Didascalia Apostolorum 2.53–2.63

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

Have a care therefore, O bishops, that you be not in haste to sit in judgement forthwith, lest you be constrained to condemn a man; but before they come and stand in the judgement, admonish them and make peace between them. And admonish those who have the suit and quarrel one with another, and teach them in the first place that it is not right for any bo ya man to be angry, because the Lord has said: Every one that is angry with his brother is lable to the judgement; and secondly, that if it should happen through the agency of the Enemy that some anger arise, they ought at once, that very day, to be reconciled and appeased, and to be at peace with one another. For it is written: Let not the sun go down upon thine anger against thy brother ; and in David also He saith: Be angry, and sin not; that is, be speedily reconciled, lest, if anger continue, malice arise and beget sin. He saith in Proverbs: The soul that keepeth malice shall die. And our Lord and Saviour also said: Lf thou offer thy gift upon the altar, and there remember that thy brother keepeth any malice against thee, leave thy gift before the altar, and go, first be reconciled with thy brother: and then come, offer thy gift. Now the gift of God is our prayer and our Eucharist. If then thou keep any malice against thy brother, or he against thee, thy prayer is not heard and thy Eucharist is not accepted; and thou shalt be found void (both) of prayer and Eucharist by reason of the anger which thou keepest. A man ought to pray diligently at all times; but those who bear anger and malice towards their brethren God does not hear; and though thou pray three times in one hour, thou shalt gain nothing, for thou art not heard by reason of thine enmity against thy brother. Wherefore, if thou carest and strivest to be a Christian, follow the saying of the Lord which saith: Loose all ties of iniquity ; and sever the bands of violence and oppression. For upon thee has our Saviour laid this power, that thou shouldst forgive thy brother who has offended 9 lest... beget sin] 5j emipovos prnoikakia Kat en against thee seventyfold seven times, that is, four hundred and ninety. How many times then hast thou forgiven thy brother, that thou wilt no more forgive him, but keepest malice and maintainest enmity, and desirest to go tolaw? Therefore is thy prayer hindered, But even if thou hast forgiven the full four hundred and ninety times, add still more for thine own sake, and of thy bounty, without anger, forgive thy brother. And if thou do it not for thy brother’s sake, bethink thee and do it at least for thine own; and forgive thy neighbour, that thou mayest be heard when thou prayest, and mayest offer an acceptable oblation to the Lord.

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

Wherefore, O bishops, that your oblations and your prayers may be acceptable, when you stand in the Church to pray let the deacon say with a loud voice: *Is there any man that keepeth aught against his fellow ?’, that if there be found any who have a lawsuit or quarrel one with another, thou mayest entreat them and make peace between them. They who enter a house and say, Peace be in this house, both are proclaimers of peace and do bring peace. If then thou preach peace to others, still more does it behove thee to have peace with thy brethren. As a son of light and peace therefore, be thou light and peace to all men ; and contend with no man, but be in quiet and peace with all men. And be a helper with God that (the number of) those who are saved may be increased; for this is the will of the Lord God. But they who love enmity and quarrels, and contentions and lawsuits, are enemies of God.

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

For the Lord from the beginning, through the prophets and righteous men, called all generations to repentance and salvation ; and we, moreover, the Apostles, who have been accounted worthy to be the witnesses of His manifestation and preachers of His divine word, have heard from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and do know of a surety and say what is His will, and the will of His Father, that no man should perish, but that all men should believe and be saved. (ii. 56] For this is that which He taught us to say when we pray: Thy will be done in earth, as in heaven; that as the angels of heaven and the hosts and all (His) ministers praise God, so too on earth all men should praise God. It is His will, then, to save all; and this is His pleasure, that they who are saved should be many. He who is contentious, or makes himself an enemy to his neighbour, diminishes the people of God. For either he drives out of the Church him whom he accuses, and diminishes her and deprives God of the soul of a man which was being saved, or by his contention he expels and ejects himself from the Church, and so again he sins against God. For God our Saviour spoke thus: Every one that is not with me, is against me; and every one that gathereth not with me, scattereth. Wherefore thou art no helper with God for the gathering together of the people, because thou art a disturber and a scatterer of the flock, and an adversary and enemy of God, Be not therefore for ever embroiled in contentions and quarrels, or wrangling, or enmity, or lawsuits, lest thou scatter some one from the Church. For we by the power of the Lord God have gathered (men) from all peoples and from all tongues, and have brought them to the Church with much labour and toil and in daily peril, that we might do the will of God and fill the house with guests, that is His holy Catholic Church, that they might be glad and rejoicing, and be praising and glorifying God who called them to life. Be you then, O laymen, peaceable one with another, and strive like wise doves to fill the Church, and to convert and tame those that are wild and bring them into her midst. And (for) this is the great reward that is promised by God: if you deliver them from fire, and present them to the Church firmly established and faithful. CHAP FERSXI To Bishops: that they should be peaceable.

