Dating from the late second or early third century, this letter is an apology for the Christian religion. Replying to questions submitted by an unknown inquirer, seemingly a high-ranking official—the name Diognetus being a pseudonym—the letter’s author remains anonymous despite numerous conjectures (e.g., St. Justin, Quadratus, Aristides of Athens, to mention a few). The thirteenth- or fourteenth-century manuscript upon which all modern editions are based was destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War when the Strasbourg Municipal Library was burned in 1870.
Chapter V gives a moving and memorable description of Christian life. Chapters XI and XII are fragments of a sermon, written by a hand different from that of the author of the preceding chapters and appended to the letter.
CPG 1: no. 1112 * Altaner (1961) 135–36 * Altaner (1966) 77–78 * Bardenhewer (1908) 68–69 * Bardenhewer (1910) 54–55 * Bardenhewer (1913) 1:290–99 * Casamassa 217–32 * Cross 27–28 * Goodspeed 105–6 * Hamell 43–44 * Jurgens 1:40–42 * Quasten 1:248–53 * Steidle 31 * Tixeront 47–48 * CATH 3:855 * CE 5:8–9 * DCB 2:162–67 * DictSp 3:993–95 * DPAC 1:969–71 * DTC 4.2:1366–69 * EC 4:1660 * EEC 1:237 * EEChr 1:332 * LTK 3:238–39 * NCE 4:875 * NCES 4:751–52 * ODCC 483–84 * PEA (1894) 5.1:786 * PEA (1991) 3:607
A.A. McArthur, The Evolution of the Christian Year (London, 1953) 61–64. * T.J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (New York, 1986) 123–24.
V. Christians are distinguished from others neither by country nor by speech nor by clothing. Nor do they dwell in cities of their own; they use no special language; their manner of life is not singular. It is not by means of the imagination or the musings of restless minds that their teaching is to be discovered; unlike so many others, they are not champions of a human teaching. According to each one’s lot, they live in both Greek and non-Greek cities; they conform to local customs for clothing, food, and manner of life, while giving evidence of the uncommon and truly paradoxical laws of their spiritual republic.1 They live in their respective countries but do so like temporary residents.2 They do all that citizens are required to do and endure the hardships of foreigners. Every foreign land is their home, and every home is a foreign land. Like all others, they marry; they have children, but they do not abandon their newly born. They share the same table but not the same bed. They are in the flesh, and yet they do not live according to the flesh.3 They pass their days upon the earth, and yet they are citizens of heaven.4 They obey established laws,5 and their manner of life surpasses these laws. They love everyone, and yet they are persecuted by all. They are misunderstood, and yet they are condemned; they are put to death and thereby gain life. They are poor; yet they enrich many. They lack everything; yet they abound in all things.6 They are held in disrespect; yet in this they find glory. They are calumniated; yet they are vindicated. They are insulted; yet they bless.7 They are wronged; yet they show respect. Doing only what is good, they are punished as if they were evildoers. Punished, they rejoice8 as if born to life. The Jews make war on them as if they were foreigners; the Greeks persecute them; and those who detest them cannot offer any reason for their hatred. (738)
VI. To be brief, what the soul is to the body, so Christians are to the world. Just as the soul is spread through all the members of the body, so Christians are in cities throughout the world. The soul dwells within the body, and yet the soul is not the body; so Christians dwell in the world, and yet they are not part of the world.9 Itself invisible, the soul is kept a prisoner in a visible body; likewise, Christians are seen to be such in the world, but their religion remains invisible. […] (739)
Born ca. 213 to a prosperous pagan family in Neocaesarea in Pontus on the Black Sea, Theodore (Gregory) joined his brother, Athenodorus, in going to Caesarea in Palestine, where ca. 233 he became a student of Origen (WEC 1:43). Studying philosophy and theology he converted to Christianity and at baptism replaced the name given him at birth, Theodore, with that of Gregory. After spending at least five years with Origen, Gregory and his brother returned to Neocaesarea, where both were ordained bishops, Gregory being the first bishop of that city. His apostolic endeavors were such that by the time of his death (between 270 and 275) only a few pagans remained in the episcopal city. So great was his reputation that in the years to follow numerous miracles and wonders were attributed to Gregory, and thus his title Thaumaturgus or “Wonder-Worker.” Gregory of Nyssa has left us an account of Gregory’s life (crediting him with being the first to experience an apparition of the Blessed Virgin); there are three other biographies, all of a fanciful nature. Although a fair number of treatises are ascribed to Gregory, only a few appear to be authentic.
CPG 1: nos. 1763ff. * Altaner (1961) 238–39 * Altaner (1966) 211–12 * Bardenhewer (1908) 170–75 * Bardenhewer (1910) 149–53 * Bardenhewer (1913) 2:272–89 * Bautz 2:338–39 * Cross 174–76 * Hamell 68–69 * Jurgens 1:251–52 * Quasten 2:123–24 * Steidle 54–55 * Tixeront 105–7 * CATH 5:258–59 * CE 7:15–16 * DCB 2:730–37 * DHGE 22:39–42 * DictSp 6:1014–20 * DPAC 2:1719–21 * DTC 6.2:1844–47 * EC 6:1157–58 * EEC 1:368 * EEChr 1:499–500 * LTK 4:1027–29 * NCE 6:797–98 * NCES 6:524–35 * ODCC 713–14 * PEA (1894) 7.2:1857–59 * PEA (1991) 4:1211–12 * RACh 12:779–93 * TRE 14:188–91
Written between 254 and 258 in response to a letter from an unknown bishop, this document offers solutions to several pastoral problems that arose from the invasion of the Boradi and Goths into Pontus and Bithynia. The letter is called “canonical” because it came to be incorporated among the legal documents of several eastern Churches. Some doubt the authenticity of Canon 11 given below, considering it a later addition to the primitive text.a
Canon 7. As to those made captive by the barbarians and accompanying them in their captivity; forgetting that they are from Pontus and are Christians, they have so completely become barbarians as to put to death those of their own race, doing so by means of the gibbet or strangulation; they show escape routes or houses to the barbarians who otherwise would have been ignorant of these. You are to forbid such from even being hearers until some common decision about them has been made by the holy ones who have assembled and by the Holy Spirit previous to them. (740)
Canon 8. As to those who have been so bold as to invade the houses of others; if they have been put on trial and convicted, they are to be considered unworthy to even be hearers; but if they declare themselves and make restitution, they are to be placed among those penitents who leave with the catechumens. (741)
Canon 9. As to those who have found anything discarded by the barbarians, whether out in an open field or in their own houses; if they have been put on trial and convicted, they should also be placed under the same class of penitents. But if they have declared themselves and made restitution, they should be deemed fit for prayer.b (742)
Canon 11. Weeping is done outside the gate of the church. The sinners, standing there, are to request the faithful who are entering to offer prayers on their behalf. Hearing takes place inside the gate, on the porch where sinners should stand till the catechumens depart, and then they also leave, “for they are to hear the Scriptures and the teaching,” it is said, “and then be sent out as being considered unfit for prayer.”c Subjection is when sinners stand within the gate of the temple and leave together with the catechumens. Assembly is when a person is associated with the faithful and is not to depart with the catechumens. Finally, there is participation in the sacraments. (743)
Originating in the third, perhaps second, century, this short hymn, regarded by Basil the Great (WEC 2:67) as ancient (On the Holy Spirit 73), was used to accompany the lighting of the lamps and has long been sung during the evening office in the East. The text, addressed to Christ, includes a trinitarian doxology.
CPG 1: no. 1355 * Jurgens 1:46 * Quasten 1:159 * DPAC 2:2777 * EEC 2:685 * EEChr 2:919 * ODCC 1283
R.R. Smothers, “Phos Hilaron,” RSR 19 (1929) 266–83. * A. Tripolitis, “Phos Hilaron: Ancient Hymn and Modern Enigma,” VC 24 (1970) 189–96.
Serene light of the Holy Glory (744)
Of the Father Everlasting
Jesus Christ:
Having come to the setting of the sun,
And seeing the evening light
We praise the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit of God.
It behooveth to praise Thee
At all times with holy songs,
Son of God, who has given life;
Therefore the world does glorify Thee.
Discovered in 1883 near Hieropolis in Phrygia Salutaris (today Pamukkale in Turkey) were two fragments from an ancient funeral inscription. Assisted by other material, scholars were able to arrive at the full text of the epitaph of twenty-two verses.
The author of the inscription is a certain Abercius, formerly believed by some to be a pagan but now generally acknowledged to be Abercius Marcellinus, the Catholic bishop of Hieropolis. The text is highly symbolic with veiled references, a common practice during times of persecution.
CPG 1: no. 1368 * Altaner (1961) 95–96 * Altaner (1966) 97–98 * Cross 198–99 * Jurgens 1:77–78 * Quasten 1:171–73 * Steidle 258 * CATH 1:34–35 * CE 1:40–41 * DACL 1.1:66–87 * DCB 1:5 * DHGE 1:104–6 * DTC 1.1:58–66 * EC 1:69–72 * EEChr 1:5 * LTK 1:46–47 * NCE 1:18–19 * NCES 1:2 * ODCC 5 * RACh 1:12–17
G. Grabka, “Eucharistic Belief Manifest in the Epitaphs of Abercius and Pectorius,” AER 131 (1954) 145–55.
The Didascalia Apostolorum or, according to its Syriac translation, the Catholic Teaching of the Twelve Apostles and Holy Disciples of Our Redeemer, was originally written in Greek, although only fragments in that language survive. The full text is available in a Syriac translation, which perhaps was redacted in the fourth century. About two-fifths of the work exist in Latin, and are contained in a late fourth-century or early fifth-century palimpsest found at Verona. The document also exists in Arabic, Ethiopic, and Coptic translations.
The Didascalia most probably dates from the third century and is the work of an unknown author, certainly a bishop and perhaps a physician. The locale of its composition is generally regarded as northern Syria, perhaps in the vicinity of Antioch. Treating various members of the Church (bishops, deacons, deaconesses, etc.) and several liturgical (baptism, penance) and ascetic (fasting) practices, the author addresses Christians living in a Jewish milieu and warns them against following Jewish practices. His treatise is not theological but practical; lacking good organization, it contains doublets and even contradictions.
The author uses a familiar literary technique of the time, ascribing the work to the apostles together with Paul and James. The Didascalia utilizes former documents (e.g., the Didache, the Acts of Paul, the Gospel of Peter, etc.) and may have undergone several recensions; in turn, it forms the basis of books I through VI of the Apostolic Constitutions (WEC 2:77).
CPG 1: no. 1738 * Altaner (1961) 56–57 * Altaner (1966) 84–85 * Bardenhewer (1908) 168–70 * Bardenhewer (1910) 146–47 * Bardenhewer (1913) 2:255–62 * Bardy (1929) 65–66 * Cross 96–97 * Hamell 67 * Quasten 2:147–52 * Steidle 269 * Tixeront 214 * CATH 3:749–50 * CE 4:781–82 * DACL 4.1:800–802 * DDC 4:1218–24 * DictSp 3:863–65 * DPAC 1:948–49 * DTC 4.1:734–48 * EC 4:1565–66 * EEC 1:235 * EEChr 1:329 * LTK 3:210–11 * NCE 4:860 * NCES 4:437–38 * ODCC 479 * PEA (1894) 5.1:394
P.A. de Lagarde, Didascalia Apostolorum Syriace (Leipzig, 1854). * E. Hauler, Didascaliae Apostolorum Fragmenta Veronensia Latina (Leipzig, 1900). * M. Gibson, Horae Semiticae, vol. 1, The Didascalia Apostolorum in Syriac (London, 1903). * M. Gibson, Horae Semiticae, vol. 2, The Didascalia Apostolorum in English (London, 1903). * H. Anchelis and F. J. Flemming, Die syriache Didascalia übersetz und erklärt, TU 25, 2 (Leipzig, 1904) [German]. * F.X. Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum, vol. 1 (Paderborn, 1905). * F. Nau, La Didascalie des douze apôtres, 12th ed. (Paris, 1912) [French]. * J.M. Harden, The Ethiopic Didascalia Translated (New York and London, 1920) [English]. * R.H. Connolly, Didascalia Apostolorum: The Syriac Version Translated and Accompanied by the Verona Latin Fragments (Oxford, 1929) [English]. * J. Quasten, Monumenta Eucharistica et Liturgica Vetustissima (Bonn, 1937) 34–36 [Latin]. * Tidner, Didascaliae Apostolorum Canonum Ecclesiasticorum Traditionis Apostolicae Versiones Latinae, TU 75 (Berlin, 1963). * A. Vööbus, The Didascalia Apostolorum in Syriac, CSCO 401–2, 407–8 (Louvain, 1979) [Syriac with English translation]. * S. Brock and M. Vasey, The Liturgical Portions of the Didascalia, Liturgical Study 29 (Bramcote, Nottingham, 1982) [English].
F.X. Funk, Die Apostolischen Konstitutionen (Rottenburg, 1891). * F.X. Funk, “La date de la Didascalie des apôtres,” RHE 2 (1901) 798–809. * F.X. Funk, Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen und Untersuchungen, vol. 3 (Paderborn, 1907) 275–84. * E. Schwartz, Bussstufen und Katechumenatsklassen (Strassbourg, 1911) 16–20. * P.A. Prokoschev, Die Didascalia apostolorum und die ersten sechs Bücher der Apostolischen Konstitutionem [Russian] (Tomak, 1913). * F. Nau, “Le comput pascal de la Didascalie et Denys d’Alexandrie,” RBibl, n.s., 11 (1914) 423–25. * J.V. Bartlet, “Fragments of the Didascalia in Greek,” JThSt 18 (1917) 301ff. * R.H. Connolly, “The Use of the Didache in the Didascalia,” JThSt 24 (1923) 147–57. * F.C. Burkitt, “The Didascalia,” JThSt 31 (1930) 258–65. * P. Galtier, L’Eglise et la rémission des péchés au premiers siècles (Paris, 1932) 191ff. * E. Tidner, Sprachlicher Kommentar zur lateinischen Didascalia Apostolorum (Stockholm, 1938). * W.C. van Unnik, “De beteekenis van de Mozaische wet voor de kerk van Christus volgens de Syrische Didascalie,” Nederlandsch Archief voor Kerkgeschiednis 31 (1939) 65–100. * B. Poschmann, Paenitentia Secunda (Bonn, 1940) 476–78. * J.V. Bartlet, Church-Life and Church-Order during the First Four Centuries, with Special Reference to the Early Eastern Church-Orders (London, 1943). * J.J. Cuesta, “La penitencia medicinal desde la Didascalia Apostolorum a s. Gregorio di Nisa,” RET 7 (1947) 337–62. * P. Galtier, “La date de la Didascalie des apôtres,” RHE 42 (1947) 315–51. * P. Beaucamp, “Un évêque du IIIe siècle aux prises avec les pécheurs: son activité apostolique,” BLE 69 (1949) 26–47. * J. Colson, “L’évêque dans la Didascalie des apôtres,” VS Supplément no. 18 (1951) 271–90. * A. Jaubert, “La date de la dernière Cène,” RHE 146 (1954) 140–73. * B. Poschmann, Penance and the Anointing of the Sick (St. Louis, 1964) 75. * K. Rahner, “Busslehre und Busspraxis der Didascalia Apostolorum,” ZkTh 72 (1950) 257–81; repr. in revised form in Schriften zur Theologie 11 (1973) 327–59. * J. Bernhard, “Les institutions pénitentielles d’après la ‘Didascalie,’” Mel 3 (1967) 237–67. * A. Jaubert, “Le mercredi où Jésus fut livré,” NTS 14 (1967–68) 145–64. * M. Cnudde, “La réconciliation des pécheurs,” VS 118 (1968) 292–98. * C. Vagaggini, “L’ordinazione delle diaconesse nella tradixione greca e bizantina,” OCP 40 (1974) 145–89. * J. Magne, Tradition Apostolique sur les charismes et Diataxeis des Saints Apôtres: identification des documents et analyse du rituel d’ordination (Paris, 1975). * A. Strobel, “Die Kalendentraditionen der syr. Didaskalia Kap. 21,” in Ursprung und Geschichte des frühchristlichen Osterkalenders, TU 121 (Berlin, 1971) 325–52. * M. Metzger, “The Didascalia and the Constitutiones Apostolorum,” in W. Rordorf and others, The Eucharist of the Early Christians (New York, 1978) 194–219. * M. Metzger, “La pénitence dans les ‘Constitutions apostoliques,’” RDC 34 (1984) 224–34. * W.H.C. Frend, “Mission, Monasticism and Worship (337–361),” in L’Eglise et l’Empire au Ie siècle, ed. A. Dible (Geneva, 1989) ch. 2. * C. Munier, “Initiation chrétienne et rites d’unction (IIe–IIIe siècles),” RSR 64 (1990) 115–25. * C. Methuen, “Widows, Bishops and the Struggle for Authority in the ‘Didascalia Apostolorum,’” JEH 46 (1995) 197–213.
