, it is

good that any of the brothers who has no child should take the child
as his own child. If anyone has a son, he should adopt a girl, so that in
due time his son may take her as his wife, and his deeds may be com-
pleted in the ministry of God.1 2. Should anyone be unwilling to do
this, seeking to please people, and ashamed of orphans as a result of
15
Is 53:11.
16
Since this is the reading both of Lat. and Syr. I am loath to make any alteration,
but may nonetheless point out that the deacon is said to be the type of Christ at 2.26.5,
and so to wonder whether tu/poj here has been misread as to/poj.
17 Jn 13:4-5.
18 Jn 13:14.
19 So Lat., supported by CA (e0n h(me/ra| e0piskoph~j u(mw~n.) Cf. 1 Pet 2:12. Syr.
reads ‘day of judgement.’

1
An allusion to Sir 7:25.
195
their wealth, they have reached the stage at which they lose all their
hoard:2 ‘whatever the saints have not eaten, the Assyrians shall eat, and
their land shall be devoured by strangers before their very eyes.’3
[4.2] Thus, bishops, you should be careful about their upbringing,
so that they lack nothing. 2. And when a girl wishes to marry, give her
to one of the brothers. And when a boy is being raised4 he should learn
a trade so that when he is of age he can receive a wage fitting to his
trade, so that he may make the tools necessary for his trade, and no
longer be a burden on the love which he has received without guile or
partiality from the brothers.
[4.3] Anyone who can assist himself without disturbing the place of
the orphan, the stranger or the widow is truly blessed, as this is a gift from
God. 2. But woe to those who have, yet falsely receive, or who are able to
assist themselves but receive anyway.5 Anyone who receives will have to
give an account to the Lord God regarding what they received on the day
of judgement.6 3. If anyone receives on account of an orphaned child-
hood, or poverty in old age, or sickness or weakness or for bringing up a
large number of children, he shall indeed be praised, considered as the
altar of God and honoured of God, because he did not receive in vain
since he diligently and frequently prayed for those who gave to him, as far
as he was able,7 and this prayer he offered8 as his payment. These shall so
be declared blessed by God in everlasting life. [4.4] Yet those who have,
and yet receive under pretence, or otherwise are idle, and so receive rather
than working as they should and assisting themselves and others, shall
2 Syr. is confused here, but CA and Lat. make the meaning clear. Although adop-
tion was common in the Roman Empire among the upper classes, this was usually
arranged between persons of similar social status to ensure heredity. Thus the adoption
of a child from a lower social order would create social difficulties. Moreover, quite
apart from the expense of raising the child this would raise issues of inheritance. Here,
through the suggestion that the adopted child should marry into the family, inheri-
tance is controlled less to keep property in a family as to keep it within the church.
3 The source of the first part of this citation is unknown, though Funk (1905), 218,
notes a proximity to Jer 27:17. The second part of the citation is Is 1:7.
4 So Syr. Lat. reads ‘accipiens substantiam.’ Funk (1905), 220, suggests that this
may result from a misunderstanding of bi/oj.

5 This phrase is absent in Syr. but supplied by Lat., with support from CA.
6 Cf. Hermas Mand. 2.5. Whereas Connolly (1929), lxxix, asserts that the redactor
of DA was acquainted with the work of Hermas, this could be an example of the com-
mon use of traditional material. There is also an echo of D1.5.
7
So Lat. and CA. Syr. translates, through misunderstanding, ‘which is his
strength.’
8
‘Prayer he offered’ is present in Syr. and CA, but not Lat. The overall sense of this
passage, with its different corruptions in Lat. and Syr. is obtained from CA.
196
give an account as they have reduced the place of the impoverished

faithful. 2. Or anyone who has possessions and does not use them him-
self, nor helps others, is laying up perishable treasure for himself on earth.
He is in the position of 9 the snake lying upon the treasure and is in dan-
ger of being reckoned alongside it.10 3. Whoever possesses, and yet
receives in falsehood, is not trusting in God but in wicked mammon. On
account of wealth he is keeping the word hypocritically and is fulfilled in
unbelief. Anyone who is like this is in danger of being reckoned with the
unbelievers in condemnation.11 4. But anyone who simply gives to all
does well, and is innocent. Whoever receives on account of distress and
uses what he receives sparingly12 receives well, and will be glorified13 by
God in everlasting life.14
the eighteenth chapter

An exhortation directed to bishops that they be carefully vigilant in not receiving
gifts from those who are reprehensible for the nourishment of orphans, widows
and the poor, even if they face destruction by hunger, and that they are guilty if
they accept them: and that the prayers of the poor are not heard when they pray
for such as these, if they are nourished by what is theirs. It is right that they should
receive from those who are faithful and just, to nourish the poor and to redeem
the prisoners and the oppressed.
[4.5] Be constant, you bishops and deacons, in the ministry of the

altar of Christ, that is to say the widows and the orphans, with all
9
‘He is in the position of ’: so Syr. and CA. Cf. Lat. ‘is to be compared to’. There
is also significant variation between the versions later in the sentence. Syr. is followed
here, though CA does not assist, as it seems that the Latin translator has not under-
stood the image.
10 The image may be a general folkloric reference but may refer more specifically to
a parable about a farmer who finds a snake in his barn; the snake vomits up treasure and
so the farmer does not kill it, although the snake eventually eats both his livestock and
his family. It was discovered and published by Cumont (1905) and summarized in the
course of a discussion by Holl (1907). The identification with DA was made by Holzhey,
though Cumont suggests that it may be inspired equally by stories of springs guarded
by serpents (citing Pausanius) or indeed the pearl guarded by a serpent in the Hymn of
the pearl of the Acta Thomae.
11
‘In condemnation’ is absent in Syr.
12
‘Uses what he receives sparingly’: so Syr. Lat. is corrupt.
13
The Syr. word here, xBt$N, may mean ‘praised’, but Lat. clarifies the meaning.
14 So Lat. Syr. reads ‘in life and everlasting rest.’ This emphasis on the rest is typi-
cally Syrian, and may on this occasion be surmised to be an addition of the translator.
CA offers no guidance.
197
care, diligently endeavouring to find out with regard to gifts, the

conduct of him who gives, or her who gives, for the support of, 2. we
say again, the altar.1 When widows are nourished by the labour of
righteousness2 they will offer a ministry which is holy and acceptable
before Almighty God, through his beloved Son and his Holy Spirit.
To him be glory and honour for ever and ever.
3. You should be working hard and diligently in ministering to the
widows with a righteous mind, so that whatever they ask or request
may speedily be given them, as they make their prayers. 4. But if there
should be bishops who are uncaring, and inattentive to these matters,
through respect of persons, or through impure profit, or through
failure to make enquiry, the account that they shall give shall be no
ordinary one. [4.6] For what they are receiving for ministry to orphans
and widows is from the rich, who have men locked in prison, from the
wicked who make poor provision for their slaves, or act with cruelty in
their cities, or oppress the poor, 2. or from the impure, who abuse their
bodies with wickedness, or from evildoers, or from fraudsters,3 or from
lawless advocates, or from those who accuse falsely, or from hypocriti-
cal lawyers, 3. or from painters of pictures4 or from makers of idols, or
from workers of gold or silver or bronze who steal, or from corrupt tax-
gatherers, or from those who watch the shows, or from those who alter
weights, or from those who measure deceitfully, or from innkeepers
who water (drinks), 4. or from soldiers who act lawlessly, from spies
who obtain convictions, or from Roman authorities, who are defiled by
wars and who have shed innocent blood without trial, and from perver-
tors of judgement who deal corruptly and deceitfully with the peas-
antry and all the poor in order to rob them, 5. or from idolaters, or
from the unclean or from usurers and extortionists.5 6. Those who
1 Lat. is confused here due to breaking off in the middle of the construction and
Syr. is followed.
2
3 This reading is derived from CA r(a|diourgou/j, following Connolly (1929), 158.
Syr. reads ‘subtract and lend’ in the majority of MSS (though ‘subtract and add’ is pres-
ent in some), which Connolly suggests means ‘perhaps those who falsify accounts or
other documents.’ Some of the E family read ‘subtract and lend at interest.’ It seems that
the later scribes, removed from the Greek original, did not comprehend the reference.
4
Literally ‘painters of colours.’ Lagarde suggested that this is a mistranslation and
that the original read ‘those who prepare medications.’
5 The list of sinners and forbidden occupations may be compared to TA 16 on those
who are not to be admitted as catechumens. The whole chapter, moreover, is closely
paralleled by the conclusions of the ps-Athanasian Syntagma doctrinae and the Coptic
version of Fides patrum. See the introduction, 2.d, for further details and argument.
198
nourish widows6 from these will be found guilty when judged on the
day of the Lord, since Scripture says: ‘Better a meal of herbs with love
and compassion than the slaughter of fattened oxen with hatred.’7 7.
Should a widow be nourished solely by bread from the labour of right-
eousness this will be plenty for her, but if much be given her from iniq-
uity it will not be enough for her. 8. Moreover, if she is nourished from
iniquity she will be unable to offer her ministry and her intercession
before God in purity. Even if, being righteous, she prays for the wicked,
her intercession for them will not be heard, but only that for herself, in
that God tests their hearts in judgement and receives intercessions with
discernment. 9. Yet if they pray for those who have sinned and repented
their prayers will be heard. But when those who are in sin and are not
repentant pray before God, not only are their prayers not heard, but
their transgressions are brought to God’s memory.
That those bishops who accept alms from the culpable are guilty.8
[4.7] And so, bishops, flee and shun such administrations as these. For
it is written: ‘The price of a dog or the wages of a prostitute shall not
go up upon the altar of the Lord.’9 2. For if, through your blindness,
widows are praying for fornicators and for those who transgress the
law and are not being heard as their requests are not granted, you will
be bringing blasphemy upon the word as the result of your wicked
management, as though God were not good and generous.
3. Thus you should be very careful that you do not minister the
altar of God from the ministrations of those who transgress the law.
You have no excuse in saying ‘We do not know’, as you have heard
what Scripture says: ‘Shun any wicked man and you shall not be
afraid; and trembling shall not approach you.’10 [4.8] And if you say:
‘These are the only people who give alms; and if we do not accept from
them, from what shall we minister to the orphans and the widows and
those in distress?’ God says to you: ‘On this account you received the
gifts of the Levites, the firstfruits and the offerings of your people, that
you might be nourished and, having more than this, that you should
6
CA reads ‘widows and orphans.’
7
Prov 15:17.
8
This is quite possibly a marginal note which has crept into the text. Elsewhere in
the MSS we find similar marginal notes, which in some cases have found their way
into the texts of these MSS.
9 Dt 23:18. The original, in all versions, speaks not of going onto the altar but of
entering a house.
10
Is 54:14.
199
not be obliged to accept from wicked people. 2. But if the churches are
so poor that those in need should be nourished by people like this, it
is better that you be laid waste by hunger than receive from those who
are wicked. 3. Thus you should be making investigation and examina-
tion so that you receive from the faithful, those who are in commun-
ion with the church, and conduct themselves properly, in order to
nourish those who are in distress, and do not receive from those who
have been expelled from the church until they are worthy of becoming
members of the church.
4. If, however, you are in want, speak to the brothers so that they
may labour together and give, so supplying out of righteousness. [4.9]
You should be teaching your people, saying what is written: ‘Honour
the Lord from your just labour and from the first of all your
harvests.’11 2. And so from the just labour of the faithful shall you
clothe and nourish those who are in want. And, as we said above, dis-
tribute from what is given by them for ransoming the faithful, for the
redemption of slaves, captives and prisoners, and those treated with
violence, and those condemned by the mob, and those condemned to
fight with beasts, or to the mines, or to exile, or condemned to the
games, and to those in distress. And the deacons should go in to those
who are constrained, and visit every one of them, and distribute to
them with whatever each is lacking.
[4.10] But if ever you should be obliged to accept, against your will,
some coins from somebody who is wicked, do not spend them on food
but, if a small amount, spend it on firewood for yourselves and for the
widows, so that a widow should not receive them and be obliged to
buy food for herself with them. 2. And so the widows shall not be
defiled with evil when they pray and receive from God the good things
for which they ask and which they seek, whether all together or
individually, and you will not be bound by these sins.
the nineteenth chapter

An exhortation to the bishops that they should care for those who are perse-
cuted or imprisoned on account of the name of Christ. They are to visit
them, but are to stay away from anyone who is imprisoned and punished
by judges on account of wrongdoing or who is accused of wickedness. And a
further exhortation to all Christians that they should suffer together with
11 Prov 3:9.
200
those who suffer for the sake of Christ and that they should not deny or
abandon them out of fear. And whoever denies them is denying his own
Christianity, and Christ. And he should pray that he enter not into temp-
tation.
[5.1] Should a Christian be condemned to the games, or to the

beasts, or to the mines on account of the name of God and for his
faith and his love, you are not to turn your face from him but shall
send to him for his nourishment and payment for the soldiers guard-
ing him from your labour and from the sweat of your brow, so that
your blessed brother be relieved, receive attention, and be not
entirely afflicted.1
2. Anyone who has been condemned for the sake of the name of the
Lord God should be considered a holy martyr, an angel of God, or
indeed God himself upon earth, one who is spiritually clothed in the
Holy Spirit of God. Through him you may look upon the Lord our
Saviour, as he has been found worthy of the crown that shall not be
corrupted, and renews again the witness of the passion. 3. For this
reason all you faithful are obliged carefully to minister and, through the
bishop, to refresh those who are bearing witness2 from your possessions.
4. And anybody who has nothing should fast, giving to his brothers
something of what he would have spent on that day.3 Yet if you are rich
you are obliged to minister to them to the extent of your ability even to
1
Although a basic food ration might be provided to prisoners, it was far better
should the prisoner be fed by friends or relatives, and this was common practice. Thus
the Theodosian code (9.3.7) provides that prisoners should be fed should they not oth-
erwise have food, but the general ration was only enough to sustain life, as may be
illustrated from the comments of Lucianus the confessor, apud Cyprian Ep. 22, which
states that even before the starvation to which the confessors had been condemned
they had previously received only a small portion of bread for food, and the Passio
Montani et Lucii 6 which refers to illness brought on by prison rations and 9, where
the martyrs state that they had not actually been fed, but that Lucian was able to bring
them (eucharistic?) ‘food which does not fail.’ Similarly, although prison guards
received a stipend, it was common enough practice to bribe them in order to obtain
preferential treatment. So Lucian Toxaris 31 describes the support provided by
Demetrius to his imprisoned friend Antiphilus, by which Demetrius would earn mon-
ey in order to bribe the guards, so obtaining better treatment for his friend, and in
order to feed him, and in Passio Perpetuae 3 Tertius and Pomponius, deacons, are able
to obtain some relief for the prisoners through remunerating the guards. Digesta 48.3.8
is an attempt to legislate against such practice.
2 Perhaps ‘being martyred’, though CA does not confirm this reading since it sim-
ply reads toi~j a(gi/oij.

3 A not uncommon idea. So note Aristides Apol. 15; Hermas Sim. 5.3.7.
201
the extent of giving all you have to redeem them from bondage. For
these are they who are worthy of God, and the sons who fulfil his will,
as the Lord says: ‘Everyone who confesses me before people will I con-
fess before my father.’4 5. And you shall not be ashamed to go into them
where they are imprisoned; and when you do these things you shall
inherit eternal life as you participate in their witness. 6. For we may
learn how the Lord speaks in the Gospel: ‘”Come before me all you
who are blessed by my father: inherit the kingdom prepared for you
before the foundation of the world, since you fed me when I was hun-
gry, and gave me drink when I was thirsty. You gathered me in when I
was a stranger and you covered me when I was naked. You visited me
when I was sick and you came to me when I was imprisoned.” 7. Then
the righteous will answer and say: “Our Lord, when was it that we saw
you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you a drink, or naked and
covered you, or sick and visited you, or a stranger and gathered you in
or imprisoned and came to you?” 8. And he shall answer and say to
them: “All that you did to one of these who are insignificant and lowly
you did to me.” And then they shall go to eternal life.’5
[5.2] But should there be somebody who is called a Christian who is
led astray and tempted by Satan and is guilty of wicked deeds, or is con-
demned for wicked deeds, whether of theft or murder, you should stay
well away from him or anyone like him lest any of you be put to trial
by one of those who have imprisoned him. 2. For should anyone take
you and question you and say to you: ‘Are you, like this man, a Chris-
tian?’ you would be unable to deny it, but confess. However, you will
not be condemned as a Christian but punished as a malefactor. Indeed
he asks you whether you are ‘like this man’, and so your confession is
evacuated, whereas if you deny you have also denied the Lord. For this
reason stay away from them, so that you may not give offence.
3. You are to assist with great care and extensive effort, as your own
limbs, any of the faithful who is unjustly and violently taken, impris-
oned or even bound as an evildoer, to deliver them from the hands of
the wicked. 4. And if anyone visits them and is taken together with
them and be afflicted for no fault but for the sake of his brother he is
blessed in being called a Christian, since he has confessed the Lord and
shall live before God. And if anybody visits those who are bound for the
name of the Lord and is taken with them he shall indeed be blessed,
4 Mt 10:32.
5 Mt 25:34-40.
202
being found worthy of such company. [5.3] Also you are to receive and
refresh those who are persecuted for the faith and move ‘from town to
town’6 as the Lord commanded, receiving them with gladness that you
are made to share in their persecution. 2. For our Lord spoke of them
in the Gospel thus: ‘You are blessed when they persecute you and scorn
you on account of my name.’7 3. For when a Christian is persecuted,
and bears witness and is killed on account of the faith he becomes a
man of God, and can be persecuted no more by anyone, as he is recog-
nized by the Lord.
[5.4] If, however, he denies, and says that he is not a Christian he
shall be called a stumbling block and, not being persecuted by people,
shall be cast off by God on account of his denial, and no more shall
he receive any part with the saints in the eternal kingdom promised by
the Lord but shall be placed with the ungodly. 2. For the Lord God has
said: ‘When I come in power and glory to judge the dead and the liv-
ing I will be ashamed of, and deny before my Father in heaven, anyone
who denies me or my words before the world or who denies me.’8
3. And again you will find it written: ‘Anyone who loves a father or a
mother more than me is not worthy of me. And anyone who loves a son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And anyone who does
not take up a cross with glad rejoicing to come after me is not worthy
of me. And everyone who loses his life for my sake shall find it; and
anyone who saves his life by means of denial shall lose it. For what does
a person gain if, obtaining the whole world, he loses his life? Or what
should he give in exchange for his life?’9 4. And again, ‘Do not be afraid
of those who kill the body, and cannot kill the soul; rather fear espe-
cially me, I who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna.’10
[5.5] Thus everybody who learns a trade watches his master, observ-
ing how, by means of his skill and knowledge, he performs the task of
his trade. And likewise he imitates him, performing the task set for
him, so that he may hear nothing bad from him. And if he fails in any-
thing set for him he is not perfect. 2. Why then do we not copy our
Lord, who is master and instructor for us, in what he teaches and in
what he does? 3. For he came in poverty, having left behind riches and
6 Mt 10:23.
7 Mt 5:11.
8
Lk 9:26. The citation has been influenced by the credal confession of the
community, a glimpse of which may be gained from the end of the work (6.23.8).
9 Mt 10:37-39.
10
Mt 10:28.
203
splendour and honour and glory. And, moreover, he withdrew himself

from his blessed mother Mary, and also from his brothers, and from
himself, and endured persecution, even to the cross. He endured on
our behalf, on behalf of those of us from the people, to redeem us from
the bonds of the secondary (legislation),11 of which we have already
spoken, and also you who are of the gentiles, to redeem you from fear
of idols, from all evil, and so that you might inherit. 4. If so he suffered
for our sake, to redeem us who believe in him, and shrank not from
the task, why do we not imitate his suffering, while he gives the
endurance? And this is for our own sake, to be saved from a fiery
death. 6. For whereas he endured on our behalf, we suffer on our own
behalf. Why should our Lord need us to suffer on his behalf, except
only that we may prove the love of our faith, and of our freewill. [5.6]
Thus we may take leave of our parents, of our family and from that is
worldly, and even from our own lives.
2. We should be praying that we do not enter into testing. Yet if
we are called to martyrdom we should confess when we are interro-
gated, and be patient while we are suffering, and rejoice while we are
afflicted, 3. and be not distressed while we are persecuted. 4. Not
only shall we save ourselves from Gehenna when we act thus, but
shall teach those who are young in the faith and the catechumens to
do the same. And they shall live before the Lord. 5. If however we
come short in faith in the Lord, and deny on account of the weak-
ness of the body, as our Lord said, ‘The spirit is willing and ready but
the body is weak’,12 not only do we destroy our own selves but kill
our brothers together with ourselves, 6. for when they observe our
denial they will think that they have been instructed in a teaching of
error, and when they are caused to stumble, on the day of judgement
11 Syr. actually reads ‘of the house of trees’, which is clearly corrupt. As Connolly
(1929) and Vööbus (1979b), 172 n.51, alike observe we would anticipate a mention of
the secondary legislation, but there is no obvious basis on which the corruption came
about. The translation offered here is derived from the suggestion of Flemming in
Achelis and Flemming (1904), 201, who, whilst noting a number of unlikely emenda-
tions, suggests that (NLY) tYBd (house of trees) should be emended to
)NYNtBd, which would mean ‘which are from the secondary’ (the word ‘legisla-
tion’ having dropped out.) The paragraph may readily be observed as an intervention
from the deuterotic redactor. Connolly (1929), 164, however, finds this unlikely and is
particularly troubled by the absence of the word ‘legislation.’ If, however, this word
dropped out first, then the corruption might the more readily come about. The word
has, moreover, dropped out from the phrase in Syr. at 6.18.3 where Lat. is extant and
confirms its inclusion.
12
Mt 26:41.
204
we shall be giving an account to the Lord on their behalf as well as

our own.
7. Yet if you are taken and brought before the authorities and
deny your hope in the Lord and your holy faith, being set free that
day, and the following day however should fall ill with a fever and
take to bed, or your stomach give you pain and not hold down food
but return it with severe pain, or you be afflicted with pains in the
belly, or pain in one of your limbs, or you bring up blood and bile
from within you, with severe pain, or you have an ulcer on one of
your limbs and are cut by the physicians, and you die in distress and
great agony, then what good will your denial do you, who denied,
since your soul’s inheritance is pain and affliction and you have
destroyed your life of eternity before God, to burn and be tortured
endlessly and for ever. As the Lord said: ‘Everyone who loves his life
shall lose it, and everyone who loses his life for my sake shall find
it.’13 8. Thus, should a Christian deny out of love for the short-lived
life of this world, so that he may not die for the name of the Lord
God, he has destroyed his very self for ever in the fire, for he has
fallen into Gehenna, for Christ, as he said in his Gospel, has denied
him: ‘I shall deny before my father who is in heaven all who deny me
in human sight.’14 They put forth any whom the Lord has denied,
casting them into outer darkness, and there is wailing and gnashing
of teeth. As he said: ‘Whoever loves his life more than me is not wor-
thy of me.’15
9. We should therefore he diligent in committing our lives to the
Lord God. Should any find themselves worthy of martyrdom they
should accept it with joy that they are found worthy of so great a
crown and are quitting this world through martyrdom. For our Lord
and Saviour has said that no disciple is greater than his master, but that
everyone should be perfected like his master. So, as our Lord suffered
all this willingly for our salvation, accepting beating, and that people
should spit in his face, and drinking vinegar and gall, and at the last
consenting to be hanged upon a cross, 10. so we, his disciples, should
also be his imitators. For if he bore and suffered all this on our behalf,
suffering to the end, how much more should we, for our own sakes, be
patient in affliction when we are suffering. And we should have no
13
Mt 10:39.
14
Mt 10:33.
15 Mt 10:37.
205
doubt, for so he has counselled us, even should we be burned in coals

of fire,16 whilst yet we believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in God, his
Father, the Lord Almighty God, and in his Holy Spirit, to whom be
glory and honour for ever and ever. Amen.17
the twentieth chapter

Concerning the resurrection of the dead, teaching us not only from the holy
Scriptures but also by means of proofs from the books of the pagans and further-
more by proofs of nature that we should be careful, being believers who have a
true hope of resurrection, not to avoid martyrdom on behalf of Christ if we are
so called.
[5.7] God the Father Almighty raises us by means of God our Saviour,
as he promised. We are raised, however, from the dead as we are, in the
form in which we presently are, yet with the great glory of life everlast-
ing in which there is nothing lacking to us. 2. For even if we are
thrown into the depths of the sea, or scattered among the winds like
chaff, we are yet within the world and the whole world is itself laid
beneath the hand of God.1 Thus it is from within his hand that he will
raise us up, as the Lord our Saviour said: ‘Not a hair from your head
shall perish, but you shall own your lives in your patience.’2
16 Flemming in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 202, suggests that something has
dropped out here. CA reads ‘even though we should be burnt by people yet we shall
not be dissuaded . . .’ and goes on to employ the example of Ananias Azarias and
Mizael in the furnace. Whereas the exemplum may be the supplement of the redactor
of CA it is possible that it preserves the verb which has been lost from Syr.
17 Connolly (1929), 167, comments that this doxology is effectively a parenthesis, and
that the beginning of the next chapter is the apodosis to the sentence with which this chap-
ter concludes. Thus the chapter heading would appear to interrupt a sentence. Whereas
the doxology may have been introduced only once the chapter division had been
introduced, there is another possibility, namely that this is the conclusion of the large
block of material on bishops which began with the fourth chapter (2.1), and the catechet-
ical manual, material from which was in the opening chapters of DA, is picked up, once
more, in the next chapter. Thus it is possible that the doxology might originally have
marked the conclusion of the book, and that it has therefore been retained, but recast. The
sentence is restructured so that the next subject follows on, whereas originally it had fol-
lowed on from the end of the third chapter (1.10.4). The mention of resurrection would
not be out of place in the context of the end of chapter three, which makes mention of the
Kingdom of God and of the refrigerium, but not of the resurrection which is to follow.
1 Note the discussion of the issue of how those who are dismembered may be
resurrected in Athenagoras De Resurrectione 4-8.