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

And you the bishops, be not hard, nor tyrannical, nor wrathful, and be not rough with the people of God which is delivered into your hands. And destroy not the Lord’s house nor scatter His people; but convert all, that you may be helpers with God ; and gather the faithful with much meekness and long-suffering and patience, and without anger, and with 75 doctrine and exhortation, as ministers of the kingdom everlasting. And in your congregations in the holy churches hold your assemblies with all decent order, and appoint the places for the brethren with care and gravity. And for the presbyters let there be assigned a place in the eastern part of the house; and let the bishop’s throne be set in their midst, and let the presbyters sit with him. And again, let the lay men sit in another part of the house toward the east. For so it should be, that in the eastern part of the house the presbyters sit with as the bishops, and next the lay men, and then the women; that when you stand up to pray, the rulers may stand first, and after them the lay men, and then the women also. For it is required that you pray toward the east, as knowing 5-6 And (for) this, etc.] Compare for the construction, : and in part for the sense, 2 Clem. iii 3 otros otv early 6 pro dos av, cay ovv bporoynowper Ov that which is written: Give ye glory to God, who rideth upon the heaven of heavens toward the east. But of the deacons let one stand always by the oblations of the Eucharist; and let another stand without by the door and observe them that come in; and afterwards, when you offer, let them minister together in the Church. And if any one be found sitting out of his place, let the deacon who is within reprove him and make him to rise up and sit in a place that is meet for him. For our Lord likened the Church to a fold; for as we see the dumb animals, oxen and sheep and goats, lie down and rise up, and feed and chew the cud, according to their families, and none of them separate itself from its kind; and (see) the wild beasts also severally range with their like upon the mountains: so likewise in the Church ought those who are young to sit apart, if there be room, and if not to stand up; and those who are advanced in years to sit apart. And let the children stand on one side, or let their fathers and mothers take them to them; and let them stand up. And let the young girls also sit apart ; but if there be no room, let them stand up behind the women. And let the young women who are married and have children stand apart, and the aged women and widows sit apart. And let the deacon see that each of them on entering goes to his place, that no one may sit out of his place. And let the deacon also see that no one whispers, or falls asleep, or laughs, or makes signs. For so it should be, that with decency and decorum they watch in the Church, with ears attentive to the word of the Lord.

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

But if any brother or sister come from another congregation, let the deacon question her and learn whether she is married, or again whether she is a widow (who is) a believer ; and whether she is a daughter of the Church, or belongs perchance to one of the heresies ; and then let him conduct her and set her in a place that is suitable for her. But if a

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

eager to receive temporal things and those that are but for a day and an hour, (but) those that are eternal you neglect ; and you are anxious about baths, and to be fed with the meat and drink of the belly, and about other things, but for the things eternal you have no care, but neglect your soul and have no zeal for the Church, to hear and receive the word of God. And in comparison of them that err what excuse have you? For the heathen, when they daily rise from their sleep, go in the morning to worship and minister to their idols; and before all their works and undertakings they go first and worship their idols. Neither at their festivals and their fairs are they wanting, but are constant in assembling: not only they who are of the district, but even those who come from afar ; and all likewise assemble and come to the spectacle of their theatre. And so in like manner they who are vainly called Jews, they remain idle one day after six, and assemble in their synagogue ; and never do they withdraw themselves or neglect their synagogue, nor disregard their (days of) idleness—even they who by reason of their unbelief are made void of the power of the word, and of the very name by which they call themselves, Jews: for ‘Jew’ is interpreted ‘confession’, but these are no confessors, since they do not confess the passion of Christ, which by transgression of the Law they caused, that they should repent and be saved. If then they who are not saved bestow care at all times on things wherein there is no profit and which avail them nothing, what excuse has he before the Lord God who withdraws himself from the assembly of the Church, and does not even imitate the gentiles, but by reason of his non-attendance grows indifferent and careless, and stands aloof and does evil? to whom the Lord said by Jeremiah (sic) : My laws ye have not kept: but neither have ye conversed after the laws of the gentiles ; and ye have well nigh surpassed them in evildoing; and: Do the gentiles exchange their gods, which yet be no gods? But my people have exchanged their honour Jor that which is without profit. How then shall he excuse himself who is indifferent and has no zeal for the assembly of the Church? But if there be any one who takes occasion of worldly business to withdraw himself, let him know this, that the trades of the faithful are called works of superfluity; for their true work is religion. Pursue your ro trades therefore as a work of superfluity, for your sustenance, but let your true work be religion.

