The Didache (; Koine Greek: ) or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles ( Didachē means " Teaching ") is a brief early Christian treatise, dated by most scholars to the late first or early 2nd century.

Lost for centuries, a Greek manuscript of the Didache was rediscovered in 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of Nicomedia in the Codex Hierosolymitanus.

* Didache text in Greek from CCEL

The Didache ( Koine Greek: " Teaching ") is a brief early Christian treatise, dated anywhere from as early as A. D. 50 to the early 2nd Century.

The closing Two Ways section ( chapters 18-21 ), see also Didache, which contains a series of moral injunctions, presents " another gnosis and teaching " ( 18. 1 ) in relation to the body of the epistle, and its connection to the latter has given rise to much discussion.

It is the term by which the rite is referred to by the Didache ( late 1st or early 2nd century ), Ignatius of Antioch ( who died between 98 and 117 ) and Justin Martyr ( writing between 147 and 167 ).

The work is reflected in the Didache, the Gnostic writings of Basilides and Valentinus, the apologetics of the Church Father Justin Martyr, and was used by Marcion.

The short document known as the Teaching of the Apostles or Didache, which may be the earliest Christian document outside of the New Testament to speak of the Eucharist, says, " Let no one eat or drink of the Eucharist with you except those who have been baptized in the Name of the Lord ," for it was in reference to this that the Lord said, " Do not give that which is holy to dogs.

This rule of the Didache is still in effect.

This ban is repeated in the Didache, written during the mid to late first century.

It is also found in the Didache and the Apostolic Decree includes a prohibition from the " pollution of idols ".

# The 11th century Codex Hierosolymitanus (" Jerusalem Codex " -- relocated from Constantinople ), which includes the Didache, is another witness to the full text.

The Didache is considered part of the category of second-generation Christian writings known as the Apostolic Fathers.

The Didache is mentioned by Eusebius ( c. 324 ) as the Teachings of the Apostles following the books recognized as canonical:

The manuscript is commonly referred to as the Didache.

" Lord " in the Didache is reserved usually for " Lord God ", while Jesus is called " the servant " of the Father ( 9: 2f.

Similar material is found in a number of other Christian writings from the first through about the fifth centuries, including the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didascalia, the Apostolic Church Ordinances, the Summary of Doctrine, the Apostolic Constitutions, the Life of Schnudi, and On the Teaching of the Apostles ( or Doctrina ), some of which are dependent on the Didache.

Comparable to the Didache is the " let him eat herbs " of Paul of Tarsus as a hyperbolical expression like: " I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother ", thus giving no support to the notion of vegetarianism in the Early Church.

John Chapman in the Catholic Encyclopedia ( 1908 ) states that the Didache is referring to Jewish meats.

" The Didache is the main source for the inclusion of the doxology.

In modern scholarship a new consensus is emerging which dates the Didache at about the turn of the 1st century.

There is also an increasing reluctance of modern scholars to support the thesis that the Didache used Matthew.

One argument that suggests a common environment is that the community of both the Didache and the gospel of Matthew was probably composed of Judaeo-Christians from the beginning, though each writing shows indications of a congregation which appears to have alienated itself from its Jewish background ( see also Split of early Christianity and Judaism ).

The writings of the Apostolic Fathers are in a number of genres, some, e. g. the writings of Clement of Rome are letters ( called epistles ), others relate historical events, e. g. the Martyrdom of Polycarp, and one ( the Didache ) is a guide for ethical and liturgical practice.

However, in the third century Apostolic Constitutions, the custom of Sabbath assembly is mentioned repeatedly in the Didache, wherin the specific day of Christ's resurrection is referred to as " The Lord's Day ".

Also, the Didache, an early Church document, explicitly forbids abortion along with infanticide, both common practices in the Roman Empire, as murder.

While the earliest extra-biblical directions for baptism, which occurs in the Didache ( c. 100 ), speaks to the baptism of adults, rather than young children, since it requires that the person to be baptised should fast, writings of the 2nd and early 3rd century indicate that some Christians baptized infants too.