2
Lk 21:18-19.
206
The Lord spoke thus about the resurrection and about the glory of
martyrs in Daniel: ‘Many who are sleeping in the breadth of the earth
shall rise on that day, some to eternal life and some to scorn and shame
and scattering. And those of understanding shall shine like the lights
of the heaven, and those who are strengthened by the word like the
stars of the heaven.’3 4. Like the sun and like the moon, the lights of
heaven, is the glorious light which he has promised to give to the
understanding, those who confess his holy name and bear witness. He
has promised resurrection, moreover, not only to martyrs but to all
people. 5. For he speaks in Ezekiel thus: ‘The hand of the Lord was
upon me and the Lord brought me out in the way4 and put me down
within a valley. And it was full of bones. He made me go among them,
and there were a great many, and they were very dry. And he said to
me: “Mortal man, are these bones alive?” And I said, “You know, Lord
Adonai.” And he said to me: “Prophesy to these bones, and say to
them: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you dry bones. Thus says the Lord
Adonai to these bones: “I will make the spirit enter you and you shall
live. I shall put sinews on you, and build flesh onto you and clothe you
with skin. And will make the spirit enter you and you shall know that
it is I who am the Lord.”’” And I prophesied to them as he said to me.
And while I was prophesying there was sound and movement and the
bones drew themselves together, bone to bone. And I saw that sinews
and flesh came upon them, and skin was stretched on them from
above, and there was no spirit in them. And the Lord said to me:
“Prophesy to the spirit and say: ‘Thus says the Lord Adonai: “Come,
spirit, from the four winds and enter these who are dead, and they
shall live.”’” And I prophesied as he said to me. And the spirit entered
them, and they lived, and they stood on their feet as a mighty army.
And the Lord said to me: “Mortal man, these bones are those of the
house of Israel who say: ‘We are dried up, and our hope is departed
and we are no more.’ Thus says the Lord Adonai: ‘My people, see, I am
opening your graves and shall take you out from there, and bring you
to the land of Israel. And you shall know that it is I who am the Lord
when I open your graves and bring my people from the graves. And I
shall place my spirit within you and you shall live, and I shall cause you
to dwell in your land. And you shall know that it is I, the Lord, who
3
Dan 12:2-3.
4 Since every other witness has ‘in the spirit’ Connolly (1929), 168 and Vööbus
(1979b), 176, suggest that this is a copyist’s error, )Xrw)B being written for )XwrB.
207
have spoken and acted. And all who dwell upon the earth shall be
silent, says the Lord.’”’5
6. Again he says, through Isaiah:6 ‘All who sleep and are dead shall
rise, and all in the graves shall awake, because your dew is dew of heal-
ing to them. But the land of the wicked shall perish.’7
7. And much else is said by Isaiah and by the other prophets
concerning the resurrection, and everlasting life in the glory of the
righteous, and likewise concerning the wicked, their shame and their
ruination, and concerning their undoing and their condemnation.
8. For what is said: ‘Yet the land of the wicked shall perish’ is said of
their body, as it is of the earth and is reckoned with the earth in dis-
honour. Because they did not serve God they shall fall into fire and
torture. 9. In the twelve prophets he speaks thus: ‘Look, you wicked,
and observe, and see wonders, and turn back to corruption. For in
your days I am doing a deed which you would not believe if anyone
told you of it.’8 10. These things, and many more than these, are said
of the unfaithful who have no faith in the resurrection, and concern-
ing those who deny and do not serve God, and about the transgressors
and of the pagans, for they shall see the glory of the faithful and shall
be turned back into fire to perish, as they did not believe.
11. Yet we have learned to believe from our Lord’s resurrection from
the dead that our resurrection is secure for us, as God, who does not lie,
has promised it to us. 12. For our Saviour himself is the pledge of our
resurrection, as he rose first. And you who are called from among the
gentiles, even the pagans,9 read and hear of the resurrection from what
is said and proclaimed to them by the Sibyl thus: 13. ‘When all things
are made dust and ashes the indestructible10 God shall damp down the
fire which he himself lit. God himself shall re-form people from bones
and ashes. Mortals11 shall stand as they were before, and then shall there
5
Ez 37:1-14. There is, however, some confusion here as this last phrase is from the ci-
tation of Isaiah which follows. The beginning of Lat., ‘says the Lord’, may be the end of
the Ezekiel citation, and the introduction to Isaiah slightly altered by the Syriac translator.
7
Is 26:18-19.
8 Hab 1:5.
9 ‘Even the pagans’ is not found in Lat. CA provides no guidance.
10 So CA; Lat. has immortalis which could represent the same word, a1fqitoj,
whereas Syr. has ‘Almighty.’

11
So CA. Syr. reads ‘people’ and Lat. reads: ‘They shall stand as they were before, im-
mortal . . .’ Possibly a Latin scribe has failed to understand the sentence and corrected
mortales to immortales.
208
be the judgement as God judges, judging in the world to come. And

the earth shall cover once again the sinner and the ungodly, and those
who acted righteously shall live again in the world, as God gives them
spirit and grace and life, and they shall all see one another.’12
14. Dear brothers, not only by the Sibyl is the resurrection
proclaimed and made manifest, but also through the holy Scriptures
does our Lord announce in advance to Jews and pagans and Christians
alike the resurrection from the dead which is to come about for people,
15. for also through a dumb animal has God given us a clear demonstra-
tion of the resurrection, namely by the phoenix, which is unique.
16. Indeed, if he had a mate, or if there were many of them, then many
would be visible to people, like a dream,13 but now it is seen when it
appears, as it is one alone, 17. but once every five hundred years, as it
comes to Egypt to the place which is called the altar of the sun, carrying
cinnamon. And as he prays towards the east he bursts spontaneously
into flames, is burned up and turns to ash. A worm emerges from the
ash, and this ash grows and is formed and again becomes a perfect
phoenix. And then he departs and goes off whence he had come.14
[Proof of the resurrection from natural arguments also.] 18. If God
demonstrates the resurrection for us by means of the type of a dumb
animal, then we who believe in the resurrection and in God’s promise
should rejoice all the more, as those found worthy of such glory and of
wearing an incorruptible crown in everlasting life, 19. if the great gift
and honour of the glory of God, martyrdom, should come to us,
accepting it freely and joyfully with faith in the Lord God who will
raise us up glorious in his light.
20 As in the beginning God gave the command and made the world
by his word, as he said: ‘Let there be light’,15 and day, night, sky, earth,
sea, birds, fish, creeping things, four-legged things and trees, everything
which was made and established in its nature by his word, as Scripture
shows, these all, through their obedience, bear witness to God who
12
This is a fairly loose citation from Oracula Sibyllina 4; these oracles were attrib-
uted to the pagan oracle called the sibyl, but are chiefly forgeries from Jewish and
Christian hands.
13
The phrases ‘or if there were many of them’ and ‘like a dream’ are not found in
Syr.; it is hard to see the rationale behind their appearance, which may be the reason
for their omission. CA lends no assistance here.
14 The phoenix is used as a proof of the resurrection by, among others, 1 Clem. 25-
26, Tertullian De resurrectione. 13 and, interestingly in view of its catechetical setting,

Cyril of Jerusalem Hom. catecheticae 18.8.
15
Gen 1:3.
209
made them, showing forth that they were made of nothing, as well as
signs of the resurrection. As he made all things, so will he give life to
humanity, raising it up, as it is of his own formation. 21. For if he made
the world from what was not he will more readily give life to a person
and raise one up from that which is, as he himself formed him, just as
he causes a seed to grow and forms it into a person in the womb.16
22. If, then, he raises up all people, as he says through Isaiah: ‘All
flesh shall see the salvation of God’,17 how much more shall he save and
revive those who were faithful to him. 23. And how much the more
again will he raise up the most faithful of the faithful, the martyrs,
establishing them in great glory and taking them as his counsellors. To
those who are simply his faithful disciples he has promised glory like
that of the stars, but to the martyrs he has promised that for all time
they may shine like the unfailing lights which shine in everlasting glory.
24. As faithful disciples of Christ, therefore, let us believe that we shall
receive all the good things from him which he has promised us in ever-
lasting life, and so let us imitate his teaching and his patience. 25. Con-
cerning his birth, which was from a virgin, and his coming and his vol-
untary passion we are convinced by the divine Scriptures, as the prophets
announced beforehand everything concerning his coming, by which we
are convinced, and our hearts strengthened, as even the demons extolled
his coming even as they trembled at his name.18 26. You are thus already
convinced concerning what has already happened, of which we have spo-
ken already, but we are more so, having seen him and spoken with him19
and eaten with him and having been associates and witnesses of his com-
ing.20 And so we have faith as we hope in what is to be, to receive his great
and indescribable gifts in accordance with his promises. 27. All our faith
is put to the test of believing that all his promises are true.
And if we are called to martyrdom for his name we shall depart this
world to be found innocent, cleansed from every offence and every sin,
16
Vööbus (1979b), 181, observes that Aphraahat employs the same argument at
Dem. 8.6, likewise on the resurrection. We may well be dealing with a commonplace
within the Syrian catechetical tradition.
17
Is 40:5.
18
For the demons trembling cf. Jas 2:19. Funk (1905), 260, notes a degree of paral-
lelism between this kerygmatic passage and words attributed by Clement of Alexandria
Strom. 6.15 to the Predicatio Petri. However there is not a great deal of verbal parallelism
and the common content may readily be attributed to a common kerygmatic pattern
embracing the proof from prophecy.
19 Syr. has ‘seen him with our eyes’ and omits ‘spoken with him’.
20 Cf. 1 Jn 1:1; Act 10:41.
210
as he said in David concerning the martyrs thus: ‘Blessed is the one

whose iniquity is forgiven21 and whose sins are covered over. Blessed is
the one to whom the Lord does not impute his sins.’22 [5.8] Thus the
martyrs are blessed and cleansed from all offences, for they have been
lifted up and carried off from all iniquity. So he said in Isaiah with
regard to Christ and his martyrs: ‘Look the righteous one is perished
and there is nobody of understanding. Holy people are taken away,
and none lays it to their heart. For the righteous is gathered far from
the presence of evil and his burial shall be in peace.’23 [5.9] Now these
things are said of those who bear witness to the name of Christ.
The sins of those who are of the gentiles are remitted from those
who approach and enter the holy church of God through baptism.
2. Also we should enquire concerning those to whom no sin is
imputed. Such are Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs,
and the martyrs also. 3. So let us pay attention, brothers, for Scripture
speaks: ‘Who shall boast and say “I am free of sin.”? Or who shall state
assuredly “I am absolved.”?’24 And again: ‘There is nobody who is pure
of pollution, even if his life be but a single day.’25 4. The former sins of
any who believes and is baptized are forgiven, 5. as they are after bap-
tism, provided26 that he has committed no deadly sin, or been party
thereto, and is convicted of sin simply through looking or hearing or
speaking. 6. But anybody who departs the world through martyrdom
for the sake of the name of the Lord is blessed. For the sins of those
who depart from this world are covered over.
the twenty-first chapter

Concerning the Pascha and the resurrection of our Saviour1
[5.10] For this reason it is required that all Christians should keep
themselves from idle speech and from words of frivolity and impurity.

22 Ps 31:1-2.
23 Is 57:1-2.
24 Prov 20:9.
25 Job 14:4-5.
26 This is the reading of one MS only; the others, however, which simply read ‘not’,
make no sense. The corruption of )L nLP) to )LP) is easy to explain.

1 There is great variety in the title among the manuscripts. This is the title of two. One
has ‘Concerning festivals’. Another group adds to the above: ‘Thus we should preserve
211
Even on a Sunday, which is a day of rejoicing and pleasure for us,

nobody is permitted to speak a word of frivolity, alien to the fear of
God. For so our Lord teaches us in the Psalm through David, saying
thus: ‘Understand, you kings, and be instructed, you who are judges
on earth: serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with trembling. Be
careful and disciplined, lest the Lord be angry and you perish from
the way of justice as in a little while will his anger be kindled against
you. Blessed are all they who put their trust in him.’2
2. Thus it is required that we should keep our festivals and rejoicings
with reverence and fear, for it says that a faithful Christian should not
join in the songs of the pagans nor go near the laws or teachings of alien
gatherings, for it may occur that by means of the songs he will make
mention of the names of idols, which should absolutely not be done by
the faithful. [5.11] For the Lord, through Jeremiah, casts blame onto
people saying thus: ‘They have departed from me and sworn by those
who are not gods.’3 And again: ‘If Israel returns to me, let him return,
says the Lord, and if he remove the abominations from his mouth, and
tremble before my face and swear “as the Lord lives”.’4 2. And again he
says: ‘I shall remove the name of idols from your mouth.’5 And through
Moses he said again to them: ‘They have provoked me to jealousy
through what is not god, and have enraged me with their idols.’6 And
in all the Scriptures he speaks out against such things.
[5.12] And not by idols alone is it unlawful for faithful people to
swear, but also not by the sun and not by the moon. For the Lord
God says this by Moses: ‘My people, if you would see the sun and
the moon and not be led astray by them you would not serve them,
for they have been given you for light upon the earth.’7 And again
our souls from the doings of the pagans and concerning the holy feasts’ whereas others
add: ‘Warning every Christian to keep his soul from all evil conduct and frivolity and
from all evil and pagan doings. And concerning the holy fast. And concerning the passion
of Our Lord and his crucifixion. And concerning the fourteenth of the Pascha of the Jews.
And concerning the Friday of the passion and the sabbath of the Gospel and the first day
of our Saviour’s resurrection. And concerning the mourning of the sabbath day of the
people of the Jews and concerning the rejoicing of the people of the Christians.’
2 Ps 2:10-12.
3 Jer 5:7.
4
Jer 6:1-2.
5
Hos 2:17.
6 Dt 32:21.
7 Dt 6:19. The text is complex here. It seems that the citation was defective in an
early archetype and that later copies have made a correction. The corrected version is
rendered here.
212
he says, by Jeremiah: ‘You shall not learn by the ways of the gentiles,
and you shall not fear the signs of heaven.’8 2. And he speaks thus
by Ezekiel: ‘He brought me into the courtyard of the house of the
Lord, between the porch and the altar and there I saw men who had
turned their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces towards
the east, and they were worshipping the sun. And the Lord said to
me: “Mortal man, is it a small thing to the house of Judah to do the
abominations which they are doing here, filling the land with iniq-
uity and returning to provoke me to anger? They are become
scoffers, but I shall act in wrath and shall have no mercy. They shall
cry out to my ears with a loud voice, but I shall not hear.”‘9
4. Observe, beloved, how strict is the sentence passed by the Lord in
his rage on those who worship the sun or who swear by it. 5. Thus it is
not lawful for any believer to swear by the sun, or by the other signs of
the heavens, nor by the elements, not to utter the name of idols with his
mouth, nor to issue a curse from his mouth, but rather blessings and
psalms and the dominical and divine Scriptures, which are the certain
foundation of our faith. And especially in the days of the Pascha, when
all the faithful are fasting, throughout the whole world, 6. as our Lord
and teacher said when they asked him ‘Why are the disciples of John
fasting, yet yours are not fasting?’ In answer he said to them: ‘The sons
of the bridechamber cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them.
But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them,
and in those days they shall fast.’10 He is with us now by means of his
operation, but is remote from our sight since he has ascended to the
heights of heaven and is seated at the right hand of his Father.
[5.13] On this account you are to pray and intercede for them that are
lost when you are fasting, as we also did when our Saviour was suffering.11
[5.14] For when he was with us still, before he suffered, when we were eat-
ing the Passover together with him, he said to us: ‘This day, this very
night, one of you will betray me.’ And each one of us said to him: ‘My
Lord, is it I?’ And he answered and said to us: ‘Whoever stretches out his
hand into the dish together with me.’ 2. And Judas Iscariot, one of us, got
up and went out to betray him.12 3. Then our Lord said to us: ‘Truly I say
8Jer 10:2.
9Ez 8:16-18.
10 Mk 2:18-20.
11 So Evangelium Petri 7.
12 There is a major excision of material in the MSS of the E family in this chapter.
The excision begins here and runs to 5.17.
213
to you, a little while yet and you will leave me since it is written: “I shall
strike the shepherd and the lambs of his flock will be scattered.” 4. Then
came Judas with the scribes and the priests of the people and delivered up
the Lord Jesus.13
Now this was on the fourth day of the week; 5. for when we were
eating the Pascha on the third day of the week in the evening, when
we went out to the Mount of Olives, they seized our Lord Jesus at
night. 6. And the next day was the fourth day, and he remained
under guard at the house of Caiaphas the High Priest. And the same
day the chiefs of the people gathered to take counsel against him.
7. And the next day, again, which was the fifth day, they brought him
before Pilate the governor and again he remained under guard with
Pilate, for the night of the fifth day of the week. 8. And when it was
dawn on Friday they made serious accusations against him before
Pilate, but they were unable to show anything that was true. Yet they
gave false witness against him, and asked that he be executed by
Pilate. 9. And they crucified him on the Friday. He suffered at the
sixth hour on Friday. These hours in which our Lord suffered were
reckoned as a day, 10. and then there was darkness for three hours,
and this was reckoned a night. And again, there were three hours,
from the ninth hour until evening, - a day, and afterwards the night
of the sabbath of the passion. 11. Now in the Gospel of Matthew it
is written thus:14 ‘On the evening of the sabbath as the first day of
the week was dawning came Mary and the other Mary, Magdalene,
to see the tomb.15 And there was a great earthquake, for an angel of
the Lord came down and rolled the stone away.’16 12. And so there
was the day of the sabbath, and three hours of the night which were
after the sabbath when our Lord was sleeping. 13. And what he had
said was fulfilled, that the Son of Man should spend three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth, as it is written in the Gospel.
13
This passage is a mosaic of synoptic and Johannine elements.
14
Connolly (1929), 182, points out that this is the sole point in DA where there is
reference to a New Testament text by name, and suggests, given that the citation inter-
rupts the flow of the calculation, that this is a marginal note which has been included
in the text.
15 Connolly (1929), 182, corrects this reading to ‘Mary Magdalene and the other Mary’,
suggesting that the reading here is an error, but Vööbus (1979b), 190, defends the reading
as appearing within the Syrian tradition. Note that, in conformity to 3.6.2 and 3.12.4 this
chapter states immediately below that the appearance was to ‘Mary Magdalene and Mary
the daughter of James.’ This second passage is the work of the apostolic redactor.
16 Mt 28:1-2.
214
And again it is written in David: ‘Behold you have set up my days

with a measure.’17 It was written thus because those days and nights
were short ones.18
14. Thus at night, when the first day of the week was dawning, he
appeared to Mary Magdalene and to Mary the daughter of James. And in
the morning of the first day of the week he came to Levi, and then
appeared to the rest of us.19 15. Then he said to us, when he was instruct-
ing us: ‘Is it for me that you are fasting during these days? Or do I have
need that you should afflict yourselves?20 Rather, you are doing this on
account of your brothers; moreover you should do the same on these days
on which you are fasting, and always on the fourth day of the week and
on the Friday, as it written in Zechariah: “The fast of the fourth and the
fast of the fifth”21 (that is Friday), since it is not right that you should fast
on the first day of the week, as this is my resurrection. 16. On this
account the first day of the week is not taken into account in reckoning
the days of the fast of the passion, but they are counted from the second
day of the week, and make six days.22 Thus ‘The fast of the fourth and the
fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth are for
those of the house of Israel.’ 17. You should be fasting from the second
day of the week six entire days, up to the night after the sabbath, and this
shall be accounted to you as a week. 18. The tenth since the beginning of
17
Ps 38:6.
18 Whereas Aphraahat Dem. 12 likewise deals with the issue of how three days and
three nights might be calculated, his method is a different one, as he starts at the Last
Supper. Although the reasoning that the days are short ones may seem bizarre this may
be understood, as Visotzky (1991), 168-171, points out, by reference to rabbinic think-
ing about what constitutes a day. In the same way partial days are allowed to consti-
tute complete days in order to compute periods of days, as for instance in TB Niddah
33A (regarding the period of menstruation) TB Bekhoroth 20B on the age of a foetus
and TB Nazir 5B-6A on the period of a Nazirite vow.
19
Connolly (1929), 183, suggests that the source of this narrative is Evangelium Petri
14. Funk (1905), 276, is, however, uncertain that this Levi is to be identified with Levi
the son of Alphaeus who appears with the apostles who depart to Galilee at this point
as this appearance is apparently in Jerusalem. He has a point as this appearance would
appear to have taken place in the morning, which does not allow time to depart
Jerusalem. Also puzzling is the privileged position given to this obscure figure. As Funk
suggests, one might expect James to appear in this position (a tradition preserved by
Jerome in De uiris illustris 2) but James is nowhere known as Levi. Is it possible that the
name has been substituted for that of James under the influence of Evangelium Petri?
20
Cf. Is 58:4-5.
21
Zech 8:19.
22 The MSS actually read ‘five days.’ Certainly an error. Immediately below, 5.14.17,
the fast is said to extend for six days.
215
my name is iota, and is thus the origin of the fasts.23 But not in the
manner of the former people, but in accordance with the new covenant
which I have established for you. You should fast on their behalf on the
fourth day of the week, because on the fourth day of the week they began
to destroy their souls and apprehended me, 19. for the night which is
after the third day of the week is that of the fourth, as it is written: “There
was evening and there was morning, a single day.”24 The evening is thus
that of the following day. 20. For on the third day of the week I ate my
Passover with you in the evening, and at night they seized me. 21. And
also you should fast on their behalf on the Friday, since then they cruci-
fied me, in the midst of their festival of unleavened bread,25 as was said
beforehand in David: “In the midst of their festivals they set up their signs
and they knew it not.”26
22. You are to be fasting continually at all times in these days, and
especially you who are of the gentiles. For since the people did not
obey I saved them (the gentiles) from blindness and from the error of
idols and I received them so that by means of your fast, and of those
of you who are of the gentiles, and through your service in those days
when you are praying and interceding for the error and the destruc-
tion of the people, your prayer and intercession may be accepted
before my father which is in heaven as though from one mouth,
from all the believers who are on the earth, and all that they did to
me might be forgiven them. For this reason I have already said to you
in the Gospel: “Pray for your enemies”27 and “Blessed are those who
mourn over the destruction of those who do not believe.”28‘
23 The Greek letter iota stands as the numeral 10, and is the first letter of the name
of Jesus in Greek (a phenomenon exploited elsewhere in DA, thus note 2.26.1, 6.15.2
and 4 with the annotation ad loc). This is the day on which the lamb is selected,
brought to the beginning of the week by the redactor who is constructing a week-long
fast alongside Hebrew paschal chronology. The point of the uniting redactor’s involve-
ment, as argued at length in the introduction, is to regularize the fast by contrast to
Quartodeciman practice, and to do so on the basis of scriptural arguments which
would satisfy the Quartodeciman insistence on the proof texts of Exodus 12.
24 Gen 1:5.
25
Properly speaking the days of unleavened bread followed the festival of the
Passover. However both Jewish and Christian authors are very free with their termi-
nology regarding the originally distinct observances. Thus, e.g., Lk 22:1 refers to the
feast of unleavened bread h( legome/nh pa/sxa and Josephus to the feast of unleavened
bread h4n pa/sxa le/gomen (De antiquitate Judaica 14.21).
26
Ps 73:4.
27 Cf. Mt 5:44. The text is often cited in this form.
28 Cf. Mt 5:4. It is interesting that such a free citation should be in the mouth
of Jesus!
216
23. For this reason you are to be aware, brothers that the fast which
we are fasting at the Pascha, and which you are to fast, is on account of
those brothers who were disobedient. Moreover, even though they hate
you, yet we are to call them brothers, for thus is it written for us in
Isaiah: ‘Call brothers those who hate and reject you so that the name of
the Lord may be glorified.’29 24. We should be fasting, and mourning,
on their behalf and on account of the judgement and destruction of the
place, so that we may rejoice and be glad in the world to come, as it is
written in Isaiah: ‘Rejoice, all you who mourn over Zion.’30 And again
he says: ‘To comfort all those who mourn over Zion, oil of gladness
instead of ashes and vesture of glory instead of an afflicted spirit.’31
[5.15] So it is required of us to show pity to them, to have faith and
to fast and to pray for them, as when Our Lord came to the people they
did not believe in him when he taught them, but let his teaching pass
from their ears. 2. Thus, since this people paid no heed, he accepted
you brothers from the gentiles and opened your ears for the obedience
of the heart, just as Our Lord and Saviour himself said by means of Isa-
iah the prophet: ‘I appeared to those who asked not after me, and was
found by those who sought me not, and I said “I am here” to a people
which called not upon my name.’32 3. Now concerning whom did he
speak thus? Was it not concerning the gentiles since they knew not God
and were worshipping idols? 4. When, however, our Lord came into the
world teaching you, you that believed in him believed that God is one,
and those who are worthy also shall believe until the number of those
being saved shall be completed, ‘a thousand thousands and ten thou-
sand times ten thousand’,33 as it is written in David.34
5. However, he speaks thus of the people who did not believe in
him: ‘I opened my hands all day long to a people that would not be
persuaded and who resisted, who walk in a way which is not right,
who go after their sins, which angers me in my sight.’35 [5.16] Thus
observe that the people made the Lord angry by not believing in him,
29 Is 66:5.
30 Is 66:10.
31 Is 61:2-3.
32 Is 65:1.
33 Ps 67:18.
34 Funk (1905), 282, as at 5.8.24, once again refers to the fragments of the Praedica-
tio Petri in Clement of Alexandria Strom. 6.5-6, suggesting that that is the source of this
statement. Once again, however, we must respond that the unity of God is hardly a rare
theme in apologetic discourse.
35
Is 65:2-3.
217
for which reason he says: ‘They made the Holy Spirit angry, and made
themselves into enemies.’36 2. And again, he speaks against them in
another way through Isaiah the prophet: ‘Land of Zebulon, land of
Napthali, the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles, a
people sitting in darkness, you have seen great light. And light has
dawned on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.’37
3. He says ‘those who sit in darkness’ concerning those of the people
who came to believe in our Lord Jesus, for on account of the blindness
of the people a great darkness was all around them, for they looked on
Jesus but did not recognize him as the messiah, and they did not
understand him, neither from the writings of the prophets nor from
his works and his healings. 4. However, we say to you of the people
who have come to belief in Jesus that you may learn how the Scripture
bears witness to us when it says ‘They have seen great light.’ You who
have believed in him have seen great light, Jesus Christ our Lord, as
those who come to believe in him shall see.
5. However, those who sit in the shadows of death are you, you
who are of the gentiles, since you were in the shadows of death when
you put your trust in the worship of idols and had no knowledge of
God. 6. Yet when Jesus Christ our Lord and teacher appeared a light
dawned upon you as you looked upon and put your trust in the
promise of an everlasting Kingdom. You removed yourself far from
the habitual conduct of former error, worshipping idols no longer, as
you were worshipping, but long since have believed and been bap-
tized in him, and a great light has dawned on you. 7. Thus the peo-
ple, who paid no heed, became darkness but you who paid heed, you
who are of the gentiles, became the light. For this reason you are
praying for them and interceding, most especially in the days of the
Pascha, that they may find forgiveness through your prayers and
return to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[5.17] 38Thus it is required, brothers that you investigate carefully in
the days of the Pascha and perform your fasting with all diligence,
making a beginning when your brothers from the people are keeping
36
Is 63:10. In the text it is the Holy Spirit who turns in enmity.
37 Is 9:1-2.
38 The MSS of the E family resume here. However, they have many variations from
the text of the A family in this chapter, particularly tending to abbreviation. A few are
noted here; all may be located in Vööbus’ apparatus, but yet more conveniently stud-
ied through Rouwhorst (1989b), 125-139, in which the two versions of the text are giv-
en in French translation in parallel columns.
218
the Pascha.39 For when our Lord and teacher ate the Pascha with us he
was handed over by Judas after that hour, and we began immediately
to be grieved because he was taken from us. 2. The priests and the eld-
ers of the people assembled and went to the court of Caiaphas the high
priest on the tenth of the month, on the second day of the week, reck-
oning by the moon, as we reckon in accordance with the reckoning of
the believing Hebrews.40 They plotted to seize Jesus and kill him, but
took fright and were saying: ‘Not during the festival, lest the people be
disturbed’, since everybody was adhering to him, and considered him
a prophet, because of his healing miracles which he was performing
among them.
3. Now that day Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper and we
were together with him, and he told us what would happen to him.
4. But Judas went out from among us in secret,41 hoping to escape our
Lord’s notice, and he went to the house of Caiaphas, where the chief
priests and the elders were assembled, and said to them: ‘What will
you give me if I deliver him to you when I have an opportunity?’ And
they decided and gave him thirty pieces of silver. 5. And he said to
them: ‘Make ready young men, and arm them because of his disciples.
Should he go by night to a deserted place I will come and lead you.
They made the young men ready, preparing to seize him, and Judas
looked for an opportunity to deliver him up.
6. However, on account of the crowds of the people who were
coming to the temple from every town and every village to keep the
Pascha in Jerusalem the priests and the elders determined and ordered
and established that they should keep the festival without delay so that
they could seize him without disturbance, for the people of Jerusalem
were busy with the offering and eating of the Passover and all the peo-
ple from outside had not yet come since they deceived them with
regard to the days. 7. They anticipated the Passover by three days, keep-
ing it on the eleventh day of the month and the third of the week,42 and
are so held to blame before God for great error in all things, for they
39 In the E family this simply reads: ‘Thus it is required, brothers, that you perform
your fasting with all diligence.’