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

Have a care therefore that you never withdraw yourselves from the assembly of the Church. But if any man leave the assembly of the Church of God and go to the assembly of the gentiles, what shall he say, and what excuse can he make to God in the day of judgement? seeing that he has left the holy Church, and the words of the living God, which are living and lifegiving and able to redeem and to deliver from fire and to save alive, and has gone to the assembly of ao the gentiles, because he has lusted after the spectacle of the theatre. Therefore shall he be accounted as one of them that go in thither; because he has lusted to hear and receive their fables, which are those of dead men and are from the spirit of Satan: for they are dead and deadly, and turn away from the faith and bring to everlasting fire. Nay, but the things of the world are your care, and you attend to the affairs of this life and scorn to betake yourselves to the Catholic Church, the beloved daughter of the Lord God Most High, that you may receive the teaching of God which 4o endures for ever and is able to save them that receive the word of life. Be constant therefore in coming together with the faithful who are being saved in your mother the Church, the living and lifegiving.

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

And beware of assembling with them that are perishing in the theatre, which is the assembly of the heathen, of error and of destruction. For he who enters an assembly of the gentiles shall be accounted as one of them, and shall receive the Woe. For to such the Lord God said by Isaiah: Woe, woe to them that come from the spectacle. And again He saith: Ye women that come from the spectacle, come: for it is a people without understanding. ‘Women’, then, He called the Churches, which He called and redeemed and brought forth from the spectacle of the theatre, and took and received ; and He taught us from henceforth to go thither no more. For He saith in Jeremiah: Ye shall not learn according to the ways of the gentiles. And He saith again in the Gospel: Zz the way of the gentiles ye shall not go; (and into the cities of the Samaritans ye shall not enter.) Here then He commands and warns us wholly to avoid all heresies, which are the cities of the Samaritans; and furthermore, that we should keep far away from the assemblies of the gentiles, and not enter strange congregations; and that we should utterly avoid the theatre, and their fairs which are held for the sake of idols. A believer must not even come near to a fair, except to buy him nourishment for body tand soul}. Therefore, avoid all vain shows of the idols, and the festivals of their fairs.

English translation by R. H. Connolly (1929); the original is not shown

And let those who are young in the Church be ministering diligently, without sloth, in all things that are needful, with much reverence and modesty. Do you the faithful therefore, all of you, daily and hourly, whenever you are not in the Church, devote yourselves to your work; so that in all the conduct of your life you may either be occupied in the things of the Lord or engaged upon your work, and may never be idle. For the Lord has said: 9 Imitate the ant, O sluggard, and emulate her ways, and be wiser than she. "For she hath no husbandry, nor any to compel her, nor is she under authority: ? yet she gathereth her bread in summer, and storeth up for her much food in the harvest. And again He saith: Go to the bee, and learn how she worketh. For her work she performeth in wisdom: and there is brought of her labour to be food for rich and poor. Beloved and praiseworthy is she: and albeit she is little in strength, she honoureth wisdom, and is commended (thereby). ? How long wilt thou Sleep, thou sluggard? When wilt thou arise from thy sleep? Thou shalt slumber a little, and sleep a little, and sit a little, and lay thy hand upon thy bosom a little: and poverty shall overtake thee as a runner, and want as a lusty man. But if thou wilt not be slothful, thine increase shall abound and overflow as a fountain, and poverty as a feeble runner shall depart from thee. Therefore, be always working, for idleness is a blot for which there is no cure. But if any man among you will not work, let him not eat: for the Lord God also hateth sluggards; for it is not possible for a sluggard to be a believer.