IV. [I.II.] 1. As to the bishop, listen to what follows. The shepherd who is appointed bishop and leader of the presbyterate in every congregation of the Church “is to be blameless in every way, irreproachable,”1 someone far removed from all evil, a man not less than fifty years old.2 He is to be far distant from the behavior of youth, from the lusts of the Enemy, and from the slander and blasphemy of false brethren, which they raise against many because they do not understand what God says in the Gospel: “All who utter an idle word shall answer for it to the Lord on the day of judgment since by your words you will be justified, and in your words you will be condemned.”3 2. If possible, he should be learned, but if he is unlettered, let him be versed and knowledgeable in God’s word as well as mature in years. If, however, the congregation is small and there is no man old enough, no man concerning whom testimony may be given that he is wise and suitable to be a bishop, but someone is found there who is young and of whom those present testify that he is worthy to be a bishop and who, though young, yet by meekness and restrained conduct shows maturity—let him be tested to determine whether all can testify concerning him; if so, he is to be made a bishop. […] (746)
IV. [II.II.] […] 3. When hands are imposed for the episcopacy, he is to be tested to determine whether he is chaste, whether his wife also is a believer and chaste, whether he has raised his children in the fear of God, whether he has admonished and taught them, whether his household fears, reverences, and obeys him. For if his household in the flesh resists him and refuses to obey him, how will those outside his household become his and subject themselves to him? (747)
IV. [II.IV.] 1. May he be generous; may he love orphans, widows, the poor, and strangers. May he be quick to minister, and may he be constant in service; he should afflict his own soul and not be the one who is put to confusion. He is to know who is more worthy to receive. 2. If there is a widow who has something or is able to nourish herself with what is necessary for bodily sustenance, and if there is another who, though not a widow, is in want either due to sickness or the rearing of children or bodily infirmity, then he should extend his hand to the latter. However, should someone be dissolute or drunk or idle and is in need of bodily nourishment, this person is not worthy of almsgiving or of the Church. (748)
IV. [II.V.] 1. The bishop is not to show special considerations to anyone, neither deferring to the rich nor favoring anyone improperly. He should not look down upon or neglect the poor, nor should he deem himself superior to them. 2. His food is to be meager and plain so that he can be watchful in exhorting and correcting those who are undisciplined. He is not to be crafty, gluttonous, self-indulgent, pleasure-loving, fond of choice foods. 3. The bishop is not to be resentful but rather patient when admonishing, assiduous in his teaching, constant in diligently reading the Holy Scriptures so that he may interpret and explain them accurately. Let him compare the Law and the Prophets with the Gospel so that what is said in the former may accord with what is found in the latter. […] (749)
V. [II.IX.] 1. But if the bishop himself does not have a clear conscience and accepts persons for the sake of filthy gain4 or because of the gifts he receives and spares an impious sinner, allowing that individual to remain in the Church, [II.X.] he has polluted his congregation before God and indeed before others as well. He destroys himself and many of the neophytes, catechumens, and youth, both male and female. 2. Seeing such an ungodly man in their midst, they too will doubt and imitate him. 3. But if sinners see that the bishop and the deacons are beyond reproach and that the whole flock is pure, then they will not dare enter the congregation because they have been reproved by their own consciences. 4. Yet if they are so bold as to come to church in their obstinacy, they will be reproved and convicted by the bishop, 5. and looking upon all present, they will find no offense in any of them, whether in the bishop or in those who are with him. Then they will be confounded and will quietly depart in great shame, weeping and groaning, and so shall the flock remain pure. Moreover, once they have left, they will repent of their sins, weeping and sighing before God, and there will be hope for them. The whole flock itself, when it sees them weeping, will fear, knowing and understanding that all who sin will perish. (750)
V. [II.XI.] 1. Therefore, O bishop, strive to be pure in whatever you do, and know your position before God, namely, that you are made in the likeness of God Almighty, whom you represent. So sit in the church and teach as having authority to judge on God’s behalf those who sin. For to you, O bishop, the Gospel says, “What you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.”5 (751)
VI. [II.XII.] 1. Therefore judge with authority, O bishop, as God Almighty does; and like God Almighty mercifully receive those who repent. Rebuke, exhort, and teach since the Lord God, with an oath, has promised forgiveness to all sinners. […] 3. He gave hope to those who sin so that upon doing penance they may obtain salvation and may not despair of themselves, may not continue in and further increase their sins but may repent, sigh, and weep for their offenses and be profoundly converted. (752)
VI. [II.XIII.] 1. May those who have not sinned remain sinless so that they have no need of weeping, sighs, sorrow, and forgiveness. 2. For how do you know, O sinner, how longer your life will continue in this world so that you may repent? You do not know when you will leave this world, whether you may perhaps die in your sins and there be no more repentance for you, for as David said, “In Sheol who shall confess to you?”6 […] 4. Therefore, O bishop, judge as follows: first, strictly, but afterwards receive sinners with mercy and compassion when they promise to repent. Rebuke and afflict them, and then assist them [II.XIV.] because of the word spoken by David, “Do not deliver up the soul that confesses to you.”7 2. In Jeremiah he again speaks concerning the repentance of those who sin: “Shall they who have fallen not rise up? Or shall those who have been turned away not return? Why are my people turned away with shameful perversion and held fast in their own devices as they refuse to repent and to return?”8 3. For this reason receive without the least hesitation those who repent. Be not hindered by those who refuse to show mercy, those who say, “It is not right that we should be defiled with these.” […] (753)
VI. [II.XV.] […] 8. It is right for you, O bishop, to judge sinners according to the Scriptures, doing so with gentleness and mercy. If someone is walking by the bank of a river and is ready to slip in, you yourself—if you allow this person to fall in—have thrown and cast him or her into the river and thereby committed murder. If someone were to slip on the brink of a river and be on the verge of perishing, quickly you would extend a hand and draw that person out so that he or she not perish. Therefore act toward the sinner in such a manner that your people may learn and understand, in such a manner that the sinner may not be totally lost. (754)
VI. [II.XVI.] 1. But when you see someone who has sinned, show sternness, and order that they cast out the sinner; and when the sinner has gone forth, let them show anger, take the sinner to task, and keep him or her outside the church; then let them enter and pray for the sinner. Our Savior himself also pleaded with the Father for sinners, as we read in the Gospel: “My Father, they know not what they are doing nor what they are saying. If it be possible, forgive them.”9 2. And then, O bishop, after ordering the sinner to enter, conduct an examination to determine whether he or she has repented. And if the sinner is worthy to be received into the church, appoint days of fasting in proportion to the offense, two or three weeks, five or seven. And so dismiss the sinner after saying whatever is fitting while admonishing and instructing; rebuke such people, saying that each should stand alone in humiliation, that each should beg and beseech during the days of fast to be found worthy of the forgiveness of sins. […] 4. So you are to dismiss from the church those promising to repent of their sins for a period of time proportionate to their offenses; afterwards, receive them as would a merciful father. (755)
VII. [II.XVIII.] 1. The bishop is to care for every person, both the sinless—that they may continue as they are without sin—and sinners—that they may repent; he is to forgive sins as is written in Isaiah, “Loose every bond of iniquity and sever all bonds of violence and extortion.”10 2. Therefore, O bishop, teach, rebuke, and loose with forgiveness. Know that you take the place of God Almighty; know that you have received authority to forgive sins. For to you, bishops, it was said, “All that you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and all that you loose shall be loosed.”11 […] 7. You are to give an account for many. You are to preserve those who are healthy; you are to admonish, rebuke, and afflict those who have sinned. Afterwards, alleviate them with forgiveness. When sinners have repented and wept, receive them. And while all the people are praying for those who have sinned, impose your hands on the sinners and permit them henceforth to be in the church. […] (756)
IX. [II.XXVI.] 1. O members of the laity, being the elect of God’s Church, you are to hear these things. The Jewish people of old were called a “Church,” but you are the Catholic Church, holy and perfect, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for inheritance,”12 the great Church, the bride adorned for the Lord God. Listen now to what was said formerly. Set aside offerings and tithes and first fruits for Christ, the true High Priest, and for his ministers, tithes of salvation since his name begins with the Decade.a 2. Listen, O holy and Catholic Church of God, which was delivered from the ten plagues, which received the ten commandments, which learned the Law, which held fast to the faith, which knew the Decade, which believed in the Yod at the beginning of the Name, which was established in his perfect glory. Rather than the sacrifices of the past, now offer prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings. At that time there were the first fruits, tithes, offerings, and gifts; but today there are the oblations offered through the bishops to the Lord God for the remission of sins. 3. The bishops are your high priests,b but the priests and levites are now the presbyters and deacons, the orphans and the widows. 4. The levite and the high priest is the bishop. He is the minister of the word and the mediator, but to you he is a teacher and your father after God; he begot you through the water. He is your chief and your leader, your powerful king. He rules in the place of the Almighty. Honor him as you honor God since for you he takes the place of God Almighty. 5. The deacon takes the place of Christ, and so the deacon is loved by you. 6. The deaconess shall be honored by you in the place of the Holy Spirit; 7. the presbyters are to represent the apostles for you. 8. You will consider the orphans and the widows to be a likeness of the altar. (757)
IX. [II.XXVII.] 1. Just as it was not lawful for a stranger, that is, someone not a levite, to approach the altar or to offer anything without the high priest, so you also shall do nothing without the bishop. 2. But if any should act independently of the bishop, whatever is done is done in vain since it shall not be accounted as work because it is not right that anyone should do anything apart from the high priest. 3. Therefore present your offerings to the bishop, doing so either in person or through the deacons, and when the bishop has received them, he will distribute them as fitting to each. 4. The bishop is to be well-acquainted with those in distress, and he is to dispense and give to each as is fitting so that one person may not frequently receive on the same day or during the same week, whereas another receives not even a little. Those whom the priest and steward of God knows to be more in distress, these the priest is to assist as may be required of him. (758)
IX. [II.XXVIII.] 1. As to those who invite widows for supper, the bishop should frequently send a widow whom he knows to be more needy. And again if someone is presenting gifts to the widows, the bishop should especially send a widow who is in need. 2. What is destined for the priest is to be separated and set apart for him as is required at the agapes or at the distribution of the gifts even though he may not be present. This is done in honor of Almighty God. 3. However much is given to one of the presbyters, double is to be given to each of the deacons in honor of Christ, but twice double to the leader for the glory of the Almighty. 4. If any wish to honor also the presbyters, let them give the presbyters a double portion as is done for the deacons; the presbyters are to be honored as apostles, as counsellors of the bishop, and as the crown of the Church, for they are the moderators and counsellors of the Church. If there is also a reader, he should receive together with the presbyters. To every order, therefore, each member of the laity gives the honor that is due, doing so with gifts and honors and with the respect given by the world. 6. May the people have very free access to the deacons and not always be troubling the leader, but through the ministers, namely, the deacons, they should make known what they require. No one can approach the Lord God Almighty except through Christ. Whatever the people desire to do they should make known to the bishop through the deacons and then do it. […] (759)
IX. [II.XXXIII.] […] 2. Honor the bishops who have freed you from sins, the bishops who by means of water gave you rebirth, who filled you with the Holy Spirit, who nourished you with the word as with milk, who strengthened you with instruction, who confirmed you with admonition, who had you partake of God’s holy Eucharist, and who made you partakers and joint heirs of the promise of God. […] (760)
IX. [II.XXXVI.] 4. […] Do not remove yourself from the church. But when you have received the Eucharist of the offering, give whatever you have so that you may share it with strangers; for it is collected and brought to the bishop for assisting strangers. […] (761)
X. [II.XXXIX.] […] 5. Those who have been convicted of evil deeds and falsehoods are to be treated by you “as heathens and publicans.”13
6. Afterwards, if they promise to repent—just as when the heathen desire and promise to do penance, saying, “We believe”—we receive them into the assembly so that they may hear the word, but we do not allow them to receive Communion till they are sealed and fully initiated; nor do we accept them for Communion till they show the fruits of repentance. By all means let them enter if they desire to hear the word so that they may not totally perish. But they are not to share in the prayer;c rather, they should leave, going outside. For they also, when they see that they are not in communion with the Church, will submit themselves, repent of their former deeds, and strive to be received into the church for prayer. Likewise, those who see and hear them leaving like heathens and publicans will fear and take warning not to sin lest they also, convicted of sin or falsehood, be sent out of the church. (762)
X. [II.XL.] 1. But you, O bishop, shall in no way forbid them to enter the church and hear the word; for neither did our Lord and Savior completely cast away and reject publicans and sinners; he even ate with them. This is why the Pharisees murmured against him, saying, “He eats with publicans and sinners.”14 Then our Savior responded to their thoughts and murmurings, saying, “They that are whole have no need of a physician but they who are sick.”15 2. You, therefore, should associate with those who have been convicted of sins and are sick; be involved with them; show care for them; converse with them; comfort them; support and convert them. (763)
X. [II.XLI.] 1. Afterwards, as they repent and show the fruits of penance, admit them for prayer as is done for the heathens. 2. And just as you baptize and then receive a pagan, so also lay the hand upon these penitents while all are praying for them, and then bring them in and let them be in communion with the Church. The imposition of the hand shall take the place of baptism for them; it is by the imposition of the hand or by baptism that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is received. […] (764)
X. [II.XLIV.] […] 2. The bishop and the deacons are to be of one mind; you are to diligently shepherd the people, doing so with one accord. You are to be one body, father and son, for you are in the likeness of the Lord. 3. The deacon is to make known all things to the bishop, just as Christ does to his Father. The deacon should take charge of whatever he can; as to the rest, let the bishop decide. 4. The deacon is to be the ears of the bishop, his mouth, his heart, and his soul; when both of you are of one mind, then through your agreement there will also be peace in the Church. (765)
XI. [II.LIII.] […] 3. Our Lord and Savior also said, “If you offer your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go; first be reconciled with your brother and then come, offer your gift.”16 4. Now God’s gift is our prayer and our Eucharist. If, then, you bear any ill-will against another or another against you, your prayer is not heard, your Eucharist is not accepted, and you will be found devoid both of prayer and of the Eucharist because of your anger. 5. At all times we are to pray diligently, and yet God does not hear those who bear anger and malice toward their brethren; even though you pray three times in one hour, you will gain nothing since your hostility toward another prevents you from being heard. […] (766)
XI. [II.LIV.] 1. Wherefore, O bishops, so that your oblations and prayers may be acceptable when you stand in church to pray, let the deacon say aloud, “Does anyone have something against another?” Now if any are found who have a lawsuit against another or an argument with another, you should plead with them and make peace between them. […] (767)
XII. [II.LVII.] […] 2. In your assemblies, in the holy churches, come together in an orderly way; with care and seriousness appoint places for the brethren. 3. The presbyters are to be assigned places in the eastern part of the building; 4. the bishop’s throne is to be located in their midst; the presbyters are to sit with him. The laymen sit in another part of the eastern section of the building. 5. And so it is that in the eastern part of the building the presbyters sit together with the bishop. Next come the laymen and then the women so that when, standing up to pray, the leaders stand in front, after them the laymen, and then the women. You are to pray facing the east since, as you know, it is written, “Give glory to God who rides upon the highest heaven toward the east.”17 6. One of the deacons is always to stand next to the gifts for the Eucharist; another stands outside at the door and observes those who enter; afterwards, when you are offering, all the deacons are to serve in the church. 7. If any people are sitting where they should not be, a deacon who is within should reprove them and have them stand and sit in their appropriate places. 8. Our Lord compared the Church to a farm enclosure where we see the dumb animals—oxen, sheep, and goats—lie down and get up, feed and ruminate, according to their families and not being separated from their own kind. The wild beasts also walk in the mountains with their own kind. So in the church the young should sit apart if there is room for them to do so; otherwise, they stand. And the elderly are to sit by themselves. Children stand on one side, or the fathers and mothers take their children with them; and let them remain standing. Young girls are also to sit apart; but if there is no room, they should stand behind the women. The young women who are married and have children are to stand apart; the elderly women and the widows sit apart. 9. A deacon is to see that each person, upon entering, goes to his or her place and does not sit in the wrong location. A deacon is also to see to it that no one whispers, falls asleep, laughs, or nods. With order and decorum all should be attentive while in the church, always listening to the word of the Lord. (768)