40
‘Believing Hebrews’ probably means Jewish Christians who observe a Quar-
todeciman chronology, since faith is denied to Jews even by the uniting redactor,
whose work this paragraph probably is.
41
MSS of the E family read ‘on that Monday.’ The additional chronological note is
required by the omission.
42 Likewise reported by Epiphanius Pan. 51. It is possible, however, that DA is
Epiphanius’ source.
219
said: ‘Since all the people are following him in his error, let us seize him
while we have an opportunity, killing him in the sight of all when all
the people have arrived, so that this may be publicly acknowledged and
all the people turn back from following him.’
8. And thus, on the night when the fourth day of the week dawned,
he betrayed our Lord to them; but they gave the fee to Judas on the tenth
of the month, on the second of the week. For this reason they were reck-
oned by God as though they took him on the second of the week,
because on the second day of the week they determined to seize him and
kill him. And they brought their wickedness to its conclusion on the
Friday, as Moses spoke of the Passover thus: ‘It shall be observed by you
from the tenth until the fourteenth, and then shall all Israel sacrifice the
Passover.’43 [5.18] Therefore, from the tenth, which is the second day of
the week, you shall fast in the days of Pascha. You shall sustain yourselves
with bread and salt and water only, at the ninth hour, until the fifth day
of the week. However on the Friday and the Saturday you shall fast
entirely, tasting nothing. [5.19] You shall come together and watch and
keep vigil for the entire night, reading the prophets and with the Gospel
and with psalms, with fear and trembling and constant supplication
until the third hour of the night after the sabbath,44 and then break your
fasts. 2. For we too were fasting as our Lord suffered, bearing witness to
the three days. We were keeping vigil and praying, making intercession
because of the ruination of the people, since they went astray and did
not confess our Saviour.45 3. Thus you also should be praying that the
Lord hold not their guilt for the betrayal with which they betrayed our
Lord against them until the end, but grant them room for repentance,
conversion and forgiveness for their wickedness.
4. Yet Pilate the judge, who was a pagan and of an alien race, did not
consent to their evil deeds but took water and washed his hands and said:
‘I am innocent of this man’s blood.’46 But the people answered and
43
Ex 12:6.
44
This is to be read as 9pm (reckoning the beginning of the day, as in this chapter,
from the previous evening (thus the events of Holy Week begin on the Monday, the tenth
of the month, with the conspiracy of Judas with Caiaphas and the priests.) Earlier Quar-
todeciman practice postponed the celebration until midnight specifically so that their fes-
tivities would not co-incide with the Jewish Pascha, but since, with the move to a Sunday,
the feasts would not generally co-incide, this is no longer necessary. For some discussion
of the timing of the Quartodeciman celebration see Stewart-Sykes (1998), 164-172.
45
Cf., again, Evangelium Petri 7. On the significance of fasting while the Lord suf-
fers note also Melito Peri Pascha 80, which contrasts the sufferings of the Lord to the
festivities of the Jews.
46 Mt 27:24. Cf. also Evangelium Petri 1.
220
said: ‘His blood be on us and on our children.’47 5. And Herod com-

manded that he be crucified.48 And on the Friday the Lord suffered on
our behalf. 6. And so the fast of the Friday and of the sabbath is especially
binding upon you, as is the vigil and watching of the sabbath, and the
reading of the Scriptures and the psalms, and prayer and intercession on
behalf of those who have sinned, and the watching and the hope of the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus, until the third hour in the night which is
after the sabbath. 7. And thereafter offer your offerings, eat and be merry,
rejoice and be glad because Christ, the pledge of our own resurrection, is
risen. This shall be an eternal law to you, to the end of the ages; 8. for to
those who have not believed in our Saviour he is dead, since their hope in
him is dead, but to those who believe, to you, our Lord and Saviour is
risen, since your hope in him shall not die but lives evermore.
9. Thus fast on the Friday, because it was then that the people
killed themselves in crucifying our Saviour, and again on the sabbath
since it is the Lord’s sleep. 10. For this day especially should be
observed with fasting; so the blessed Moses, who is the prophet of all
such matters, commanded.49 Indeed he knew through the Holy
Spirit, and it was commanded of him by Almighty God, since he
knew beforehand what the people would do to his son, the beloved,
Jesus Christ. Indeed, even then they denied him by means of Moses
and said: ‘Who has appointed you over us as leader and judge?’50
Therefore he set apart and established the sabbath for them, binding
them in advance with perpetual mourning, since they deserved to be
mourning, having denied their life and laid hands upon their
Saviour and delivered him up to death. And so, from that time on,
mourning on account of their ruination was laid upon them in
advance.
[5.20] We may look, and observe, brothers, that the majority of
people imitate the sabbath when they mourn, and also that in the
same way those who are mourning imitate those who keep the sab-
bath. 2. For somebody who is mourning does not kindle a light, as the
people on the sabbath do not, on account of the commandment of
Moses, as thus it was commanded of them by him. 3. Somebody in
47
Mt 27:25.
48
That crucifixion is ordered by Herod rather than Pilate is also the case in Evan-
gelium Petri 2.
49 Most of the material between ‘those who have sinned’, in 5.18.6, and this point,
is omitted in the E family of MSS.

50 Ex 2:14.
221
mourning does not wash, and likewise not the people on the sabbath.
4. Somebody in mourning does not lay a table, as the people on the
sabbath do not, but they lay and set out for themselves in the evening,
since they have a premonition of mourning, that they would lift up
their hands against Jesus. 5. Somebody in mourning does no work and
does not speak, but sits in sadness, as also the people on the sabbath.
For thus was it said to the people concerning the mourning of the sab-
bath: ‘You shall not lift up your foot to do any work, and you shall not
utter a word from your mouth.’51
6. Now who bears witness that for them the sabbath should be
mourning? The Scripture bears witness and says: ‘Then shall the people
grieve, family opposed to family, the family of the house of Levi apart
from them, their women apart from them, the house of Judah apart from
them, their women apart from them.’52 Just as, from after the mourning
of Christ until now, they come together on the ninth of August and read
the lamentations of Jeremiah, weeping and grieving.53 7. Nine, moreover,
stands for theta, and theta denotes God;54 8. and so they are grieving for
God, for the messiah who suffered. Or rather they mourn for themselves
and their ruination on account of God our Saviour.
For what reason, brothers, does anybody grieve, unless they are in
mourning? 9. For this reason you likewise are to mourn on their behalf
on the sabbath day of the Pascha, until the third hour of the night
following.55 And then, at the resurrection of Christ, rejoice and be glad
on their behalf, and break your fast. Offer to the Lord God what you
have gained from your six-day fast. Moreover, those who are wealthy in
the things of this world should serve those who are poor and needy, and
carefully refresh them; thus should the rewards of the fast be received.
10. You shall observe it in this way whenever the fourteenth of the
Pascha should occur, for neither the month nor the day falls at the same
time each year, but is changeable. Thus you should be fasting when that
people performs the Pascha; yet be careful to conclude your vigil within
their (week of) unleavened bread. 11. Rejoice at all times, however, on
the first day of the week. Indeed, anyone who afflicts himself on the first
51
Is 58:13. For this characterization of the Sabbath see the introduction, 2.c.4.
52
Zech 12:12-13.
53 See Josephus De bello Judaico 6.4.5. This fast is in commemoration of the
destruction of the Temple.

54
Theta is the first letter of the Greek word for God, and also represents the
number nine, as iota represents ten.
55 On this timing see 5.19 above and the note ad loc.
222
day of the week is guilty of sin.56 12. Thus, apart from the Pascha, it is not
lawful for anybody to fast during the three hours of the night between the
Pascha and the first of the week, since this night is of the first of the week.
Yet, at the Pascha alone, Christians who belong to the Lord should be
assembled together and fasting for these three hours of that night.
the twenty-second chapter

That it is right to teach crafts to children1
[4.11]2 And teach your children crafts which are agreeable and
suitable to the fear of God lest through idleness they give themselves
to extravagance,3 for once they are not directed by their parents they
do works of wickedness like the pagans. 2. For this reason you are
not to spare them but should rebuke, discipline and instruct them.
You will not kill them by disciplining them, rather you will save
their lives. So our Lord likewise teaches us in Wisdom, and says:
‘Discipline your son, so that there may be hope for him, for if you
strike him with a rod you deliver his life from Sheol.’4 3. And again
he said: ‘Anyone who spares the rod hates his son.’5 Our rod is the
word of God, Jesus Christ,6 just as Jeremiah saw him as an almond
56
Whereas, in context, this is surely aimed at Quartodecimans, whose paschal fast
would over-ride the Sunday, we may also observe the prohibition on fasting on
Sunday in the Council of Gangra, canon 14, the 64th apostolic canon, the Council of
Trullo, canon 55, and the ps-Athanasian Syntagma and its related documents.
1 Four MSS of the E family have an extended title.
2 Funk’s enumeration is out of order as he followed CA in moving this chapter to
a position following chapter 17. Connolly (1929), xxxi, agrees that this is the ‘natural
place’ for the chapter. The apparent dislocation of the chapter in DA results from the
expansion of the twenty-first chapter to consider the Pascha, rather than simply the
swearing of oaths, with the consequent loss of the rational arrangement of the cate-
chetical manual.
3
This direction is to a certain extent counter-cultural since the upper classes of the
Empire regarded manual labour with disdain. See, for instance, 1.5 above. Domitian,
on meeting the family of Jesus and observing that their hands were the hands of work-
ing men, was not troubled by the thought that they might be a disruptive influence (so
Hegesippus, preserved by Eusebius at HE 3.20.1-3). Note also Lucian’s decision not to
become a sculptor at Somnium 9.
4 Prov 29:17; 23:14.
5 Prov 13:24.
6
The vision of the almond rod would seem to indicate that the vision is of Christ
as the word. Thus Connolly (1929), 193 and Vööbus (1979b), 203 are quite right to
take the phrase in apposition. Cf. Nau (1902), Funk (1905) and Flemming, in Achelis
and Flemming (1904), who render, ‘the word of God, of Jesus Christ.’
223
rod.7 Thus anyone who forbears from speaking a word of rebuke to

his son hates his son. 4. So you should teach your children the word
of the Lord and punish them with lashes and subdue them from
their youth through speaking of the fear of God. Do not give them
the authority to set themselves up against you, their parents, and do
not let them do anything without your consent, otherwise they will
go off with those of their own age, and get together for amusement
and learn vanity, so falling into the trap of fornication. 5. Even if
this occurs without their parents their parents will themselves be
responsible for the judgement of their souls before God. Again, if it
is with your consent that they are undisciplined, and sin, you par-
ents shall be guilty before God on their account.
6. For this reason be sure to take wives for them, and have them
married when the time comes.8 Otherwise they shall commit fornica-
tion like the heathen in the ardour of youth and you, on the day of
judgement, will have to render an account to the Lord God.
the twenty-third chapter

On heresies and schisms1
[6.1] Above all else beware all the loathsome, wicked and bitter
heresies. Flee them, and all who are joined to them, as you would a
blazing fire. Indeed when a person forms a schism he is condemning
himself to the fire together with all who go astray after him; if anyone
should go and be immersed in the heresies, how much more is this the
case! 2. For you should be aware of this: any of you who loves the pri-
macy and dares to form a schism will, together with those with him,
inherit the place of Korah and Dathan and Abiram,2 and with them
shall be condemned to the fire. 3. For even those who were with Korah
were Levites, and were ministers in the tent of witness, yet they loved
7 Jer 1:11-12. The MSS of the A family actually read ‘a walnut rod.’ The E family read
‘almond’, as here. It is possible that the error entered the tradition very early, and that
the original of the E family made the correction. )zwL (almond) might readily be
miscopied as )zwG (walnut.)
8 Cf. TB Derekh Eretz Rabbah 2.16 recommending that a son be married just be-
fore puberty since the onset of puberty marks the onset of the possibility of coming
within the power of sin.
1 Three MSS of the E family have an extended title.
2 Num 16:1.
224
primacy and coveted the high priesthood, 4. and they began to speak
evil against the great one, Moses, that he was married to a heathen
woman, as Moses had a Cushite wife,3 and is defiled with her, and
many others, and those with Zimri, who lie with Midianite women,4
are with him, and the people with him are defiled, and also that Aaron,
his brother, was the author of idolatry, as he made the molten and
graven image for his people.
[6.2] They spoke evil against Moses [6.3] who performed for the
people all these wonders and signs from God, who performed glori-
ous and amazing deeds for their welfare. He brought the ten plagues
upon the Egyptians. He divided the Red Sea and stood the waters
up on either side like a wall, making the people pass through as in
the desert and drowning their enemies, their evildoers and all who
were with them. He sweetened the fountain of waters for them,
bringing them streams from a flinty rock, so that they could drink
and be satisfied. He brought manna down from heaven for them,
and moreover he gave them meat with the manna. As light and
guidance he gave them a pillar of fire by night, and as shade a cloud
by day. He stretched out his hand in the desert to dispense the law
for them and gave them the ten sayings of God. 2. And they were
speaking evil against the friend and loyal servant of the Lord God as
though glorifying in righteousness and boasting of holiness, making
a show of purity and making a show of worship in hypocrisy.
And thus, as puritans and zealots for holiness they were speaking
thus: ‘Let us not be polluted with Moses and the people with him,
since they are defiled.’ 3. And there rose up two hundred and fifty men
to lead the people astray and to abandon the great Moses so that they
might be thought to be glorifying God the more truly and the more
assiduously serving him. For among the large number of the people
already mentioned a single censer of incense was offered to the Lord
God. The schism, however, numbered two hundred and fifty, together
with their leaders, and every one of them offered a censer of incense,
two hundred and fifty censers, as though they were indeed more
devoted, and pure, and zealous, than Moses and than Aaron and than
the people who were with them. 4. Yet the large number of those
ministering within the schism was of no advantage; rather fire was kin-
dled from before the Lord and devoured them and those two hundred
3
Num 12:1.
4
Num 25:1-2.
225
and fifty men were burnt up as they held their censers in their hands.
And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed Korah and Dathan
and Abiram and their tents and their vessels and all who were with
them, and whilst yet alive they went down to Sheol to be punished.5
And thus the leaders of the erroneous schism were swallowed up by the
earth and the two hundred and fifty men who strayed were burned
with fire while all the people watched.
5. However the Lord spared the greater part of the people, though
many sinners were among them, each of whom the Lord would judge in
accordance with what they had done. He spared the greater part of the
people, apart from those who considered themselves pure and holy and
ministering better; these the fire devoured since they were of the schism.
6. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ‘Take the censers of brass
from the midst of the burning and form them into fine leaves and lay
them over the altar so that the children of Israel may see them and act
in such a way no more. And there spread out6 the strange fire, as it has
sanctified the censers of those who in their souls were sinners.’7
7. Beloved, let us observe and look at the end of the schismatics,
and what happened to them. Even though they gave the appearance of
purity, holiness and chastity their final end was fire and everlasting
burning. 8. This should make you afraid, that even the fire of the
schismatics was judged with fire, though not on account of its sancti-
fication of the censers, as rather they sanctified them in their souls,
(that is to say that while the fire was performing its function they
supposed in their heart and in their souls that it was sanctifying their
censers). 9. For it was right that the fire, which was taken to transgress
the law and to provoke God, should not obey them but should cease
working, or be extinguished, and should not devour or burn or con-
sume anything put upon it. But it was said ‘there spread out the
strange fire’ because it did not then obey the will of the Lord God but
obeyed the schismatics, and so the Lord judged the fire with fire.
[6.4] If such a threat and such a judgement was imposed on those
schismatics who thought themselves to be glorifying God, what will
happen to the heretics who blaspheme him? 2. When you see with
believing eyes the plates of brass from the Scriptures laid upon the altar
you will be careful not to form schisms. Those who were with Korah
5
Num 16:32-35.
6
Reading, with Connolly (1929), and MS E (which makes a correction) hYrD,
rather than the hYDr of the other MSS.
7
Num 16:36-38.
226
and Dathan and Abiram were made a sign and example of the destruc-
tion of schismatics, and all who imitate them will perish likewise.
3. Therefore you should avoid schisms utterly, and not go near
them in any respect, as those who believe and who are knowledgeable.
For as Moses said to the people concerning them:8 ‘Separate yourselves
out from among those hard-hearted men, and do not go near anything
that is theirs, so that you do not perish with them in all their wrong-
doing.’9 And it is written that when the Lord’s anger burned against
the schismatics the people fled from them saying: ‘That the earth
should not swallow us up together with them.’10 4. And so, as those
who are struggling to attain to life,11 flee schism and reject any who act
thus, since you are well aware of the place of their condemnation.
[6.5] But as for heresies, you should be unwilling to defile your ears
even by hearing their names. For not only do they fail properly to
glorify God, they actually blaspheme him. 2. The heathen are judged
on account of their not knowing, whereas the heretics are condemned
outright because they set themselves up against God.12 As our Lord
and Saviour Jesus said: There will be heresies and schisms’13 and again,
‘Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks. Though stumbling
blocks will inevitably come, yet woe to the man to whom they come.’14
3. What we heard indeed we now have also seen indeed, just as the
Scripture conveys by means of Jeremiah as it says: ‘The defilements of
heresies have issued forth to all the earth.’15 They have occurred for the
persuasion of our hearts and the confirmation of our faith that what
was foretold has come true, as they have come about and are come to
completion. 4. Now all the activity of the Lord God has passed from
the people to the church by means of ourselves, the apostles. He has
abandoned the people and left them, as it is written in Isaiah: ‘He has
left his people, the house of Jacob’16 and ‘Jerusalem is deserted and
8 MSS of the E family completely recast this, giving dominical authority to the
command to avoid schism.

9 Num 16:26.
10 Num 16:34.
11 This address is perhaps indicative of the catechetical origin of this section.
12 Cf. Hermas Sim. 4.4.
13
An agraphon also cited by Justin Dialogus 35.
14 Mt 18:7.
15 Jer 23:15. Although the phrase ‘to all the earth’ is not secure in the Syriac MS tra-
dition it is included on the basis of its inclusion in CA’s paraphrase.

16
Is 2:6.
227
Judah is fallen. Their tongues are in evil and they are not obedient to
the Lord’17 and ‘I will abandon the vineyard’18 and ‘Look, your house
is abandoned to you desolate.’19
20 5. So he has left the people and has filled the church. And he has
accounted her as a mountain for habitation, as a throne of glory and as

a house in the heights, as he said by David: ‘The mountain of God is a
mountain of fatness, a mountain of peaks.’21 What do you think is the
mountain of peaks? It is the mountain ‘on which God has chosen to
dwell; the Lord shall remain there for ever.’22 Do you observe how he
says to others ‘What do you think?’ to those who erroneously think
there are other churches; yet there is one mountain which is the
habitation of God. 6. And again he said by Isaiah: ‘In the last days the
mountain of the Lord, the God of Jacob, shall be set up as the highest
of the mountains, higher than the heights. And all nations shall flow
there, and many peoples shall go there and shall say: “Come, let us go
to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And
he shall teach us his ways and we shall go to it.”‘23 And again he says:
‘There shall be signs and wonders from the Lord of hosts in the midst
of the people, from him who dwells on the mountain of Zion.’24 And
again he says by Jeremiah: ‘A throne of heights is our sanctuary.’25
7. Just as he abandoned the people so he deserted the temple utterly.
He tore the curtain and removed the Holy Spirit from it, pouring it out
on those from the gentiles who believed,26 as he said through Joel: ‘I
shall pour out my spirit on all flesh.’27 For he took the Holy Spirit away
17
Is 3:8.
18
Is 5:6.
19 Mt 23:38.
20 Some MSS have a subtitle here: ‘Demonstration that he has left the people of the
Jews and the temple and has come to the church of the gentiles’ Others, of the E fam-
ily, begin a new chapter at this point.
21
Ps 67:15.
22 Ps 67:16.
23
Is 2:2-3.
24 Is 8:18.
25 Jer 17:12.
26 The reference is to the tearing of the veil of the Temple at Mt 27.51 and par. This
is interpreted in a number of ways in patristic exegesis. This reading is directly

paralleled by Testamentum Benjamin 9: ‘And the curtain of the Temple will be torn
apart; and God’s Spirit will pass to the gentiles, like a fire poured out.’ I thank Andrew
Criddle for making me aware of this. This is in a Christian interpolation into the
Testamentum and is likewise probably of Syrian origin.
27 Joel 2:28.
228
from that people, and the power of the word and all the administra-
tions, and they were obtained by the church.
8. And in the same way, likewise, did Satan the tempter depart
from that people and come against the church, and no longer does he
tempt that people since they fell into his hands through their deeds of
wickedness, and has prepared himself to tempt the church and to do
his work within her. He has raised up afflictions and persecutions and
blasphemies and heresies and schisms against her. [6.6] As in former
times there were heresies and schisms within the people, so now Satan,
through his works of wickedness, has driven some from the church
and formed heresies and schisms.
Regarding Simon the sorcerer:
[6.7] In this way did heresy begin.28 Satan clothed himself with
somebody called Simon who was a sorcerer, and was formerly his
minister. 2. When we were performing miracles of healing in
Jerusalem by the gift of the Lord God and the power of the Holy
Spirit, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit was being given by the
laying on of our hand to those who were brought near, he offered us
a great deal of money,29 so that, just as he had deprived Adam of the
knowledge of life through eating of the tree,30 so, through the gift of
money, he might separate us from the gift of God, capturing our
mind through money, handing over to him for money the power of
the Holy Spirit as a trade. 3. Since we were all disturbed by this,
Peter faced up to Satan, dwelling within Simon, and said: ‘Your
money can go with you to hell, for you shall have no part or share in
this word.’31
[6.8] But when we had divided the world among ourselves into twelve
parts,32 and had gone out to the nations so that we could preach the word
28
Simon Magus is made the originator of all heresy likewise by Irenaeus Haer.
1.23.2. Cf., however, Hippolytus Ref. 6.6-20.
29
Lat. resumes here.
30
So Syr. Lat. reads: ‘desiring that, just as he had deprived Adam of the tree of life
through eating of the tree of knowledge . . .’ CA, reading, ‘just as he had deprived Adam
of the promise of immortality by eating of the tree . . .’ indicates that Syr. is a closer
reflection of the original, even though its precise detail must elude us. Connolly (1929),
201, is surely correct in suggesting that the idea of the tree of life is an introduction by
the Latin translator.
31 Cf. Act 8:18-23. Whereas Acts places these events in Samaria, DA is in agreement
with Acta Petri 23 in locating them in Jerusalem.

