Didascalia Apostolorum 6.12–6.17

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

When therefore the whole Church was in peril of falling into heresy, all we the twelve Apostles came together to Jerusalem and took thought what should be done. And zz seemed good to us, being all of one accord, to write this Catholic Didascalia for the confirming of you all. And we have established and set down therein that you worship God to Almighty and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit; that you employ the holy Scriptures, and believe in the resurrection of the dead; and that you make use of all His creatures with thanksgiving ; and that men should marry: for He saith in Proverbs: Of God is a woman betrothed to aman; and in the Gospel again our Lord saith: He that created from the beginning the male, said that he created also the female. Therefore aman shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they two shall be one body. What therefore God hath coupled, let not man separate. But sufficient for the faithful is the circumcision of the heart, (which is) spiritual, as He said by Jeremiah: Light you a lamp, and sow not among thorns. Be circumcised unto the Lord your God, and circumcise the Joreskin of your heart, ye men of Judah. And again in Joel He saith: Rend your hearts, and not your garments. And as for baptism also, one is enough for you, even that which has perfectly forgiven you your sins. For Isaiah said not (only) Wash, but Wash, and be cleansed. Now we had much questioning, as men contending for life ; and not we the Apostles only, but also the people, together with James the bishop of Jerusalem, who is our Lord’s brother after the flesh, and with his presbyters and deacons and all the Church. For also some days before, certain men had come down from Fudaea to Antioch, and were teaching the brethren, (saying): Except ye be circumcised and conduct yourselves according to the law of Moses, and keep yourselves clean from meats, and all the rest, ye cannot be saved ; and they had much conflict and questioning. And when the brethren of Antioch ; knew that we were all assembled and come to make inquiry of these matters, they sent to us certain men (that were) believers and had knowledge of the Scriptures to learn concerning this question. And when they were come to Ferusalem, they related to us the controversy which they had in the Church of Antioch. And there rose up certain (men) who had believed Jvom the sect of the Pharisees, saying: Ye ought to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses. And others also were crying out and saying in like manner. Then I Peter rose up and said to them: ‘ Men, brethren, ye yourselves know that from the first days when I was among you, God made choice that by my hands the gentiles should hear the gospel and believe. And God, who proveth the hearts, gave witness of them; for to Cornelius, a certain centurion, there had appeared an angel and told him of me; and he sent for me. But when I was ready to go to him, it was shown me concerning the Gentiles that they were about to believe, and concerning all meats. For I ? Lad gone up to a housetop to pray ; “and I saw the heavens opened, and a certain vessel, that was tied by its four corners, being lowered and let down upon the earth ; and there were therein all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and fowls of the heaven, ?? And there came to me a voice saying: Simon, arise, slay and eat. 1* But I said: God forbid, Lord, for I have never eaten any thing defiled and profane. And there came to me again another. voice, the second time, saying: What God hath made clean, do not thou make profane, 515 Now this was done thrice: and the vessel was taken up to heaven. Thereupon / bethought me, and understood the word of the Lord, how that He had said: Rejoice, ye gentiles, with the people, and that everywhere He had spoken of the calling of the Gentiles; and I rose up and went my way. And when I was entered into his house and had begun to speak the word of the Lord, the Holy Spirit lighted down upon him and upon all the Gentiles that were there present. God, then, ath given the Holy Spirit to them even as to us,and hath made no distinction between us and them in the faith, and he hath cleansed their hearts. Now therefore, why tempt ye God, that ye should lay a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But by the grace of our Lord Fesus Christ we believe that we shall be saved even as they also. For our Lord came and released us from those bonds, and said: ao Come unto me, all ye that toil and are laden with heavy burdens, and I will give you rest, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart: and ye shall find vest unto your souls. For my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light. Uf then our Lord has released and unburdened us, why will ye lay snares for your own selves ?’ 13 Then all the people was silent; and I Fames answered and said: Men, brethren, hear me. Simon hath told how formerly God said that he would choose him out a people from the gentiles to his name: whereunto agree the words of the prophets, as tt is written: Hereafter will I raise up and build the tabernacle of David, that is fallen; and the ruins thereof will I build and raise up ; that the residue of men may seek the Lord, and all the gentiles upon whom my name is called, 18 saith the Lord who maketh known these things from everlasting. !? Wherefore I say, that no man vex them that turn to God from among the gentiles, but that word be sent them on s this wise: that they abstain from evil (practices), and from idols, and from that which is sacrificed, and from that which is strangled, and from blood. ** Then we the apostles and the bishops and the elders, together with the whole church, thought it well to choose out men from amongst them and send them (to Antioch) in company with Barnabas and Paul, who were come thence. And we chose and appointed Yudas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, notable men among the brethren, 23 and wrote by them as followeth :—The apostles and elders and brethren to the brethren who are of the gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting. ** Forasmuch as we have heard that some have troubled you with words, that they might corrupt your souls, whom we sent not: we have determined, being all assembled together, to choose out and send men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and his companions, whom ye sent (hither). ?' And we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you of these things by word (of mouth). For it hath seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, that no further burden be laid upon you, save that ye abstain from (these) necessary things: ? from that which is sacrificed, and from blood, and from that which is strangled, and from fornication. And from these keep yourselves, and do well. Fare ye well.