XII. [II.LVIII.] 1. If someone, a brother or a sister, should come from another community, the deacon questions them and, for example, learns whether the woman is married, whether she is a widow who is a believer, whether she is [a child] of the Church, or perhaps whether she belongs to some heretical group; he should then escort her in and have her sit in a fitting place. 2. Should a presbyter come from another community, you, the presbyters, should welcome him into your fellowship. If he is a bishop, he is to sit with the bishop, who is to accord him the same honor as given to himself. 3. And you, O bishop, should invite him to preach to your people, for exhortation and admonition given by strangers is very profitable, especially since it is written, “No prophet is acceptable in his own place.”18 And when you offer the sacrifice, let him also speak. But if he is wise and defers this honor to you and is unwilling to offer, let him at least say the words over the cup. 4. Should someone also enter while you are sitting, whether it be a man or a woman, a person enjoying some worldly honor and coming either from the same district or from another community, then you, O bishop, if you are speaking, hearing, or reading God’s word, shall not defer to such a one. You are not to suspend the ministry of the word by finding them a place; remain as you are, undisturbed, and do not interrupt what you are saying; the brethren themselves are to take care of them. 5. If there is no place for such late-comers, then one of the brethren, someone who is full of love toward his brothers and sisters and who desires to honor them, is to stand and give the tardy person his or her own place. But if, while younger men and women remain seated, an older man or woman should rise and relinquish his or her place, you, O deacon, are to look over those who are sitting to determine which man or woman is the youngest; have this person stand, and have seated the person who stood and gave up his or her own place. As to the person you had stand, this individual is to stand behind his or her neighbors. In such a way others learn to make room for those more honorable than themselves. 6. But if a poor man or woman should enter, whether from the same district or from another congregation and especially if they are quite elderly and there is no place for them, you, O bishop, with all your heart are to see that there is room for them, even if you must sit on the floor. Do not be a respecter of persons if your ministry is to be acceptable to God. (769)
XIII. [II.LIX.] 1. When teaching, command and warn the people to be faithful in assembling in the church. They are not to absent themselves but are always to gather so as not to diminish the Church, thus causing the Body of Christ to lack a member. We are not to think only of others; rather, we should think of ourselves as well, listening to what our Lord said, “Whoever does not gather with me, scatters.”19 2. Since you are Christ’s members, do not scatter yourselves from the Church by failing to assemble. You have Christ for your Head just as he promised you: “You will share with me.”20 Do not, then, neglect yourselves; do not deprive our Savior of his members; do not rend and scatter his body. Do not make your worldly affairs more important than God’s word. On the Lord’s Day leave everything and hasten to the church. 3. Otherwise, what excuse before God have those who do not come together on the Lord’s Day in order to hear the word of life and to be nourished with the divine food that remains forever? (770)
XIII. [II.LX.] 1. You are eager to receive the things of this world, things that last only for a day or for an hour, and yet you neglect what is eternal; you are anxious about bathing, about being fed with the meat and drink for the belly, and about other things. Yet you care not for what is eternal. You neglect your soul and show no zeal for the Church, no zeal for hearing and receiving God’s word. (771)
XV. [III.VIII.] 1. Widows, then, should be modest; they should be subject to the bishops and the deacons. They are to revere, respect, and fear the bishop as they would God. They are not to have authority over anyone or to do anything beyond what they have been advised to do or beyond what the bishop commands. They should not visit anyone in order to eat or drink, or to fast with anyone, or to receive anything from anyone, or to lay the hand on and pray over anyone without the bishop or the deacon instructing her to do so. Should she exceed what is commanded her, she is to be admonished for having acted without being instructed to do so. […] (772)
XV. [III.IX] 1. That a woman should baptize or that a person should be baptized by a woman we do not approve, since this is unlawful and a great danger both to her who baptizes and to the person who is baptized. If it were lawful to be baptized by a woman, our Lord and Teacher himself would indeed have been baptized by Mary, his mother, whereas he—just like the others from the [Jewish] People—was baptized by John. […] (773)
XVI. [III.XII.1.] 1. Therefore, O bishop, obtain for yourself workers of righteousness as helpers assisting you in leading the people to salvation. You shall choose and appoint as deacons those who are pleasing to you from among all the people: a man for doing many of the things that are necessary, a woman for serving the women. For there are houses to which you cannot send a deacon to the women because of the pagans, but you can send a deaconess. 2. Furthermore, in many other instances the service of the female deacon is required. First, when women descend into the water, it is necessary that those doing so should be anointed by a deaconess with the oil of anointing; where no woman is present, and especially no deaconess, he who baptizes must anoint the woman being baptized. But where there is a woman and especially a deaconess, it is not fitting that the women be seen by men; but with the laying-on of the hand anoint the head only. In times past this is how priests and kings were anointed in Israel. 3. In like manner at the imposition of the hand anoint the head of each who is baptized, whether they be men or women. Afterwards—whether you yourself baptize or have the deacons or presbyters do so—a female deacon, as we have already said, is to anoint the women. A man, however, pronounces over them the names invoking the Deity while they are in the water. When the baptized woman comes up out of the water, the deaconess is to receive her, teach her, and instruct her as to how the baptismal seal should be kept unbroken in purity and holiness. 4. For this reason we say that the ministry of the woman deacon is especially necessary and needed. Our Lord and Savior also was served by women ministers, “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee,”21 as well as the other women. You also need the ministry of a deaconess in many other areas: she is required to go to the houses of the pagans in which there are women believers; she is to visit the sick and minister to them in what they need; she is to bathe those who are about to recover from an illness. (774)
XVI. [III.XIII.] 1. Deacons are to resemble the bishops in their behavior; however, they are to be even more proficient. Let them “not love filthy gain,”22 but may they minister well. Their number is to be proportionate to the number of people in the local community so that the deacons may personally know and assist each person; they are to give appropriate service to the elderly women who are weak and to those brothers and sisters who are sick. A woman is to serve women, a deacon to serve men. Ready to travel and carry out the bishop’s command, the deacon is to labor and toil in every place where he is sent to serve. 2. Each is to know what he is to do and to make haste doing it. And you [bishop and deacon] are to be of one mind, one purpose, one soul dwelling in two bodies. […] 7. It is required that you, O deacons, visit all who are in need and inform the bishop of them; as the bishop’s soul and mind, you should closely observe all things and be obedient to him. (775)
XX. [V.IX.] 1. […] Baptism forgives the sins of those who come from paganism and enter the holy Church of God. […] 4. Past sins are forgiven to all who believe and are baptized. 5. Even though after baptism a person has not committed a deadly sin or has not been an accomplice in such a sin but has only heard or seen or spoken of it, he or she is again guilty of sin. 6. Blessed are those who leave this world by being martyred for the name of the Lord since through martyrdom “their sins are covered.”23 (776)
XXI. [V.X.] 1. Therefore a Christian should refrain from vain speech and from foul and profane words. Not even on Sunday, a day on which we rejoice and are of good cheer, is it permitted to say anything that is silly or irreligious. […] 2. We must celebrate our festivals and our rejoicing, then, with fear and trembling; certainly a faithful Christian must not sing pagan songs nor have anything to do with the laws and teachings of strange gatherings since it may happen that in their singing they might utter the name of the idols, something—God forbid!—the faithful are not to do. […] (777)
XXI. [V.XII.] […] 5. Believers are not to swear, whether by the sun or by any other sign in the heavens or by any of the elements; they are not to speak the name of the idols or utter a curse but rather they are to say blessings and psalms and words from the dominical and Divine Scriptures, which are the foundation of our true faith. This is especially true during the days of the Pasch when all the faithful throughout the world fast, 6. as our Lord and Teacher said when they asked him, “Why do John’s disciples fast but your disciples do not fast? He answered them: ‘The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they shall fast on that day.’”24 Now he is with us by his actions, and yet he cannot be seen because he has ascended to the heavenly heights and sits at the right hand of his Father. (778)
XXI. [V.XIII.] 1. Therefore when you fast, you should pray and intercede for those who are lost; this is what we did when our Lord was suffering. (779)
XXI. [V.XIV.] 1. Before his passion, when he was still with us and while we were eating the Passover with him, he said to us, “‘Today, in this night, one of you will betray me.’ And each one of us said to him, ‘Is it I, Lord?’ And he answered and said to us, ‘He who places his hand with me into the dish.’”25 2. And Judas Iscariot, who was one of us, stood up and went out to betray him. 3. Then our Lord said to us, “Truly I say to you, a little while and you will leave me, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the lambs of his flock will be scattered.’”26 4. And Judas came with the scribes and with the priests of the people and handed over our Lord Jesus. This took place on Wednesday. 5. For after we had eaten the Passover meal on Tuesday evening, we went out to the Mount of Olives where during the night they seized our Lord Jesus. 6. The following day, Wednesday, he remained under custody in the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. On the same day the leaders of the people gathered and took counsel against him. 7. The next day, Thursday, they brought him to Pilate, the governor. He remained in Pilate’s custody Thursday night. 8. But when Friday began to dawn, “they accused him of many things”27 before Pilate; they could prove nothing but gave false witness against him. Requesting Pilate that he be put to death, 9. they crucified him on the same Friday. He suffered, then, at the sixth hour on Friday. Now the hours during which our Lord was crucified were considered to be a day. 10. And afterwards, again there was darkness for three hours, and this was considered to equal a night. Also, from the ninth hour till evening these three hours were reckoned a day. Afterwards, again there was the night of the Sabbath of the Passion. 11. But in Matthew’s Gospel it is written, “In the evening of the Sabbath, when the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. There was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down and rolled back the rock.”28 12. Again there was the day of the Sabbath; and then the three hours of the night after the Sabbath, the three hours during which our Lord slept and rose. 13. And so was fulfilled what he said, “The Son of Man must spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,”29 as is written in the Gospel. And again it is written in David, “Behold, you have set my days in measure.”30 It was written in this way because these days and nights were shortened. 14. During the night, therefore, “when the first day of the week was beginning to dawn, he appeared to Mary Magdalene and to Mary, the daughter (mother?) of James”;31 and on Sunday morning he went to the house of Levi;d and then he also appeared to us. 15. He taught us, saying, “Do you fast for my sake during these days? Have I any need that you should so afflict yourselves? But it is for your brethren that you have done this; and you are to do the same during these days when you fast, and always on Wednesday and Friday, as is written in Zechariah, ‘the fourth fast and the fifth fast,’”32 which is Friday. It is not lawful for you to fast on Sunday because this day is the day of my resurrection. 16. For this reason Sunday is not included in the number of the days of the Fast of the Passion, but the days are counted from Monday. In this way there are five days.e And so ‘the fast of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will be for the house of Israel.’33 17. Fast, then, from Monday, six full days, till the night after Saturday, and you shall count this as a week. 18. The ‘tenth’ month is mentioned because my name begins with Yod,f in which we find the beginning of the fasts. Do not fast as did the People of old but according to the new covenant which I established for you; fast for them on Wednesday since on this day they began to impair their souls by apprehending me. 19. For Tuesday night is part of Wednesday, as is written, ‘There was evening and there was morning, one day.’34 Evening accordingly is part of the following day, 20. for on Tuesday evening I ate my Passover meal with you, and during that night they took me captive. 21. But fast for them also on Friday because on this day they crucified me during their feast of the unleavened bread, as David of old foretold, ‘In the midst of their feasts they set their signs, and they knew not.’35 22. Be steadfast in fasting during these days, especially those among you who were pagans. Because the [Jewish] People failed to obey, it was the pagans whom I freed from blindness and from the error of idols. I received them so that—through your fasting and that of those who were formerly pagans and through your service during the days when you pray and intercede because of the error and destruction of the People—your prayer and intercession may be accepted by my Father who is in heaven, as though coming from the one mouth of all the faithful on earth and so that all they did to me may be forgiven them. For this reason I have already said to you in the Gospel, ‘Pray for your enemies’36 and ‘Blessed are they who mourn’37 over the destruction of unbelievers. 23. Know, therefore, my brethren, that we are to fast during the Pasch because of the negligence of our brethren. Even though they hate you, nevertheless, we should call them brethren. […] (780)
XXI. [V.XVII.] 1. It is fitting for you, my brethren, that during the days of the Pasch you make careful inquiry and most diligently observe the fast. You should begin fasting when your brethren who are from the People observe the Passover. For when our Lord and Teacher ate the Passover meal with us, he was afterwards betrayed by Judas, and immediately we began to experience sorrow because the Lord was taken from us. (781)
XXI. [V.XVIII.] 1. Therefore you shall fast during the days of the Pasch from the tenth which is a Monday; at the ninth hour you will nourish yourselves with bread, salt, and water only, doing so till Thursday. On Friday and Saturday fast completely, taking nothing. (782)
XXI. [V.XIX.] 1. You shall come together, watch, and keep vigil throughout the whole night with prayers and intercessions, with readings from the prophets and the Gospel together with psalms. You will do so with fear and great reverence and with diligent supplication till the third hour during the night after Saturday. At that time you break your fast. 2. It was in this way that we also fasted when the Lord suffered as a witness of the three days; we were keeping vigil, praying, and interceding due to the destruction of the People because they, erring, did not confess our Savior. 3. You also are to pray so that the Lord may not at the end remember the deception they used against our Lord; but may he grant them an opportunity for repentance, for conversion, and for obtaining pardon of their wickedness. 4. Pilate the judge, who was a heathen and a foreigner, did not agree with their wicked deeds. No, he “took water and washed his hands and said, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this man.’”38 5. Herod ordered that he should be crucified; and so it was on Friday that our Lord suffered for us. 6. Consequently it is most fitting that you observe the fast on Friday and on Saturday; also the Saturday vigil and watch. At this time there is the reading of the Scriptures, psalms, prayers, and intercessions for those who have sinned. All is done in the expectation and hope of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and lasts till the third hour of the night after Saturday. 7. Then offer your sacrifices; thereafter eat and be of good cheer, rejoice, and be glad because Christ, the pledge of our resurrection, has risen. “This shall be a law to you forever unto the end of the world.”39 8. Our Savior is dead for those who do not believe in him because their hope in him is dead; but to you who are believers, our Lord and Savior has risen because your hope in him is immortal and living forever. 9. Fast, then, on Friday because on this day the People slew themselves when they crucified our Savior; fast also on Saturday because on this day our Lord was asleep. 10. It is a day on which you should especially fast. […] (783)
XXI. [V.XX.] 1. Let us now observe, my brethren, that most people when mourning imitate the Sabbath; in like manner those observing the Sabbath imitate those who mourn. 2. The mourner kindles no light; the same is true for the People on the Sabbath since this is what Moses commanded them. 3. Whoever mourns refrains from bathing; the same is true for the People on the Sabbath. 4. Whoever mourns does not prepare meals; neither do the People on the Sabbath, for they prepare and set the table on the previous evening; they have a premonition of mourning, seeing that they were to lay hands on Jesus. 5. Whoever mourns neither works nor speaks but sits in sorrow; likewise the People on the Sabbath since this is what was told them regarding the mourning of the Sabbath, “You shall not lift up your feet to do any labor, and your mouth shall speak no word.”40 […] 10. Wherever the fourteenth Pasch falls, so observe it, for neither the month nor the day corresponds to the same season every year but is variable. And so when the People observe the Passover, you are to fast; take care to hold your vigil during the feast of the unleavened bread. 11. Yet always rejoice on Sunday, for those who afflict the soul on Sunday are guilty of sin. 12. It is unlawful, except on the Pasch, for anyone to fast during the three hours of the night between Saturday and Sunday because this night belongs to the first day of the week; but only on the Pasch are you to fast for these three hours of the night when you gather as Christians in the Lord. (784)
XXIV. [VI.XII.] 1. When the whole Church was in peril of becoming heretical, all of us, namely, the twelve apostles, gathered in Jerusalem to consider what action should be taken. It seemed good to us—there was agreement in this matter—to write this catholic Didascalia in order to strengthen all of you. In it we established and decreed that you should worship God Almighty, Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that you should use the Holy Scriptures and believe in the resurrection of the dead, and that you should give thanks when using all his creation. […] (785)
XXV. [VI.XIV.] 1. To be left in the church are those who have not sinned as well as those who have done penance for their sins. As to those who are still held captive by error and are not undergoing penance, we have decreed that they be expelled from the church, that they be set apart from the faithful because they have become heretics; we have ordered that the faithful avoid them completely and have nothing to do with them, whether it be in speech or in prayer. 2. They are the enemies and opponents of the Church. […] 7. There are those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, those who openly and hypocritically blaspheme God Almighty, those who refuse to accept his Holy Scriptures or receive them badly due to blasphemous deceit, those who with evil words blaspheme the Church, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit—all these Christ already condemns by the judgment to come and before they can defend themselves. “It shall not be forgiven them.”41 It is this stern sentence of condemnation that precedes them. (786)
Claiming to have been written by Thomas himself and the only “Acts” for which we have the complete text, the Acts of Thomas come from the first half of the third century, perhaps from the neighborhood of Edessa. The original text was in Syriac, with later versions in Greek, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Latin. Written in a romantic and popular style designed to entertain as well as to instruct, the work tells the story of the missionary adventures of Thomas, who according to popular belief brought Christianity to India. Although it would seem that the writer was a Gnostic (Christ, for example, being the redeemer who frees souls from this world), apparently many, but not all, heterodox elements were subsequently removed so that the work would appeal to a more orthodox audience.
Altaner (1961) 77 * Altaner (1966) 138–39 * Bardenhewer (1908) 106–8 * Bardenhewer (1910) 85–86 * Bardenhewer (1913) 1:442–48 * Cross 82–83 * Goodspeed 78–81 * Quasten 1:139–40 * Steidle 280 * Tixeront 71 * CATH 1:702 * DCB 1:30 * DTC 1.1:358–60 * EEChr 1:17–18 * LTK 9:1508 * ODCC 1613
G.P. Wetter, Altchristliche Liturgie, vol. 1 (Göttingen, 1921) 89ff. * H. Lietzmann, Messe und Herrenmahl (Bonn, 1926) 243–47. * J. Quasten, Monumenta Eucharistica et Liturgica Vetustissima (Bonn, 1935–37) 341–45.