32 So, likewise, K 1 (though no literary relationship is suggested at this point) and
Acta Thomae 1.
229
in all the world, the devil33 set about to agitate the people and send false
apostles behind us to undo the word. And he sent a certain Cleobius out
from among the people and joined him to Simon, and yet others after
them.34 [6.9] Thus Simon, and those who were with him, followed in my,
Peter’s, footsteps, leading the people astray.35 2. And when he came to
Rome he gravely depopulated the church by discouraging many and
leading them to himself,36 leading the gentiles away through his magic art
and agency.37 One day when I went in I saw him flying in the air. 3. I
stood still and said to him: ‘By the power of the holy name of Jesus I cut
your powers off.’ 4. And so he fell and broke the ankle-bone of his foot.38
5. Then many of them turned away from him but others, who were wor-
thy of him, remained with him. And so his heresy was first established.
And the devil worked through other false apostles.
[6.10] And they had alike39 one single law, that they should not
employ the law and the prophets,40 and that they should blaspheme
33 So Lat. and CA; Syr. reads Satan.

34
Cleobius is mentioned as a companion of Simon in Hegesippus, cited by
Eusebius, HE 4.22, and in the third letter to the Corinthians found at Acta Pauli 8. In
the latter instance they are said to deny any appeal to the prophets, that God is not
Almighty, that there is no resurrection of the flesh, that the human creation is not the
work of God, that Christ was neither in the flesh nor born of Mary and that the
creation is the work of angels. Cf. to the first three propositions 6.10.1 below. A liter-
ary relationship cannot be ruled out. Both the Syr. MS tradition in the E recension
(though not E itself ) and CA expand the text here with further heresiological
catalogues.
35 So Lat. Syr. reads ‘corrupting the word.’ CA does not help here.
36 So Lat., supported by CA. Syr. is widely divergent here: ‘He disturbed the
church greatly and subverted many, making a show as though he might fly.’
37 The Syriac MSS of the E family are even more distinct, demonstrating a growth
in the tradition. From this point they read: ‘One day I went and saw him the market-
place, deceiving the people. We had a dispute with each other about the resurrection
and about the life of the dead. And when he had been defeated her pretended to fly in
the air, and was giving a signal to his men to lift him up. And when he had risen to a
great height I stood and said to him ‘By the power of the name of Christ I cut your
powers off, so that they leave you. And the demons departed from him, and he fell and
broke the heel of his foot and died.’
38
Hippolytus Ref. 6.20 tells of Simon coming to Rome, though not of this
incident, which is reported in Acta Petri 32. Disputes between Simon and Peter are
described in the pseudo-Clementine literature.
39
Alike (e)pi/sh~j) is misread by the Syriac translator as ‘on earth’ (e)pi\ gh~j), so ren-
dering ‘they had a single law on earth . . .’ Lat., aequaliter, assures us of the right reading.
40 Lat. omits ‘law’ but CA supports its retention. Syr. however has ‘serve’, whereas
the ‘employ’ (utantur) of Lat. is correct, as shown by CA (xra~sqai). It is possible that

‘law’ is rightly omitted by Lat. in view of the beliefs of Simon and Cleobius reported
in Acta Pauli. Cf. moreover the footnote below.
230
God the Almighty41 and that they would not believe in the resurrec-
tion. And they disturbed others with their various opinions. 2. For
many taught that one should not marry,42 saying that those who did
not marry had a higher chastity, so defending their heretical beliefs by
means of chastity.43 3. Yet others taught that one should not eat meat,
saying that one should not eat anything which had a soul,44 4. whereas
others said that one should abstain solely from pork, but should eat
whatever the law declares to be clean, and that, in accordance with the
law, one should be circumcised. 5. Thus all manner of teachings were
found, causing divisions and enfeebling the churches.
the twenty-fourth chapter

On the stability of the church: it also shows that the apostles gathered
to correct errors1
[6.11] Now we, when we had already preached the truthful word of the
catholic church, came once again to the churches, and we found peo-
ple pre-occupied with other opinions. 2. For some were observing
chastity,2 others abstaining from meat and wine,3 others simply from
pork. And some were observing much of the chains that are derived
41 So CA and Syr. Lat. reads ‘father.’ Although it is possible that Marcionite belief
is at issue and thus that Lat. is correct, the comparison with the tenets ascribed to
Simon and Cleobius in the Acta Pauli indicate the correctness of CA and Syr. Cf.,
moreover, to this first part of the catalogue the catalogue of heresies at Tosefta
Sanhedrin 13.5 cited in the introduction at 4.b.
42
So Syr. Cf. Lat. ‘Some taught many that they should not marry.’
43
Syr. has ‘holiness’ for ‘chastity’ which, as Connolly (1929) points out, is often
substituted in Syriac translations.
44
Note the discussion of this practice and this term in the introduction at 4.b.
1 Some MSS of the E family have a more extensive title.
2
Literally, in Syr., ‘holiness’. Cf. 6.10.2 above with the annotation. MSS of the
E family felt the need to clarify this term in view of later usage, adding ‘thinking
marriage defiled.’
3
Notably there is no earlier discussion of abstaining from wine. The earlier
catalogue is part of the catechetical manual whereas this is the work of the apostolic
redactor. Whereas it is possible that the redactor is thinking of Nazirites, or possibly
of Christian groups which did not use wine at the eucharist, the combination of ab-
stention from wine alongside abstention from meat is so common (thus note the
cynic diet of vegetables and water only described by Diogenes Laertius at Vitae
Philosophorum 6.9.104) that we should not draw any conclusion from this beyond
noting that the addition of wine to the catalogue is the result of the different level
of redaction.
231
from the secondary legislation.4 [6.12] Because the entire church was
in danger of falling into heresy we twelve apostles gathered together as
one in Jerusalem to determine what should be done. And we were of
one accord5 in deciding to write this catholic didascalia6 to give assur-
ance to all of you. And in it we have fixed and established that you
should worship Almighty God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit,
and that you should be served by the Holy Scriptures and that you
should believe in the resurrection of the dead, that you should make
use of all his creation with thanksgiving and that you should marry.
2. For he says in Proverbs, ‘A woman betrothed to a man is from God.’7
And Our Lord, in the Gospel, also said ‘From the beginning he created
the male and he says he created the female. For this reason shall a man
leave his father and mother and join himself to a woman, and the two
shall become one body. Therefore nobody may separate what God has
joined together.’8 Moreover, for those who believe, the spiritual cir-
cumcision of the heart is sufficient, as he says through Jeremiah: ‘Light
a lamp for yourselves and do not sow among thorns.9 Men of Judah,
be circumcised to the Lord your God, and circumcise the foreskins of
your hearts.’10 And again he says in Joel: ‘Rend your hearts and not
your clothing.’11 And again, concerning baptism, one only, which
utterly remits your sins, is sufficient to you. For in Isaiah he does not
say ‘wash’ but ‘wash and be cleansed.’12
3. And we had a great debate, like men struggling for life itself, and
not we apostles alone, but also the people with James, bishop of
Jerusalem, who is our Lord’s brother after the flesh, and also with his
presbyters and his deacons and all the church as a few days before there
had come to Antioch men from Judaea who were teaching the brothers
that ‘if you do not circumcise and act in accordance with the law of
4 Syr. is slightly confused due, suggests Flemming in Achelis and Flemming
(1904), to the reversal of two words, so reading )rwS) nM lKw instead of the
reading )rwS) lKw nM of the MSS of the A family. Lat., rendered here, is clear
and supports this reading.
5 Cf. Act 15:25.
7 Prov 19:14.
8 Mt 19:4-6.
9 Vööbus (1979b), 215, notes that this citation is taken from the Peshitta, as it
repeats a misunderstanding of the Hebrew from that version.

10
Jer 4:3-4.
11
Joel 2:13.
12 Is 1:16.
232
Moses and keep yourselves pure from meats and from all other such
things you cannot be saved’; and there was a great dispute and debate.13
And when the brothers of Antioch came to know that we were
assembled and that we were all come to make enquiry into these mat-
ters they sent some faithful people to us who were knowledgeable
about the Scriptures so that they could learn about this debate. And
when they arrived in Jerusalem they informed us of the debate which
they had been conducting in Antioch. And some believers who had
come from the school of the Pharisees arose saying: ‘You must be
circumcised and keep the law of Moses.’ 4. And others besides were
crying out and saying such things.14
Then I, Peter, stood up and said to them: ‘Men, brothers: you will
know that from the earliest days in which I was among you God chose
that the gentiles should hear the Gospel and believe through me and
God, who tests the heart, bore witness to them.15 5. An angel appeared to
a centurion called Cornelius and told him of me, and he sent for me.
6. When I was setting out to see him it was shown to me that the gentiles
were about to believe, and concerning all foods. For I had gone up to a
rooftop to pray and I saw the heavens open and some kind of basket tied
by its four corners being let down and lowered to earth, and in it were all
kinds of four-footed beasts and things that creep on the earth and birds
of the sky. And there came to me a voice which said: “Simon, get up, kill
and eat.” But I said “No Lord, as I have never eaten anything defiled or
unclean.” Yet there came to me another voice which said to me a second
time: “What God has made clean you may not defile.” This happened
three times, and the basket was taken up to heaven.16 7. Then I consid-
ered this, and recalled the saying of the Lord, as he said: 8 “Rejoice,
gentiles, together with the people.”17 And he speaks everywhere of the
calling of the gentiles. 9. And I got up and went my way.
When I had entered his house and 10. begun to speak the word of
the Lord the Holy Spirit rested on him and on all the gentiles who had
gathered with him.18 To them, as to us, God gave the Holy Spirit,
making no distinction between them and us in the faith, and purify-
ing their hearts. 11. So why are you testing God, and putting a yoke
13
Cf. Act 15:1-2.
14 Cf. Act 15:4-5.
15 Cf. Act 15:7-11.
16 Cf. Act 10:9-16.
17 Dt 32:43.
18
Act 10:44-48.
233
on the disciples which neither our ancestors nor we ourselves have

been able to bear? Rather we believe that we shall be saved by the grace
of Our Lord Jesus Christ as they are.19 Since the Lord came to us and
released us from the bonds and said: “Come to me all who are weary
and carrying heavy burdens and I shall give you rest. Take my yoke
upon yourselves and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of
heart. And you shall find rest for your souls, as my yoke is easy and my
burden is light.”20 Thus, if our Lord has released us and unburdened
us, why are you laying a halter on your own selves?’
12. Then all the people were silent and I, James, answered and said:
‘Men, brothers, listen to me. Simon has said how God from of old had
said he would choose a people for his name from the gentiles. The words
of the prophets agree with this, as it is written: “Afterwards I shall raise
up and build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. And I shall build
and raise up its ruins, that the remnant of people may seek the Lord and
all the nations who are called by my name, says the Lord who has made
this known from everlasting.” 13. For this reason I say that nobody
should aggravate the lot of any of those who turn to God from among
the gentiles; yet it should be communicated to them that they should
abstain from wickedness and from idolatry, from anything sacrificed,
from anything strangled and from blood. 14. So we, the apostles, and
the bishops and the presbyters together with the whole church decided
to send out chosen men together with Barnabas and Paul who had come
from there. And we chose and appointed Judas, who was called Barsab-
bas,21 and Silas, well known to the brothers, and wrote22 through them
as follows: 15. ’The apostles and presbyters and brothers to the brothers
from among the gentiles who are at Antioch, and Cilicia and Syria,
greeting. Since we have heard that people, whom we did not send, have
been troubling you with words to corrupt your souls we have all agreed,
as we were all assembled together, to choose and send to you men
together with those you sent with out beloved Barnabas, sending Judas
and Silas who will speak to you in person about all this. For it seemed
good to the Holy Spirit, as to us, that we should not place any further
burden upon you, but you should shun these things of necessity: from23
19 Cf. Act 15:8-11.

20
Mt 11:28-30.
21
Syr. actually reads ‘Barnabas’, but this can be accounted a simple scribal error.
22
Some MSS add ‘this letter.’
234
anything sacrificed,24 from blood, from anything strangled, and from

fornication.25 Keep yourself from these and do what is good. Farewell.’26
[6.13] We sent the letter and ourselves remained many days in
Jerusalem, discussing and composing whatever is helpful for all the
people, and so we were writing this catholic Didascalia.
the twenty-fifth chapter1

Showing that the apostles returned to the churches and restored them2
Thus we affirmed and established the decision which we had reached

after consultation and consideration with regard to those who had gone
astray. 2. And we will return again to the churches where first we had
preached in order to exhort the faithful to avoid the offences discussed
above and not to receive them who come falsely under the name of
apostles, and to recognize them because of the changeability of the words
and through the way in which they act. It is of these whom the Lord
spoke when he said: 3. ‘Some will come to you wearing sheep’s clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves; you shall know them by their
fruits. Be aware, for false Christs will arise, and false prophets, to lead
many astray. And the love of many shall grow cold because of the abun-
dant wickedness. But whoever shall endure to the end shall be saved.’3
[6.14] We decree and command that those who have remained4
and have not erred, and those who repent their error, are to remain in
the church, whereas those who continue in error and are not penitent
are to be put apart from the faithful as they are become heretics. The
faithful are to be instructed to avoid them utterly and to have no con-
verse with them in speech or in prayer. 2. For they are hostile and
opposed to the church. The Lord instructed us who are faithful5
24
Lat. clarifies: sacrificed to idols.
25 MSS of the E family omit ‘and from fornication.’
26 Cf. Act 15:13-29.
1 Once again the chapter division disrupts a sentence in Lat., implying that the
chapter division is relatively late. This leads to some divergence between the versions,
as Syr. begins a new sentence.
2
Some MSS of the E family have an extended title.
3 A mosaic of texts including Mt 7:15-16 and Mt 24:24, and 11-13.
4 ‘Those who have remained’ om. Lat. Included following Connolly (1929), 210.
5 So Lat. Syr. simply reads ‘us.’ I believe that the Syriac translator assumed that the
speakers here were the apostles, but this is part of the work of the uniting redactor, and
so Lat. preserves the original text.
235
about these when he said: ‘Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and
Sadducees’6 and ‘Do not go into the cities7 of the Samaritans.’8 These
‘cities of the Samaritans’ are those of the heresies who wander in a
crooked way, of whom the Lord spoke in Proverbs: ‘There is a way
which people think is right, but which comes in the end to the depths
of hell.’9 3. They are those of whom the Lord laid down a stern and
bitter sentence: ‘They shall have no release, either in this world or in
that to come.’10
4. As regards the people, which does not believe in Christ and laid
hands on him, him whom they blaspheme is the Son of Man. The Lord
said: ‘It will be forgiven them.’11 And likewise the Lord said of them: ‘My
father, they know not what they have done or what they are saying. If it
is possible, forgive them.’12 5. Likewise the gentiles also deny the Son of
Man,13 yet forgiveness has come forth for them. 6. To those who have
believed, whether of the people or of the gentiles, is forgiveness given for
their evil deeds, as the Lord Jesus Christ said: ‘For this reason I say to you:
every human sin and blasphemy is forgiven, but blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to
come. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be for-
given; however there will be no forgiveness for anyone who has said a
word against the Holy Spirit, either in this world or in the world
to come.’14 7. Those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, those who readily
and hypocritically blaspheme Almighty God, that is to say the heretics
who do not15 receive his holy Scriptures, or who receive them in a per-
verted, hypocritical or blasphemous sense, who blaspheme the catholic
church, which is the receptacle of the Holy Spirit,16 with wicked words,
6 Mt 16:6.
7
Syr. and Lat. both have plural though note that Mt 10:5 reads po/lin.
8 Mt 10:5.
9
Prov 14:12.
10 Mt 20:32.
11 Mt 12:32.
12
‘My father,’ here represents both Syr. and Lat. Cf. the reading ‘brothers’ in the
same citation at 2.16.1 above where Syr. alone is extant.
13
So Syr. Lat. reads ‘deny the Son of Man and the cross’. CA offers no guidance.
14 Mt 12:31-32. So Syr. The central part of the citation is absent in Lat., probably
through homoioteleuton.
15 ‘Not’ is absent in Syr. but present in Lat. Its inclusion is supported moreover by
CA: oi( tou\j qei/ouj lo/gouj a0rnou/menoi.

16 In MSS of the E tradition those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit are identified
with those who deny the operation of the Spirit in baptism and eucharist.
236
are condemned of Christ even before the judgement which is to come,

without prospect of defence. For that which he said, ‘They shall have no
release’ is the sentence of condemnation which issues against them.
8. And when, with one accord, we had established17 and agreed and
set down all of this18 we each went out to the provinces formerly
allotted to us to strengthen the churches, as what had been foretold had
come about, for hidden wolves were present and false Christs and false
prophets had made themselves known. 9. For it is evidently clear that as
the times move on and the end of the age19 draws near there shall many
more of such, and worse indeed.20 Yet God will deliver you from them.
10. Thus we have healed those who have repented of their
erroneous godlessness through much admonition, with the word of
doctrine, and with intercession, and have allowed them to take their
places in the church. But we have driven out those who are mortally
wounded by the word of error, and all the more those who have erred
without reason,21 as their wound is incurable, and so that they can do
no harm to the chosen holy catholic church of God, and so that the
evil cannot spread like leprosy and extend itself like an infection22 to
all parts, but that the church should remain pure and unspotted and
unscarred for the Lord God. 11. This we have undertaken in every
province throughout the entire earth, leaving this catholic didascalia
justly and rightly to the catholic church as a commemoration to bear
witness23 for the strengthening of the faithful.
17
This word is not in Lat.; it could be an embellishment of the translator.
18
The verb has no object in Syr. Lat. statuentes conveys the meaning without
requiring an object, but an object needs to be supplied in English (as in Syr.)
19 For ‘end of the age’ Syr. reads ‘coming’ ()tYt)M). Both could be render-
ings of suntelei/a represented by CA.

20
Connolly (1929), 215 asks: ‘Could this be an echo of D 16.3?’ The source,
however, is as likely to be Mt 24:11, or indeed a generalized apocalyptic tradition.
21 Although ‘all the more those who have erred without reason’ is not in Syr.
Connolly (1929), 214, and Vööbus (1979b), 222, agree that it is original and has been
omitted by Syr.
22 Syr. uses an unknown word, )KYPS, possibly a corruption of the Greek word
shpedw/n, at this point, and so the MSS of the E family substitute )NXw$, ’sore.’
23 There is no agreement between the versions about where the clause concerning
bearing witness belongs. Syr. places this at the beginning of the clause, thus making
‘we have borne witness’ as the first phrase before ‘leaving this catholic didascalia’ (the
understanding here) whereas in Lat. the rendering contestati is found at the end of the
clause. So Connolly (1929), 215, renders ‘thus delivering our testimony.’ CA is too
much altered to determine the issue absolutely, but tends to support Syr. even though
the relevant clause is, as in the English above, part-way through the phrase.
237
the twenty-sixth chapter

On the bonds of the secondary legislation of God 1
[6.15] You who have been converted from the people,2 who believe in
God and in our Saviour Jesus Christ should not now be continuing to
keep to your former conduct, keeping pointless obligations, and
purifications, and separations and baptismal lustrations and distinc-
tion between foods. As the Lord said to you: ‘Do not remember
things of old’3 and ‘Look, I am making everything anew, and am now
declaring them so that you may know them. And I shall lay down a
pathway in the desert.’4 Now previously the churches were ‘deserts’,
in which the divine and unerring pathway of the Christian religion
has been laid.5 2. Therefore, as you know Jesus Christ the Lord and
his dispensation for all which was made in the beginning,6 be aware
that he gave a simple law, pure and holy, in which the Saviour set his
name. For the decalogue which he gave indicates Jesus. For ten repre-
sents iota, yet iota is the beginning of the name of Jesus.7
The Lord bears witness in David to the law in this way, as he says:8
‘The law of the Lord is blameless, and converts souls.’9 And much
else of this nature is said elsewhere: and at the last, at the end of the
writings of the prophets,10 the Lord spoke thus through Malachi, who
is known as the angel:11 ‘Recall the law of Moses the servant of
1
Some MSS of the E family have an extended title.
2
So Syr. Lat. is cast in the third person plural. Although CA is partly paraphrastic
it indicates the correctness of the address in Syr.
3
Is 43:18.
4 Is 43:18-19. This citation is given from Syr. which shows noticeable deviations
from other versions, whereas Lat. is close to LXX.

5 For the idea that the lot of the gentiles was originally an arid and waterless place
see Irenaeus Dem. 84.

6 There is wide divergence between this version of the passage, which is that of
Lat., and Syr. which reads: ‘Now previously the churches were “deserts”, in which
there is now a pathway and the knowledge of the fear of God, which is unerring, but
new and manifest,- Jesus Christ the Lord and his dispensation for all which was made
in the beginning.’ Vööbus (1979b), 223, opines that Syr. has ‘blurred the original clar-
ity and force of the passage’, and for Flemming, in Achelis and Flemming (1904), like-
wise the passage is less comprehensible in Syr. compared to CA where extant and Lat.
7 A phenomenon also exploited at DA 2.26.1, and 5.13.18. See also the annotation
ad loc. as well as immediately below.

8 This clause is absent in Lat.
9
Ps 18:7.
10 This simply means that Malachi is the last in order of the twelve prophets.
11 That the ascription of this title to Malachi was common may be illustrated from
2 Esd 1:4.
238
the Lord as he gave you commandments and judgements.’12 3. Like-

wise our Saviour, when he cleansed the leper, sent him to the law
when he said: ‘Go and show yourself to the chief priest and offer the
gift of your cleansing, as Moses commanded, as a testimony to
them’,13 so showing that he does not undo the law but teaches what is
the law and what is the secondary legislation. Thus he said: ‘I have
not come to destroy the law, nor the prophets, but to fulfil them.’14
Thus the law is indissoluble, whereas the secondary legislation is tran-
sitory. 4. For the law is the decalogue, and the judgements to which
Jesus bore witness when he said: ‘Not one iota letter shall pass away
from the law.’15 Now it is the iota which does not pass away from the
law, for the iota is known, through the decalogue, to signify the name
of Jesus.16 But the letter is a sign of the spreading out of the wood.17
For Moses and Elijah, that is the law and the prophets, were both
with our Lord on the mountain.
12
Mal 4:6. The citation is rendered from Syr., which departs from canonical
versions, whereas Lat. reflects a more common text form.
13
Mk 1:44.
14
Mt 5:17.
15 Mt 5:18 rendered from Syr. Lat. reads: ‘Iota, that is one letter, shall not pass away
from the law.’ Connolly (1929), 219, suggests that h1toi has been read for h1. The argu-
ment below demonstrates the rightness of the Syr. reading.
16
Part of the argument is built on the observation, made elsewhere in DA, that
the letter iota, the first letter of the name of Jesus in Greek, represents ten. In this
instance the ten is allowed to represent the decalogue (as at 2.26.1 and, as noted ad
loc., by R Yehoshua ben Levi). It is significant that Leviticus Rabbah 19.2 discusses
the disobedience of Solomon and suggests that he had removed a single yod from
the law. The book of Deuteronomy is hypostasized and appears before God, and is
told that ‘not even a single yod that is in you shall ever be made void.’ Visotzky
(1990) suggests that this is a response to Christian attempts to reduce the scope of
the law. Certainly the gematric argument here is close to rabbinic argumentation.
See also below.
17
So Lat., cf. Syr., ‘But the letter is the spreading out of the wood of the cross. ‘
Of the cross’ is probably an explanatory note, and the absence of the word ‘sign’ may
be due to the similarity of the word for sign, )t), with its similar cognate
)twt), the word for ‘letter.’ According to Connolly (1929) the phrase seems to re-
flect the ‘sign spread out in heaven’ of which D 16.6 speaks, which is generally taken as
a reference to the sign of the cross in heaven as a precursor to the Lord’s return. How-
ever, the overall point is that both Jesus, signified by the first letter of the name of Je-
sus, iota, and his cross, signified by the word ‘letter’, are present in the law. The point
is not obvious until it is realized that the Greek word for letter is kerai/a. This means
the apex of a letter, but also means any horn-like protrusion. Thus it is used to refer to
a yard-arm on a ship or the projecting beam of a wooden crane. As such it brings to
mind not only the wood of the cross but more particularly the horizontal cross-beam.
The upright is then represented by iota, which may be represented as a simple vertical
letter. ‘One iota letter’ is thus taken to refer to the presence of Jesus and the cross with-
in the law as defined here.
239
[6.16] Thus the law consists of the decalogue and the judgements
which the Lord spoke before the people made the calf and wor-
shipped idols.18 For it is particularly on account of its judgements
that it is called the law. 2. For this law is simple and is light, is not
burdensome with regard to the separation of foods, or incensations,19
or sacrifices or burnt offerings. In this law he speaks only of the
church and of the foreskin.20 Speaking of sacrifice he says: ‘If you
would make me an altar, make it of earth. And if of stones, they
should not be worked; insofar as you should lay an iron tool upon it,
it is defiled’21 not of an axe but of the tool which is the iron scalpel
with which the surgeon circumcises the foreskin.22 3. For he did not
say ‘make’ but ‘if you should make’ an altar.23 He did not demand it
as of necessity, but showed what was to come about.24 4. For the Lord
had no need of sacrifice, and of old it was not demanded of Cain and
Abel, but they made their offerings of their own accord and their
oblations led to their fratricide. Likewise Noah offered and was
18
A certain sensitivity about the worship of the calf is demonstrated by Leviticus
Rabbah 27.8, which denies that Israel itself had made the calf, but that it was the work
of the proselytes who had come out of Egypt. This is in response to the ‘nations of the
world’ who taunt Israel and say ‘You made the golden calf.’ As Visotzky (1990)
suggests, there would seem to be some response to Christians who are using similar
arguments in their engagement with Jews as those employed here, as noted in the note
on 6.15.4 above regarding the yod which will not disappear from the law.
19
‘Incensations’ is not in Lat. CA offers no guidance.
20 So Lat. Syr. reads: ‘In this law he speaks only of the dispensation of the church
and of the foreskin of the flesh.’

