Ancient church orders are an often overlooked genre of
Christian literature that circulated from the first through the fifth centuries
CE. They were part catechism, part
disciplinary manual, part liturgy, part instruction for church polity, part
moral prescriptions and proscriptions.
Some of these works cover all those subjects, some only two or even
one. Most of them, but not all, expound
on the “Two Ways”, of Light/Life and of Darkness/Death. With one exception of those expounded upon
below, they claim to have been written by the apostles themselves collectively.
Although none of these, with two exceptions, are on record
as having been adopted officially, separately and collectively they did
influence later canon law, and they sometimes accurately reflect practices and
mindset at the time, and so provide excellent insight into the Early Church.
Several of these if translated into English have more or
less the exact same title, and scholars use different versions, sometimes even
in different languages, of their title so as to distinguish between unique
documents. They all claim to be relating
the teaching of the apostles handed down from the originals, though the early
ones do not mention names.
De doctrina Apostolorum
Undoubtedly of Jewish origin, this little known work
survives in just two historical manuscripts, and then only in Latin, though
these were probably translated from a Greek original. As for the provenance of that Greek original,
probably Syria, or maybe Palestine, or Transjordan. This catechetical manual is possibly as old
as second or first century BCE, but in the form in which we now have it dates
from the first century CE.
The only item which makes what we have a Christian work is a
doxology appended onto the end, reading, “For the Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns
and is Lord with God the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.
Amen.” This doxology, of course, may
date in the third or fourth century CE or later, given that Trinitarian
doctrine was not official and not expressed in that form until that time.
Though its circulation was likely quite small, it is
nonetheless important as it provided the foundation for the later Didache, and was thereby reproduced and
reworked in several subsequent documents.
Didache
This late first century CE work was almost certainly written
by Jewish Christians. Its full title is The Teaching of the Lord through the Twelve
Apostles to the Gentiles. Since some
ancient churches and authorities considered the Didache canonical, it can be legitimately called
deuteroncanonical. It is without a doubt
among the Apostolic Fathers, and was one of the most influential of these,
setting a pattern for all the church orders that followed.
The first six chapters of this work cover the same content
as the Doctrina Apostolorum,
containing nearly all of its predecessor with copious additions from the Gospel of Matthew and a few from the Gospel of Luke. Clearly this work was heavily influenced by Matthew, and somewhat by Luke, and it influenced them in turn, as
we will see later. The most likely
provenance for its composition is Antioch, by Jewish Christians of the same
school that produced the Gospel of
Matthew.
The next few chapters deal with rites and prayers. Chapter 7 deals with baptism, Chapter 8
offers a version of the Lord’s Prayer and advice on prayer times and fasting
days. Chapters 9 and 10 give
instructions for the Eucharist. Chapters
11 thru 13 deal with wandering clergy, Chapter 14 discusses meeting on the
Lord’s Day, Chapter 15 is about the regular clergy, and Chapter 16 is a
mini-apocalypse.
It is part of the “broader” canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church.
Epistle of Barnabas
Much of the text focuses on condemning Jewish, or perhaps
Judaizing Christian, practices, and on the religion of Christ as the New
Covenant. That goes on through the first
seventeen chapters. It dates from the
late second century, written in Egypt, probably in Alexandria. The Barnabas of the title is meant to be
either Barnabas the Apostle, in which case it is almost certainly
pseudepigraphic, or Barnabas of Alexandria, one of the Apostolic Fathers.
Chapter 18 opens with the Two Ways, but lacks the Summary of
the Torah. However, it brings back
reference to angels standing at the head of each Way, though in a much more
dualistic fashion, contrasting the “angels of God” with the “angels of
Satan”. The epistle lays out the Way of
Light in chapter 19, which includes the mitzvah to love Yahweh but not the one
to love one’s neighbor, nor the Golden Rule.
The Way of Darkness is dealt with in chapter 20.
First Epistle to Timothy
If you are looking for an handy example of a church order,
open a Bible, go to the New Testament, and find this pseudepigraphic work
attributed to Paul.
This work has never been included in such a list, but it
belongs here, with the exception of the fact that it purports to be from Paul
rather than from all the apostles collectively.
One of the Pseudo-Pauline epistles that are nonetheless canonical, the
subject matter is the same as the rest of the early church orders. Its organization and non-inclusion in the Apostolikon of Marcion point to a date
in the mid-second century at the earliest.
Genuine Paul’s First
Epistle to the Corinthians (12:28) and pseudo-Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians (4:11) also contain brief passages about
church polity.
Doctrina duodecim Apostolorum
This work from the second century opens with an account of
the Ascension and Coming of the Holy Spirit, followed by instructions from the
Eleven on various matters of practice, calendar, polity, morals,
discipline. Each prescription or
proscription has them speaking collectively as “the apostles”. It then provides a little more narrative, and
tells the countries to which each of the apostles named took the gospel.