26. King Gundaphoros and his brother Gad, having been set apart by the apostle followed him. Not at all leaving him, they also provided for all who were begging, giving to and assisting all. They entreated Thomas that they also might receive the seal of the word, saying to him, “Since our souls are at rest and are eager for God, grant us the seal; for we have heard you say that the God whom you preach recognizes his own sheep1 by means of the seal.” The apostle said to them: “I rejoice and entreat you to receive this seal and to share with me in this Eucharist and blessing of God, and to be thereby perfected. For this Jesus Christ whom I preach is Lord and God of all. He is the father of truth in which I have taught you to believe.” He ordered them to bring in oil so that by means of it they might receive the seal. They accordingly brought in the oil and, since it was night, they lighted many lamps. (787)
27. And so the apostle arose and sealed them. And the Lord was revealed to them through a voice saying, “Peace be with you, brethren.”2 They heard the Lord’s voice only and did not seek his likeness3 since they had yet to receive the added sealing of the seal. The apostle, taking the oil, poured it upon their heads, anointed and perfumed them, and began to say: “Come, holy name of Christ which is above every name.4 Come, power of the Most High and compassion that is perfect. Come, gift of the Most High. Come, compassionate mother. Come, companion of the male child. Come, revealer of the sacred mysteries. Come, mother of the seven houses so that you may be able to rest in the eighth house. Come, elder of the five members—mind, thought, reflection, consideration, reason—communicate with these young men. Come, Holy Spirit and cleanse their reins and hearts,5 and grant them added zeal in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Once they were sealed, a young man appeared to them. He was holding a lighted torch so that their lamps were darkened at the approach of its light. Then he left and was no longer seen by them. And the apostle said to the Lord, “Lord, your light is too great for us; we are unable to bear it since we cannot stand looking at it.” When light came and it was morning, he broke bread6 and had them share in the Eucharist of Christ. They rejoiced and were glad;7 many others also believed and were added to their number8 and entered the refuge of the Savior. (788)
29. […] Having blessed them, Thomas took bread and oil, herbs and salt, blessed and gave this to them. However, he continued his fast since the Lord’s Day was approaching. On the following night when Thomas was asleep, the Lord came and stood by Thomas’ head and said, “Thomas, rise up early and bless all of them; after the prayer and the service follow the eastern road for two [Roman] miles, and there I will reveal to you my glory. Since you are leaving, many shall flee to me to take refuge, and you shall expose the enemy’s nature and power.” Having risen from sleep, Thomas said to the brethren who were present: “Children and brethren, today the Lord intends to do something through us. May we pray and ask him that nothing impede us regarding him, but as always may we do what he desires and wills.” Having spoken in this way, he placed his hands upon them and blessed them. He broke the bread of the Eucharist and gave it to them, saying, “This Eucharist shall be for you compassion and mercy, not for judgment and retribution.”9 And they said, “Amen.” (789)
49. Thomas laid hands on them and blessed them, saying, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you forever.”10 And they replied, “Amen.” The woman begged him, saying, “Apostle of the Most High, give me the seal so that the enemy will not return to me.” Then he had her come close to him. Placing his hand on her, he sealed her in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; many others were also sealed with her. And the Apostle ordered his servant to set out a table, and they set out a bench that they found there. They spread out a linen cloth and placed the bread of blessing upon it. And the apostle stood by it and said, “O Jesus, you commanded us to partake of the Eucharist of your Body and Blood; behold, we dare to approach your holy Eucharist and to call upon your holy name; come, share with us.” (790)
50. And he began to say: “Come, perfect love. Come, communion with all humankind. Come, all who know the mysteries of the Chosen One. Come, those who share in all the combats of the athletes. […] Come and share with us in this Eucharist which we make in your name and in the love in which we are one as we call upon you.” Having said this, he traced a cross over the bread, broke it, and began distributing it. He first gave some to the woman, saying, “This will be for you unto the remission of sins and of firmly rooted transgressions.” He gave it to her and then to all the others who also received the seal. (791)
About the young man who murdered the maiden
51. There was a young man who had committed an abominable act. He approached and took the bread of the Eucharist into his mouth. Immediately both his hands withered so that he no longer could put them into his mouth. Those who were present and saw this told the apostle what had happened. The apostle summoned the young man and said to him: “Tell me, be not ashamed, my child, what did you do? Why did you come here? The Lord’s Eucharist has convicted you. This wonderful gift which comes to many heals those who approach it with fear and love. But in your case it has withered away. There is a reason for this.” And the young man who had been convicted by the Lord’s Eucharist came and fell at the apostle’s feet and prayed to him, saying: “I have done something evil, and yet I intended to do somewhat good. I was in love with a woman who lived at an inn outside the city, and she was in love with me. After listening to you and believing that you preach the living God, I together with the others came and received the seal from you, for you said, ‘Whoever shall engage in polluted intercourse and especially in adultery shall not live with the God whom I preach.’ Since I loved her very much, I pleaded with her, entreating her to live with me in chastity and pure conversation as you yourself teach, but she refused. When she determined not to do so, I took up a sword and killed her since I could not bear to have her living in adultery with another man.” […] (792)
132. And Thomas began to say in regard to baptism: “This baptism remits sins; it brings forth again the light that is shed about us; it brings to birth the new person; it mingles the spirit [with the body]; it raises up in threefold fashion a new person and makes this person share in the forgiveness of sins. Glory to you, hidden one, who are given in baptism. Glory to you, the unseen power that exists in baptism. Glory to you, renewal, whereby the baptized are renewed and with affection take hold over you.” Having said this, he poured oil over their heads and said: “Glory to you, the lover of compassion. Glory to you, name of Christ. Glory to you, power established in Christ.” And he commanded a vessel to be brought in, and he baptized them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (793)
133. And when they had been baptized and were clothed, he placed bread on the table, blessed it, and said: “Bread of life—those who eat it will remain incorruptible. Bread that fills the hungry souls with its blessing. You vouchsafed to receive gifts so that you might be for us the remission of sins and that those who partake of you may become immortal. Upon you we invoke the name of the mother, of the unspeakable mystery of the hidden powers and authorities; we invoke over you the name of your Jesus.” And he said: “May the power of blessing come and subside in this bread so that all the souls partaking of it may be washed of their sins. And after he broke, he gave to Siphorus and his wife and daughter. (794)
158. When they came up [out of the water], he took bread11 and a cup12 and blessed it and said: “We eat your holy Body that was crucified for us; we drink the Blood that was shed for our salvation. Therefore may your Body be our salvation and your Blood be for the remission of our sins. As to the gall that you drank for our sake,13 may the gall of the devil be removed from us; and as to the vinegar that you drank for us,14 may our weakness be made strong. As to the spitting you received for our sake,15 may we receive the dew of your goodness. As to the reed they used to strike you,16 may we receive a perfect house. And since you received a crown of thorns for our sake,17 may we who love you put on an eternal crown. As to the linen cloth in which you were wrapped,18 may we also be girded about with the power that is not overcome. As to the new tomb19 and the burial, may we be renewed in soul and body. As to your rising20 and being revived, may we revive and live and stand before you in righteous judgment. He broke and gave the Eucharist to Iuzanes and Tertia and Mnesara and the wife and daughter of Siphorus and said, “May this Eucharist be unto you for the salvation and joy and health of your souls.” They said, “Amen.” And a voice was heard saying, “Amen. Fear not. Just believe.”21 (795)
One of the most popular legends of early Christianity is that of Cyprian of Antioch and Justina, a story already familiar to Gregory of Nazianzus (WEC 2:68), who like many others confused this Cyprian with Cyprian of Carthage (WEC 1:27).
As the tale goes, Cyprian was a pagan magician and astrologer who attempted to seduce the Christian virgin Justina. Through her prayers and good example he converted to Christianity, became a priest, and then was made bishop of Antioch. Together with Justina he was martyred during the Diocletian persecution.
The story, in three books titled Cyprian’s Conversion, Confession, and Passion, belongs to the literary genre of the hagiographical novel, so dear to the popular imagination. Although the supposed relics of these two martyrs are claimed to be in the baptistery of Saint John Lateran in Rome, there is no record of such saints in any of the early martyrologies.
Bardenhewer (1913) 2:452–53 * CATH 3:397 * DPAC 1:677–78 * EEC 1:211* LTK 6:549–50
Thereupon we went into the church [at Antioch], and [one could there] see the choir, which was like a choir of heavenly men of God or a choir of angels taking up a song of praise to God. To every verse they added a Hebrew word [as] with one voice, so that one might believe that there were not [a number of] men but rather one rational being comprehending a unity, which gave off a wonderful sound, which the dead prophets were announcing once more through the living. (796)
Born of pagan and noble parents in 154, Philip Bardesane (Bardaişan) was baptized at the age of twenty-five and became attached to the court at Edessa, where he was philosopher/theologian/poet. When Edessa was conquered in 216 by the emperor Caracalla (212–17), Philip appears to have gone to Armenia, where he died in 222/223.
Bardesane supposedly composed 150 hymns to spread his teachings.
CPG 1: nos. 1152ff. * Altaner (1961) 143 * Altaner (1966) 101–2 * Altaner (1978) 101, 563 * Bardenhewer (1908) 78–79 * Bardenhewer (1910) 1:62–63 * Bardenhewer (1913) 1:364–68 * Bautz 1:368–69 * Cross 39–40 * Quasten 1:263–64 * Tixeront 57–58 * CATH 1:1245–46 * CE 2:293–94 * DACL 2.1:493–95 * DCB 1:250–60 * DHGE 6:765–67 * DPAC 1:476–78 * DTC 2.2:391–401 * EC 2:840–41 * EEC 1:110 * EEChr 1:167 * LTK 2:3 * NCE 2:97 * NCES 2:97–98 * ODCC 157 * PEA (1894) 3.1:8–9 * PEA (1991) 2:446 * RACh 1:1180–86 * TRE 5:206–12
Also known as the Dialogue on Fate, this book was most probably composed by Philip, a disciple of Bardesane. It is a dialogue, with Bardesane appearing as the main speaker. Fate, he contends, is not absolute; one can freely choose to act either correctly or wrongly. Later Syrian orthodoxy, rightly or wrongly, had problems with many of Bardesane’s teachings.
What shall we say of the new people of us as Christians, that the Messiah has caused to arise in every place and in all climates by his coming? For behold, we all, wherever we may be, are called Christians after the one name of the Messiah. And upon one day, the first of the week, we gather together and on the appointed days we abstain from food. […] (797)
Under the name of Clement two letters on virginity have come down to us. They were written by an anonymous author, who seems to have been born in Palestine. The letters, in fact, are one work, the first having no conclusion, the second having no introduction. Their date of composition is uncertain, scholars placing it anywhere from the first half of the third century to no earlier than the late fourth century.
CPG 1: no. 1064 * Altaner (1961) 103–4 * Altaner (1966) 47 * Bardenhewer (1908) 29–30 * Bardenhewer (1910) 27 * Bardenhewer (1913) 1:113–18 * Cross 14 * Hamell 27 * Quasten 1:58–59 * Steidle 12–13 * CATH 2:1207 * DCB 1:559 * DictSp 2.1:963 * EC 3:1813 * NCE 11:942–43 * PEA (1894) 4.1:16–17
VI. If however we should go to a place where there are no Christians and its residents keep us there for several days, we should be “as cunning as serpents and as simple as doves.”1 We are not to “be foolish but wise,”2 fearful of the Lord, so that God may be glorified in all things through our Lord Jesus Christ because of our chaste and holy actions. Whether eating or drinking we must do all things for the glory of God. In this way whoever sees us will acknowledge that we—in all our words, in the respect we show, in our moderation, in our impartiality, and in all other things—are a blessed seed and the holy children of the living God. As believers, we are not to imitate the pagans; we are even to be completely different from them, in all things shrinking from evil so that we “do not cast what is holy before dogs or cast pearls before swine.”3 Let us rather glorify God with all self-control, knowledge, fear of God, and steadfastness of mind. (798)
The worship we render to God sets us far apart from the pagans, for these blaspheme in their drunken pleasures and utter words of seduction in their godlessness. For this reason we do not sing the psalms in pagan gatherings, nor do we read the Scriptures in such assemblies. In this way we are not like ordinary musicians, whether those who play the harp or those who sing. […] (799)
Origen (surnamed Adamantius, i.e., man of steel) was born in Egypt, probably in Alexandria and of a Catholic family, about the year 185. We know many of Origen’s biographical details through the writings of Eusebius (WEC 2:81) and others. His father, Leonidas, was martyred in 202 during the persecution of Septimus Severus. With his family having lost its means of support, Origen began to teach grammar, eventually being appointed head of the catechetical school in Alexandria. Devoting himself to a highly ascetic life of poverty and self-denial, he—according to Eusebius—went so far as to mutilate himself, misunderstanding Matthew 19:12.
Origen traveled extensively, visiting, among other places, Rome and Arabia. Probably because of the persecution ordered by the emperor Caracalla, in 215 he left Alexandria and went to Palestine, where, even though a layman, he was asked to preach in the presence of several bishops. His own bishop, Demetrius, objected to this and recalled Origen to Egypt. He again visited Palestine in 230, where, despite his physical irregularity, he was ordained a presbyter. Demetrius again recalled him—apparently for disciplinary rather than dogmatic reasons, dismissed him from his teaching position, and in 231 had him deposed from the priesthood. Returning to Palestine, Origen took up residence in Caesarea (where it appears that Demetrius’s sentence was simply ignored). When not journeying elsewhere, he devoted himself to preaching and writing. During the persecution of Decius in 250 Origen was imprisoned. Released after being subjected to torture, he died shortly thereafter ca. 254 at Tyre, where his tomb was long shown to visitors.
Origen was the most prolific author of Christian antiquity. Jerome (WEC 3:145) gives a list, albeit incomplete, of his works, totaling at least two thousand. While at Caesarea Origen had a large company of stenographers and copyists, all paid for by his friend Ambrose, whom he converted from Gnosticism. Unfortunately much of Origen’s writing has been completely lost or has survived only in fragments or in Latin translation or perhaps in paraphrases.
Although early on there were numerous opponents of Origen’s teachings, it was especially from the end of the fourth century to the middle of the sixth century that controversy regarding Origen’s teaching was at its height, especially in regard to his philosophical excursions on the nature of the soul. From the relatively meager evidence that has come down to us, it is not always easy to determine what Origen was presenting as the faith of the Church or what he was suggesting as personal speculation or hypothesis. Be this as it may, it is especially as a biblical scholar that Origen ranks among the most important writers of the pre–Nicene Church.
CPG 1: nos. 1410ff. * Altaner (1961) 223–35 * Altaner (1966) 197–209 * Bardenhewer (1908) 136–53 * Bardenhewer (1910) 119–34 * Bardenhewer (1913) 2:68–158 * Bardy (1929) 77–83 * Bautz 6:1255–71 * Campbell 37–43 * Cross 122–34 * Goodspeed 134–42 * Hamell 62–65 * Jurgens 1:189–215 * Leigh-Bennett 95–113 * Quasten 2:37–101 * Steidle 41–48 * Wright (1932) 317–20 * CATH 10:243–52 * CE 11:306–12 * CHECL 121–27, 211–14 * DACL 12.2:2677–78 * DCB 4:96–142 * DictSp 11:933–62 * DPAC 2:2517–32 * DTC 11.2:1489–1565 * EC 9:346–50 * EEC 2:619–23 * EEChr 2:835–37 * LTK 7:1131–35 * NCE 10:767–74 * NCES 10:653–61 * ODCC 1193–95 * PEA (1894) 18.1:1036–59 * PEA (1991) 9:26–29 * TRE 25:397–420
W. Gessel, “Die Theologie des Gebetes nach ‘De Oratione’ von Origines,” diss. (Munich, Paderborn, and Vienna, 1975). * T. Marsh, “The History of the Sacramental Concept,” MilS 3 (1979) 21–56. * W. Schütz, Die christliche Gottesdienst bei Origines, Calwer theologische Monographien, Series B, Systematische Theologie und Kirchengeschichte 8 (Stuttgart, 1984). * L. S. Cunningham, “Origen’s On Prayer: A Reflection and Appreciation,” Wor 67:4 (July 1993) 332–39. * J. Laporte, Théologie liturgique de Philone d’Alexandrie et d’Origène (Paris, 1995). * D.R. Stuckwisch, “Principles of Christian Prayer from the Third Century: A Brief Look at Origen, Tertullian and Cyprian with Some Comments on Their Meaning for Today,” Wor 71:1 (January, 1997) 2–19. * J. Laporte, Teologia liturgica di Filone d’Alessandria e Origene, Cammini nello spirito, Teologia 30 (Milan, 1998).