The Didache warned early Christians not to fast on Mondays to avoid Judaizing, and suggests Wednesdays instead.

The Didache warned early Christians not to fast on Thursdays to avoid Judaizing, and suggested Fridays instead.

" Of Plato's image in Timaeus, Justin Martyr, the Christian apologist writing in the 2nd century, found a prefiguration of the Holy Cross, and an early testimony may be the phrase in Didache, " sign of extension in heaven " ( sēmeion ekpetaseōsen ouranō ).

The Didache ( dated by most scholars to the early 2nd century ),) speaks of " appointing for yourself bishops and deacons ".

For example, the Didache ( or " Teaching of the Twelve ") instructs Christians to fast every Wednesday and Friday, a practice the Orthodox Church continues to this day.

* There are indications in the New Testament as well as from the Didache that members of an Early Christian Church fasted regularly.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church " broader canon " includes the Didascalia, a work which draws on the Didache.

It was considered by some of the Church Fathers as part of the New Testament but rejected as spurious or non-canonical by others, Scholars knew of the Didache through references in other texts, but the text itself had been lost.

Citing the possibly first-century Didache and the Letter of Barnabas of about the same period, the Epistle to Diognetus and Tertullian, the Catholic Church declares that " since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.

These Antilegomena or " disputed writings " were widely read in the Early Church and included the Epistle of James, the Epistle of Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, the Apocalypse of John, the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the Acts of Paul, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Didache.

They are identical except that Athanasius includes the Book of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah and places the Book of Esther among the " 7 books not in the canon but to be read " along with the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach ( Ecclesiasticus ), Judith, Tobit, the Didache, and the Shepherd of Hermas.

The earliest writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the Didache and the First Epistle of Clement for example, show the church used two terms for local church offices — presbyters ( seen by many as an interchangeable term with episcopos or overseer ) and deacon.

The earliest writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the Didache and the First Epistle of Clement for example, show the church used two terms for local church offices — presbyters ( seen by many as an interchangeable term with episcopos or overseer ) and deacon.

By 60 AD, the Didache, the oldest known liturgical manual for Christians, recommended disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day ; this practice found its way into the canonical hours as well.

The section Two Ways shares the same language with the Epistle of Barnabas, chapters 18-20, sometimes word for word, sometimes added to, dislocated, or abridged, and Barnabas iv, 9 either derives from Didache, 16, 2-3, or vice versa.

John Dominic Crossan endorses John W. Riggs ' 1984 The Second Century article for the proposition that ' there are two quite separate eucharistic celebrations given in Didache 9-10, with the earlier one now put in second place.

The Didache makes no mention of Jesus ' resurrection, other than thanking for " immortality, which Thou hast made known unto us through Thy Son Jesus " in the eucharist, but the Didache makes specific reference to the resurrection of the just prior to the Lord's coming.

" In the next chapter, he draws the same association we find in the Didache and elsewhere, i. e. the need for purity in receiving the Eucharist.

From the earliest Christian documents, such as the Didache, the understanding follows this pattern: that the bread and wine that is blessed and consumed at the end of the ( transformed ) Passover meal literally is the body and blood of Jesus, and was treated accordingly: " Let no one eat or drink of the Eucharist with you except those who have been baptized in the name of the Lord ; for it was in reference to this that the Lord said: ' Do not give that which is holy to dogs '" ( Jurgens § 6 ).

Adolf Hilgenfeld used Codex Hierosolymitanus for his first printed edition of the previously all-but-unknown Didache in 1877.

Beyond Holy Scripture, one possible source for this philosophy is the Didache, a first century Christian document which exposes the doctrine of two ways: the way of life and the way of death.

By 60 AD, the Didache, the oldest known liturgical manual for Christians, recommended disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day ; this practice found its way into the canonical hours as well.