21 Ex 20:24-25 cited here, again, following Lat., with support from CA. Syr. reads:
‘If you would make me an altar, make it of earth. And if of stones, you should make it
whole and unworked, and not of stones which have been worked; insofar as you
should lay an iron tool upon it, you have defiled it already.’ Lat. has a redundant extra
verb in the citation which may be attributed to a scribe beginning to write one verb
and then correcting himself.
22
This obscure sentence is corrupt in different ways in both versions, though its
meaning may, through both, be recovered with reasonable certainty. Lat. reads: Non
ergo in bipinnae facies sed de manuale, quod est medicinale ferramentum, quod et cir-
cumdidit praeputium whereas Syr. reads, literally, ‘not of the iron of an axe (or knife)
there is the knife (or axe!) of a surgeon with which he circumcises the foreskin.’
Clearly something is missing here and the situation is confused as the word
)rzGM could mean either ‘knife’ or ‘axe.’, whereas the facies in Lat. is confusing.
It is perhaps not a verb but a noun, albeit in the wrong case. However it is clear that
the intent of the author is to use this proof text to proscribe circumcision as well as
the altar of sacrifice.
23 It is worth observing that this ‘if ’ is neither in Hebrew nor LXX, nor indeed in
the Vulgate or the Peshitta! Lat. here is defective but Syr. is supported by CA.
24 Again Lat. is corrupt but Syr. is clear.
240
blamed. For this reason he says: ‘If you wish to sacrifice, though I
need it not, then sacrifice.’
5. Thus this law is simple, is light and very easy.25 6. Yet when the
people denied God, who had visited them in their troubles by means of
Moses, who worked signs for them with his rod and hand, who struck
the Egyptians with the punishment of the ten plagues, who drowned
their enemies and adversaries, who make the bitter well of Marah sweet
with his staff, who brought forth water from a rock in abundance to sat-
isfy them, who overshadowed and guided them by a pillar of fire and a
pillar of cloud, who brought manna from heaven for them and gave
them meat from the sea, who gave them the law from the mountain.
When they denied him and said: ‘We have no God to go before us’ and
made themselves a molten calf and worshipped it, and sacrificed to the
statue, then was the Lord angry, and in the heat of his anger, yet in his
merciful goodness, he bound them to the secondary legislation as to a
heavy load and the hardness of a yoke.26 7. Thus no longer did he say: ‘If
you should make’ as previously but said: ‘Make an altar, and sacrifice
continuously’, as though he had need of such. 8. Thus he imposed on
them as a necessity that they should make frequent burnt offerings and
he made them abstain from foods by means of the distinction of foods.27
9. From then on were clean animals and unclean foods defined,
from then on there were separations and purifications and baptisms
and sprinklings. From then on were there sacrifices28 and offerings and
tables. From then on were there burnt offerings, and offerings and
shewbread, and the offering of sacrifices, and firstlings, and ransoms,
25
For ‘very easy’ Syr. has ‘not little-voiced.’ Although it is not readily explainable
as a corruption, since there is a corruption in the same sentence, where ‘simple’
()+Y$P, so also Lat.) becomes ‘easy’ ()QY$P), a corruption must be assumed
and therefore Lat. is followed.
26
This is something of an eclectic reading. Syr. reads: ‘he bound them to the sec-
ondary legislation as to a heavy load and a hard yoke’ whereas CA. reads: ‘He bound
them with indissoluble bonds, put a load upon them and the hardness of a yoke’ and
Lat.: ‘He bound them into the secondary legislation and with a heavy load and to
the hardness of a chain.’ The same argument is employed by Aphraahat Dem. 15.7.
27 Here following Syr. Cf. Lat.: ‘No longer did he say: “If you should make” but
said: “Make an altar, and sacrifice continuously”, as though he had need of such, “and
make many burnt offerings.” And he imposed of them as a necessity that they should
separate themselves from foods. From this time on there were distinctions between
foods . . .’ It is impossible to say for certain which is the more original version. It seems
that both are reading a similar Greek text but significant divergences have grown up
between the two texts, quite apart from the different emphases of the translators.
241
and scapegoats, and vows, and much else that is astounding. On

account of the great number of their transgressions were customs laid
on them which cannot be described.
10. However, they abided in none of them, and so again caused the
Lord to be angry. And so, through the secondary legislation, he gave
them in addition the blindness which their deeds deserved as he said:
‘If sins deserving of the sentence of death be found in anyone, and he
die and you hang his body on a tree, his body shall not remain the
night on the tree, but you should bury him the same day, as cursed is
any who hangs on a tree.’29 Thus when Christ came they were unable
to assist him as they thought him under the condemnation of a curse.
11. Thus it was spoken of their blinding when Isaiah said: ‘Look, I am
showing you my righteousness and your wickedness, and they shall
not assist you in anything.’30 For the Lord judged them with a just
judgement, treating them thus because of their wickedness, and hard-
ening their heart like that of Pharaoh,31 as the Lord said to them
through Isaiah: ‘Hearing you shall hear, and not understand. Seeing
you shall see and not know. The heart of this people is swollen, their
eyes are shut and their ears are stopped so that they may not be con-
verted, lest ever they should see with their eyes and hear with their
ears.’32 12. And again, in the Gospel, he says: ‘The heart of this people
is swollen, and their eyes are shut and their ears are stopped so that
they may not ever be converted. Yet blessed are your eyes which see
and your ears which hear.’33 For you have been released from
the bonds and relieved of the secondary legislation. You have been set
free from the bitterness of slavery, and a curse is lifted from you and
taken away from you. [6.17] For the secondary legislation was on
account of the calf, and was imposed on the grounds of idolatry. You,
however, have been released from the worship of idols through
baptism, as from the secondary legislation.
For in the Gospel he renewed and fulfilled and confirmed the law,
and abolished and abrogated the secondary legislation. It was, indeed,
for this reason that he came: to confirm the law and to abrogate the
secondary legislation and to fulfill the power of human liberty and to
show forth the resurrection of the dead. 2. Even before his coming he
29
Dt 21:22-23.
30
Is 57:12.
31 Ex 4:21.
32
Is 6:9-10.
33 Mt 13:15-16.
242
spoke in advance of his coming through the prophets, and alongside

his coming he indicated also a people who would not believe, and
again he proclaimed the abrogation of the secondary legislation, as he
spoke through Jeremiah: ‘Why do you bring me frankincense from
Sheba and cinnamon from a far-off land. Your burnt offerings are not
acceptable to me, and your sacrifices do not please me.’34 And again he
said: ‘Bring your burnt-offerings together with your sacrifices, and eat
flesh; for I gave you no commandment when I brought you out from
the land of Egypt, either concerning burnt offerings or concerning
sacrifices.’35
Indeed he really gave no commandment in the law, but in the
secondary legislation, which was subsequent to the worship of idols.
3. And, moreover, he said through Isaiah: ‘”What is the point of your
multitude of sacrifices to me?” says the Lord. “I am sated with the
burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs and the blood of oxen36
I desire not. When you come to look upon me, who demanded these
things from your hands? Do not tread my courts any more! If you
bring fine flour for me it is pointless;37 I cannot abide your new
moons and your sabbaths and your feast-days, and my soul despises
your fasts and your days of rest and your festivals.”‘38 4. And in all
the Scriptures he speaks thus in deprecating the practice of sacri-
fice,39 for sacrifices, as we have said already, are prescribed in the sec-
ondary legislation.
5. Thus if, before his coming, he made known40 his coming41 and
the disbelief of the people and his destruction of the secondary legisla-
tion when he came he totally and utterly42 abolished the secondary
legislation. Nor did he make use of sprinklings, or baptisms43 or the
34
Jer 6:20.
35 Jer 7:21-22.
36
Lat. resumes here.
37
Lat. adds here, in keeping with the canonical text ‘and incense is an abomina-
tion to me.’ These words, however, are in neither Syr. nor CA.
38 Is 1:11-14.
39 Cf. Syr.: ‘And in all the Scriptures he speaks thus, abolishing by means of
sacrifice the secondary legislation.’

40 Lat. is very corrupt here. It is possible that the translator misread the Greek
entirely; Syr., however, may be trusted confidently at this point.

41
Lat. has libertatem ( ‘liberty’), a misreading of the Greek parousi/an (so CA) as
parrhsi/an.
42
Lat. reads simply omnipotens which makes little sense. If this is read as omnino,
however, then this may indicate a double translation on the part of Syr.
43 Lat. omits ‘or baptisms.’ CA offers no guidance.
243
other customary practices,44 nor offer sacrifices or burnt offerings or

anything else that is prescribed as an offering in the secondary legisla-
tion. 6. What else does this signify apart from his abolition of the
secondary legislation? And so he set you free, calling you away45 from
chains as he says: ‘Come to me all you who labour and are heavy-
burdened, and I will give you rest.’46 So we may recognize that our
Saviour is speaking not to the gentiles but to us, who became his
disciples from among the Hebrews,47 and is leading us away from our
burdensome loads.
Those who do not obey him, that he may lighten their load and
deliver them from the chains of the secondary legislation, are not put-
ting their faith in God who is calling them to release and remission
and refreshment and are binding themselves with the heavy loads of
the secondary legislation, which do no good. [6.18] For the Lord God
himself, who gave them the law and the secondary legislation, bears
witness that the law is life to those who act in accordance with it but
demonstrates that the secondary legislation is a chain and is blindness.
For he makes the distinction everywhere, commanding and charging
that we should be under the law, as anyone who is not under the law
is lawless. He bears witness to the law in this way: ‘His pleasure will be
in the law of the Lord, and he will meditate upon it day and night. Not
so the wicked.’48 2. So, brothers, we see that the righteous are declared
to be blessed through righteousness and through keeping the law. Not
so the wicked, as they are not just, and do not observe the law, and do
not meditate upon it. So he says that the wicked are those who do not
act in accordance with the law. 3. So, in the Gospel he affirms the law
yet calls us forth, leading us away from the burden of our chains and
from the secondary legislation.49
44 Syr. reads ‘festivals.’ This is probably a corruption of )dY( (customs) to )d)(
(festivals). Lat., consuetudinibus, supported by CA, assures us of the right reading.

45 So Syr.: Lat reads ‘ . . . set us free, calling us away’. Since the speakers are Jew-
ish this may be correct, but the possibility of scribal error, given the similarity in
Latin between the words for ‘you’ and ‘us’ (namely nos and uos), is so great that the
benefit of doubt is given to Syr.
46 Mt 11:28.
47
So Lat. Syr. reads ‘(house of the) Jews.’
48 Ps 1:2.
49 So Lat. Cf. Syr.: ‘So, in the Gospel he affirms the law yet calls us forth, leading
us away from the secondary.’ Connolly (1929), 128, and Vööbus (1979b), 131, agree that
Syr. is defective.
244
That the law is one thing and the secondary legislation another50
is also shown in David as the distinction is made when he says: ‘Let
us shatter their chains, and throw off their yoke from us.’51 4. Observe
how the Holy Spirit is speaking in the voice of the world,52 revealing
human thoughts, declaring that the law is ‘a yoke’ whereas the sec-
ondary legislation is ‘chains’. The law is said to be a yoke because, like
a yoke used for ploughing, it is laid on the former people and also
upon the present church of God. And now it is upon us who were
called from the people into the church just as it is upon you who,
being from the gentiles, have received mercy. 5. So it governs and
unites us in a single accord.
Rightly, however, does he refer to the secondary legislation as
‘chains’. For as the people turned to idolatry so the secondary legisla-
tion was put upon them as a burden;53 it was right that these bonds
should be imposed, as they were upon the people on that occasion. Yet
the church is not so bound.
6. He clarifies, making it known to Ezekiel that the law of life is one
thing and the secondary legislation of death is another, as he says:
‘I brought them forth from the land of Egypt and led them into the
desert. There I gave them my commandments, and made my judgements
known to them, so that anybody who performed them might live by
them.’54 Subsequently, when he holds them to account on the grounds of
their sin and as they had not kept the law of life, he repeats himself as he
says this to them: ‘I gave them commandments which are unprofitable,
and judgements which do not convey life.’55 Now the judgements which
do not convey life are those of the bonds. 7. For this reason the statement
within the secondary legislation which was mentioned beforehand, that
is ‘cursed is any who hangs on a tree’, was so that a blind people might be
blinded. So they considered that he who gave and distributed blessings to
those who were worthy was under a curse. For this reason they did not
recognize him, even after the signs that he did while in the world. When
he suffered, in keeping with what they did, that statement was justly set
down so that the people might be blinded, and it prevented them from
50
So Syr. Cf. Lat.: Quia uero aliut est secundatio . . . Some words have fallen out.
51
Ps 2:3.
52 Lat. has unius uocis (‘one voice’). Connolly (1929), 229, suggests that uniuersi has
been miswritten as unius.

53
54 Ez 20:10-11.
55 Ez 20:25.
245
believing and being saved. 8. For this reason he speaks thus in Isaiah:
‘Who is blind but my servants? And the servants of God are blinded and
I have brought forth a blind people who have eyes yet do not see, and
their ears are also stopped.’56 As a result of this statement their eyes were
blinded, on account of what they did, and their ears were stopped like
those of pharaoh. For this reason, together with this saying, the
secondary legislation was also established, as Moses established it. And
the secondary legislation is that which he calls judgements which are
unprofitable, and they are incapable of saving.
9. Therefore those who take upon themselves what was imposed on
account of the worship of idols shall be inheritors of the woes: ‘Woe to
them who prolong their sins like a long rope, and like the strap on a
heifer’s yoke.’57 Now the yoke of the bonds is a heifer’s yoke, and the
bonds of the law were put on the people like a long rope on account of
the sins of others from former times and generations which they bring
upon themselves. Everyone who attempts to be under the secondary
legislation58 is guilty of the worship of the calf, for the secondary legis-
lation was not imposed except on account of the worship of idols, for
the bonds were decreed because of the worship of idols, 10. and so any
who observe them are prisoners and idol-worshippers. For this reason
anyone who so binds himself is guilty of the woe and ought to confess
the worship of idols. And anyone who is such is also asserting the curse
against our Saviour, for if you uphold the secondary legislation you
are also asserting the curse against our Saviour. You are ensnared in the
bonds and are so guilty of the woe, as an enemy of the Lord God.
11. For this reason be silent, dear brothers who have come to faith
from among the people and who wish still to be bound with the bonds,
and who insist that the sabbath is prior to the first day of the week
because Scripture says that God made all that is in six days and that on
the seventh he completed all his works and sanctified it.59 12. We ask you
now, which is prior, alef or tau?60 For that which is greater is that which is
56
Is 42:19.
57 Is 5:18.
58 The text reads: ‘Anyone who attempts to be under the law.’ However this is con-
trary to the whole thrust of the argument here, and it is probable that the word ‘sec-
ondary’ has fallen out here, thus leading to the rendering given here.
59 Gen 2:2.
60 These are the first and last letters of the Syriac (and Hebrew) alphabet. We can
be reasonably sure that the Greek read ‘alpha or omega’, these being the first and last
letters of the Greek alphabet, though as Fonrobert (2001), 506-507, points out in her
treatment of this passage Hebrew days might be known as day alef etc.
246
the61 beginning of the world, just as the Lord our Saviour62 says through
Moses: ‘In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the
earth was invisible and shapeless.’63 And after this he says in addition:
‘And one day was over’,64 and the seventh was not yet known. So what do
you think was the greater, that which was made and formed, or that
which was not yet known and of which there was no expectation that it
would come to be? 13. And again we ask you: Are your most recently
born children blessed, or the firstborn? Since Scripture also says ‘Jacob is
blessed among the firstborn’65 and ‘Israel is my firstborn son’66 and ‘Every
firstborn male who opens his mother’s womb is blessed to the Lord.’67
14. Hear then, so that we may establish you in the faith, how the
first and the last day are equal. For learn that you may find it written so:
‘In his Kingdom68 the day of the Lord is like a thousand years, as yes-
terday, a day passed by, and like a nocturnal watch.’69 One day, there-
fore, is a thousand years in the Kingdom of Christ, in which the judge-
ment will occur. For a watch of the night70 indicates the judgement,
which is a prison of darkness for those who are condemned. 15. A day
is to be revealed, then, in which the sun shall stand in mid course, and
likewise the moon shall follow it. For he said: ‘Look, I am making the
first things like the last, and the last things like the first’71 and ‘The last
shall be first and the first shall be last’72 and ‘Do not remember things
of old, and do not think about them. Look I am making things anew,
which are now being revealed’73 and ‘In those days and in that time they
62
So Syr. Lat. reads ‘Lord God’.
63 Gen 1:1.
64 Gen 1:5.
65 The source of this citation is unknown, but it is not scriptural. Nonetheless
Ephrem Sermo ad noctem Domini resurrectionis 4 likewise uses the argument from the
status of the firstborn to demonstrate the primacy of the first day of the week, and
claims Jacob’s conferred primogeniture in support.
66
Ex 4:22.
67
Whereas the ultimate source of this citation is Ex 13:2, 12, it is closer here to Lk 2:23.
68 ‘In his kingdom’ is not in Lat. and may be an accretion in Syr.
69 Ps 89:4.
70
‘One day, therefore, is a thousand years in the Kingdom of Christ, in which the
judgement will occur. For a watch of the night’ is omitted by Syr. and supplied here
from Lat. Connolly (1929), 235, suggests that the omission is accidental, though it is
possible that it is deliberate, due to the chiliastic tone taken here.
71 An agraphon also cited in Barn. 16.13 and to which it is possible that Hippolytus
In Danielem 4.37 alludes.

72 Mt 20:16 and par.
73 Is 43:19.
247
shall no longer say “The ark of the covenant”. It shall no more be con-
sidered, nor visited, nor made.’74 But as the sabbath is counted up to
the sabbath inclusively, so making eight days, so it forms an octave,
which is greater than a seven-day week, namely a single week.75
16. Thus, brothers, every day is the Lord’s. For the Scripture says:
‘The earth and its fullness are the Lord’s, the world and all who dwell in
it.’76 Thus if God had wished that we should be idle after every six days,
first of all the patriarchs and those who were just before Moses would
have been idle, as well as God himself and all his creatures. 17. Even
now the course77 of the world is managed continuously, as the luminar-
ies do not cease for a moment from their accustomed courses, follow-
ing their universal and constant motion at the command of the Lord.78
If he were to say: ‘You shall be idle, you and your son, and your servant
and your maid and your ass’,79 how should he continue to work, pro-
viding for80 and feeding and governing us and his creation, even as all
things are moving and working on the Sabbath day.81 18. But this has
been created as a type for the occasion, just as many other things are
given us typologically;82 it is a type of the sabbath rest, indicating the
74 Jer 3:16, cited from Syr.
75 An alternative translation of this latter clause would be simply ‘the first of the
week’ (i.e. Sunday). This is the rendition of former translators. The prior clause is
understood differently, however, by Flemming in Achelis and Flemming (1904), who
renders it ‘so it forms an octave, that which is greater than a week, the Sunday.’ The
influence of Flemming on the translation here is manifest. The argument is that to
count inclusively from sabbath to sabbath forms eight days, but that the true eighth
day is also the first day of the next week. A similar argument is employed by Justin
Dialogus 41 and, in a different context, Barnabae Ep. 15.9 to point to the superiority of
Sunday, which has in turn influenced translators here, but the point made in this
passage is not the superiority of Sunday but the equality of all days.
76 Ps 23:1.
77 That the underlying Greek was oi)konomi/a is indicated by the Latin translator’s
note, similar to that occurring several times in the Latin version of TA within this MS:
dispensatio, quod dicit Graecus oeconomia’.
78 The latter part of this clause is wanting in Syr.
79
Cf. Ex 20:10.
80
So Lat. (representing prouidens.) Syr. reads: ‘Making his winds blow.’
81 There is a great diversity here between the versions. Lat. has been followed, but
there are two illegible words, perhaps representing a clause, in the phrase ‘all things are
moving and working on the sabbath day.’ The best translation of Syr. would be: ‘ . . .
how should he continue to work, causing growth, and making the winds blow, so
allowing his creatures to grow, and nourishing them. On the sabbath day he allows
blowing and flowing, and thus he works.’ To the thought cf. Odae Salamonis 16.12 and
Aphraahat Dem. 13.3 (likewise on the Sabbath).
82 ‘Just as many other things are given us typologically’ is not in Lat. and may be a
gloss.
248
seven thousandth year.83 [6.19] But when Our Lord and Saviour came,
fulfilling the types and explaining the parables, he showed what is life-
giving, and destroyed whatever avails nothing and abolished whatever
does not give life. Not only did he teach this himself, he also brought it
about through the Romans. He overthrew the temple, making an end
of the altar and doing away with sacrifices, abolishing every command-
ment and chain of the secondary legislation.84 For the Romans also
hold to the law, but they disregard the secondary legislation, for which
reason their dominion85 is securely established. 2. And so you, who
wish today to live under the secondary legislation, are unable to do
what the secondary legislation demands as long as the Romans are in
government. You cannot stone the evildoer, nor execute adulterers, nor
discharge the ministry of the sacrifices, nor sprinkle the ashes86 of a
heifer,87 nor fulfil any of the other duties of the secondary legislation,
nor complete them. For it is written: ‘Cursed be all who do not keep
these words and perform them.’88 3. Yet it is impossible for you to ful-
fil the secondary legislation while you are dispersed among the gentiles.
And so, should any of you approach it you shall fall under a curse, and
inherit the woe as you bind yourself, asserting the curse against our
Saviour and so suffering condemnation as somebody who resists God.
4. But if you follow Christ you shall possess the blessings.
For there is no disciple greater than his master;89 you should thus
conform to him, so conforming to the law by means of the Gospel,
and keeping yourselves from the secondary legislation in every
respect,90 just as the Lord, when he handed the Kingdom over to
human keeping, let it be known that his commandments ought
properly to be observed in accordance with the times and laws which
he made to be kept.91 5. Now as you have the Gospel you have the
83
See, for similar imagery which may illuminate the usage here, Barnabae Ep. 15
and Hippolytus In Danielem 4.23.
84 A similar argument is employed by Eusebius at Dem. evangelica 1.3.
85
‘Their dominion’ is wanting in Lat. CA offers no guidance.
86 ‘The ashes’ is wanting in Syr. but this version adds ‘perform libations.’ Because
of the confusion in Syr. Lat. is followed. Again CA does not assist.

87 See Num 19:9.
88 Dt 27:26.
89
Mt 10:24.
90 Lat. is tortuous and probably corrupt, and so, although there is some resem-
blance to Syr., it is disregarded for this sentence.

