Didache

This document—The Didache—(see link below) is generally divided into 16 chapters; it naturally falls into four parts.

Part One: The Two Ways—(Chapters 1-6) are moral instructions for the Christian life in order to prepare converts to receive the initial rite of baptism, and as the precursor to the continual rite of the Eucharist. Its stylistic approach reflect both ancient Greek philosophical literature and a classical Jewish wisdom-literature fashion.

Part Two: Christian rituals of baptism, food/fasting, and the Lord’s Supper—(Chapters 7-10). The teachings about the appropriate days to fast, how to conduct a proper baptism, and the prayer of thanksgiving are some of the earliest—if not the first—recorded liturgical manuals.

Part Three: Christian leaders—(Chapters 11-15) gives instructions regarding leaders in the early Christian Community—apostles, prophets, and teachers. This section represents a particular protocol for accepting authorities in an assumed preexisting Christian community.

Part Four—(Chapter 16) is eschatological in nature, containing exhortations of perseverance, warnings of end times and tribulation, as well as to the “Second Coming” of Jesus Christ. These apocalyptic overtones parallel similar language found in the gospels Matthew, Mark, 1 Thessalonians, and Revelation.

The links below are to a translation of The Didache of The Twelve Apostles translated by J. Louis Guthrie, as well as a biography of J. Louis Guthrie. The first document includes a Greek text of the Didache.

• The Didache of The Twelve Apostles
• Biography of J. Louis Guthrie