Didascalia Apostolorum
First appearing in about 230, this work comes from northern
Syria, and was first found among the Audians, “heretics” who maintained the Quartodeciman
Pascha (Easter) and taught that God has a human form. It introduced a more elaborate church
hierarchy and more developed catechism.
It is the first church order that can be said to be pseudepigraphic
since it starts out with, “We the Apostles”, and in one section has them taking
turns speaking. The complier inserted an
edited version of the Didache into
Chapter 3. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church
made it part of its New Testament canon.
Apostolic Church Order
Written around 300 in either Egypt or Syria, probably the
former, this work became part of the canon law of the Egyptian, Ethiopian, and
Arabian churches. It is much briefer,
and more coherent, than the Didascalia
Apostolorum, more in the form of the Doctrina
duodecim Apostolorum. Chapters 1-3
were inspired by the Epistle of Barnabas,
Chapters 4-14 expand on the Didache, and Chapters 15-30. It was one of the most widely preserved of
the church orders, with copies in not only the original Greek, but also Latin,
Syriac, Sahidic, Boharic, Ethiopic, and several others.
Canons of Hippolytus
This pseudepigraphic written in about 340, probably in
Egypt, claims to have been written by Hippolytus of Rome. There are thirty-eight canons in all, and its
main purpose here is to serve as a place-holder, and to show that for some
reasons Hippolytus was quite popular in Egypt.
Apostolic Tradition
Also known as the Egyptian
Church Order, this document, once known as the Apostolic Tradition of
Hippolytus, was written in Egypt around 355.
Beginning with a prologue in the first chapter, it then divides into
three section, by subject if not headings.
The first, Chapters 2-14, deals mostly with clergy, but includes a
Eucharistic anaphora probably dating back to the early third century (the time
of Hippolytus), plus blessings for a couple of other foods. Chapters 15-21 discuss the catechumenate and
baptism. Chapters 22-43 compile various
rules for the community not particularly organized.
Apostolic Constitutions
This is a compilation and reworking of various sources
pulled together about 375 in Antioch, the first such collection.
Books I thru VI are essentially the Didiscalia Apostolorum heavily reworded and organized into
sections: Concerning the Laity, Concerning Bishops, Priests, and Deacons,
Concerning Widows, Concerning Orphans, Concerning Martyrs, and Concerning
Schisms.
Book VII repeats the Didache,
reworded heavily in places but covering the same subjects.
Book VIII is mostly a edited version of Apostolic Tradition, but with the work discussed below as its final
chapter.
Apostolic Canons
Known more formally as the Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles, these were written
about 380 and appended onto the end of Book VIII of the Apostolic Constitutions
as its final chapter. All eighty-five
were adopted as canon law at the Council of Trullo in 692, and they remain
among the canons of the Eastern Orthodox communion to this day. The Latin church only adopted the first
fifty.
Canons of Athanasius of Alexandria
The pseudepigraphic work, purporting to have been written by
Athanasius, 20th Patriarch of Alexandria, was written around 400 in
Egypt. It survives whole only in Arabic,
but fragments have been discovered written in Coptic. In form, it is one hundred and seven canons.
Testamentum Domini
Written in the fifth century in Anatolia and probably based
on Apostolic Tradition, it claims to
be the words of Christ instructing the Apostles in how the Church is to be run. It even includes highly detailed instructions
for the layout of a church building. On
disciplinary measures, it is extremely harsh toward major sins committed after
baptism, and calls for prohibition of soldiers in the church, except as hearers
(that will be explained later). There is
an abundance of prayers which are very lengthy and overly wordy. Its writer divided it into two sections of
forty-seven and twenty-seven chapters respectively, an apocalypse and
instructions for liturgy. Much of it is
based on Apostolic Tradition.
Canons of Hippolytus
There are thirty-eight of these, explicitly based on Apostolic Tradition. Much of the material was left untouched,
sandwiched between the introduction and an appendix which both had wholly new
information and instructions.
Collections
Church authorities collected and expanded older church
orders into larger collections, such as the Verona
Palimpsest, the Clementine Octateuch, the Egyptian Heptateuch, and the Alexandrine Sinodos.
The Verona
Palimpsest collects the Didascalia Apostolorum, the Apostolic
Church Order, the Apostolic Tradition, and official Roman chronicles
to the year 494.
The Syriac
Octateuch contains the Testamentum Domini, the Apostolic Church Order,
the Epitome, and the Apostolic Canons.
The Clementine,
or Egyptian, Heptateuch, also called the Ecclesiastical Canons,
contains the Apostolic Church Order, the Apostolic Tradition, the
Epitome, and the Apostolic Canons.
The Alexandrine
Sinodos collects and revises the Apostolic Church Order, the Apostolic
Tradition, and Book VIII of Apostolic Constitutions, without the
canons.
(See also: http://notesfromtheninthcircle.blogspot.com/2017/01/notes-from-ancient-church-orders.html)
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