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

Now the epistle we sent; but we ourselves remained 6-8 abstain... from blood] and trav dM I5

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

spoilers of the Church ; for concerning these our Lord commanded us and said to us: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees ; and: Into the cities of the Samaritans ye shall not enter. Now the cities of the Samaritans are those of the heresies, which go in a perverse way, concerning which He said in Proverbs: There is a way which men think right: but the end thereof leadeth to the bottom of Sheol. These are they concerning whom our Lord sternly and bitterly gave sentence and said: It shall not be forgiven them, neither in this world nor in the world to come. For as regards the People, who believed not ro in Christ and laid hands upon Him, it is against the Son of Man, on whom they laid hands, that they blaspheme; and our Lord said: 77 shall be forgiven them; and again our Lord said of them: My Father, they know not what they have done, nor what they speak: if it be possible, forgive them. And as for the Gentiles again, it is against the Son of Man also that they blaspheme, by reason of the cross; and for these there shall come forth forgiveness. For to those who have believed, from the People or from the Gentiles, forgiveness of their evil works has been granted through baptism; as the Lord Christ said: Wherefore I say unto you: All sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven to men: but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come. And every one that shall say a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but every one that shall say (it) against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come. But those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, those who lightly and in hypocrisy blaspheme God Almighty, those heretics who receive (not) His holy Scriptures, or receive them ill, in hypocrisy with blaspheming, who with evil words blaspheme the Catholic Church which is the receptacle of the Holy Spirit: it is they who, before the judgement to 13 Zt shall be forgiven them] Referring to Mt. xii 32, as below. 14 My Father, etc.] This strange quotation has occurred already at p. 52, where IO T5