91 Rendering Lat. secundum tempora et leges definitionis fecit. Cf. Syr.: ‘Justly there
is law in every age.’
249
recapitulation and completion of the law92 and the seal, so that you
should have no desire to seek out anything which is beyond the law
and the prophets.93 For the secondary legislation is abrogated whereas
the law is confirmed.
And those who do not want to be under the law are unwillingly
brought under the law. He said in the law, ‘You shall not kill’,94 and so
anyone who does kill is condemned in accordance with the Roman
law and is so under the law. If you are conformed in what you do to
the rule of the church and to the form of the Gospel you shall not be
disappointed in putting your hope in the Lord.
[6.20] Therefore stay away from all heretics, who do not employ the
law or the prophets and are hostile to Almighty God whom they do not
obey, and who abstain from foods and prohibit marriage, and deny the
resurrection of the body, as they refuse to eat and drink but seek to raise
up demons, insubstantial spirits. They shall be condemned to the fire
for ever, and there they shall be judged. Therefore flee from them and
avoid them so that you do not perish along with them.
[6.21] And if any are scrupulous, and wish to observe the usual
courses of nature with regard to natural emissions and intercourse, they
should be aware, first of all, that they are affirming the curse against our
Saviour in accordance with the secondary legislation, as we have already
said,95 and bringing themselves into condemnation for no reason.96
92 So Lat. recapitulationem et uerticem legis; cf. Syr. which has ‘renewal.’ The Greek
word was almost certainly a)nakefalai/wsiv. This rhetorical term meant a summa-
ry. The meaning is thus that, as the Gospel summarizes the law and the prophets, there
is no need for what is in them beyond what is also in the Gospel. Lat. therefore, as
Connolly (1929), 241 and Vööbus (1979b) 237, suggest, may be attempting a double
rendition of the word.
93
So Syr. Lat reads: quod plus est a lege a profetis ut euangelio nolite nihil aliud
quaerere. If the ut is emended to et then this might be rendered: ‘so that you should
not seek anything out beyond the law, beyond the prophets, and the Gospel.’
Although Connolly (1929), 241, emends ut here to ab, in line with the previous prepo-
sitions, the meaning is the same. He suggests that the words are inserted ‘in order to
avoid an apparent exclusion of the Gospel.’
94 Ex 29:13.
95 At 6.19.3.
96 The scriptural basis for separation of men who discharge semen and women who
are menstruating is Leviticus 15. It is from here that the seven days derive; the bathing
after ejaculation likewise is scriptural, but the bathing after normal menstruation which
appears to have been practised in this community is the product of later discussion, as
menstruation is confounded with other forms of haemorrhage, as stated in TB Niddah
67B. It is interesting that, according to Tosefta Berakoth 2.12-13, menstruants, though
not men who had had a seminal discharge, are permitted to read Scripture and to study
the law, and both are permitted to pray whereas, as Fonrobert (2005), 249, points out,
250
Moreover they should tell us at what days and what hours they refrain
from prayer, or participation in the eucharist, or contact97 with the
Scriptures on the grounds that they are void of the Holy Spirit.98 For we
have received the Holy Spirit in baptism, and he is always with those
who act properly, and does not depart on the grounds of emissions or
intercourse but is always present, keeping them who possess him,99 just
as the Lord says in Proverbs: ‘He shall keep you, even while you are
sleeping, and when you arise he will talk to you.’100 And again the Lord
speaks similarly in the Gospel: ‘It shall be given to all who have, and he
shall have plenty, but even what they think they have shall be taken
from any who has not.’101 Thus it is added to those who have but is
taken away from those who think that they have not, as even what they
think they have is taken away.102
Concerning those who observe the days of menstrual flux.103
2. Now if, woman, you think that you have been deserted by the
Holy Spirit in the seven days of your menstruation, and if you die dur-
ing these days you will go forth empty and devoid of hope. Yet if the
Holy Spirit is with you constantly there is no reason to stay away from
prayer and from eucharist and from the Scriptures.104 Consider that
prayer is taken up by the Holy Spirit, that the eucharist is sanctified by
both in this setting are absenting themselves from Scripture as well as prayer and eu-
charist. Assuming that the practice of these persons within Christianity is an extension
of that learnt within Judaism this indicates the existence of schools of interpretation of
what is proper and not for various classes of person other than those codified in the rab-
binic literature. This is not the only discussion of such issues in early Christian litera-
ture. Thus we may note that TA 41.13, whilst brief, takes the same view as DA at least of
prayer by a man who may have had intercourse with his wife, whereas the observances
condemned here are actually prescribed in Hom. Clem. 7.8. Generally we must agree
with Fonrobert that what is at issue here is less theological precept than a need to
construct boundaries between the two religious systems.
97 Syr. has ‘reading’ but Lat. contingant is supported by CA qi/gein.
98
The logic of this sentence is obscure in Syr. but CA and Lat. are clear and allow
the rendering given here.
99 Lat. is largely illegible in this sentence. Syr. is followed.
100 Prov 6:22.
101
Mt 13:2.
102
Lat. glosses this explanation by suggesting that ‘on some days’ they think they
have nothing whereas ‘on other days’ they think they have something! Connolly (1929)
suggests that this is an attempt to smooth over the inconsistency.
103 This subtitle is only present in Syr. Elsewhere marginal notes have become
included in the text of some MSS, and this could be a further example of the same,
except that it is extant in more MSS.
104 So Lat. Syr. reads ‘ . . .from prayer, and from the Scriptures and from the
eucharist.’
251
the Holy Spirit,105 and that the Scriptures are holy because they are the
words of the Holy Spirit. For if the Holy Spirit is in you, it is pointless
to try and avoid the deeds of the Holy Spirit, like those who say:
‘Whoever swears by the altar is not sinning, but anyone who swears by
the gift placed upon it is sinning.’ The Lord says to them: ‘You are
stupid and blind! What is the greater, the gift, or the altar which
sanctifies the gift? Thus anybody who swears by the altar is swearing by
it and by everything which has been placed upon it. And anyone who
swears by the temple is swearing also by the one who dwells within it.
And whoever swears by heaven is swearing by the throne of God and
by the one seated upon it.’106 And so if you possess the Holy Spirit but
keep yourselves away from its fruits you shall likewise hear, from the
Lord Jesus Christ: ‘You are stupid and blind! What is the greater, the
bread or the Holy Spirit who sanctifies the bread?’ 3. Thus if you pos-
sess the Holy Spirit107 your observances are pointless and your customs
are pointless.108 But if the Holy Spirit is not in you, how can you do
anything righteous?109 The Holy Spirit is always present with those
who possess it, even with those who have long neglected it. But should
the Holy Spirit be absent for even a single day an unclean spirit will
rapidly move in, as the Lord says:110 ‘When an unclean spirit goes out
of somebody it goes around in waterless places’ (that is, among those
people who have not been baptized) ‘but when it finds no place of rest
it says: I shall go back to my home, from which I came. And if it comes
and finds it empty and clean, he then goes and brings with himself
seven spirits which are even worse than he, and they shall come and
make their home in that person. And the state of the person will be
even worse than it was previously.’111
4. Now learn why an unclean spirit finds nowhere to rest when it
emerges. Every person is filled with a spirit, some with the Holy Spirit,
105 So Lat. Syr. reads: ‘accepted and sanctified’

106 Mt 23:18-22.
107 The words from ‘ . . .sanctifies the bread’ up to ‘ . . .Holy Spirit’ are absent in
Syr., probably through homoioteleuton, and supplied from Lat.

108
So Lat. Syr. reads ‘You fool, you are keeping pointless observances’, but the
plural of ‘pointless’, probably kena/, has, on its first appearance, been mistaken for a
feminine singular.
109 This phrase is absent in Lat. Connolly (1929) thinks it might have been
omitted by the same process of homoioteleuton which led to the earlier confusion in
Syr. It is also possible, however, that this is a gloss.
110 Here the translation is from Lat. Syr. seems to omit a great deal.
111 Mt 12:43-45.
252
some with an unclean spirit, the faithful with the Holy Spirit and the
unbeliever with one which is unclean, which allows no entry to any other
spirit.112 5. Now anyone who has rejected and put off and been set free
from the unclean spirit in baptism is filled with the Holy Spirit, and the
Holy Spirit continues in the person, who remains filled, as the unclean
spirit finds no place, as long as that person continues in doing good, as
somebody filled with the Holy Spirit will not receive it.113 Now all people
are filled with their own spirit, and the unclean spirits114 do not go far
from the pagans as long as they remain as pagans, even if they are doing
good. For there is no other way in which an unclean spirit may be got to
depart except by sacred purification and holy baptism.115 And so, when it
can find no place to enter, it returns to the one who had rejected it and
put it off, and if he is filled with the Holy Spirit he will not receive it.116
6. And so, woman, if117 you are empty in the seven days of your
menstruation it is just as you say it is, as you will be filled with an
unclean spirit, It will return to you and find an empty space, and dwell
within you always,118 and there will be constant entrances and exits of
pure and impure spirits, and perpetual warfare! It is your own foolish
beliefs which bring this about, and the observances which you keep, as
your belief has led to the absence of the Holy Sprit from you which is
filled up by the impure ones, which lead to your rejection from life and
to everlasting burning. 7. And, moreover, tell me, woman: the seven
days of your menstruation or flux are unclean for you according to the
secondary legislation, so are you then, as it were, unbaptized at the end
of the seven days and so are cleansed, or baptized, so that you may
seem to be pure and so hand yourself over to the everlasting fire as
though you were not baptized (since you have not accepted the perfect
112
‘ . . .which allows no entry to any other spirit. ‘So Lat. Syr. reads ‘and his
nature is not receptive of any other spirit.’ CA offers no guidance with ‘he is unable to
flee one or other of the spirits.’ It is impossible to determine the right reading, but the
overall meaning is clear enough.
113 ‘As somebody filled with the Holy Spirit will not receive it ‘ om. Lat. Flemming
in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 221, suggests that the inclusion in Syr. is erroneous.
114
‘Unclean spirits’ so Syr.; Lat. is illegible.
115 So Lat. Syr. has ‘except by the pure and holy Spirit of God’, which Connolly
(1929), 247, calls ‘a quite unaccountable variant!’ MSS of the E family, however, have
‘except through baptism and the Holy Spirit.’
116
As Connolly (1929), 246, observes, there are strong echoes of Hermas Mand.
5.2.5-7 in this passage. However, we may also compare Aphraahat Dem. 6.14-17, like-
wise concerned with the indwelling of the Spirit brought about through baptism.
117 ‘If ’ is not in Syr. but its presence is confirmed by Lat. and CA.
118
‘ . . .and dwell with you always’ om. Lat.
253
cleansing for sin)?119 For in accordance with your own opinion you
will remain unclean, and you will have gained nothing by your point-
less observance of the seven days. Indeed, it did you harm. You are
impure by your own supposition, and are condemned on the grounds
of your impurity.120
8. You should have this regard towards all who are observant with
regard to emissions of semen and intercourse with women. For all these
observances are foolish and harmful. For if anyone has an emission of
semen,121 or intercourse with a woman, he ought to be baptized, and
wash his bed as well. And he will have the constant vexation of baptizing
himself, and washing his things122 and his bed as well, and he will not be
able to do anything else. Now if you are baptized after an emission and
after intercourse in accordance with the secondary legislation, you ought
to be baptized after stepping on a mouse. And if you come into contact
with a bone,123 or a tomb,124 you should be baptized, and never will you
119
So Lat. Syr. reads: ‘Woman, I say to you again: if you consider yourself unclean
during the seven days of your menstruation according to the secondary legislation,
after the seven days how are you to purify yourself except through baptism? But if you
bathe yourself you shall deny the perfect baptism of God which remitted your sins
completely, by the means by which you think you are being cleansed, and so be found
in the wickedness of your previous sins, and handed over to everlasting fire.’ Although
the two versions are clearly dealing with the same text there are distinct differences
between them, and I am unable to determine which is the more accurate rendition of
the original. CA offers no guidance.
120
Fonrobert (2005), 247-248, suggests that the women who observed the
seven days of purification during menstruation had argued that in this time the
Holy Spirit was absent from them, but it seems more probable that this is a con-
structed argument by the Deuterotic redactor, suggesting that the women are be-
having as though they had been deserted by the Holy Spirit and then drawing out
the implications of such an argument. Since the issue is the continuation of Jewish
practices by those who had been baptized into the Christian church one might
anticipate that the weight of tradition had primacy amongst those of Jewish de-
scent, to which the redactor creates a theological counter-argument based on their
baptismal experience.
121 Syr. has ‘issue of blood’, but Lat. makes clear that semen is meant.
122
‘Things’ is rendered following Lat. rerum. Connolly (1929), 249, suggests that
skeuw~n is being rendered, as Syr. yhwN)M might mean either ‘his vessels’ or ‘his
clothes.’
123
Lat. adds aut pellem aut ossuum uulneratum (‘or skin or a damaged bone’).
Connolly (1929), 251, suggests that these are marginal notes which have been incor-
porated into the MS. It is also possible that they have themselves been corrupted,
ossuum uulneratum being a corruption of mortuum uulneratum, ‘dead or bleeding,’ in
which case it is more likely to have been part of the original.
124 Syr. reads ‘enter a tomb.’ In the absence of guidance from CA Lat. is preferred
in view of the argument below regarding eucharist in the cemeteries, which take place
at tombs but not in them.
254
be clean!125 You are even shod with shoes made from the skin of dead ani-
mals which have been sacrificed to idols, and your clothes are made of the
wool of similar animals. Thus you will never be clean, and will undo your
most sacred baptism, renewing the secondary legislation and taking upon
yourself the idolatry of the calf. 9. For if you take up the secondary legis-
lation you are also taking up idolatry, which was the reason for the impo-
sition of the secondary legislation, bringing upon yourself the sins of oth-
ers from of old like ‘a long rope and a heifer’s band’126 and submitting
yourself to the woes. In consenting to the secondary legislation you are
agreeing with the curse which was laid upon the Saviour, and bearing tes-
timony to a curse which is opposed to the blessing and opposed to Christ,
who shares blessings with those who are worthy, and shall gain a curse.127
For ‘anyone who curses is cursed.’128 And so to how great a curse, and to
how great a condemnation, shall they who affirm a curse upon our Sav-
iour, our Lord and our God, be delivered!
[6.22] Therefore, beloved, flee and shun such observances; having
received release do not bind yourselves again and, having been relieved
of your loads by our Lord and Saviour, do not burden yourselves. But
make no observance of such matters, and do not think that such
things pollute you, and do not alter your conduct on their account,129
and seek after separations130 or sprinklings or baptisms or purifica-
tions. For in the secondary legislation anyone who touches a tomb or
somebody who is dead is to be baptized 2. but you, in accordance with
the Gospel and in accordance with the power of the Holy Spirit,
gather in the cemeteries to read the Holy Scriptures and to offer your
prayers and your rites131 to God without observance132 and offer an
125
This sentence is placed in the position found in Lat. Syr. seems to have moved
it slightly, placing it after the sentence following, regarding shoes and clothes.
126
Is 5:18. So Syr.; Lat. is confused, possibly due to the inclusion of some
marginalia.
127 So Lat. Syr. is slightly simpler, reading: ‘ . . .and despise Christ the blessed
(or ‘Christ the King’ in two MSS) who shares blessings with those who are worthy.’
128
Num 24:9. Syr. adds: ‘and anyone who blesses is blessed.’
129 ‘Do not alter your conduct on their account’ om. Lat.
130 ‘Separations’ om. Syr. Its inclusion from Lat. is supported by CA.
131 ‘And your rites’ om. Syr. Although CA offers a distinct version here, speaking of
singing and the honour of the martyrs, it implies there was more here than reading,
prayers and eucharist.
132
That is to say, without observing the Jewish prohibition on contact with the
dead. This is the reading ()YrwN )L) of one good Syr. MS supported by CA. The
majority of Syriac MSS read )YNwr )L (without hesitation) which, as Vööbus
(1979b), 243, remarks, is easy to explain as a corruption. Lat. has ‘ceaselessly.’
255
acceptable133 eucharist, the likeness of the royal body of Christ,134 both

in your congregations and in your cemeteries and on the departure of
those who sleep.135 You set pure bread before him, which is formed by
fire and sanctified by the invocation, offering without demur and
praying for those who sleep. 3. For according to the Gospel those who
sleep136 are not dead, as Our Lord and Saviour137 said to the
Sadducees: ‘Have you not read what was written regarding the resur-
rection of the dead? I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob For his is not God of the dead but of the liv-
ing.’138 4. Elisha the prophet raised up a dead man when he was sleep-
ing and had been a long time dead139 as his body touched the body of
a dead man and revived it. This could not have happened had not the
body of him who slept been holy and filled with the Holy Spirit.
5. And so you are to have contact with those who rest, without regard
for observances, and not to consider them unclean.
Likewise you are not to enforce separation on those (women) who
are as usual. For the woman who was suffering from haemorrhage was
not censured when she touched the hem of the Saviour’s cloak but was
then healed140 and obtained the forgiveness of her sins. 6. Therefore
you should not go to your wives when they are undergoing natural
flux, but hold to them,141 knowing that they are your own members
and that you love them as your own lives, as it is written in Malachi,
133
Lat. reads ‘royal.’ ‘Acceptable’ is given following Syr. and CA.
134 Syr reads: ‘The likeness of the body, the Kingdom of Christ’. This is an error
which is readily explained. CA supports Lat. One Syr. MS reads ‘the likeness of the
Body of the Kingdom’ which Vööbus (1979b), 243, believes is the correct reading.
135 On ritual meals at funerals and in cemeteries see the introduction 4.c.2 and refs.
136
Lat. reads ‘who are dead.’
137
So Lat. Syr. has ‘Our Lord’ and CA has ‘Our Saviour’!
138
Mt 22:31-33.
139 In Lat. it appears that it was the man who was raised who had been dead a long
time whereas that it was Elisha who was dead is clear from Syr. Cf. 2 Kg 13:21.
140
‘Was then healed’ is not in Syr. CA, which does not, however, mention the
forgiveness of sins, supports its inclusion.
141 ‘You should not go to’ is absent in Syr. which reads instead ‘And when they (your
wives) are in their natural flux you should hold to them in the manner which is right
. . .’ Flemming in Achelis and Flemming (1904), 223, suggests some accidental omission
on the part of the Syriac translator and Vööbus (1979b), 244, similarly opines that Lat.
is closer to the original and that accidental omission has occurred. However, although
the suggestion of Flemming and Vööbus is followed here there is much to be said for
Connolly’s assertion (1929), 255, that Syr. is ‘more in the spirit of the author’. Although
CA tends to support Lat. there is little verbal correspondence, thus supporting Connol-
ly’s suggestion that Lat. and CA are independent ‘improvements’ of the original.
256
who is called the angel, among the twelve prophets:142 7’For the Lord
has borne witness between yourself and the wife of your youth, whom
you have deserted. She is your partner and the wife of your covenant.
And did he not make her? And they are the residue of his spirit. And
you have said: “What does God want apart from pure seed?” Take
heed in your spirits and do not abandon the wife of your youth.’143
8. And so a woman when she is menstruating, and a man who has an
emission of semen, and a man and woman who come together in mar-
riage and then get up from each other, are to pray without observance
and without washing, as they are pure. 9. But whoever corrupts and
defiles the wife of another after illumination,144 or defiles himself with
a prostitute, shall not be pure145 when he has got up from her, even if
he is washed in all the seas and all the rivers in the world. 10. And so,
dear brothers, avoid and shun146 all such pointless observances, and
stand firm in whose which lead to immortality,147 keeping your body
pure and unspotted with one marriage, so that you may participate in
immortality, and have communion with the Kingdom of God, and
may receive what the Lord God has promised and rest in eternity.
[6.23] We could explain the didascalia to you more clearly with
many proofs like these, and so extend the writing, yet here we complete
the discourse so that the severity of the truth should not over-fill you
with the teaching with which we speak.148 2. And so do not be wearied
of what has been said; for our Lord and Saviour himself responded with
harshness to those who deserved condemnation when he said: ‘Take
them away and throw them into outer darkness And there shall be
weeping there, and the gnashing of teeth’149 and ‘Get away from me,
you accursed, into the everlasting fire which my father has prepared for
142 On this ascription see 6.15.2 above and the footnote ad loc.
143 Mal 2:14-15, translated following Syr. which has many divergences from any
other version.
144
Lat. actually reads: post inluminationem, quod dicit Graecus fotisma. The Greek
word is cited as above, when the word oikonomia is verbally cited, and as in the Latin
version of TA. Syr. reads ‘baptism.’
145 MSS of the E family read ‘clean of sin.’
146
Lat. has one verb only, cauete. Both may be independent renditions of mh\
parathrei~sqe.
147
‘Keeping to those which lead to immortality’ is not in Syriac.
148
Cf. Syr.: ‘so that the teaching of our discourse should remain with you only
briefly.’ Connolly (1929), 256, followed by Vööbus (1979b), 256, observes that the Syriac
translator has confused koro/j with kairo/j.
149 Mt 25:30.
257
the devil and his angels.’150 3. And he has also compared the word to
fire and the sword as he said by Jeremiah: ‘The word of the Lord is like
an axe cutting stone, and a fire going around and burning up.’151 4. It is
a sword and a fire and an axe not to those who hear the truth, but the
saying (refers) to the people who did not desire to hear when reproved
by our Lord and master, for they did not believe because they thought
it like iron and fire,152 and did not obey when they heard what was said
to them by him,153 for his words appeared to be harsh and severe to
them. 5. And so he said to them: ‘Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and
do not do what I say?’154
Likewise our writing may appear to some to be severe and harsh
because of its truth. 6. But had we written gently, to please people,
then many might have fallen away from the faith and we would be
responsible for them.155 7. For just as a sensible physician, unable to
contain an ulcer through drugs and poultices, turns to a more severe
form of remedy,156 that is to the knife and to cauterization, by which
alone he can overcome the disease and heal the sick, so the word of
the Lord is like a poultice and a salve and a plaster to those who hear
it and keep it, but to those who hear and do not act it seems to be
iron and fire.
8. And so to him, who is able to open the ears of your hearts to
receive the words of the Lord which are supplied157 through the
Gospel and through the teaching of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, who
was crucified under Pontius Pilate158 and who slept, in order to tell
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all his saints of the end of the age
and the resurrection of the dead which is to be, and who rose from the
150
Mt 25:41.
151 Jer 23:19 cited following Lat. Whereas Syr. is the same as Peshitta, this text is dif-
ferent from any other. Connolly (1929), 257, however, points out that the text is cited in
this form by Irenaeus at Haer. 5.17.4, and suggests that DA here is indebted to Irenaeus.
152 So Lat., which is not altogether free of difficulty, and in which the negative is
supplied from Syr. Cf. Syr.: ‘It is a sword and a fire and distress not to those who hear
the truth, but as the saying which the people did not desire to hear when our Lord and
teacher reproved them, because they thought it hard like iron.’
153
Cf. Syr. ‘They did not obey what he said to them.’ Lat. is preferred in the light
of the following citation.
154
Lk 6:46.
155
Syr. reads ‘we should be guilty of their blood.’
156
Syr. adds ‘and to surgery’.
157
So Lat. (ministrata) and CA (dihkonhme/na). Syr. reads ‘incisive’ words, through
mistakenly deriving the participle from diakona/w.
158
Syr. reads ‘in the days of Pontius Pilate.’ CA supports Lat.
258
dead to show and to give us who know him159 a pledge of the resur-
rection, and was received into the heavens through the power of God
and his Spirit, and who is seated above the cherubim at the right hand
of the throne of Almighty God, and who will come again in power
and glory to judge the living and the dead:160 to him be power and
glory and majesty and Kingdom, to his Father and the Holy Spirit,161
who was and is and shall be both now and to all generations for ever
and to the ages. Amen.
159
Syr. reads ‘that we might know him’ whereas Lat. reads, literally, ‘(to) known
ones who are his’ (notis suis). CA simply reads h(mi~n, which led Hauler (1900) to emend
notis to nobis. However the notion that the resurrection is given as a means of knowl-
edge of God is central here and so the emendation evacuates the point. As Connolly
(1929), 259, points out, the issue may be resolved by postulating that the Greek was
toi~v gnwri/moiv au)tou~.
160 ‘Living and the dead.’ So Lat.; cf. Syr. ‘the dead and the living’ which is, as
Connolly (1929), 258, points out, the usual order in early Syriac literature.
161 Lat. reads ‘to the Son’ which Connolly (1929), 258, thinks right. However since
Jesus is the subject of all that precedes it seems that this is an error on the part of the
Latin translator.
259
Appendix.qxd:Appendix 5/12/09 10:49 AM Page 261
APPENDIX
MATERIAL FROM THE E FAMILY
There are two significant blocks of material which are present in the E
family of MSS but not in the A. They are printed as an appendix so that
the reader might not get the impression that they have manuscript
support equal to the main body of the Didascalia, since they are
certainly among the latest elements to be included in DA. However,
given their importance for an understanding of the Nachleben of the
document, they are not altogether omitted.
the first block: a preface

The first block of material found solely in E is a preface which is found
after the primitive contents list. Connolly and Vööbus agree that it is
entirely secondary,1 as it is reminiscent of versions of DA in Ethiopic
and Arabic, which are derived from AC. In its position at the front of
the document it sets out the apostolic authorship of DA from the very
beginning, a setting which otherwise only emerges slowly from a
reading of the document.
the didascalia
In the name of the Father Almighty, and the eternal Word, and the
only Son, and the Holy Spirit, one true God. We begin to write the
book of the Didascalia as the holy apostles of our Lord laid down for
1
Connolly (1929), xiv; Vööbus (1979b), 37*.
261
us, concerning the leaders of the holy church, and the canons and laws
for believers, as they directed therein.
We, however, the twelve apostles of the only son, the eternal Word
of God, our Lord, our God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, were
assembled with one accord in Jerusalem, the city of the great King, and
with us was our brother Paul, the apostle to the nations, and James,
bishop of the said city, and we confirmed this Didascalia, in which the
confession of the faith is incorporated, and have named all the
ordinances like the ordinances of heaven, and also the ordinances of
the holy church.2
We pronounce that everybody should stand and confess and
believe in that which has been assigned by God: that is to say the
bishop as shepherd, and the presbyters as teachers, and the deacons as
servants, and the subdeacons as assistants, and the readers as those who
recite, and the choir as those who make music with understanding in
their position,3 and the rest of the people as those who listen to the
words of the Gospel for correction. When we completed and
determined these canons we set them up in the church, and now have
written this other book of teaching which enlightens the whole habit-
able world. When we had written it we sent it by the hands of our
partner Clement. What you are listening to, O Christian Nazarenes,
wherever you are under the sun, you shall learn with diligence and
care. Whoever hears and keeps the commandments which are written
in this Didascalia will have everlasting life, and great boldness before
the bēma 4 of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who instructs us
in the great mystery which is of himself. They shall expel, as an oppo-
nent and a schismatic, whomsoever disputes them and does not keep
them, and he shall dwell in Gehenna for eternity, as it is written that
those who do evil will go to eternal torment, and that those who do
good shall inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.
It consists of twenty-seven chapters.
2 The idea that the church mirrors heaven is early: note Ignatius Ad Trallianos 3.1,
1 Clem. 34.1-6, Clement of Alexandria Strom. 4.8. It is possible that the idea here is
derived from K 1, which itself incorporates an earlier source, especially since K likewise
sets out with a description of the gathering of the apostles.
3 )MwQB. Vööbus (1979b), 8, n. 5, suggests, as an alternative rendering, ‘tenure
of office.’
4
The bēma was a raised platform located in the nave, or between the nave and the
sanctuary, in Syrian churches employed liturgically for readings, sermons and bless-
ings. See Taft (1968) and (1970); Renhart (1995). Note also the tenth canon, regarding
the reading of Scripture, of the commandments of Addai below.
262
APPENDIX
the second block: a collection of canonical material