A. v. Harnack, Die Terminologie der Wiedergeburt und verwandter Erlebnisse in der ältesten Kirche, TU 42, 3 (Leipzig, 1918). * H. Rahner, “Taufe und geistliches Leben bei Origines,” Zeitschrift für Askese und Mystik 7 (1932) 205–22. * C.M. Edsman, Le baptême de feu (Leipzig and Uppsala, 1940) 1–15. * Ph. M. Menoud, “Le baptême des enfants dans l’Eglise ancienne,” VerC 2 (1948) 15–26. * G. Burke, “Des Origines Lehre vom Urstand des Menschen,” ZkTh 72 (1950) 1–39. * F. Lovsky, “L’Eglise ancienne baptisait-elle les enfants?” Foi et Vie 48 (1950) 109–38. * I.J. von Almen, “L’Eglise primitive et le baptême des enfants,” VerC 4 (1950) 43–47. * H. Crouzel, “Origène et la structure du sacrement,” BLE 6 S. 63 (1962) 81–104. * B. Neunheuser, Baptism and Confirmation (St. Louis, 1964) 67–77.
E. Bishop, “Liturgical Comments and Memoranda,” JThSt 10 (1908–9) 592–603. * E. Klostermann, “Eine Stelle des Origenes (In Matth. ser. 85),” ThStKr 103 (1931) 195–98. * F.R.M. Hitchcock, “Holy Communion and Creed in Origen,” ChQ (1941) 216–39. * O. Casel, “Glaube, Gnosis und Mysterium,” JL 15 (1941) 164–95. * L. Grimmelt, “Die Eucharistiefeier nach den Werken des Origines: eine liturgiegeschichtliche Untersuchung,” diss. (Münster, 1942). * P.-T. Camelot, “L’Eucharistie dans l’Ecole d’Alexandrie,” Div 1 (1957) 71–92. * P. Nautin, Lettres et écrivans chrétiens des IIe et IIIe siècles, Patristica 2 (Paris, 1961) 221–32. * J.C.M. van Winden, “Origen’s Definition of ‘eucharistica’ in ‘De Oratione,’” VC 28 (1974) 139–40. * P. Jacquemont, “Origen,” in W. Rordorf and others, The Eucharist of the Early Christians (New York, 1978) 183–93. * L. Lies, “Wort und Eucharistie bei Origenes: zur Spiritualisierungstandenz des Eucharistieverständnisses,” Innsbrucker theologische Studien, diss. (Innsbruck, 1978). * H.-J. Vogt, “Eucharistielehre des Origenes?” FZPT 25 (1978) 428–42. * L. Lies, Origenes’ Eucharisitelehre im Streit der Konfessionem: die Auslegungsgeschichte seit der Reformation, Innsbrucker theologische Studien 15 (Innsbruck, 1985).
V. Ermoni, “La pénitence dans l’histoire, à propos d’un ouvrage récent,” RQH 67, n.s., 23 (1900) 5–55. * A. d’Alès, “Origène et la doctrine des péchés irrémissibles,” RAp 12 (1911) 723–36, 801–16. * B. Poschmann, Die Sündenvergebung bei Origines (Breslau, 1912). * A. Vanbeck, “La pénitence dans Origène,” RHL, n.s., 3 (1912) 544–57; 4 (1913) 115–29. * F. Cavallera, “A propos de l’histoire du sacrement de pénitence: la ‘De oratione’ d’Origène; la distinction I du ‘De paenitentia,’” BLE 6 S. 24 (1923) 172–201. * B.F.M. Xiberta, “La doctrina de Origines sobre el sacramento de la Penitencia,” Reseña Ecclesiástica 18 (1926) 237–46, 309–18. * C. Verfaillie, La doctrine de la justification dans Origène (Strasbourg, 1926). * F. Cavallera, “La doctrine de la pénitence au IIIe siècle,” BLE 6 S. 30 (1929) 19–36; 31 (1930) 49–63. * P. Galtier, “Les péchés ‘incurables’ d’Origène,” Greg 10 (1929) 117–209. * C. Fries, “Zur Willensfreiheit bein Origines,” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie (1930) 92–101. * F.J. Dölger, “Origines über die Beurteilung des Ehebruchs in der Stoischen Philosophie,” AC 4 (1934) 284–87. * M. Waldmann, “Synteresis oder Syneidesis? Ein Beitrag zur Lehre vom Gewissen,” ThQ (1938) 332–71. * B. Poschmann, Paenitentia Secunda (Bonn, 1940) 425–80. * G.H. Joyce, “Private Penance in the Early Church,” JThSt 42 (1941) 18–42. * E.F. Latko, “Origen’s Concept of Penance,” diss. (Québec, 1949). * K. Rahner, “La doctrine d’Origène sur la pénitence,” RSR 37 (1950) 47–97, 252–86, 422–56. * B. Poschmann, Busse und letze Oelung (Freiburg i. B., 1951) 34–39. * H. Rondet, “Aux origines de la théologie du péché,” NRTh 79 (1957) 16–32. * G. Teichtweier, “Die Sündenlehre des Origenes,” diss., Studien zur Geschichte der katholischen Moralstheologie 7 (Regensburg, 1958). * B. Poschmann, Penance and the Anointing of the Sick (St. Louis, 1964) 66ff. * J. Laporte, “Forgiveness of Sins in Origen,” Wor 60:6 (November, 1986) 520–27.
C. Gore, “On the Ordination of the Early Bishops of Alexandria,” JThSt 3 (1901–2) 278–82. * G. Bardy, “Le sacerdoce chrétien d’après les Alexandrins,” VS 53 (1937) 144–73. * M. Jourjon, “A propos du ‘dossier d’ordination’ d’Origène,” MSR 15 (1958) 45–48. * E. Ferguson, “Ordination in the Ancient Church,” ResQ 5 (1961) 17–32, 67–82, 130–46. * J. Lécuyer, “Sacerdoce des fidèles et sacerdoce ministériel chez Origène,” VetChr 7 (1970) 253–64. * R. Gryson, “Les élections ecclésiastiques au IIe siècle,” RHE 68 (1973) 353–404. * E. Ferguson, “Origen and the Election of Bishops,” CH 43 (1974) 26–33. * J.A. McGuckin, “Origen’s Concept of the Priesthood,” TD 33:3 (Fall, 1986) 334–36.
D. Shin, “Some Light from Origen: Scripture as Sacrament,” Wor 73:5 (September, 1999) 399–425.
3. […] Tell me, those of you who come to church only on feastdays, are not the other days also feastdays? Are they not also days of the Lord? It is characteristic for the Jews to observe fixed and infrequent solemnities. This is why God says to them, “I cannot bear your new moons and your Sabbaths and the great day, your fasting and your rest from work; my soul hates your feasts.”1 Therefore God hates those who believe that only one day is the Lord’s Day. […] (800)
3. Those of you who are accustomed to participate in the divine mysteries know that when receiving the Lord’s Body you should normally take care that no particle falls to the ground, that nothing of the consecrated gift escapes you. You should rightly consider it a crime if any particle is dropped due to negligence. […] (801)
4. Perhaps some of the Church’s members are saying that the ancients were better off than we since the sacrifices they offered in their various rites granted pardon of sins. Yet among us there is only one way by which sins are forgiven; it is granted at the beginning by the grace of baptism; afterwards no mercy, no pardon is granted to a sinner. Certainly a more rigorous discipline is fitting for a Christian, “for whom Christ died.”1 Sheep, cattle, and birds were slain for those living previously, who were sprinkled with their blood. The Son of God was slain for you, and do you take delight in sinning again? You have just heard how many sacrifices for sin are mentioned by the Law. And so that these accounts may encourage you to be virtuous rather than cause you to despair, listen now to the numerous ways sin is forgiven in the Gospel. (802)
The first is when we are baptized “for the forgiveness of sins.”2 The second is found in the suffering of the martyrs. The third is granted because of almsgiving since the Savior says, “Give what you have, and all will be pure for you.”3 The fourth comes from the fact that we also forgive the sins of one another. As the Lord and Savior says: “If you forgive others their sins, the Father will forgive your sins. But if you do not truly forgive the sins of others, neither will your Father forgive you.”4 And so he taught us to say in the [Lord’s] Prayer, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”5 The fifth forgiveness takes place when one leads a sinner from the path of error. The Divine Scripture says that “whoever brings back sinners from the error of their ways will save the sinner’s soul and cover a multitude of sins.”6 The sixth forgiveness of sins also comes through an abundance of charity, as even the Lord says, “Truly I say to you that many sins will be forgiven the person who has loved much.”7 And the apostle says, “Charity covers a multitude of sins.”8 There is still another, the seventh, although difficult and laborious, namely, the forgiveness of sins through penance when the sinner washes his or her “couch with tears,”9 when tears become a person’s bread day and night,10 when one does not blush to confess sin to God’s priest and to request a remedy, as we read in the psalm, “I have said, I will confess my injustice against you to the Lord, and you have forgiven the iniquity of my heart.”11 In this way is also fulfilled what the apostle James says: “Are any among you sick? Let them call the priests of the Church who are to impose hands on them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.”12 (803)
3. […] Every soul that takes on a body is soiled by the filth of evil and sin. […] In the Church baptism is granted so that sins be forgiven; even infants are baptized according to the custom of the Church. Now if infants do not need the forgiveness of sins and if there were nothing in them that pertains to this forgiveness, then the grace of baptism would appear to be useless. […] (804)
2. […] As to serious sins, penance is granted only once. Nonetheless, sins that are common and into which we often fall always allow for penance and are always immediately forgiven. […] (805)
1.8. […] Those who are not holy die in their sins; those who are holy do penance for their sins, feel their wounds, understand why they have fallen, go to find a priest, request healing from him, and seek to be purified by the high priest.a This is why the Law prudently and significantly, states that the high priests and the priests do not take upon themselves the sins of any person whatsoever1 but only those of the holy ones, since a “holy one” is a person who has cured his or her sin through the high priest. (806)
9.2. May they tell us who are these people who are accustomed to drink blood. Such were the words that the Jews who were following the Lord heard in the Gospel. They were scandalized and were saying, “Who can eat flesh and drink blood?”1 But the Christian people, the faithful people, understand the meaning of these words, welcome them, and follow him who says, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in you; because my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed.”2 And truly he who said this was wounded for our sins; as Isaiah says, “He was wounded for our sins.”3 But it is said that we drink the blood of Christ not only when we receive it sacramentally [sacramentorum ritu] but when we receive his words, words in which life resides, as he himself says, “My words are spirit and life.”4 Therefore he was wounded, he whose blood we drink, namely, whose teaching we receive. But no less wounded are those who have preached his word to us. And when we read their writings, namely, those of the apostles, and when we follow the life they teach, it is the blood of those who are wounded that we drink. (807)
1. […] You see the pagans come to faith, churches being built up, altars sprinkled no longer with the blood of oxen but consecrated by the precious blood of Christ. You see the priests and levites ministering not the blood of goats and bulls but the word of God through the Holy Spirit. […] (808)
5. […] I use the present occasion to treat once again a question frequently asked by the brethren. Infants are baptized unto the remission of sins.1 But what sins? When did they sin? Or how can one hold a similar reason for the baptism of infants if one does not admit the interpretation that we have just given: “No person is exempt from sin even if this person’s life upon earth has lasted for only one day.”2 And because through the mystery of baptism the filth of birth is removed, so it is that one baptizes also infants, “for no one can enter the kingdom of heaven without being reborn by water and the Spirit.”3 (809)
6. “When,” says the evangelist, “the days for their purification were completed.”4 The fulfillment of these days also has a spiritual meaning. The soul, in fact, is not purified at birth, and on the day of birth cannot obtain perfect purity. But as is written in the Law: “If a mother bears a male child, she will be unclean for seven days and then for thirty-three days she shall be in pure blood.”5 And since “the Law is spiritual”6 and is “the shadow of good things to come,”7 we can understand that our true purification will come after a certain period of time. This is what I believe. Even after the resurrection from the dead we will need a mystery [sacramentum] so that we can be washed and purified—no one can rise without being soiled and no one can find any soul that is immediately freed from all vice. Also in the rebirth of baptism a mystery takes place. Just as Jesus according to the dispensation of the flesh was purified by an offering, so we are purified by a spiritual rebirth. (810)
Most probably written before 244, this commentary consists of fifteen books, of which only fragments of the original Greek remain.
V.VIII. […] Perhaps you might ask about what the Lord said to his disciples, namely, that they are to baptize all peoples in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Now why has this apostle employed the name of Christ alone in baptism, saying, “We who have been baptized into Christ”1 since legitimate baptism is only given in the name of the Trinity? […] (811)
V.IX. […] From the apostles the Church has received the tradition that also babies be baptized. For those confided with the secrets of the divine mysteries knew that the natural stains of sin existed in everyone, stains that must be washed away through water and the Spirit. […] (812)
X.XXXIII. Greet one another with a holy kiss.2 From this expression and from others similar to it the custom has been handed down to the churches that after the prayers the brethren greet one another with a kiss. The apostle calls this kiss “holy.” By means of this name he teaches first of all that kisses given in the churches are to be chaste; also that they are not feigned as were those of Judas. […] (813)
About the year 178 Celsus, a pagan philosopher, wrote The True Discourse, a treatise that is considered the first anti-Christian polemical work. Although this attack on Christianity (and Judaism) appears to have had limited circulation and impact, Origen was persuaded to write a refutation, doing so about the year 248 and in eight books. Most of Celsus’s work has been lost and yet can be reconstructed from its quotations by Origen.
III.LI. […] Christians mourn as dead those guilty of licentiousness or any other sin since such guilty ones are lost, being dead to God. Yet if they show a true change of heart, they are received back into the fold sometime in the future—after a more extended period of time than when they were first received—as though they were risen from among the dead. (814)
VIII.XIII. […] We adore the one God and his only Son, the Word and the Image, through our supplications and requests, offering our prayers to the God of the universe through his only Son. It is to the Son that we first present them, asking him as the “propitiation for our sins”1 and as the High Priest to present our prayers, our sacrifices, our supplications to God Most High. (815)
VIII.XXII. Can anyone object to the fact that we are accustomed to celebrate certain days, for example, the Lord’s Day, the Preparation Day, the Pasch, or Pentecost? We must respond that to perfect Christians, to those who do not cease to apply themselves to the words, actions, and thoughts of God’s Word who by nature is Lord, all their days are days of the Lord, and they continually celebrate Sunday. Furthermore, the Preparation Day continues to be celebrated by those who constantly prepare themselves for a true life, who ward off the pleasures of this life which deceive the multitude, not nourishing the lust of the flesh but, on the contrary, punishing the body and keeping it under control.2 Also, when it is understood that “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed”3 and that this feast is to be celebrated by eating the flesh of the Word,4 then the Passover is not kept immediately, the word Passover meaning “passing over,” for by thought, by each word, by each action we, hastening toward the heavenly city, never cease to pass over from the affairs of this world to God. Finally, if we can truly say, “We have risen with Christ,”5 and also, “He has raised us up with him and has seated us with Christ in heaven,”6 there we continually find ourselves observing the days of Pentecost especially when, ascending to the upper room as did the apostles of Jesus, we devote ourselves to supplication and prayer. Doing so we become worthy of the mighty wind descending from heaven, a wind whose strength destroys human evil and its effects. We also merit to share in the tongue of fire that comes from God.7 (816)
VIII.XXXIII. […] Let Celsus, then, in his ignorance of God, bear witness to the demons. We, however, give thanks to the Creator of all; we eat the bread offered with thanksgiving and prayer, bread given to us, bread that through prayer has become the holy Body and which sanctifies those who use it properly.8 (817)
VIII.LVII. […] Celsus desires that we not show ingratitude toward the demons here below, believing that we owe them offerings of thanksgiving. But we, while making clear what is meant by thanksgiving, argue that we are not ungrateful if we refuse to sacrifice to beings that do us no good and contend against us. We only refuse to be ungrateful to God who has showered us with benefits since we are his creatures, the objects of Divine Providence, to God who has judged us worthy no matter what, and whom we await after this life, the fulfillment of our hope. As a token of our gratitude toward God, we have the bread we call the “Eucharist.” […] (818)
VIII.LXVII. […] According to Celsus we will better seem to give honor to the great God if we sing also to the sun and to Minerva. But we know that just the opposite is true. We sing hymns only to God on high and to God’s only Son, who is God and the Word. We sing hymns to God and to God’s only Son as do the sun, the moon, the stars, and the whole heavenly host.9 Together they form but one divine choir, and with the just they sing a hymn to God on high and to God’s only Son. […] (819)
Written in 233–34 this treatise, the oldest formal explanation of Christian prayer, occupies a prominent place in the history of Christian spirituality. The work treats prayer in general (chapters III–XVII), then the Our Father (chapters XVIII–XXX), and concluding with a short appendix (chapters XXXI–XXXIII).