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

POdvos adedpoxroviay 13 and was blamed] For this there is no authority in the Bible. 13-15 If thou desire, etc.] @vew emOupeis, pp. 194-5. shadowed and guided them, who brought them down manna from heaven, and gave them flesh from the sea, who ordained the Law for them in the mount: Him they denied and said: We have no God to go before us; and they made them a molten calf and worshipped it and sacrificed to a graven image. Therefore the Lord was angry ; and in His hot anger-—(yet) with the mercy of Hisgoodness—He bound them with theSecond Legislation, and laid heavy burdens upon them, and a hard yoke upon their neck. And He says now no longer: If thou shalt make, as formerly ; but He said: ‘ Make an altar, and sacrifice continually', as though He had need of these things. Wherefore He laid upon them continual burnt offerings with a necessity, and caused them to abstain from meats by means of distinctions of meats. For from that time were animals discerned, and clean and unclean flesh ; from that time were separations, and purifications, and baptisms, and sprinklings; from that time were sacrifices, and offerings, and tables ; from that time were burnt offerings, and oblations, and shewbread, and the offering up of sacrifices, and firstlings, and redemptions, and he-goats for sin, and vows, and many other things marvellous. For because of manifold sins there were laid upon them customs unspeakable; but by none of them did they abide, but they again provoked the Lord. Wherefore He yet added to them by the Second Legislation a blindness worthy of their works, and spoke thus: Zf there be found in a man sins worthy of death, and he die, and ye hang him upon a tree; his body shall not remain the night upon the tree, but ye shall surely bury him the same day : for cursed is every one that is hanged upon a tree; that when Christ should come they might not be able to help Him, but might suppose that He was guilty of a curse. For their blinding therefore was this spoken, as Isaiah said: Behold, I show my righteousness, and thine evils: and they shall not help thee at all, For the Lord 2 flesh from the sea] i. e. the quails blown up ‘from the sea’ (Nu. xi 31). possibly ‘and flesh of that which is clean and that which is unclean’. judged them with a just judgement, and dealt thus with them because of their wickedness, and hardened their heart like Pharaoh's; as the Lord said to them by Isaiah: Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, gross; and their eyes they have shut, and their ears they have stopped, that they may not be converted : lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears. And in the Gospel again He said : 7s people's heart is waxed gross ; and their eyes they have shut, and their ears they have stopped, lest at any time they should be converted. But blessed are your eyes that see, and your ears that hear. For you have been released from the bonds, and relieved of the Second Legislation, and set free from bitter slavery, and the curse has been taken off and put away from you.

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

For the Second Legislation was imposed for the making of the calf and for idolatry. But you through baptism have been set free from idolatry, and from the Second Legislation, which was (imposed) on account of idols, you have been released. For in the Gospel He renewed and fulfilled and affirmed the Law; but the Second Legislation He did away and abolished. For indeed it was to this end that He came, that He might affirm the Law, and abolish the Second Legislation, and fulfil the power of men's liberty, and show forth the resurrection of the dead. For even before His coming He foretold His coming through the prophets, and together with His coming He signified also the disobedience of the People, and preached the undoing of the Second Legislation; as He said by Jeremiah: Why bring ye me frankins cense from Sheba, and cinnamon from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable unto me, and your sacrifices delight me not. And again He said: Bring together your burnt offerings with your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I gave youno command, when I brought you out from the land of Egypt, neither concerning burnt offerings nor concerning sacrifices. Yea, verily, in the Law He gave no command, but in the bonds of the Second Legislation, after that they had served idols. And again by Isaiah also He said: To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. 1 am sated with burnt offerings of rams ; and the fat of lambs and the blood of oxen I desire not. And when ye come to see my face, who hath required these things at your hands? Trample my courts no more. If ye will bring me fine flour, it i$ a vain oblation ; and your new moons and your sabbaths and solemn days are rejected of me: your fasts and your restings are not acceptable unto me, and your festivals my soul hateth. And in all the Scriptures He speaks thus; and through the sacrifices He abolishes the Second Legislation; for, as we have already said, it is in the Second Legislation that sacrifices are prescribed. If, then, even before His coming He made known and revealed His coming, and the disobedience of the People, and spoke of the abolition of the Second Legislation, much more, being come, did He fully and completely abolish the Second Legislation, For He did not use sprinklings, or baptisms, or other wonted rites ; nor did He offer sacrifices or burnt offerings, or any thing that it is written in the Second Legislation to offer. And what else did He (hereby) signify but the abolition of the Second Legislation? as also He loosed you and called you from the bonds, and said: Come unto me, all ye that toil and are laden with heavy burdens; and I will give you vest. Now we know that our Saviour did not say (this) to the Gentiles, but He said it to us His disciples from among the Jews, and brought us out from burdens and a heavy load. Those therefore who do not obey Him, that He may lighten and deliver them from the bonds of the Second Legislation, obey not God, who has called them to come forth unto IO M To