Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/863

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DIDACHE
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DIDACHE

II; his quotations, generally exact, are of service for the textual criticism of the authors mentioned; of great interest, too, are the few reports which he got from the travellers of his time; as, for instance, from the monk Fidelis who (762?) journeyed along the canal then still existing, between the Nile and the Red Sea; and from clerics who had lived in Iceland six months. The manuscript was known to Welser, Isaac Vossius, Salmasius, Hardouin, and Schöpflin; it first appeared in print under the title: "Dicuili Liber de mensura orbis terræ ex duobus codd. mss. bibliothecæ imperialis nunc primum in lucem editus a Car. Athan. Walckenaer" (Paris, 1807). The latest and best edition is that of G. Parthey (Berlin, 1870).

An excellent commentary is that by LETRONNE in his Recherches géographiques et critiques sur le livre De mensura orbis terre composé par Dicuil (Paris, 1814). SCHWEDER, Beiträge zur Kritik der Chorographie des Augustus (Kiel, 1876), 1: DUMMLER, Die handschriftliche Ueberlieferung der laternischen Dichtungen aus der Zeit der Karolinger in Neues Archiv fur altere deutsche Geschichtskunde (Hanover, 1897), IV, 256-258; ARCHER in Dict. Nat. Biog.; TRAUBE, Zur Chorographie des Augustus in Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Classe der K. B. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1891 (Munich, 1892), 406-409.

OTTO HARTIG.

Didache (DOCTRINE OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES), a short treatise which was accounted by some of the Fathers as next to Holy Scripture. It was rediscov- ered in 1883 by Bryennios, Greek Orthodox metropoli- tan of Nicomedia, in the codex from which, in 1875, he had published the full text of the Epistles of St. Cle- ment. The title in the MS. is (Symbol missingGreek characters), but before this it gives the heading (Symbol missingGreek characters). The old Latin translation of cc. i-v, found by Dr. J. Schlecht in 1900, has the longer title, omitting "twelve", and has a rubric De doctrinâ Apostolorum. For convenience the contents may be divided into three parts: the first is the "Two Ways", the Way of Life and the Way of Death; the second part is a rituale dealing with baptism, fasting, and Holy Communion; the third speaks of the ministry. Doctrinal teaching is presupposed, and none is imparted.

The Didache is mentioned by Eusebius after the books of Scripture (H. E., III, xxv, 4): "Let there be placed among the spuria the writing of the Acts of Paul, the so-called Shepherd and the Apocalypse of Peter, and besides these the Epistle known as that of Barnabas, and what are called the Teachings of the Apostles, and also the Apocalypse of John, if this be thought fit St. Athanasius and Rufinus add the "Teaching" to the sapiential and other deutero-canonical books. (Rufinus gives the curious alternative title "Judicium Petri".) It has a similar place in the lists of Nicephorus, Pseudo-Anastasius, and Pseudo-Athanasius (Synopsis). The Pseudo-Cyprianic "Adversus Alcatores" quotes it by name. Unacknowledged citations are very common, if less certain. The "Two Ways" appears in Barnabas, cc. xviii-xx, sometimes word for word, sometimes added to, dislocated, or abridged, and Barn., iv, 9 is from Didache, xvi, 2-3, or vice versa. Hermas, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen seem to use the work, and so in the West do Optatus and the "Gesta apud Zenophilum". The Didascalia Apostolorum (q. v.) are founded upon the Didache. The Apostolic church ordinance has used a part, the Apostolic Constitutions have embodied the Didascalia. There are echoes in Justin, Tatian, Theophilus, Cyprian, and Lactantius.

CONTENTS.—First Part.—The Way of Life is the love of God and of our neighbour. The latter only is spoken of at length. We first find the Golden Rule in the negative form (cf. the "Western" text of Acts, xv, 19 and 29). Then short extracts from the Sermon on the Mount, together with a curious passage on giving and receiving, which is cited with variations by Hermas (Mand., ii, 4-6). The Latin omits ch. i, 3-6 and ch. ii, 1, and these sections have no parallel in Barnabas; they may therefore be a later addition, and Hermas and the present text of the Didache may have used a common source, or Heras may be the original. The second chapter contains the Commandments against murder, adultery, theft, coveting, and false witness-in this order-and additional recommendations depending on these. In ch. iii we are told how one vice leads to another: anger to murder, concupiscence to adultery, and so forth. This section shows some close likenesses to the Babylonian Talmud. The whole chapter is passed over in Barnabas. A number of precepts are added in ch. iv, which ends: "This is the Way of Life." The Way of Death is a mere list of vices to be avoided (v). Ch. vi exhorts to the keeping in the Way of this Teaching: "If thou canst bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou wilt be perfect; but if thou canst not, do what thou canst. But as for food, bear what thou canst; but straitly avoid things offered to idols; for it is a service of dead gods." Many take this to be a recommendation to abstain from flesh, as some explain Rom., xiv, 2. But the "let him eat herbs" of St. Paul is a hyperbolical expression like I Cor., viii, 13: "I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother", and gives no support to the notion of vegetarianism in the Early Church. The Didache is referring to Jewish meats. The Latin version substitutes for ch. vi a similar close, omitting all reference to meats and to idolothyta, and concluding with per d. n. J. C. . . . in sæcula sæculorum, amen. This is the end of the translation. We see that the translator lived at a day when idolatry had disappeared, and when the remainder of the Didache was out of date. He had no such reason for omitting ch. i, 3-6, so that this was presumably not in his copy.

Second Part—This (vii-x) begins with an instruction on baptism, which is to be conferred "in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" in living water, if it can be had—if not, in cold or even hot water. The baptized and, if possible, the baptizer, and other persons must fast for one or two days previously. If the water is insufficient for immersion, it may be poured thrice on the head. This is said by Bigg to show a late date; but it seems a natural concession for hot and dry countries, when bap- tism was not as yet celebrated exclusively at Easter and Pentecost and in churches, where a columbethra and a supply of water would not be wanting. Fasts are not to be on Monday and Thursday "with the hypocrites" (i. e. the Jews), but on Wednesday and Friday (viii). Nor must Christians pray with the hypocrites, but they shall say the Our Father thrice a day. The text of the prayer is not quite that of St. Matthew, and it is given with the doxology "for Thine is the power and the glory for ever", whereas all but a few MSS. of St. Matthew have this interpolation with "the kingdom and the power" etc.

Ch. ix runs thus: "Concerning the Eucharist, thus shall you give thanks: 'We give Thee thanks, our Father, for the holy Vine of David Thy Child, which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy Child; to Thee be the glory for ever'. And of the broken Bread: 'We give Thee thanks, our Father, for the Life and knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy Child; to Thee be glory for ever. For as this broken Bread was dispersed over the mountains, and being collected became one, so may Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom, for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever.' And let none eat or drink of your Eucharist but those who have been baptized in the Name of Christ; for of this the Lord said: 'Give not the holy Thing to the dogs'." These are clearly prayers after the Consecration and before Communion. Ch. x gives a thanksgiving after Com- munion, slightly longer, in which mention is made of the "spiritual food and drink and eternal Life through