XI.5. […] And so we must believe that the angels, as overseers and as God’s servants, are present with those who are praying in order to join them in their petitions. To be sure, each person’s angel—even those of the Church’s “little ones who look upon the face of the Father in heaven,”1—when contemplating our Creator’s divinity pray and help us insofar as possible regarding what we petition. (820)
XII.2. Since doing what is enjoined by virtue or the commandments is also a part of prayer, those who combine right actions with prayer and prayer with becoming actions “pray unceasingly.” Only if we consider the whole life of a holy person as one great continuous prayer can we understand the admonition “Pray without ceasing”2 as something we can accomplish. What we ordinarily refer to as “prayer” is only part of this prayer, and it should be performed no less than three times a day. The example of David makes this clear. He prayed three times each day even though threatened by danger.3 And “Peter, at about the sixth hour going up to the roof to pray, saw a vessel descending from above, lowered by its four corners.”4 This refers to the second of the three prayers, the prayer that David also spoke about much earlier: “In the morning you hear my prayer; in the morning I will stand before you and watch.”5 The last is indicated by “the lifting up of my hands like an evening sacrifice.”6 Without this prayer we cannot pass the night as we should. […] (821)
XXVIII.9. […] So that we may better grasp how God forgives our sins through others, let us use an example from the Law. The Law forbids priests from offering sacrifice for certain sins so that those for whom the sacrifice is made might be forgiven their sins. The Law also says that a priest who can offer sacrifice for certain voluntary or involuntary transgressions7 is not to offer a sin-offering for adultery, voluntary murder, or a more serious sin. And so the apostles, as well as those who have become similar to the apostles, being priests like the “Great High Priest”8 and having been instructed in the service of God, know from the teaching of the Spirit for what sins they are to offer sacrifice as well as when and how they are to do so. Additionally, they recognize the sins for which they are not to do so. […] (822)
XXVIII.10. I simply do not understand how some can take upon themselves the power of the priestly office. Perhaps failing to possess the knowledge appropriate to a priest, they boast that they can even forgive idolatry, adultery, and fornication. They act as if, through their prayer on behalf of those daring to commit such sins, they can forgive even sin unto death. They fail to read, “There is sin unto death; I do not say that you should pray about that.”9 […] (823)
XXXI.2. It seems to me that those about to pray should somewhat dispose and prepare themselves. […] They should lift up the soul before lifting up the hands, raising up toward God the spirit before the eyes; and lifting up the mind from earthly things and directing it to the Lord of all before standing for prayer. […] Of the numerous postures of the body, it is undeniable that elevating the hands and upraising the eyes should be preferred to all others since in this way the body brings to prayer the image of the qualities that are becoming to prayer. Except for special circumstances, this should be the normal position for prayer. As circumstances require, a person can at times appropriately pray while sitting, for example, due to some serious ailment of the feet, or even while lying down because of fever or some similar illness. Again, if we are traveling or if our business does not allow us to go apart to pray as we should, then we can pray without outwardly appearing to do so. (824)
XXXI.3. A person should kneel when confessing before God one’s own sins, when requesting healing and forgiveness; this is the attitude proper to those who humble themselves and who submit themselves. As Paul says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every paternity in heaven and upon earth takes its name.”10 Spiritual kneeling, so named because every being submitting to God at the name of Jesus and humbling oneself before him is, I believe, signified by the apostle when he says, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven, upon earth, and under the earth.”11 […] (825)
XXXI.4. As to place, we should understand that every place is appropriate for those who pray well: “In every place offer me incense,”12 says the Lord. “And, I desire that in every place one should pray.”13 In order to pray calmly and without distraction each person should have in his or her house, if it is large enough, an appointed and selected place, a more solemn room, as it were, and pray there. In determining this location, one should ask whether anything contrary to law or right has taken place there. Neither the person nor the place of prayer is to be such that God has fled from it. […] (826)
XXXI.5. The place where believers assemble is both reasonable and useful as a place for prayer. It is there that the angelic powers take part in the assemblies of believers, where the power of our Lord and Savior himself lives, where the spirits of the holy ones gather, both, as I believe, those of the dead who have gone on before us and obviously those of the holy ones who are still alive, even though it is difficult to say how this happens. Regarding the angels, we have this to say: if “the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him and will deliver them,”14 if Jacob spoke the truth not only regarding himself but regarding all who are dedicated to God when he spoke about “the angel who delivers us from all evils,”15 then it is likely, when many are gathered to give glory to Christ, that each person’s angel encamps around those who fear God and that the angel is with the person whom it is to protect and guide. In this way when the holy ones are assembled, there are two churches, one that is human and another that is angelic. And if it was only the prayer of Tobit, and that of Sarah who later became his daughter-in-law by her marriage to the young Tobiah, that, according to Raphael, Tobit offered as a memorial,16 then what occurs when many gather in the same spirit and mind and form one body in Christ? Paul says, “You have gathered together with my spirit and with the power of the Lord Jesus,”17 meaning that the Lord’s power was not only with the Ephesians but also with the Corinthians. And if Paul, still clothed with the body, believed that he was being carried away by his own body to Corinth, we must not lose hope that the blessed ones who have departed their bodies will come in spirit, perhaps more fully than the people who are bodily present in the churches. Wherefore we must not disregard prayers offered in churches since they have value for those who truly participate there. (827)
XXXII. As to the direction toward which we are to pray, I have just a few words. Since there are four directions—north, south, east, and west—who does not immediately recognize that the east evidently indicates that we should pray looking toward this direction, this being a symbol that the soul is gazing toward the rising of the true light?18 One may prefer to pray facing the direction in which his or her house faces, regardless of the way in which its doors may open, saying that looking up toward heaven itself is more conducive to prayer than looking at a wall. Now if the house does not face in an easterly direction, we respond that the manner whereby human buildings are oriented is a matter of convention; but by reason of its very nature, however, the east takes precedence over the other directions, and what is natural is to be preferred over what is artificial. Furthermore, why should one who desires to pray out in the open pray toward the east rather than toward the west? If in this case it is reasonable to prefer the east, why not do the same everywhere? Enough said on this subject! (828)
XXXIII.1. It seems that I should conclude this book by considering the parts of prayer. There are, in my opinion, four of them. These I have discovered throughout the Scriptures, and a person should, according to each of them, formulate one’s prayer. They are as follows. At the beginning, like a prologue to prayer, we use all our ability to glorify God through Christ who is glorified with him in the Holy Spirit, who is praised with him. After that we give thanks, recalling as we do so the benefits given by God to all and to each of us in particular. Following the thanksgiving we should confess our sins and request first a healing that will deliver us from whatever customarily leads us to sin, and then the forgiveness of past sins. After the confession the fourth part is, I believe, a petition for great and heavenly benefits, both particular and universal, for our parents and friends. Prayer should conclude by glorifying God through Christ and in the Holy Spirit. (829)
Clement (Titus Flavius Clemens) of Alexandria was born of pagan parents ca. 150, perhaps in Athens. After his baptism he traveled widely to seek further instruction in the Christian faith. Eventually he settled in Alexandria, where ca. 200 he became director of that city’s noted catechetical school. Persecution forced him to leave Egypt a few years later, and he died in Cappadocia between 211 and 216.
Clement’s writings show that he was very familiar not only with the Scriptures but also with profane literature as, for example, the philosophical treatises of Plato. Although organizing material was not his strong point, Clement has been called the “first Christian scholar.”
CPG 1: nos. 1375ff. * Altaner (1961) 215–22 * Altaner (1966) 190–97 * Bardenhewer (1908) 126–35 * Bardenhewer (1910) 112–19 * Bardenhewer (1913) 2:15–66 * Bardy (1929) 72–77 * Bautz 1:1063–66 * Campbell 33–37 * Cross 118–22 * Goodspeed 127–33 * Hamell 60–62 * Jurgens 1:176–88 * Leigh-Bennett 77–94 * Quasten 2:5–36 * Tixeront 84–89 * Wright (1932) 312–17 * CATH 2:1203–6 * CE 4:45–47 * CHECL 117–20 * DCB 1:559–67 * DHGE 12:1423–28 * DictSp 2.1:950–61 * DPAC 1:706–12 * DTC 3.1:137–99 * EC 3:1842–57 * EEC 1:179–81 * EEChr 1:262–64 * LTK 6:126–27 * NCE 3:943–44 * NCES 3:797–99 * ODCC 364–65 * PEA (1894) 4.1:11–13 * PEA (1991) 3:30–31* RACh 3:182–88 * TRE 8:101–13
H.G. Marsh, “The Use of ‘Musterion’ in the Writings of Clement of Alexandria with Special Reference to His Sacramental Doctrine,” JThSt 37 (1936) 64–80. * G. Békés, De Continua Oratione Clementis Alexandrini Doctrina, Studia Anselmiana 14 (Rome, 1942). * J.D.B. Hamilton, “The Church and the Language of Mystery: The First Four Centuries,” ETL 53 (1977) 479–94. * T. Marsh, “The History of the Sacramental Concept,” MilS 3 (1979) 21–56. * C. Riedweg, “Mysterienterminologie bei Platon, Philon und Klemens von Alexandrien,” diss., Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte 26 (Berlin and New York, 1987).
C. Caspari, “Hat die alexandrinische Kirche auf Zeit des Clements ein Taufbekenntnis bessen?” Zeitschrift für kirchlichen Wissenschaft 7 (1886) 352–75. * A.V. Harnack, Die Terminologie der Wiedergebut und verwandter Erlebniss in der ältesten Kirche, TU 42, 3 (Leipzig, 1920) 97–143. * T. Rüther, Die Lehre von der Erbsünde bein Clements von Alexandrien, FthSt 28 (Freiburg i. B., 1922). * J. Héring, Etude sur la doctrine de la chute et de la préexistence des âmes chez Clément d’Alexandrie, Bibliothèque de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes 38 (Paris, 1923). * A. Oepke, “Urchistentum und Kindertaufe,” ZNW 29 (1930) 81–111. * F.J. Dölger, “Das Lösen der Schuhriemen in der Taufsymbolik des Klemens von Alexandrien,” AC 5 (1936) 87–95. * H.A. Echle, “The Baptism of the Apostles,” Tra 3 (1945) 365–68. * H.A. Echle, “Sacramental Initiation as a Christian Mystery: Initiation according to Clement of Alexandria,” in Vom christlichen Mysterium: Gesammelte Arbeiten zum Gedächnis Odo Casels (Düsseldorf, 1951) 54–64. * A. Orbe, “Teologia bautismal de Clemente Alejandrino, según Paed. I, 26, 3–27, 2,” Greg 36 (1955) 410–48. * H. Rondet, “Aux origines de la théologie du péché,” NRTh 79 (1957) 16–32. * B. Neunheuser, Baptism and Confirmation (St. Louis, 1964) 64–67. * C. Nardi, Il battesimo in Clemente Alessandrino: interpretazione di Eclogae propheticae 1–26, Studia Ephemeridis “Augustinianum” 19 (Rome, 1984). * E.A. Leeper, “From Alexandria to Rome: The Valentinian Connection to the Incorporation of Exorcism as a Prebaptismal Rite,” VC 44 (1990) 6–24.
A. Scheiwiler, Die Elemente der Eucharistie, FLDG 3, 4 (Mainz, 1903) 55–66. * F. Wieland, Der vorirenäische Opferbegrifff (Munich, 1900) 106–21. * J. Brinktrine, Der Messopferbegriff in den ersten zwei Jahrhunderten, FThSt 21 (Freiburg i. B., 1918) 105–10. * P. Batiffol, L’Eucharistie: la présence réelle et la transubstantiation, 9th ed. (Paris, 1930) 248–61. * F.R.M. Hitchcock, “Holy Communion and Creed in Clement of Alexandria,” ChQ 129 (1939) 57–70. * P.-T. Camelot, “L’Eucharistie dans l’Ecole d’Alexandrie,” Div 1 (1957) 71–92. * A.H.C. van Eijk, “The Gospel of Philip and Clement of Alexandria: Gnostic and Ecclesiastical Theology on the Resurrection,” VC 25 (1971) 94–120. * C. Mondesert, “L’Eucharistie selon Clément d’Alexandrie,” PP 46 (1971) 302–8. * A. Méhat, “Clement of Alexandria,” in W. Rordorf and others, The Eucharist of the Early Christians (New York, 1978) 99–131. * A.L. Pratt, “Clement of Alexandria: Eucharist as Gnosis,” GOTR 32 (1987) 163–78.
V. Ermoni, “La pénitence dans l’histoire, à propos d’un ouvrage récent,” RQH 67, n.s., 23 (1930) 5–55. * Th. Spacil, La doctrina del purgatorio in Clemente Alessandrine ed Origene (Besa, 1919) 131–45. * J. Hoh, “Die Busse bei Klemens von Alexandrien,” ZkTh 56 (1932) 175–89. * J. Hoh, Die kirchliche Busse im zweiten Jahrhundert (Breslau, 1932) 115–29. * B. Poschmann, Paenitentia Secunda, Theophaneia 1 (Bonn, 1940) 229–60. * H.A. Echle, “The Terminology of the Sacrament of Reconciliation according to Clement of Alexandria,” diss. (Washington, D.C., 1949). * H. Karpp, Probleme altchristlicher Anthropologie, Beiträge zur historischen Theologie 44, 3 (Gütersloh, 1950) 92–103. * B. Poschmann, Busse und letze Ölung (Freiburg i. B., 1951) 32–34. * A. Méhat, “‘Pénitence seconde’ et ‘péché involuntaire’ chez Clément d’Alexandrie,” VC 8 (1954) 225–33. * B. Poschmann, Penance and the Anointing of the Sick, 6th ed. (St. Louis, 1964) 63–66. * E. Junod, “Un écho d’une controverse autour de la pénitence: l’histoire de l’apôtre Jean et du chef des brigands chez Clément d’Alexandrie (Quis dives savetur 42, 1–15),” RHPR 60 (1980) 153–60.
G.W. Butterworth, “Clement of Alexandria and Art,” JThSt 17 (1915–16) 68–76. * C. Mondésert, “Le symbolisme chez Clément d’Alexandrie,” RSR 26 (1936) 158–80. * G. Bardy, “Le sacerdoce chrétien d’après les Alexandrins,” VS 53 (1937) 144–73. * W.M. Green, “Ancient Comment on Instrumental Music in the Psalms,” ResQ 1 (1957) 3–8. * J.-P. Broudéhoux, Mariage et famille chez Clément d’Alexandrie, Théologie historique 11 (Paris, 1970). * R. Mortley, “The Theme of Silence in Clement of Alexandria,” JThSt, n.s., 24 (1973) 197–202.
Generally addressed to those who have already accepted the faith, this work is an exhortation to live as faithful Christians in a world filled with pagan vices and customs.
I.VI.25. […] Now if he [Jesus Christ] were perfect, then why did he, the perfect one, have himself baptized? It is, they say, so that the promise concerning the human race might be fulfilled. This is indeed true. Did he become truly perfect when he was baptized by John? Apparently yes. Did he learn anything more from John? In no way. He, then, was made perfect by baptism alone and sanctified by the descent of the Holy Spirit. So it is. But the same holds true of us—whose exemplar is the Lord; baptized, we are enlightened; enlightened, we are adopted as children; adopted, we are made perfect; becoming perfect, we receive immortality. It is written, “I say, ‘you are all gods and children of the Most High.’”1 Numerous are the names for this: grace, illumination, perfection, bath. It is a “bath” by which we are purified from our sins; it is “grace” that takes away the punishment merited by our sins; it is “illumination” within which we gaze upon the beautiful and holy light of salvation, namely, the light that allows us to see God; it is “perfection” in that nothing is lacking. (830)
II.II.20. Wine is mixed with water, and the Spirit is united with man. One nourishes unto faith; the other leads to incorruptibility. In turn, the mixture of the two, namely, the drink and the Logos, is called the Eucharist, a grace that is praised for its beauty. Sharing in it when done with faith sanctifies both body and soul. […] (831)
II.IV.41. […] It is against this kind of feast [i.e., a non-Christian feast] that the Spirit opposes a divine service that is worthy of God when it says in the psalm, “Praise him with the sound of the trumpet”;2 in fact, it is with the sound of the trumpet that the dead will be brought back to life.3 “Praise him with the harp”4 because the tongue is the harp of the Lord. Also, “Praise him with the cithara”5 because in our understanding the word “cithara” means the “mouth” which the Spirit has vibrate as if being struck by a plectrum. “Praise him with the timbrel and dance”;6 here the Spirit desires that the Church think of the resurrection of the flesh when it hears the timbrel’s skin vibrate. “Praise him with stringed instrument and organ.”7 The body is called an organ and its nerves are the strings by which it has received a harmonious tension and which expresses itself by human sounds when touched by the Spirit. “Praise him with clashing cymbals”;8 the mouth’s cymbals are the tongue which moves when the lips are set into motion. And so the Spirit calls out to all people, “May each breath praise the Lord”9 because the Lord has extended his protection to each breath he has created. In truth, the human being is a peaceful instrument whereas those who have preoccupations [other than peace] desire to invent war instruments which enflame desire, stir up lust, or arouse anger. In fact, in their wars the Etruscans employ trumpets; the Arcadians use the shepherd’s pipe; the Sicilians have the harp. […] We, however, have the Word alone, the one instrument of peace, as we honor God. We no longer employ the ancient psaltery, trumpet, timbrel, or flute. […] (832)
II.IX.79. It is necessary that we be always ready to rise from sleep. Scripture, in fact, says, “May your loins be girt and your lamps be lit; you are to be like those who await their master when he returns from the marriage feast so that they may open the door for him as soon as he arrives and knocks. Happy are those whom their master, upon arriving, finds waiting.”10 Someone who is sleeping is useless. The same holds true for a person who is dead. This is why during the night we are often to rise and bless God. Blessed are those who watch for him; they make themselves like the angels whom we call the “watchers.” […] (833)
II.XI.79. […] When going to the assembly it is necessary that both women and men be decently clothed, that they walk in a simple fashion, that they seek peace and quiet, and that they be full of “sincere love,”11 chaste in body and soul, and ready to address God in prayer.12 Furthermore, women, except when at home, should always be veiled; doing so conforms to modesty and protects her from being looked at. She will never fall if she maintains before her eyes modesty and her veil; nor will she lead another to sin by uncovering her face. It is the wish of the Word that she be veiled when she is at prayer.13 (834)
III.XI.81. […] If we are called to the kingdom of God, let our conduct be worthy of this kingdom14 by our love for both God and neighbor.15 However, the criterion of love is not the kiss16 but showing kindness. The people I have in mind are those who do nothing other than have the assemblies resound with the noise of their kiss without possessing love within themselves. Even more, their continual abuse of the kiss, which is to be a “mystical” action, has given rise to shameful suspicions and calumnies. […] (835)
The word Stromata refers to patchwork quilts or carpets and is used to designate a literary form common in antiquity, namely, a potpourri or work treating various topics. The treatise has eight books, the last being unfinished.
