Editing Didache (section)

{{short description|Early Christian treatise}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Didache.png|thumb|Didache manuscript]]
The '''''Didache''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɪ|d|ə|k|eː|,_|-|k|i}}; {{Langx|grc|Διδαχή|Didakhé|Teaching|link=no}}),<ref>[[Henry George Liddell|Liddell, Henry George]]; Scott, Robert (1940). "{{lang|grc|διδαχή}}". ''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]''. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir [[Henry Stuart Jones]], with the assistance of [[Roderick McKenzie]]. [[Oxford]]: [[Clarendon Press]].</ref> also known as '''''The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations''''' ({{langx|grc|label=none|Διδαχὴ Κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν|Didachḕ Kyríou dià tō̂n dṓdeka apostólōn toîs éthnesin}}), is a brief anonymous [[Early Christianity|early Christian]] [[treatise]] ([[ancient church order]]) written in [[Koine Greek]], dated by modern scholars to the [[Christianity in the 1st century|first]]{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=482}} or (less commonly) [[Christianity in the 2nd century|second century]] AD.<ref>Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Didachē". Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Oct. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Didache. Accessed 28 December 2023.</ref>

The first line of this treatise is: "The teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles (or Nations) by the twelve apostles".{{Efn|Greek: {{lang|grc|Διδαχὴ κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν.}}}} The text, parts of which constitute the oldest extant written [[catechism]], has three main sections dealing with [[Christian ethics]], rituals such as [[baptism]] and [[Eucharist]], and Church organization. The opening chapters describe the virtuous Way of Life and the wicked Way of Death. The [[Lord's Prayer]] is included in full. Baptism is by immersion, or by [[affusion]] if immersion is not practical. Fasting is ordered for Wednesdays and Fridays. Two primitive Eucharistic prayers are given. Church organization was at an early stage of development. Itinerant apostles and prophets are important, serving as "chief priests" and possibly celebrating the Eucharist; meanwhile, local bishops and [[Deacon|deacons]] also have authority and seem to be taking the place of the itinerant ministry.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=482}}

The ''Didache'' is considered the first example of the genre of [[Ancient Church Orders|Church Orders]].{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=482}} It reveals how [[Jewish Christian|Jewish Christians]] saw themselves and how they adapted their practice for [[Gentile Christians]].{{Sfn | Milavec | 2003b | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=17v6sT1l-aYC&pg=PR7  vii]}} It is similar in several ways to the [[Gospel of Matthew]], perhaps because both texts originated in similar communities.<ref name="Matthew and the Didache"/> The opening chapters, which also appear in other early Christian texts like the [[Epistle of Barnabas]], are likely derived from an earlier Jewish source.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=482}}

The ''Didache'' is considered part of the group of second-generation Christian writings known as the [[Apostolic Fathers]]. The work was considered by some [[Church Fathers]] to be a part of the [[New Testament]],{{efn|The ''Didache'' is included in the 81-book canon of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]], the largest set of canonical texts in any Christian church.}} while being rejected by others as [[Apocrypha#Spurious writings|spurious]] or [[Biblical canon|non-canonical]].<ref>[[Athanasius]] [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html ''Festal Letter 39''] (excludes them from the canon, but recommends them for reading) in 367</ref><ref>[[Patriarch Nicephorus I of Constantinople|Nicephorus]] in ''[[Stichometry of Nicephorus|Stichometria]]''</ref> In the end, it was not accepted into the [[Development of the New Testament canon|New Testament canon]]. However, works which draw directly or indirectly from the ''Didache'' include the {{lang|la|[[Didascalia Apostolorum]]}}, the ''[[Apostolic Constitutions]]'' and the [[Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon#Ethiopic Didascalia|Ethiopic Didascalia]], the latter of which is included in [[Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon# Broader biblical canon|the broader canon]] of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]].
[[File:Didache Chicago Daily Tribune 9 august 1884.jpg|thumb|Article about the rediscovery of the ''Didache'', ''[[Chicago Daily Tribune]]'', 1884]]
Lost for centuries, a [[Koine Greek|Greek]] manuscript of the ''Didache'' was rediscovered in 1873 by [[Philotheos Bryennios]], Metropolitan of Nicomedia, in the [[Codex Hierosolymitanus]], a compilation of texts of the [[Apostolic Fathers]] found in the Jerusalem Monastery of the Most Holy Sepulchre in [[Constantinople]]. A [[Latin]] version of the first five chapters was discovered in 1900 by J. Schlecht.<ref name= "Cathency">{{CathEncy |wstitle= Didache| author=John Chapman}}</ref>
{{Jewish Christianity}}