The second extraneous block found in E is a collection of canonical
material from diverse sources. In the E recension this block is found
after the third chapter, thus prefacing the account of the appointment
of bishops within the original DA. Vööbus suggests that their inclusion
is the work of a Syrian canonist, who had them all from a single collec-
tion of material.5
The first set of material, largely concerning the ordering of the
church, being derived from Testamentum Domini thus supplements
what is said in what follows when DA is recommenced regarding the
election of bishops.
From then further church order material follows, firstly a version of
K. The material from K, however, omits much of the second half of K
which concerned the election and appointment of presbyters, deacons,
widows and laymen, presumably because these subjects are covered
elsewhere in this collection of material. Having cited the two-ways sec-
tion of K in its entirety this version goes on to include the canon
regarding the reader, which is not otherwise discussed in this collec-
tion. Such an omission may have been the work of the canonist who
collected this material.
Beyond that there is a statement regarding hours of prayer, a ver-
sion of the canons appended to the Doctrina Addaei and a collection of
canons regarding marriage and baptismal sponsorship ascribed to an
otherwise unknown Yohanan.
It is hard to see the basis for the inclusion of these further documents
apart from their claim to apostolic authorship. Gerlach, however, suggests
that the inclusion of the statements regarding the Pascha from the Canons
of Addai enabled the redactor of the E recension to make the deep cuts
found in the twenty-first chapter of DA, regarding the Pascha, since this
material, found in the recension long before the twenty-first chapter,
has already in part discussed the timing and breaking of the paschal fast.6
It is possible that the inclusion of this material enabled reduction in the
material elsewhere, but this of itself does not account for the selection.
As suggested in the introduction, however, this does provide evidence
that DA was living literature; the desire to supplement the apostolic teach-
ing and, indeed, through the provision of a new preface to re-inforce it,
indicates that this teaching continued useful in the Syrian church.
5
Vööbus (1979b), 39*-43*.
6
Gerlach (1998), 208.
263
concerning the appointment of bishops

Let a bishop be appointed, being elected by all the people7 in accor-
dance with the will of the Holy Spirit. He should be without fault,
pure, gentle, humble, free of anxiety, vigilant, no lover of money,
blameless, not contentious, merciful, not overmuch talkative, a lover
of the good, a lover of the poor, expert in the mysteries, not confused
or wandering in step with the world, peaceable and perfect in all good
things, as befits one to whom the order and place of God has been
entrusted.
Moreover it is best that he should have no wife, and so remain.
Otherwise that he has been the husband of one wife only, so that he
may sympathize with the weakness of the widows. He should be
appointed when of middle age, and not a youth. If he is so, he should
receive laying on of hands on the first day of the week while all who
participate in his appointment give testimony on his behalf together
with all the presbyters and together with all the bishops who are in
attendance.
concerning the election of presbyters

A presbyter should be ordained on the testimony of all the people with
regard to those things which were mentioned above with regard to
bishops: wise in readings, humble, gentle, poor, no lover of money,
hard-working in the service of the weak, proven as pure, without fault;
whether he has been as a father to the orphans; whether he has served
the poor, whether he has not absented himself from the church, who
is noble in piety in all things.
If he is so, so he is worthy. Those things which are useful and suit-
able are revealed to us by God; thus it is with regard to those who are
held worthy of the gift of healing.
that a presbyter should teach; and also whom and

on the basis of what experience
However, the teaching of the presbyter should be suitable and apt,
gentle, temperate too, mingled with fear and trembling, in conform-
ity moreover with that of the bishop. And in their teaching they
should not teach vanity, but the hearers should keep all that they hear,
so that the presbyter may say that they have remembered all that he
7
)M( hLK nM. This could mean ‘from all the people’, but such a reading is
unlikely. A similar point is raised by the corresponding direction in TA, from which this
section is ultimately derived.
264
APPENDIX
has taught. For in the day of the Lord a word will be required of him
as he will bear witness for the people, so that they who have not
listened should be punished, and so that he may, himself, rise up
before the glory of the Father. And when he speaks he should do so in
accordance with his teaching, so that by teaching he does not perish.
He should pray on behalf of his listeners that the Lord should give
them understanding of the spirit of the knowledge of truth, so that he
should not pointlessly be throwing a pearl before swine, but may
prove that they who have listened and laboured are worthy, lest the
word should not bear fruit in them, but perish, and he must account
for its perdition.
concerning the election of deacons

A deacon should be ordained when he has been elected in accordance
with all the things which were said above. If his conduct is good, if he
is chaste (if he is being elected on account of his chastity or on account
of his indifference to attraction; otherwise he should be married to a
single wife). He should be one to whom all the faithful bear witness
that he is not entangled with worldly concerns, who knows no devil-
ish craft, who has neither riches nor sons. And if he has sons it is also
right that they should learn the loveliness of piety, that they should be
pure, that they should beautify the church and the canon of service.
The church, however, should support them so that they may continue
in the law and in labouring in service; so should he not fulfill in the
church those things which are right?
His service should be of this nature: firstly the proclamation of
whatever is commanded by the bishop so that this may be done above
all else; he shall be the counsellor of all the clergy and the council of
the church.8 He it is who serves the sick, who serves the strangers, who
assists the widows. He visits all the houses of the needy lest there
should be any in distress, or sickness, or affliction. He visits all the
houses of the catechumens so that he may strengthen those who are in
doubt, and teach anyone who is in ignorance. He is to dress dead men,
having laid them out, and bury strangers, those who are away from
their dwellings, wayfarers or captives. The care of those in need is his
concern, and he should inform the church about them.
8
Reading here )rz) with Testamentum Domini, as against the MSS of DA which
read r)z); this would mean he shall be the counsellor of all the clergy and the sacra-
ment (conceivably, ‘symbol’) of the church.
265
what is right for those who are sons of the church

Twelve presbyters should be known in the church, seven deacons and
four9 subdeacons. However, let there be three widows who are seated
at the front.10 One from among the deacons, who is held of them to be
most painstaking and careful, should be chosen to be the one who
receives strangers in the house which is the church’s inn. He should be
clad at all times in white garments, with only a stole upon his
shoulder. He is the eye of the church in all things, as with reverence he
represents in a type the people which is outstanding in piety.
the teaching of the twelve holy apostles11

12
Rejoice, sons and daughters in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. John
and Matthew and Peter and Andrew and Philip and Simon and James
and Nathanael and Thomas and Kephas and Bartholomew and Jude the
son of James13 were gathered together at the command of our Lord Jesus
Christ our Saviour. Just as he commanded us: ‘Before you are ready to
make any assignations to provinces you are to count the number of the
places, the jurisdictions of the bishops, the seats of the presbyters, the
constancy of the deacons, the admonitions of the readers, the blameless-
ness of the widows and all that is rightful for the foundation and
constitution of the church, that thus they may know the type of things
heavenly. They should be careful in guarding themselves against every
error, mindful that, on the great day of judgement, they shall have to give
account of what they heard and did not keep.’ And he commanded us to
establish his demands everywhere. Thus it seemed to us, with regard to
reminding and advising the brotherhood, that, just as Our Lord revealed
to each of us these words of remembrance through the Holy Spirit in
accordance with the will of God, so we should command you.
9
So the text. The Coptic and Arabic versions read ‘fourteen’, which is more likely.
The scribal error is easily explained. Rahmani, the editor of Testament Domini suggests
‘readers’.
10 So the text. Again the Coptic and Arabic versions read ‘thirteen’, which Vööbus
(1979b), 30, prefers. However, K 21 codifies the appointment of three widows, so the
number at this point may well be correct.
11
As already noted, this is a version of the two ways from K from which the latter
part, regarding ministries in the church, has mostly been omitted. To this cf. the Greek
text, ed. Stewart-Sykes (2006).
12 Reading wdh, in keeping with Greek, rather than the wzh (look!) of the MSS.
This, rendering xai/rete, is a regular epistolary greeting.

13 There is some dissension among the manuscripts in the order of these names.
The order given here is that of the Greek text, followed by some Syriac manuscripts.
266
APPENDIX
John said: ‘Men, brothers, since we are aware that we are to give an
account of what was commanded us, we should not be acceptors of
persons, but if anyone seems to say anything which is not fitting,
somebody should speak up in opposition to him.’ They all agreed that
John should speak first.
John said: ‘There are two ways: the one of life and the other of
death. However, there are many differences between these two ways.
The way of life is thus: firstly you shall love God who made you with
all your heart, and you shall glorify him who has redeemed you from
death; this indeed is the first commandment. The second, however:
you shall love your neighbour like your own life; this indeed is the sec-
ond commandment. On these depend all the law and the prophets.’
Matthew said: ‘Whatever you would not have done to you, do not
to others. Do not do to others that which you hate. Brother Peter: tell
the teaching of these sayings.’
Peter said: ‘You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You
shall not fornicate. You shall not corrupt a boy. You shall not steal. You
shall not practise divination. You shall not practise magic. You shall
not kill a child through abortion, nor kill him after birth. You shall not
covet what belongs to your neighbour. You shall not act against your
oaths. You shall not witness falsely. You shall not speak wickedly. You
shall not store up wrongs. You shall not be double-minded nor double-
tongued, for being double-tongued is a snare of death. Your words
should not be empty or false. You shall not be rapacious or grasping,
also not a respecter of persons, nor malevolent, nor boastful, nor shall
you plot evil against your neighbour. You shall hate no man, but some
you shall reprove and some you shall pity. Concerning them, however,
you shall pray; and love them more than your own life.’
Andrew said: ‘My son, flee from all evil and from everything like to
it. Do not be prone to anger, since anger leads to murder, for anger is
a male demon. Do not be jealous, nor quarrelsome, nor hot-blooded.
For murder comes about from these.’
Philip said: ‘My son, do not be lustful, for lust leads to fornication,
and draws men toward herself, for lust is a female demon. The one
with anger, the other with sweetness, destroy those into whom they
enter. The path of an evil demon is a sin of the soul. And even should
it have a narrow entrance it enlarges it for itself, and leads that soul
into all manner of evil and does not allow the man to look and see
what is true. Let wrath within you have a measure to it, bring it
instantly under control and suppress it, lest it force you to do evil. For
267
anger, and the enjoyment of evil, when they remain in a man for a
period, become demons. And, when a man allows them, they swell up
in his soul, growing greater, leading him to works of wickedness,
laughing at him and rejoicing in the destruction of a man.’
Simon said: ‘My son, do not utter obscenity, nor lift up the eyes;
from these adulteries come about.’14
James said: ‘My son, do not practise divination, for this will lead
you to the worship of idols, nor be a charmer, nor teach foreign or
pagan teachings, nor a purifier, nor desire to see nor hear such things.
From all of these comes the worship of idols.’
Nathanael said: ‘My son, do not be deceitful, for deceit leads to
theft, nor a lover of money, nor glory in vain things, for theft comes
from all of these. My son, do not be a grumbler, for grumbling leads
on to blasphemy. Do not be overbearing or arrogant, nor plan evil,15
for from all these come blasphemies. Rather be humble and gentle, for
those who are humble and gentle will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
Be patient, merciful, a peacemaker, pure of any evil in your heart,
innocent and quiet.16 It is good that you should observe the words
which you have heard in trembling. Do not exalt yourself, nor spend
your life with the haughty, but with the righteous, and be concerned
with the poor. Whatever befall you count as goodness, since you know
that nothing occurs without God.’
Thomas said: ‘My son, you shall love as the apple of your eye the
one who speaks the Word of God to you, and is the cause of your life,
and who gives you the seal that is of Christ. You shall remember him
by night and by day, moreover you should honour him as God, for
wherever what is of the Lord is spoken, the Lord is there. Each day you
should seek his face, as of the rest of the saints, so that you may find
refreshment. Indeed, you are sanctified through being joined to the
saints. You shall honour him as you are able through your sweat, and
through the labour of your hands. For if the Lord has held you worthy
to receive through him spiritual food and drink and everlasting life, so
14
A significantly different text is represented by some manuscripts; Simon the
Zealot is introduced before Simon, and he gives a declaration almost identical to that
of James found below. Then they go on to James: ‘James said: ‘My son, do not be a
speaker of words which are obscene or foolish. For these take you far from God. Nor
be one who lifts up eyes, for whoever lifts up eyes falls away from God. Do not desire
the wife of your friend. Do not long for sodomy, since from these come about adulter-
ies and the wrath of God.’ This is not represented in the Greek text.
15 Syr. here takes the Greek ponhro ’ frwn as ponhrofronw~n.
16
Some MSS add ‘and sober’, a reading unsupported by the Greek.
268
APPENDIX
much the more should you offer him perishable and temporal food,
for ‘the labourer is worthy of his wage’,17 and ‘you shall not muzzle a
threshing ox’,18 and ‘nobody plants a vineyard and does not eat from
its fruit.’19
Kephas20 said: ‘Do not make schisms, but reconcile those who are
quarrelling; judging justly, have no regard for persons in reproving any
man who is a wrongdoer. For wealth is of no advantage with the Lord,
nor do those with authority have any preference or honour, nor is
beauty an advantage, but with him all are equal. Do not be divided in
your prayer as to whether it shall be or whether it should not be. Do
not be stretching out your hand to receive, while closing the hand that
gives. If you have anything in your hands give it as a redemption for
your sins. And do not be divided when you give, and do not grumble
when you give; know who it is that is the good payer of your reward.
Do not turn your face from anyone in need, but share with your
brother in all things and do not claim anything as your own. For if you
share in that which is immortal, how much the more in those which
are perishable?’
Bartholomew said: ‘We are persuading you, brothers, while there is
time, and while you have among you those things with which you
labour, do not spare yourselves nor anything that is yours, for the day
of the Lord is approaching, when all these will be destroyed, along
with the evil one. For Our Lord will come, and his reward with him.
Legislate for yourselves, be good counsellors for yourselves, taught of
God. Observe what you have received, adding nothing to them, nor
taking anything away from them.’
James21 said: ‘Let a reader be appointed, after being tested by much
examination, not talkative, not a drunkard, not somebody who speaks
jests. Whose conduct is worthy, whose disposition is worthy, persuad-
able, whose intention is worthy, who is pre-eminent in the assembly of
17
Lk 10:7; 1 Tim 5:18.
18
Dt 25:4; 1 Cor 9:9; 1 Tim 5:18.
19
1 Cor. 9:7.
20 Some MSS have ‘Jude, the son of James.’ This figure appears among the twelve
in the Greek version, but has nothing to say! This would appear to be a rationalization
of a confusing situation; originally only eleven disciples stood in the source but the
number has been made up to twelve.
21 Some MSS have ‘Matthias’. Since this is a single canon from a longer set
concerning offices, in which the apostles speak a second time, this is a rationalization
intended to assign a single speech to each apostle, and therefore adding Matthias.
Note that Matthias does not appear in the opening list of apostles!
269
the Lord on the first day of the week, who is worthy in listening, and
skilful in storytelling, who knows that he is labouring in the place of
an evangelist. For he who fills the ears of the ignorant shall be consid-
ered as inscribed before God.’
of paul the apostle concerning the times of prayer22

Complete prayer at dawn, at the third hour, at the sixth hour, and at
the ninth hour, and in the evening, and when you go to sleep, that is
compline,23 and at cockcrow. In the morning to thank God who has
caused the night to pass and has brought in the day. At the third hour
because at this time Our Lord received sentence from Pilate. In that of
the sixth hour because at this time Christ was crucified. All creatures
were shaken, trembling at the presumption of the acts of the wicked
Jews. He was pierced in the side by a lance, and blood and water
flowed forth. At the ninth hour because when Our Lord was crucified
the sun was darkened in the midst of noon, and the dead rose from
their tombs, and creatures were afraid to look upon the shame of Our
Lord; and also (because) he delivered his spirit into the hand of his
Father. At evening to thank God, who has given us the night to rest
from the labours of the day. In that of compline that you may sleep
peacefully and rest from work. But pray that you should not depart
this world in restful sleep. And if it should so happen, the prayer that
you have prayed will assist you in the way of eternity. And at cockcrow,
because this is the time which announces to us the beginning of the
day, and service in the deeds of light.
commandments from the writing of addai the apostle24

1: The apostles therefore decreed: Pray towards the east, since ‘just
as the lightning lights up the east and is seen in the west, so shall be the
coming of the son of man.’ From this we know and should understand
that he appears without warning from the east.
2: Again the apostles decreed: That there shall be a liturgy on the
first day of the week, and the reading from the Holy Scriptures, and
22
Although there is some similarity between this and a similar statement of the
significance of the hours of prayer in TA 41, which was subsequently adapted in Testa-
mentum Domini, this is a distinct version.
23 Literally, ‘Covering’, because Ps 91, which begins with this word, was said.
24 These canons are found attached to the Doctrina Addaei, a document telling of
the conversion of the King of Edessa by Addai, and generally dated to the early fifth
century. The attached canons, however, may be even later.
270
APPENDIX
the offering, because Our Lord rose from among the dead on the first
day of the week, and he showed himself to the world on the first day
of the week, and he ascended to heaven on the first day of the week,25
and he will appear at the last with the angels of heaven on the first day
of the week.
3: Again the apostles decreed: That there shall be a service on the
fourth day of the week,ref. for it was on this day that Our Lord explained
about his trial, and about his sufferings, and his crucifixion, and his death
and his resurrection, and his disciples were saddened on this account.
4: Again the apostles decreed: There shall be a service on the day of
preparation at the ninth hour, since what was said on the fourth day of
the week concerning the suffering of our Saviour occurred on the day
of preparation, when the words and the creatures trembled, and the
lights of the heavens were darkened.
5: Again the apostles decreed: There shall be presbyters, and dea-
cons like the Levites, and subdeacons like those who carried the vessels
of the court of the Lord’s sanctuary, and a watchman, the guide of all
the people, like Aaron, the head and the chief of all the priests and
Levites in the whole camp.26
6: Again the apostles decreed: Observe the day of the Epiphany of
our Saviour, which is the chief of the festivals of the church, on the
sixth day of January according to the long reckoning of the Greeks.27
7: Again the apostles decreed: Forty days before the passion of our
Saviour shall be spent in fasting; then you shall keep the day of the
passion and the day of the resurrection. Because Our Lord likewise,
the Lord of the festival, was fasting for forty days. Moses and Elijah,
who were endued with this mystery, also fasted forty days, and were
then illuminated.
8: Again the apostles decreed: At the conclusion of all the Scrip-
tures the Gospel shall be read as the seal of all the Scriptures. And also
that all the people should listen to it standing on their feet, since it is
the tidings of the salvation of all people.
25 Celebration of the Ascension on the fortieth day of Eastertide (a Thursday) is a
later custom; previously it had been observed on the Pentecost, always a Sunday as
here, and as prescribed in canon 9 below.
26 Reading )tYr$M with all but one MS, which reads ‘town’ ()tNYDM); this
latter reading is preferred by Vööbus (1979b), 37.

27 Some MSS so amend this canon as to make it apply to Christmas on 25th Dec.
This, however, was a later festival to be established in the east.

Ref:
Many manuscripts clarify that this is a liturgy of the offering.
271
9: Again the apostles decreed: That at the end of fifty days after his
resurrection you should commemorate his ascension to his glorious
Father.
10: The apostles decreed: That apart from the Old Testament, the
prophets and the Gospel, the acts of their triumphs, there shall be
nothing read upon the bēma of the church.
11: Again the apostles decreed: That anyone who does not know the
faith of the church, and its organization, and the laws which are estab-
lished in her, shall not be a leader or a ruler. And that anyone who is
aware of them and who acts contrary to them shall cease to serve, as he
is no longer accepted in his ministry on account of his deception.
12: Again the apostles decreed: That anyone who swears, or lies, or
who bears false witness, or who resorts to magicians, or charmers or
Chaldaeans, or who puts his trust in fates or in horoscopes, which are
things in which those who know not God put their faith, should be
accounted as a man who does not know God, and should be deposed
from his ministry and not serve.
13: Again the apostles decreed: If any man is uncertain about the
ministry and is not faithful to it, he shall not continue to serve, as he
is not faithful to the Lord of ministry, and although he may deceive
men, he does not deceive God, ‘who is not duped by cunning plots.’28
14: Again the apostles decreed: Anyone who is a lender and receives
interest, and is occupied with trade and usury shall not continue to
serve and shall not remain in ministry.
15: Again the apostles decreed: That anyone who loves the Jews as
Iscariot loved them, or worships creatures instead of the creator, shall
not go among them and serve; if he is already among them they shall
not depart from him, but he will separate himself from them and will
not continue to serve.
16: Again the apostles decreed: If anyone should come from the
Jews or the pagans and join himself to them and if, when he has joined
himself to them he turns and goes back again to the side where he was,
and if he turns again and comes to them a second time, he shall not be
received again, but those who know him should regard him as on the
side which he was in the first place.
17: Again the apostles decreed: It is not permitted to a leader to
conduct the affairs of the church without reference to those who serve
alongside him, but he should take counsel of them all in his directions,
and that something should be done when all agree and none dissent.
28
1 Sam. 2:3.
272
APPENDIX
18: Again the apostles decreed: That you should make commemo-
ration of any who departs this world with a good testimony to the
faith of Christ and in affliction on account of his name, on the day on
which they were killed.
19: Again the apostles decreed: In the services of the church you will
recite the ‘praises’ of David day by day, on account of this: ‘I shall bless the
Lord at all times, and at all times his praises are in my mouth’29 and ‘by
day and by night will I meditate and make my voice heard before you.’30
20: Again the apostles decreed: It is those who renounce mammon
and do not pursue the gain of wealth who are to be chosen and
brought to the service of the altar.
21: Again the apostles decreed: Any priest who happens to bind,
contrary to righteousness, shall receive punishment in righteousness.
But the one who has been bound shall receive his binding as though
the binding were correct.
22: Again the apostles decreed: If it appears that those who are
accustomed to hear court cases are respecters of persons, convicting
those who are innocent and pardoning those who are guilty, they shall
not hear any trial again, receiving the punishment which is due to
them on account of their respect of persons.
23: Again the apostles decreed: Those who are haughty, and are
lifted up in the arrogance of pride shall not be admitted to the ministry,
on account of this: ‘Whatever is highly regarded by men is loathsome
to God.’31 And against them is said: ‘I will gain recompense against
those who conduct themselves with grandeur.’32
24: Again the apostles decreed: There shall be a superintendent
over the elders who are in the villages, and he shall be recognized as
head of them all, and all shall be required at his hand. For Samuel also
went from place to place in this manner, giving directions.
25: Again the apostles decreed: Such kings as hereafter believe in
Christ shall be entitled to go up and stand before the altar of the
church alongside the leaders of the church, since David, and those
who were like him, would go up and stand before the altar.
26: Again the apostles decreed: No man should dare act in the
authority of the priesthood contrary to what is just and right, but with
justice and without blame for respecting persons.
29
Ps 44:1.
30 Ps 1:2.
31 Lk 16:15.
32 Is 2:12.
273
27: Again the apostles decreed: That the bread of the offering
should be placed on the altar on the same day that it is baked, and not
after several days, which is not authorized.
again, a little of the canons of the apostles and the fathers,

through which the church of christ is truly united33
To all who agree in everything with us, in orthodox faith and in the
apostolic laws; the venerable bishops, the splendid priests and the pure
deacons and the faithful and Christ-loving people, together with the
rest of the ecclesiastical order, and the sons of the Lord who dwell in all
the various provinces, or rather sojourning there, as their true home is
in the Lord. Amen.
Since, beloved, we are thus sons and heirs of the prophetic and
apostolic laws which continually charge and admonish us at all times
to learn the way which is straight and noble and to walk in it, we have
drawn up twenty canons for you, and they are these:
Canon 1: A man shall not take a wife, and his son her
daughter.
Canon 2: Not should a man (take) a girl (in marriage) and
his son the girl’s mother.
Canon 3: Nor a man and his two sisters, or two daughters
of his father’s brother.
Canon 4: Nor two brothers a woman and her daughter.
Canon 5: Nor shall a man take a woman and give his
daughter to her son.
Canon 6: Nor a man a woman and give his daughter to
her brother.
Canon 7: Nor a man a woman and give his daughter to
her father.
Canon 8: Nor shall a man take the sister of his wife or the
daughter of her sister.
Canon 9: Nor a man the wife of the brother of his wife.
Canon 10: Nor the wife of a brother of his son’s wife.
Canon 11: Nor is a man bound to the wife of a paternal
uncle.
33
Although these canons are found elsewhere, ascribed to a certain Yohanan,
nothing is known of their date or provenance. Their intent would seem to be to regu-
late marriage and sponsorship for baptism in such a way as to ensure that families did
not organize marriages as a means of keeping wealth within a family or allow it to pass
outside of the catholic community.
274
APPENDIX
Canon 12: Nor is the wife of a maternal uncle lawful.