I.XIX.96. […] Wisdom evidently says to the heretics, “Place your hand full of joy upon the bread of mystery and upon the stolen water which is sweet.”1 When the Scripture here uses the words “bread” and “water,” it has in mind nothing other than those heretics who use bread and water in the offering, doing so contrary to the rule of the Church. The same holds true for those who celebrate the Eucharist with pure water. […] (836)
I.XXI.146. The followers of Basilidesa celebrate the day of [Christ’s] baptism as a feast, passing the night before with readings. […] (837)
II.XIII.56. Whoever has received the pardon of sins should sin no more. In addition to the first and sole penance for sins—surely the sins of those who formerly led a pagan life, namely, a life in ignorance—penance is offered to those who have been called, a penance that purifies the soul from errors so that the faith may take deep root there. The Lord, having “knowledge of hearts”2 and knowing the future in advance, has always foreseen human fickleness and the devil’s craftiness; the Lord knew how the devil, jealous of the human race because of the pardon granted to sins, raised up for God’s servants occasions of sin, doing this by means of mischievous designs in order that they also might fall with him. (838)
II.XIII.57. God, then, in his great mercy granted a second penance to those who, although possessing the faith, fall into some error. This is so a person who is tempted after being called and who is overtaken by violence and deceit might still obtain a penance not to be repented of.3 “In fact, if we willingly sin after having come to the knowledge of the truth, there is no more sacrifice to offer for our sins; all that remains is to fearfully await the judgment and the raging fire that will devour those who rebel.”4 (839)
VII.V.29. […] If what is sacred is understood in two ways, namely, God himself and the building constructed in his honor, then would we not have to properly call the Church holy, made so though knowledge for the honor of God, an edifice sacred to God, great in value, not built by human work, not constructed by the hand of a charlatan, but a Church intended by God to be a temple? For it is not the place but the gathering of the elect that I call the Church. Such a temple is more apt for receiving the greatness of God’s dignity. […] (840)
VII.VI.31. […] But if God rejoices in being honored, even though by nature he needs nothing, we do no wrong to honor God by prayer; this is the best and most holy sacrifice that we rightly send up, giving him honor through the Word of all righteousness, by whom we receive knowledge and by whom we also give glory for what we have learned. And so our altar of sacrifice, the altar we have here below, is the earthly gathering of those devoted to prayer, those having one voice and being of one mind. […] (841)
VII.VII.35. We are commanded to revere and honor the Word, convinced as we are by faith that he is the Savior and governor, and through him the Father. We are not to do so just on selected days as is done by others, but continually, throughout all one’s life and in every way possible. In fact, the chosen race,5 justified according to the commandment,6 says, “I have praised you seven times a day.”7 Also, this is to happen not in a determined place nor in a chosen sanctuary nor on certain feasts or selected days but throughout a person’s whole life. In this way the [true] Gnosticb honors God, namely, shows gratitude for his or her knowledge of how to live. This is to be done everywhere, whether one is alone or with others who share the same faith. […] And so throughout our whole life we keep festival, convinced that God is present everywhere; we cultivate our fields while offering praise; we travel on the sea while singing hymns; and we live according to the rules. […] (842)
VII.VII.40. And so we lift our heads and extend our hands toward heaven; we stand on tiptoes as we give the acclamation that concludes the prayer. […] Now if some appoint particular hours for prayer, for example, the third, the sixth, the ninth hour, nonetheless the [true] Gnostic prays throughout all his or her life, hastening to be with God by means of prayer and, to be brief, leaving behind all that will not be useful when this is attained since now the perfection of a person acting out of love is received. But the distribution of the hours according to three moments, each solemnized by an equal number of prayers—this is known by those who are acquainted with the blessed triad of the holy dwelling places. (843)
VII.VII.43. […] When we pray we face the morning sun. The most ancient temples faced the west, this teaching the people who are standing before the images to turn toward the east. “May my prayer rise like incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice,”8 says the psalm. (844)
VII.VII.49. […] And so the [true] Gnostic will also pray in the company of those with whom the faith is shared, but only for actions where collaboration is required. One’s entire life is a festival. His or her offerings consist of prayers and the giving of praise, reading the Scriptures before meals and before retiring at night, and also by praying during the night. Doing so, one is joined to the heavenly choir. […] (845)
VIII.XII.78. […] The [true] Gnostic even prays with the angels as someone who is already equal to them. Never beyond their keeping and even though praying alone, he or she is always part of the choir of angels. (846)
This appendix to Clement’s Carpets contains various extracts from the writings of Theodotus, a Valentinian Gnostic, although at times it is difficult to distinguish which material is that of Theodotus whom Clement is refuting and which material is that of Clement himself.
D.82. The bread [of the Eucharist?] and the oil [of the baptismal anointing?] are sanctified by the dynamis of the NAME [of God]. They are the same outwardly as when they were taken. Yet by the dynamis they have been changed into a “pneumatic dynamis.” The same is true for the water which becomes an exorcised water, a water then used for baptism. This is not only changed within but also obtains sanctification. (847)
D.83. Baptism is usually celebrated with joy; but since impure spirits often descend [into the water] at the same time that certain [neophytes] do, accompanying the baptized and being sealed with them—thus making these spirits obstinate in the future—fear is then mixed with joy. Consequently only a person who is pure can go down into the water. For this reason there are fasts, supplications, prayers, [the laying on of] hands, so that the soul might be preserved “from the world”1 and from the “mouth of lions.”2 […] (848)
If one is to believe Eusebius of Caesarea (WEC 2:81), and not all do, Dionysius was a pupil of Origen (WEC 1:43) and ca. 233 became head of the catechetical school at Alexandria. Ordained bishop in 248, he fled the city in 250 due to persecution. Two years later he returned, only to leave again in 257 during the persecution of Valerian. Nonetheless, he directed his flock from places of exile, a practice not without its critics. Returning to Alexandria in 264, Dionysius died shortly thereafter.
He was a prolific writer on a variety of topics, both theological and pastoral. Unfortunately most of his writings survive only in excerpts preserved in the works of others, including Eusebius (WEC 2:81) and Athanasius (WEC 2:90). Although his orthodoxy had been questioned by Basil the Great (WEC 2:67), Dionysius exerted great influence in the East. Eusebius called him “the Great” (Church History, VI.XXIX.3).
CPG 1: nos. 1550ff. * Altaner (1961) 237 * Altaner (1966) 210–11 * Bardenhewer (1908) 153–57 * Bardenhewer (1910) 134–38 * Bardenhewer (1913) 2:167–91 * Bardy (1929) 84–85 * Bautz 1:1318–20 * Cross 169–71 * Goodspeed 153–57 * Hamell 65–66 * Jurgens 1:250 * Quasten 2:101–9 * Steidle 49–50 * Tixeront 97–99 * CATH 3:614–16 * CE 5:11–13 * DCB 1:850–52 * DHGE 4:248–53 * DictSp 3:243 * DPAC 1:980–81 * DTC 4.1:425–27 * EC 4:1661–62 * EEC 1:238 * EEChr 1:333–34 * LTK 3:241–42 * NCE 4:876–77 * NCES 4:755 * ODCC 484 * PEA (1991) 3:646 * TRE 8:767–71
F. Nau, “Le comput pascal de la Didascalie et Denys d’Alexandrie,” RBibl, n.s., 11 (1914) 423–25. * L.E. Phillips, “The Proof Is in the Eating: Dionysius of Alexandria and the Rebaptism Controversy,” in Studia Liturgica Diversa: Essays in Honor of Paul F. Bradshaw, ed. M.E. Johnson and L.E. Phillips (Portland, 2004) 31–43.
Canon 1. […] You […] inquire as to the correct hour for concluding the fast at the Pasch. You say that some of the brethren believe that this should be done at cockcrow. Others, however, maintain that it should occur in the evening. The brethren in Rome, as they say, wait till cockcrow. And as you stated, those here do so earlier. You desire to have the hour explained exactly and with great calculation. To do this is certainly difficult and risky. All will admit that those who have been mortifying their souls by fasting should begin their festal joy immediately after the time of the Lord’s resurrection. But in what you have written to me, you have clearly shown—and with an understanding of the holy Scriptures—that nothing precise is given by these books as to the hour when he arose. The evangelists describe differently those who came to the tomb at various times, all of whom said that the Lord had already risen. […] (849)
As things now stand, this is what we have to say to those who desire to consider more accurately and precisely at which hour or half-hour or quarter hour it is fitting to begin rejoicing because our Lord rose from the dead. Those who are too hasty and break the fast before midnight we blame as contemptuous and intemperate. […] Those who persevere and resolutely fast till the fourth watch, a time when our Savior appeared to those at sea when he walked on the water,1 we acknowledge as being generous and industrious. Let us not, however, be too annoyed with those who being urged or of their own volition break their fast since all do not observe the six days of fasting equally or alike. Some fast every day; others two days; others three, others four, and still others none. As to those who have labored greatly in observing these fasts and, having grown weary, are almost exhausted, they are excused should they take food earlier. There are also those who not only refuse to fast for any long period of time but evade fasting completely. During the first four days they eat luxurious and rich meals, and then on the last two days—that of the Preparation and that of the Sabbath—they observe a strict fast, believing that they are doing something great and admirable if they continue to fast till the morning. I do not believe that these are equal to those whose fast has lasted several days previously. […] (850)
Canon 2. May women enter the house of God during their time of withdrawal?b This, it seems to me, is an unnecessary question. I do not believe that they, if they are godly and faithful, will at such a time dare approach the holy table or receive the Lord’s Body and Blood. For the woman who for twelve years had been suffering from hemorrhages did not touch the physician himself but only the hem of his garment.2 No matter the condition in which people find themselves, to pray, to remember the Lord, and to request the Lord’s help—these are not to be censured. However, a person who is not completely pure in both soul and body is forbidden to approach the holy of holies. (851)
Also known as the Ecclesiastical Canons of the Apostles (Canones ecclesiastici apostolorum) or as the Ecclesiastical Constitution of the Apostles, the Apostolic Church Order comes from Egypt—a few suggest Syria—and was redacted in the third or perhaps the fourth or even the early fifth century. The unknown author (or authors) uses a common literary device of the time, namely, ascribing to individual apostles the directives contained in the work; among these Peter and Cephas, interestingly enough, appear as two distinct individuals. So popular was the document that it became part of various canonical collections in the East, e.g., the Sinodos in Egypt.
The work contains two main sections preceded by an introduction: the first part (4–14) is based on the Didache 1–4 and gives a number of moral directives; the second section (15–21) treats the ordination or appointment of bishops, deacons, readers, etc.
Only one manuscript containing the original and complete Greek text of the work has come down to us. There is a fragment in Latin. Translations also exist in Arabic, Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopic.
CPG 1: no. 1739 * Altaner (1961) 57 * Altaner (1966) 254–55 * Bardenhewer (1908) 160–62 * Bardenhewer (1910) 147–49 * Bardenhewer (1913) 2:262–69 * Hamell 66 * Quasten 2:119–20 * Steidle 269 * Tixeront 214 * CATH 1:478–79 * CE 1:635–36 * EEC 1:259 * EEChr 1:92 * NCE 1:689 * NCES 1:580–81 * ODCC 90
J.W. Bickell, Geschichte des Kirchenrechts, vol. 1 (Giessen, 1843) 107–32. * P.A. de Lagarde, Reliquiae Iuris Ecclesiasticae Antiquissimae Graecae (Leipzig, 1856) 74–79. * J.B. Pitra, Iuris Ecclesiastici Graecorum Historia et Monumenta, vol. 1 (Rome, 1864) 75–88. * Th. Schermann, Die allgemeine Kirchenordnung, frühchristliche Liturgien und kirchliche Ueberlieferung, vol. 1, StGKA 3, Ergänzungsband (Paderborn, 1914) 12–34.
E. Hauler, Didascaliae Apostolorum Fragmenta Veronensia Latina: Accedunt Canonum qui Dicuntur Apostolorum et Aegyptiorum Reliquiae, fasc. 1 (Leipzig, 1900) 99–101. * E. Tidner, Didascaliae Apostolorum, Canonum Ecclesiasticorum, Traditionis Apostolicae Versiones Latinae, TU 75 (Berlin, 1963) 107–13.
J.P. Arendzen, “An Entire Syriac Text of the ‘Apostolic Church Order,’” JThSt 3 (1902) 59–80. * A. Baumstark, Strwmavtion avrcaiolgikovn, Mitteilungen dem internationalen Kongress für christlichen Archäologie zu Rom gew. vom Kollegium des deutschen Campo Santo (Rome, 1900) 15–31 (with German translation).
H. Tattam, The Apostolic Constitutions or Canons of the Apostles in Coptic with an English Translation (London, 1848; reimpr. New York, 1965). * P. de Lagarde, Aegyptiaca (Göttingen, 1883; 1972) 239–48. * G. Horner, The Statutes of the Apostles or Canones Ecclesiastici (London, 1904) 295–306.
G. Horner, Statutes, 233ff. * J. Périer and A. Périer, Les “127 canons des Apôtres”: texte arabe en partie inédit publié et traduit en français d’après les manuscrits de Paris, de Rome et de Londres, PO VIII (Paris, 1912; Turnhout, 1971) 573–90.
G. Horner, Statutes, 1ff. (text), 127ff. (translation).
A. Harnack, Die Lehre der zwölf Apostel, TU 2, 1–2 (Leipzig, 1884–93) 193–241. * A. Harnack, Die Quellen der sog. Apostolischen Kirchenordnung, TU 2, 5 (Leipzig, 1886). * F.X. Funk, Didascaliae et Constitutiones Apostolorum, vol. 2 (Paderborn, 1903), Proleg. XLII–XLIV. * W.H.P. Hatch, “The Apostles in the New Testament and in the Ecclesiastical Tradition of Egypt,” HThR 21 (1928) 147–61. * J.M. Hanssens, La liturgie d’Hippolyte. documents et études (Rome, 1970) 62–65. * A. Faivre, Naissance d’une hiérarchie, Théologie historique 40 (Paris, 1977) 143–53. * A. Faivre, “Le texte grec de la ‘Constitution ecclésiastique des apôtres’ et ses sources,” RevSR 55 (1981) 31–42. * A. Faivre, “Apostolicité et pseudo-apostolicité dans la ‘Constitution ecclésiastique des apôtres’: l’art de faire parler les origines,” RevSR 66 (1992) 19–67. * M. Metzger, “A propos des règlements ecclésiastiques et de la prétendue ‘Tradition apostolique,’” RevSR 66 (1992) 249–61. * L. Bernadette, “Etude de la notice sur l’éveque dans la ‘Constitution ecclésiastique des apôtres,’” QL 80 (1999) 5–23.