Canon 13: Nor should a man take the daughter of his
brother’s wife.
Canon 14: Nor should anyone take a (baptismal) sponsor
from among men for three generations.
Canon 15: Nor the brothers of the sponsor for two
generations.
Canon 16: Nor should anyone take a sponsor closely related
to him in the family for five generations.
Canon 17: Nor should a presbyter baptize his bodily child,
unless death should threaten the child and no
other presbyter is there to baptize him.
Canon 18: A man should not confirm the engagement of
a woman except before the presbyters and dea-
cons, and before free persons who are credible.
Canon 19: Anyone who engages himself to a fiancée shall
have no authority over the girl, nor shall he look
upon her face, until he has fulfilled to her all
obligations of the order of Christians. Then she
should enter his house.
Canon 20: A Christian is not allowed to give a woman to
any sort of marriage with a Nestorian or with a
people outside our fold, or to a heretic, or to
anyone whose faith is different from ours.
We have determined and established these things for you as for

beloved and obedient sons. And so you should keep them and act in
accordance with them. Also observe the canons, spoken by the Spirit;
in them you shall be kept, and in this world you shall be blessed, and
in that which is coming you shall be saved. You shall find rest in the
Kingdom of Our Lord by pleasing him in good works.
275
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Wortgottesdienstes in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, WUNT 2 Reihe
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Schlarb, Cornelia (1995) ‘Die (un)gebändigte Witwe: exegetische Über-
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Münster.
Schmidt, Carl (1919) Gespräche Jesu mit seinen Jüngern nach der Auferstehung,
TU 43, Leipzig.
Schöllgen, Georg (1987) ‘Die literarische Gattung der syrischen
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— (1991) ‘Die Kapiteleinteilung der syrischen Didaskalie,’ in Tesserae: Festschrift
für Josef Engemann, JAC Ergänzungsband 18, Münster, 373‒379.
—(1995) ‘Balnea mixta: Entwicklungen der spätantiken Bademoral im
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Ergänzungsband 22, Münster, 182‒194.
— (1998) Die Anfänge der Professionalisierung des Klerus und das kirchliche
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Schwartz, Eduard (1905) Christliche und jüdische Ostertafeln, Berlin.
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Strecker, G. (1971) ‘On the problem of Jewish Christianity,’ in W. Bauer, Ortho-

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282
INDICES
1. Nominum
2: Locorum
2a: Scripture
2b: Anonymous Church order literature
2c: Roman legislative sources
2d: Rabbinic literature
2e: Church councils
2f: Other early Jewish and Christian writings
2g: Other ancient writings
283
Index.qxd:index 5/12/09 10:59 AM Page 285
INDICES
1: Index Nominum 107, 108, 109, 114, 115,

Achelis, H.: 5, 6, 8, 17, 54, 56, 118, 121, 131, 137, 139,
61, 62, 64, 66, 72, 73, 81, 146, 152, 175, 181, 184,
83, 118, 120, 121, 123, 126, 187, 188, 192, 194, 196,
129, 131, 157, 181, 184, 198, 204, 206, 207, 214,
192, 194, 204, 205, 223, 215, 223, 226, 229, 231,
232, 238, 248, 253, 257 235, 237, 239, 244, 245,
Andreau, Jean: 159 247, 250, 251, 252, 253,
Audet, J-P: 16 254, 255, 257, 258, 259, 261
Auon, Marc: 133 Corssen, P.: 115
Cox, James J. C.: 49, 103
Bartlet, J.V. : 13, 17, 63, 81, 83, 89, Cumont, Franz: 197
Barton, John: 8
Battifol, P.: 47, Eyben, Emiel: 118
Bauman, Richard A.: 171
Bernhard, Jean: 81, 86 Faivre, A.: 6, 146, 150
Beaucamp, Pierre: 82 Faivre C.: vide sub Faivre, A.
Blokscha, J.: 118 Favazza, J.A.: 85
Bötticher, Paul: vide sub Flemming, J.: vide sub Achelis, H.
Lagarde, Paulus Fonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva: 24,
Bradshaw, P.F.: 5, 6, 7, 15, 78, 161 32, 70–71, 150, 246, 251, 254
Brent, Allen: 62, 151 Funk, F.X.: 50, 51, 52, 81, 82, 91,
Brock, Sebastian: 75 117, 134, 155, 166, 180,
184, 196, 210, 215, 217, 223
Camplani, A.: 90, 115
Clarke, G.: 78 Galtier, P.: 20, 49–50, 54, 81, 87
Connolly, R.H.: 6, 13, 16, 17, 21, Gamber, Klaus: 45, 49
48, 51, 53, 54, 55, 62, 72, Garrow, A.J.P.: 16
78, 82, 89–90, 103, 104, Gerlach, Karl: 34, 48, 263
285
INDICES
Gibson, Margaret Dunlop: 5 Rahner, K.: 85

Gryson, Roger: 63 Rajak, Tessa: 67
Renhart, Erich: 262
Harnack, Adolf: 5, 7, 13, 60, 71, Revillout, Eugène: 47
81, 117, 153 Rouwhorst, G.A.M.: 21, 34–41,
Hatch, E.: 60 52, 218
Hauler, E.: 5, 49, 103, 259
Hayman, A.P.: 33 Salzmann, J.C.: 73, 79
Hilhorst, A.: 51 Schiffmann, Lawrence H.: 53
Holl, Karl: 41–42, 197 Schlarb, Cornelia: 68, 151, 184, 193
Holzhey, C.: 5, 6, 8, 12, 15–17, Schmidt, Carl: 33, 43
55, 197 Schöllgen, Georg: 3, 49, 50, 62,
66, 67, 68, 87, 109, 115,
Johnson, M.E.: vide sub 116, 120, 146, 151, 152,
Bradshaw, P.F. 153, 157, 177, 182, 184
Schwartz, Eduard: 5, 20, 34, 35,
Koch, D-A: vide sub Barton, J. 37, 41, 42, 43, 49, 81, 87
Setzer, Claudia: 53
Lagarde, Paulus: 5, 126, 198 Stark, Rodney: 53
Lietzmann, H.: 60 Stewart-Sykes, Alistair: 3, 5, 7, 16,
Lieu, Judith M.: 54 47, 66, 78, 80, 119, 220, 266
Luce, T.J.: 9 Strecker, G.: 71, 72,
Strobel, A.: 95
Malherbe, Abraham J.: 84
Marmorstein, A.: 32 Taft, Robert F.: 262
Methuen, Charlotte: 63–64, Thurston, Bonnie
66–67, 69, 70 Bowman: 151
Metzger, M. : 78 Tidner, E.: 5, 90, 91, 115
Mosiek, U.: 86 Torjeson, Karen Jo: 68, 69, 87
Mueller, Joseph G., 3, 4
Mühlsteiger, Johannes: 49 Visotzky, Burton L.: 32, 224,
Myers, Susan E.: 74 239, 240
Volp, Ulrich: 80
Nau, F.: 5, 6, 17, 22, 25–26, Vööbus, Arthur: 4, 48, 83, 89,
62, 110, 223 90, 91, 95, 112, 114, 121,
Nestle, E.: 115, 139, 146 126, 139, 142, 173, 181, 184,
Niederwimmer, Kurt: 16 192, 193, 204, 207, 209, 214,
218, 223, 232, 237, 238, 244,
Osiek, Carolyn: 66, 151 250, 256, 257, 258, 261, 262,
263, 266, 271
Parrott, Douglas M.: 51
Pelling, C.B.R.: 9 White, L. Michael: 175
Penn, Michael: 63, 64, 65, 66 Wilken, R.L.: 53
Phillips, L.E.: vide sub Bradshaw, P.F. Winkler, Gabriele: 74, 75
286
INDICES
Yegül, Fikret: 116 18:1: 133

18:1–32: 147–149
2: Index Locorum 18:8–31: 146
19:9: 249
2a: Scripture 24:9: 105, 191, 255
Gen 1:1: 247 25:1–2: 225
1:3: 209
1:5: 216, 147 Dt 1:16: 170
2:2: 246 1:17: 163
4:7: 131 5:21: 104
9:6: 164 6:4: 123
9:20–27: 127 6:19: 212
19:15: 160
Ex 2:14: 221 21:22–23: 242
4:21: 242 23:18: 199
4:22: 247 24:16: 126
7:1: 154 25:4: 146, 260
12:3: 37 27:26: 249
12:6: 220 29:18: 144
13:2: 247 32:21: 212
13:12: 247 32:43: 233
16:8: 154
20:10: 248 1 Sam. 2:3: 272
20:17: 104 8:10–17: 156
20:24–25: 240
22:28: 154 1 Kg 17:8–24: 182
23:8: 163
23:15: 159 2 Kg 11:21: 118
29:13: 250 13:21: 256
21:1: 118
Lev 15: 251 21:1–17: 141–143
21:17: 120 21:19: 144
26:23–24, 27–28: 166
2 Chr 33:1–33: 141–143
Num 3:32: 150
5:16: 150 2 Esd 1:4: 239
12:1: 225
12:14: 131 Tob 4:15: 104, 192
14:2: 154
16:1: 224 Job 14:4–5: 133, 211
16:32–35: 226
16:36–38: 226 Ps 1:2: 244, 273
16:26: 227 2:3: 245
16:34: 227 2:7: 155
287
INDICES
2:10–12: 212 23:14: 223

4:5: 172 26:2: 192
6:5: 126 26:7: 170
18:7: 238 27:25–26: 121
23:1: 248 29:17: 223
31:1–2: 210 31:10–31: 113
38:6: 215
44:1: 273 Sir 2:1: 124
50:6: 133 7:25: 195
67:15–16: 228
67:18: 217 Is 1:7: 196
67:34: 175 1:11–14: 243
68:34: 157 1:16: 232
73:4: 216 1:17: 163, 170
73:19: 126 2:2–3: 228
89:4: 247 2:6: 227
91: 270 2:12: 273
3:8: 228
Prov 3:9: 200 5:6: 228
5:1–14: 111 5:18: 246, 255
5:22: 127 6:9–10: 242
6:6–8 181 6:9–11: 186
6:8: 192 8:18: 228
6:8–11: 182 9:1–2: 218
6:14: 169 18:6: 132
6:22: 251 26:18–19: 207
7:1–27: 110 27:11: 180
9:13–18: 114 29:13: 158
10:18: 192 40:5: 210
10:19: 185 42:7: 157
11:22: 114 42:19: 246
11:25–26: 157 43:18–19: 238
12:4: 114 43:19: 248
12:28: 172 45:9–10: 158
13:24: 223 49:9: 157
14:12: 236 50:20, 23: 163
15:1: 120 52:5: 116
15:17: 199 53:2–5: 147
18:3: 114 53:11: 195
19:14: 232 53:12: 147
20:9: 211 54:14: 199
20:22: 105 57:1–2: 211
21:9, 19: 114, 116 57:12: 242
22:10: 165 58:6: 170
288
INDICES
58:4–5: 215 Dan 12:2–3: 206

58:6: 172 13: 170
58:7: 183
58:13: 222 Hos 1:10: 156
59:7–8: 139 2:17: 212
61:2–3: 217 4:9: 122
62:11: 127
63:10: 218 Joel 2:13: 232
65:1: 217 2:28: 228
65:2–3: 217
66:2: 119 Hab 1:5: 208
66:5: 217
66:10: 217 Zech 8:16: 163
8:19: 215
Jer 1:11–12: 224 12:12–13: 222
2:11: 179
3:16: 246 Mal 2:14–15: 257
4:3–4: 232 4:6: 239
5:7: 212
6:1–2: 212 Mt 5:4: 216
6:20: 243 5:5: 119
7:21–22: 243 5:7: 119
8:4–5: 126 5:8: 119
10:2: 181, 212 5:9: 119, 167
17:12: 228 5:11: 124, 203
23:15: 227 5:17: 239
23:19: 258 5:18: 239
27:17: 196 5:20: 158
5:22: 155, 172
Ez 5:7: 179 5:23–24: 172
8:16–18: 213 5:27: 104
13:1–32: 127–129 5:44: 105, 216
14:9: 144 6:1: 190
14:12–14: 126 6:2: 191
20:10–11: 245 6:3: 166, 167
20:25: 245 6:10: 173
33:1–6: 122 6:12: 140
33:7–9: 123 6:20: 159
33:10–11: 125, 138 7:1: 159
33:12–19: 130 7:2: 163, 168
34:1–31: 134–136 7:3, 5: 131
34: 3: 135 7:6: 185
34:4, 5: 139 7:15–16: 235
37:1–14 207 9:2: 138
289
INDICES
9:12: 138 23:18–22: 252

10:5: 181, 236 23:38: 228
10:10: 145 24:7: 142
10:13: 192 24:11: 237
10:23: 203 24:24: 235
10:24: 249 25:30: 258
10:28: 203 25:34–40: 202
10:32: 202 25:41: 258
10:33: 205 26:41: 204
10:37: 205 27:24: 171, 220
10:37–39: 203 27:25: 221
10:39: 205 27:51: 228
11:15: 123 27:56: 194
11:28: 244 28:1–2: 214
11:28–30: 157, 234
12:20: 178
Mk 1:.44: 239
12:31–32: 236
2:17: 162
12:36: 117
2:18–20: 213
12:43–45: 253
12:30: 158
13:2: 251
12:41–44: 188
13:15–16: 242
13:31: 184
16:6: 236 Lk 2:23: 247
17:20: 186 2:36–38: 182
17:30: 174 3:13: 161
18:7: 227 3:22: 155
18:10: 132 6:27–28: 105
18:12–13: 138 6:28: 191
18:15–17: 87, 160 6:30: 183
18:16–17: 161 6:37: 164
18:18: 125, 133 6:37–38: 140
18:19: 186 6:46: 248
18:21–22: 167 9:26: 203
19:4–6: 232 10:7: 269
19:19: 159 10:16: 137, 154
19:21: 158 12:48: 133
20:16: 247 14:11: 119
20:26–28: 194 16:15: 273
20:32: 236 19:2–10: 161
21:13: 132 21:18–19: 206
21:21: 186 22:1: 216
22:21: 167
22:31–33: 256 Jn 8:3–11: 144
23:6: 177 10:1: 175
290
INDICES
13:4–5: 195 1 Jn 1:1: 210

13:14 195 5:7: 160
Act 8:18–23. 2b: Anonymous Church order liter-

10:9–16 ature (apart from DA and CA)
10:41 Canones apostolorum 64: 223
10:44–48
15:1–2 Canones Hippolyti 22: 52
15:4–5 33: 80
15:7–11
15:8–11 D 1.2: 104
15:13–29 1.3: 16, 17, 104, 105
15:25 1.5.
2.3–7: 15
1 Cor 9:9: 146, 269 2.4: 121
11:3: 112 2.7: 87
3.2: 104
Eph 4:26: 172 3.7–8: 15
5:22: 112 4.2: 107
5.2: 104
Phil 3:19: 187 8.1: 42
9–10: 17, 78
2 Thes 3:10: 182 13.3: 150
15.1: 121
1 Tim 3:2–3: 119 16.3: 237
3:2: 117, 145 16.6: 239
3:3: 121
3:4: 119 K 1: 229, 262
3:6 119 12: 151, 155
5:10: 182 15: 111
5:11–12: 183 16: 12–14
5:17: 143 17–18: 62, 175
5:18: 146, 269 20: 194
21: 66, 194, 266
2 Tim 2:22: 117 22: 185
26: 185
Jas 1:12: 124
2:19: 210 TA 2: 264
5:14: 188 7.2: 153
16: 198
1 Pet 2:12: 195 19.1: 188
4:8: 120 25: 78
30: 45, 152
2 Pet 3:9: 173 35/41: 178, 251, 270
291
INDICES
Testamentum Domini 1.16: 185 Nicaea I (325): canon 8: 86

1.19: 63 canon 11: 82
1.23: 63, Gangra (ca 343) canon 14: 223
79, 173 Laodicea (361) canon 7: 87
2.8: 63 canon 13: 116
canon 29: 53
2c: Roman legislative sources Trullo (692) canon 55: 223
Codex Theodosianus 9.3.7: 201
Codex Justinianus 2.55.1: 59
Digesta 1.16.6.3: 58 2f: Other early Jewish and
4.1: 59 Christian writings
48.3.8: 201 Anon.:
Novella 6.4: 117 1QS 3.13: 16
2d: Rabbinic literature 2 Clement 13.2: 116

Leviticus Rabbah 19.2: 239
27.8: 249 Acta Johannis 72: 80
Midrash Tehilim 5.1: 150 85–6: 80
Mishnah Ketuboth 5.5: 112
Sanhedrin 10.1: 71 Acta Pauli 8: 71, 230
Targum of ps-Jonathan on Dt
28:9: 180 Acta Petri 23: 229
TB Berakoth 27B: 118 32: 230
Shabbath 118A–B: 39
Pesahim 68B: 39 Acta Pilati 9.5: 171
Nazir 5B–6A: 215
Baba Qamma 82A: 168 Acta Sharbil: 171
Sanhedrin 32A: 171
34A: 171 Acta Thomae 1: 229
40A–41A: 170 27: 54, 75
Menahoth 65B: 164 121: 54, 75
Hullin 24B: 118 132–3: 54, 75
Bekhoroth 20B: 215 144: 140
Niddah 33A: 215 147: 184
67B: 251 157: 54, 75
Derekh Eretz Rabbah
2.16: 224 CII 587: 118
Tos. Berakoth 2.12–13: 251
Sukkah 4.6: 177 Evangelium Petri 1: 220
Sanhedrin 13.5: 70–71, 231 2: 221
5: 35
2e: Church councils 7: 213, 220
Ancyra (314) canon 19: 183 14: 215
Neocaesarea (315) canon
8: 183 Historia Johannis 40: 74
292
INDICES
Joseph and Asenath 8.11: 184 Barnabae ep.:

15: 248, 249
Odae Sal. 3.5: 184 16.13: 247
16.12 : 184
Basil:
Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum: Ep. ad Eustathium 79.123: 171
124, 166
Clement of Alexandria:
Oracula Sibyllina 4: 208 Paedagogus 2.8: 17
2.10: 17
3.3: 17
Passio Montani et Lucii 6,
3.5: 17, 116
9: 201
3.9: 17
Strom. 1.28: 159
Passio Perpetuae 3: 201
4.8: 262
6.5–6: 217
Test. Ben. 9: 228
6.15: 210
7.7: 175
Vit. Pol.
2: 43 Clement of Rome:
14–16: 183 Ad Corinthios 25–26: 209
34.1–6: 262
Aphraahat: 57.3: 110
Dem. 8.6: 209
12: 52, 215 Ps-Clement:
6.14–17: 253 Hom. 7.4: 33, 105
13.3: 248 7.8: 251
15.7: 241 8.15.4: 71
12.6.4: 71
Aristeas:
Ep. 306: 171 Cyprian:
De habitu virg. 19: 116
Aristides: Ep. 17.2.1: 134
Apol. 8–11: 180 22: 201
15: 201 63.16: 78
64.1: 134
ps-Athanasius: 74: 86
Syntagma doctrinae: 16, 46–48,
198, 223 Cyril of Jerusalem:
Fides patrum: 16, 46–48, Cat. myst. 5.17: 124
198 Hom. cat. 18.8: 209
Athenagoras: Dionysius of Alexandria

De Resurrectione 4–8: 206 Ad Basileiden Ep.: 52
293
INDICES
Ephrem: Smryn. 8.2: 67

Serm. ad noct. Dom. Trall. 2: 151
resurrectionis 4: 247 3.1: 262
Epiphanius: Irenaeus:
Pan. 47.1: 71 Dem. 84: 238
48: 183 Haer. 1.23.2: 229
51: 219 1.18: 71
70: 40 2.32.4: 188
80.5: 145 5.17.4: 258
Eusebius: Jerome:
Dem Evang. 1.3: 249 Vir. Ill. 2: 215
HE 2.23: 71
3.20.1–3: 223 John Chrysostom:
4.22: 51, 110, 230 Hom. 5 in 2 Tim: 171
5.24: 52, 176 Hom. in Matt. 17.61: 171
5.28.12: 134
6.30: 118
Josephus:
7.8: 55, 87
AJ 14.21: 216
7.32.5–6: 55
BJ 6.4.5: 222
Hermas:
Vis. 1.4: 111 Justin:
3.9.2: 145 I Apol. 1.55,57: 59
Mand. 2.2: 170 Dial. 35: 227
2.5: 196 41: 248
5.2.5–7: 253 47: 52
Sim. 4.4: 227 129: 110
5.3.7: 201
8.6.1,5: 129 Melito:
Peri Pascha 80: 220
Hippolytus/Hippolytean
school: Origen:
Comm. in Dan. 4.23: 249 Hom. in Lev. 2.4: 188
4.37: 247 De oratione 11.4: 190
Ref. 6.6–20: 229 32: 175
6.20: 230
9.7: 50, 127 Philo:
De specialibus legibus 3.37: 106
Ignatius of Antioch:
Magn. 6: 151, 153 ps-Phocylides:
7: 151 Sententiae 210–212: 106
294
INDICES
Polycarp: Martial:
Phil. prescript: 62 Epigr. 3.74: 107
4: 151 5.8: 177
5.14: 177
Tertullian: 5.23: 177
Apol. 16.9–10: 175 5.25: 177
De baptismo 17: 63 5.27: 177
20: 124
De Cultu feminarum 2.5: 115 Philodemus:
De idolatria 24: 127 Lib. fragment 63–65: 84
De Resurrectione 13: 209
Philostratus:
Theodore of Mopsuestia: Vita Apoll. 1.8, 10–11: 71
Hom. cat. 15.43: 183
Pliny:
2g: Other ancient writings Nat Hist. 16.13: 177
P.Fayyum 117: 57
Plutarch:
P.Oxy. 1610: 9–11 Quaestiones convivales 1.2–3
(615D–619): 177
Dio Chrysostom: Quaestiones Romanae 267A–B: 115
Or. 32.17–18: 84–85
Quintilian:
Diodorus Siculus: Inst. 11.3.137–144: 106
Bibl. 11.59–61: 9–11 11.3.142: 107
Diogenes Laertius: Seneca:

Vit. phil. 6.9.104: 231 Ep. 56: 107
Epictetus: Suetonius:
Diss. 1.22.18–20: 107 Aug. 44.1: 177
3.7.29–33: 57 76.4: 39
4.6.4: 106 Jul. 45: 107
Juvenal: Valerius Maximus:

Sat. 2: 107 Facta et dicta memorabilia 3.6: 106
Lucian: Xenophon:
Demonax 7: 84 Agesilaus 9.12: 171
10: 84
Somnium 9: 223
Toxaris 31: 201
295

Didascalia Apostolorum

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FM.

qxd:FM 5/12/09 9:26 AM Page i

STUDIA TRADITIONIS THEOLOGIAE

Series Editor: Thomas O’Loughlin,

© 2009, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

For Jeff and Asha Golliher

The specialist in Syriac literature is well-served through the edition of

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

not having taken the commission. He instantly and gracefully allowed

Sturminster Marshall Vicarage: On the Commemoration of George Herbert, 2008

AKathKR Archiv für katholisches Kirchenrecht

1. the didascalia apostolorum

The Didascalia apostolorum (henceforth abbreviated as DA) is an exam-

1 Schöllgen, (1987), 149-157.

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

laid on their conduct once in office than on their actual appointment

The first modern publication of DA came in 1856, edited from a single

is implied and not described.

Bradshaw, Johnson and Phillips (2002).

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

It is this conclusion which must be questioned. For although the

‘living literature.’15 Nobody can now discuss any subject in TA without

2.a Interpretative assumptions

2.a.1 The validity of the source critical method

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

of material, doublets, or marked stylistic differences. In New Testament

of the method must be judged by the results it yields, but there is no a

2.a.2 The conservative use of sources in antiquity

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

e)pi\ th\n para/lion th=j )Asi/aj bohqh/sonta me\n tai~j

To which a ready point of comparison is available:

2.a.3 A summary of the interpretative assumptions

2.b The search for sources

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

If, however, the congregation in which the bishop is to be ordained is

What is particularly interesting about this passage is the evident

If there should occur a shortage of men, and there are insufficient

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

discussed than the issue of a young bishop. Moreover, a close reading

These echoes of D led Holzhey to suggest that DA was actually a

26 Holzhey (1898). Interestingly Bradshaw (2002), 78, states that DA is ‘obviously

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

this point, nonetheless accepts that this might be a possibility.

description of the eucharist; the fact that it is mentioned in passing

33 Bartlet (1943), 77.

34 Bartlet, (1943), 77.

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

suggest that both Clement and DA are employing an established

and responsibilities principally of bishops. These responsibilities are

So, bishop, appoint for yourself fellow-workers in almsgiving, assistants

Another is in the directions concerning the appointment of wid-

This indicates that a chapter heading from a source has been

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

to discuss the appointment of widows (albeit after a very long

due to the apparent connection between the discussion of the resurrec-

Thus a passing mention of the Pascha leads the redactor to an

THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM

2.c The search for redactors

2.c.1 The apostolic redactor