14. Concerning the ordination of a bishop. If a district should have only a few members of the faithful—not enough people to gather with the bishop, not even having twelve members—they shall send a message to the neighboring churches where there are many believers, requesting these churches to bring three members of the faithful, holy and chosen men of that area. They shall carefully examine these men concerning their suitability for the good work [of being bishop]: they are to determine whether he is a man who has a good reputation among the people, whether he is sinless, without anger, and a lover of the poor; whether he is kind, not a drunkard, not an adulterer, not a man who desires the greater share for himself; not a railer, not someone who is unfair, not anything of such sort. It is also good that he be unmarried, although if he married one wife before being ordained bishop, he shall live with her. He should be someone who adheres to solid doctrine and who can explain the Scriptures; yet if he is unable to do so, he should be humble and abound in love for all. The bishop should be condemned in nothing whatever, nor is he to be reproved in anything. (852)
John said: If the bishop who is to be ordained knows how to keep himself and loves God, two approved presbyters shall be appointed to be with him. And they all said: “Not two but three because there are twenty-four presbyters, twelve on the right hand and twelve on the left hand.” John said: Well it is that you have reminded me, my brethren. Behold, those on the right take the cups from the archangels, and they offer these to the Lord. Those on the left have authority over all the angels. It is proper that the presbyters be like elders who have passed the time of having intercourse with their wives. They shall share in the mystery with the bishop, helping him in everything and gathering around him with love for their shepherd. The presbyters on the right shall carefully assist at the altar. May they be worthy of this honor and reject all that deserves rejection. The presbyters on the left shall attend to all the people, seeing that they are quiet, that they are not causing any disturbance, that they are fully controlled and obedient. (853)
15. Concerning the appointment of the reader. James said: A reader shall be appointed after he has first been tested. He shall not be someone of many words, not a drunkard, not a scoffer. He shall be of good character and a lover of what is good; a person who daily hastens to the church, who remembers there the judgment; he shall be obedient, a person who reads well, and who knows that the duty of the reader is to act according to what he reads. Isn’t a person who fills the ears of others with words called upon to act according to what is read? If one fails to do so, then will not this [i.e., the reading] be charged against this person as a sin before God? (854)
16. Matthew said: Deacons shall be ordained as it is written: two or three witnesses will bear testimony. They [i.e., the candidates] shall be examined concerning all their service, with all the people bearing witness that they live with one wife, have reared their children in purity, are merciful and humble, are not murmurers, are not double-tongued, are not wrathful because wrath corrupts the wise. They shall not respect the person of the rich, not act unjustly toward the poor, not drink much wine; they shall work hard for the hidden mystery and the beauty of the consolation. They shall encourage those of the faithful who have something, to give to those who have nothing, and in this way they also shall share in the giving. They shall honor every person, doing so with all respect, humility, and fear; they shall keep themselves completely pure. Some they shall teach, some they shall question, some they shall reprove, and some they shall console. As for the rejected, they shall expel them immediately, knowing that those who oppose, who revile, who reject, are your enemies. (855)
17. Concerning the widow. Cephas said: Three widows shall be appointed, two of them devoting themselves to prayer for all who are suffering; sufficient daily sustenance shall be given these widows. One of them shall stay with those women who are ill so that she may further their recovery, be watchful, and inform the presbyters by sending word to them. She shall not be a lover of gain, nor shall she be a drunkard lest she neglect her work of being watchful and praying during the night. If one of them wishes to do a good work, may she do it according to the commandment so that she may comfort the heart of the sorrowful because God’s goodness has been made known to her first. (856)
18. Concerning deacons: they should do good works. Andrew said: Deacons shall do good works by night and by day, for everyone and in every place; and they shall not exalt themselves over the poor and the needy nor respect the person of the rich; they shall care for those who have nothing and provide for them from what is surplus; they shall encourage almsgiving on the part of those who have something to give; in this way they carry out the words of the Lord, who said, “I was hungry and you fed me.”1 Those who serve well, doing so without fault, shall inherit a place of rest. (857)
19. Concerning the laity. Philip said: The laity shall cheerfully do what is commanded them; they shall obey those who devote themselves to the altar; and all of them shall please God in what God has given them and ordered them to do. You shall not learn to hate one another because of what is commanded you; rather, all shall hasten to do what God has given them to do; they shall not hate anyone nor cause a neighbor to be hated by making accusations. Even the angels do not overstep what is defined for them. (858)
20. Concerning the reminder that the oblation is the Body of Christ and what comes after it. Andrew said: We have already ordered what was said concerning the oblation, namely, it is the Body of Christ and his precious Blood, something we declare to you with certainty. And John said: Have you forgotten, my brethren, that on the day when our Lord offered up the bread and the wine, he said, “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood”?2 He did not command that they should treat these as common things. And Martha said in regard to Mary, “See her laughing.” Mary replied, “That is not why I laughed, for our Lord said to us, ‘It is good that the sick be healed by the whole.’” (859)
21. Cephas said: It is not fitting for women to speak aloud while they are standing in church; rather, they should prostrate themselves with faces toward the earth. James said: How can they order for women a ministry of the mystery except the ministry they have in assisting the needy? Philip said: My brethren, as to the acts of charity that people perform, by doing them they store up for themselves a rich treasure in the kingdom of heaven; a good deed is credited to one by God, who continues it forever. Peter said: My brethren, you know that we are not placed over anyone by compulsion, but we give you a command from God. We beseech you to hear and keep the commandments; add nothing to them, take nothing away from them, all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom be honor and praise forever and ever. Amen. (860)
In 1897 the beginnings of what would eventually prove to be an extremely rich treasure of papyri were discovered at Oxyrhynchus (today the village of al-Bahnasa or Behnesa in middle Egypt, about 110 miles up the Nile from Cairo). The site was an ancient town dump where all types of written rubbish were deposited. The many thousands of retrieved pieces, dating from the first to the seventh centuries A.D. and to a large extent in fragmentary form, include not only literary works (about 10 percent of the total) but also inventories, bills of sale, and the like. Discovered and published over the years, today most of the papyri are preserved in Oxford, where modern technology (e.g., multispectral imaging) is helping to decipher cases of illegible lettering. As to religious texts, fragments from both the Old and the New Testaments are found; also selections from various apocryphal works as well as a number of hitherto unknown writings, e.g., an ecclesiastical calendar for 535–36.
In 1922 a papyrus fragment was discovered with a grain invoice on one side and on the opposite side the text and notes for what is most probably the conclusion of a longer Christian hymn text. The text itself is in Greek, and the melody appears in Greek vocal notation. The date of the hymn is usually thought to be toward the end of the third century.
Quasten 1:159–60 * EEChr 2:842–43 * LTK 7:1240 * NCE 10:847 * ODCC 1206 * PEA (1991) 9:123
Th. Reinach, “Un ancêtre de la musique de l’Eglise,” Revue musicale 3 (1922) No. 9. * H. Abert, “Ein neuentdeckter frühchristliche Hymnus mit antiken Musiknoten,” Zeitschrift fùr Musikwissenschaft 4 (1922) 524ff. * H. Abert, “Das älteste Denkmal der christlichen Kirchenmusik,” Antike 2 (1926) 282–90. * R. Wagner, “Der Oxyrhynchos-Notepapyrus XV Nr. 1786,” Philologus 79 (1923) 201–21. * C. del Grande, “Inno cristiano antico,” Rivista Indo-Greco-Italica 7 (1923) 173–79. * O. Ursprung, “Der Hymnus aus Oxyrhynchos, das älteste Denkmal christlicher Kirchen,” Musik Bulletin de la Société “Union Musicologique” 3 (1923) 129. * O. Ursprung, “Der Hymnus aus Oxyrhynchos in Rahmen unserer kirchmusikalischen Frühzeit,” ThGl 18 (1926) 390ff. * J. Quasten, Music & Worship in Pagan & Christian Antiquity (Washington, D.C., 1983) 71.
All noble [ones] of God together … shall not be silent, nor shall the luminous stars lag behind … All the rushing rivers shall praise our Father and Son and Holy Spirit, all the powers shall join in saying: Amen, amen, power [and] praise … to the only giver of all good things. Amen, amen. (861)
† Translated from A Diognète, trans. and ed. H.I. Marrou, SChr 33 bis (Paris, 1997) 62–65.
1. See Phil 3:20. 2. See Eph 2:19; Heb 11:13–16; 1 Pet 2:11. 3. See 2 Cor 10:3; Rom 8:12–13. 4. See Phil 3:20; Heb 13:14. 5. See Rom 13:1; Titus 3:1; 1 Pet 2:13. 6. See 2 Cor 6:9–10. 7. See 1 Cor 4:10, 12–13. 8. See 2 Cor 6:9–10. 9. See John 15:19; 17:11–16.
† Translated from PG 10:1039–48.
a. See Jurgens 1:252.
b. Does this refer to a prayer over the penitents, a prayer at the conclusion of the Liturgy of the Word, or to the eucharistic prayer?
c. Perhaps referring to an older canon?
† Translation (modified) from ANF 2:298.
† Translation from Quasten 1:172.
a. Seal: namely, baptism.
b. Fish from the spring: namely, Christ.
† Translation based upon the text given by F.X. Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum, vol. 1 (Paderborn, 1906). Numbers in brackets [ ] give the numbering found in the same volume.
1. 1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:7. 2. See 2 Tim 2:22. 3. Matt 12:36–37.
4. See 1 Tim 3:8. 5. Matt 18:18.
6. Ps 6:5. 7. Ps 74:19. 8. Jer 8:4–5. 9. Luke 23:34; Matt 26:39. 10. Isa 58:6.
a. The first letter of the name of Jesus in Syriac (Y) and in Greek (I) has the value of “ten.”
b. See Didache XIII.3 (WEC 1:190).
11. Matt 18:18. 12. 1 Pet 2:9.
13. Matt 18:17.
c. Does the author have the eucharistic prayer in mind here?
14. Mark 2:16; Matt 9:11; Luke 5:30. 15. Matt 9:12. 16. Matt 5:23ff.
17. Ps 67:34.
18. Luke 4:24. 19. Matt 12:30. 20. Cf. 2 Pet 1:4.
21. Matt 27:56. 22. 1 Tim 3:8. 23. Ps 32:1.
24. Mark 2:18–20; Matt 9:14–15; Luke 5:33–35. 25. Mark 14:30; Matt 26:21–23. 26. Matt 26:31; Mark 14:27; see John 16:32. 27. Mark 15:3. 28. Matt 28:12.
d. See Gospel of Peter 14.
e. Should it rather be “six days”?
f. See note a above.
29. Matt 12:40. 30. Ps 39:4. 31. Matt 28:1; see John 20:1. 32. Zech 8:19. 33. Ibid. 34. Gen 1:5. 35. Ps 74:4.
36. Matt 5:44; Luke 6:27. 37. Matt 5:4. 38. Matt 27:24. 39. Exod 12:24.
40. Isa 58:13.
41. Matt 12:32.
† Translated from the Greek version as given in Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, vol. 2, ed. R.A. Lipsius and M. Bonnet (Leipzig, 1903) 141ff.
1. See John 10:3, 14. 2. See John 20:19, 21, 26.
3. See Acts 9:7. 4. See Phil 2:9. 5. See Ps 26:2. 6. See Matt 26:26. 7. See Matt 5:12. 8. See Acts 5:14. 9. See 1 Cor 11:29, 34. 10. Rom 16:20.
11. See Matt 26:26. 12. See Matt 26:27. 13. See Matt 27:34. 14. See Matt 27:48. 15. See Matt 26:67; 27:30. 16. See Matt 27:29–30. 17. See Matt 27:29. 18. See Matt 27:59. 19. See Matt 27:60. 20. See Matt 28:6. 21. See Luke 8:50.
† Translation from J. Quasten, Music & Worship in Pagan & Christian Antiquity, trans. B. Ramsey (Washington, D.C., 1983) 70.
† Translation from The Book of the Laws of Countries, trans. and ed. H.J.W. Drijvers (Assen, The Netherlands, 1965) 59.
† Translated from PG 1:429–32.
1. Matt 10:16. 2. Eph 5:15. 3. Matt 7:6.
† Translated from Homélies sur la Genèse, intro. H. de Lubac and L. Doutreleau, trans. and ed. L. Doutreleau, SChr 7 (Paris, 1976) 264–65.
1. Isa 1:13–14, LXX.
† Translated from Homélies sur l’Exode. Origène, trans. and ed. M. Borret, SChr 321 (Paris, 1985) 386–87.
†† Translated from Homélies sur le Lévitique. Origène, vol. 1, trans. and ed. M. Borret, SChr 286 (Paris, 1981) 106–11.
1. Rom 14:15. 2. Mark 1:4. 3. Luke 11:41. 4. Matt 6:14–15. 5. Matt 6:12. 6. Jas 5:20.
7. Luke 7:47. 8. 1 Pet 4:8. 9. See Ps 6:7. 10. See Ps 42:3. 11. Ps 32:5. 12. Jas 5:14–15.
† Translated from Homélies sur le Lévitique. Origène, vol. 2, trans. and ed. M. Borret, SChr 287 (Paris, 1981) 20–21.
†† Translated from SChr 287:256–57.
††† Translated from Homèlies sur les Nombres, trans. and ed. A. Méhat, SChr 29 (Paris, 1951) 278–79.
a. High priest: the bishop?
1. See Num 18:1.
† Translated from SChr 29:262–63.
1. See John 6:52–53. 2. John 6:53–55. 3. Isa 53:5. 4. John 6:63.
†† Translated from PG 12:833–34.
††† Translated from Homélies sur s. Luc, trans. and ed. H. Crouzel, F. Fournier, and P. Périchon, SChr 87 (Paris, 1962) 222–25.
1. See Acts 2:38. 2. Job 14:4–5, LXX. 3. John 3:5. 4. Luke 2:22.
5. Lev 12:2–4, LXX. 6. Rom 7:14. 7. Heb 10:1.
† Translated from PG 14:1039, 1047, 1282–83.
†† Translated from Contre Celse, vol. 2, trans. and ed. M. Borret, SChr 136 (Paris, 1968) 122–23; ibid., vol. 4, SChr 150 (Paris, 1969) 200ff.
1. 1 John 4:10; 2:2; Heb 2:17; etc. 2. See Rom 8:6–7; 1 Cor 9:27. 3. See 1 Cor 5:7. 4. See John 6:51–56. 5. See Col 2:12; 3:1. 6. Eph 2:6. 7. See Acts 1:13–14; 2:2–3.
8. See 1 Cor 10:31. 9. See Ps 148:3.
† Translated from GCS 3:324ff.
1. Matt 18:10. 2. 1 Thess 5:17. 3. See Dan 6:11.
4. Acts 10:9, 11. 5. Ps 5:3. 6. Ps 141:2. 7. See Num 15:15–26. 8. Heb 4:14. 9. 1 John 5:16.
10. Eph 3:14–15. 11. Phil 2:10. 12. Mal 1:11. 13. 1 Tim 2:8. 14. Ps 34:7. 15. Gen 48:16. 16. See Tob 12:12. 17. 1 Cor 5:4.
18. See John 1:9.
† Translated from Le Pédagogue, vol. 1, trans. M. Harl and ed. H.I. Marrou, SChr 70 (Paris, 1983) 158–59; ibid., vol. 2, trans. C. Mondésert, SChr 108 (Paris, 1965) 48ff.; ibid., vol. 3, trans. C. Mondésert and C. Matray, SChr 158 (Paris, 1970) 152ff.
1. Ps 82:6. 2. Ps 150:3. 3. See 1 Cor 15:52. 4. Ps 150:3. 5. See ibid. 6. Ps 150:4. 7. Ibid. 8. Ps 150:5. 9. Ps 150:6. 10. See Luke 12:35–37.
11. Rom 12:9; see 2 Cor 6:6. 12. See Matt 5:8. 13. See 1 Cor 11:5–6. 14. See Phil 1:27; 1 Thess 2:12. 15. See Matt 22:37, 39. 16. See Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Thess 5:26.
† Translated from Les Stromates, vol. 1, intro. C. Mondésert, trans. and ed. M. Caster, SChr 30 bis (Paris, 2006) 120ff.; ibid., vol. 2, trans. C. Mondésert, ed. P.Th. Camelot, SChr 38 bis (Paris, 2006) 79ff.; ibid., vol. 7, trans. and ed. A. Le Boulluec, SChr 428 (Paris, 2006) 108ff.
a. Basilides: a theologian of somewhat Gnostic tendencies who taught at Alexandria during the second century.
1. Prov 9:17.
b. The true Gnostic, Clement contends, is the person who has attained a harmony of faith and knowledge.
2. Acts 15:8. 3. See 2 Cor 7:10. 4. Heb 10:26–27. 5. See 1 Pet 2:9; Isa 43:20. 6. See Ps 119:172. 7. Ps 119:164.
8. Ps 141:2.
† Translated from Extraits de Théodote, trans. and ed. F. Sagnard, SChr 23 (Paris, 1948) 206–7.
† Translated from PG 10:1271–74, 1275-78, 1281–82.
a. Basilides: bishop of the parishes in Pentapolis, a district west of Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea.
b. Namely, menstruation.
1. See Matt 9:20; Luke 8:43. 2. See Matt 14:25.
† Adapted from a translation based upon the Ethiopic as given in G. Horner, The Statutes of the Apostles or Canones ecclesiastici (London, 1904) 131–38.
1. Matt 25:35. 2. Matt 26:26, 28; Mark 14:22, 24; Luke 22:19–20; 1 Cor 11:24–25.
† Translation from The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part XV, ed. B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt (London, 1922) 21–25 (no. 1786).