Cox, James J. C.

English

Andrews University

PROLEGOMENA TO A STUDY OF THE DOMINICAL LOGO1 AS CITED IN THE DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM Part I: Introductory Matters* JAMES J. C. COX Andrews University In the third century of the Common Era, possibly during its first two or three decades, an anonymous Christian author, possibly a bishop, resident in Palestine or, more probably, Syria, composed, in Greek, a "Church manual" commonly known as the Didascalia or Didoscalia Apostolorurn. Of those who discuss the question of the date of the composition of the original Greek text o f  the Didascalia, almost all are per- suaded that it was composed during the third century of the Common Era. Of these, some contend that is was during the first half, if not within the first two or three decades, of that century (so, for example, F. Nau,' A. von Harna~k ,~  R. H. +Abbreviations employed in this article, which are not spelled out on the back cover of this journal, indicate the following series: ALCS = Ancienne Litte'rature canonique syriaque; BLE = Bulletin de Litte'rature ecclesiastique; CQ = Congregational Quarterly; CQR = Church Quarterly Review; DACL = Dictionnaire dYArche'ologJe chre'tienne et de Liturgie; DS = Dictionnaire de Spiritualit&; DST = Duckworth Studies i n  Theology; ECC = Early Chris- tian Classics; HS = Horae Semiticae; L T K  = Lexikon fur Theologie und Kirche; NAK = Nederlandsch Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis; RGG = Die Religion i n  Geschichte und Gegenwart; R H E  = Revue d'Histoire ecclesias- tique; SeT = Studi e Testi; T C L  = Translations of Christian Literature; T U  = Texte  und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur. La Didascalie, c'estd-dire Z'Enseignement catholique des douze Apbtres et des saints Disciples de  notre Sauveur traduite d u  syriaque pour la @emitre fois, ALCS, 1 (Paris, 1902), p. 1. Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius (Leipzig, 1904 [re- print, Leipzig, 1958]), 1. 2, p. 516. 24 JAMES J. C. COX Cross,12 B. Altaner,13 and G. Strecker14); some, that it was com- posed during the second half of that century (so, for example, F. X. Funk,15 H. Achelis and J. Flemming,16 De L. O'Leary,17 M. Viard,18 0. Bardenhewer,lg and C. H. Turner20); and others, that it was composed sometime during that century without any Didascalia Apostolorum: T h e  Syriac Version Translated and Accompanied by the Verona Latin Fragments with an Introduction and Notes (Oxford, 1929 [reprint Oxford, 19691) , p. xci. "The Didascalia," J T S  31 (1930): 259. Church-Life and Church-Order during the  First Four Centuries ulith Spe- cial Reference to the Early Eastern Church Orders (Oxford, 1943), pp. 75, 84, 89, 119-120, 146. 61n Bartlet, Church-Life and Church-Order, p. 54, n. 3. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, 1: Die Obersetzungen, SeT, 118 (Rome, 1944), p. 564. "La date de la Didascalie des ApGtres," R H E  42 (1947) : 351. "Busslehre und Busspraxis der Didascalia Apostolorum," ZKT 72 (1950) : 257. lo Patrology, 2: T h e  Ante-Nicene Literature after Zrenaeus (Westminster, Md., 1953), p. 147. "Didaskalia," in L T K ,  3, col. 371 1. l2 T h e  Early Christian Fathers, DST, 57 (London, 1960), p. 96. 13Patrology, trans. of Patrologie by H .  C .  Graef (Freiburg, 1961 [Zd ed.]; New York, 1961), p. 56. l4 "On the Problem of Jewish Christianity," in W. Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, trans. of Rechtglaubigkeit und Ketzerei i m  altesten Christentum by a team from the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins, ed. by R. A. Kraft and G. Krodel (Tubingen, 1964 [2d ed.]; Phila- delphia, 1971), p. 244. "La date de la Didascalie des ApBtres," RHE 2 (1901): 808; and Didas- calia et Constitutiones Apostolorum (Paderborn, 1905 - [reprint Paderborn, 1964]), 1, p. V. la Die altesten Quellen des orientalischen Kirchenrechts, 2: Die syrische Didaskalia, T U ,  n. f., 10.2 (Leipzig, 1904), pp. 370-372. l7 T h e  Apostolical Constitutions and Cognate Documents, with Special Reference to their Liturgical Elements, ECC (London, 1906), p. 30. 18La Didascalie des Apbtres: introduction critique, esquisse historique (Langres, 1906), pp. 33-36. la Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, 2: Vom Ende des zweiten Jahrhun- derts bis zum Beginn des vierten Jahrhunderts (Darmstadt, 1914 [reprint Darmstadt, 1%2]), p. 309. "The Church Order of St. Hippolytus," CQR 85 (1917): 90. DOMINICAL LOGOI IN T H E  DIDASCALIA 25 preference for either the first or the second half (so, for example, M. D. Gibson,21 A. J i i l i ~ h e r , ~ ~  H. A ~ h e l i s , ~ ~  H. Leclerq2* J. M. Harden,25 Bartlet,26 E. Tidner,2i W. C. van Unnik,28 P. Beau- camp,29 H. von Campenha~sen ,~~  G. B a r d ~ , ~ l  H. E. Feine,32 and E. J. G ~ o d s p e e d ~ ~ ) .  Of those who discuss the question of the authorship of the original Greek text, most are persuaded that the anonymous Christian author was, in fact, a resident Bishop (so, for example, Achelis and Flemming,34 Viard,3"chelis,36 Le~lercq,~'  Con- = T h e  Disdascalia Apostolorum in Syriac: Edited from a Mesopotamian Manuscript with Various Readings and Collations of other Mss, HS, 1 (Lon- don, 1903), p. v. 22 "Didaskalia," in Renlencyklopaedie der classischen Altertumszuissenschaft, ed. W. Pauly and G. Wissowa (Stuttgart, 1903), 9, col. 394. ""Apostolic Constitutions and Canons," in T h e  New Schafl-Herzog En- cyclopedia of  Religious Knowledge, ed. S. M. Jackson et al. (New York, 1908), 1 : 245-246. 24 "Didascalie," in Dictionnaire d'Archeologie chre'tienne et de Liturgie, ed. H .  Leclercq and H. Marrou (Paris, 1920), 4, col. 812. 25 T h e  Ethiopic Didascalia, TCL ,  series 4: Oriental Texts  (London, 1920), p. xii; and A n  Introduction to Ethiopic Christian Literature (London, 1926), p. 63. =Review of Connolly, Didascalia Apostolorum, CQ 8 (1930): 222. Sprachlicher Kommentar zur lateinischen Didascalia Apostolorum (Stock- holm, 1938), p. XV; and Didascaliae Apostolorum, Canonum Ecclesiasticorum, Traditionis Apostolicae, versiones Latinae, T U ,  75 (Berlin, 1963), p. IX. 28 "De Beteekenis van de Mozaische wet voor de Kerk van Christus volgens de syrische Didascalie," NAK 3 (1939): 71; and "Didaskalia," in Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 3d edition ed. by K. Galling (Tiibingen, 1958), 2, col. 189. ""Un bvi2que du  IIIe sikcle aux prises avec les pecheurs: son activite apostolique," BLE 69 (1949): 27. 30Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries, trans. of Kirchliches Amt  und geistliche Vollmacht by J .  A. Baker (Tiibingen, 1953; Stanford, 1969), p. 239, n. 7. 31"Didascalie des ApBtres" in Dictionnaire de Spiritualite', ed. A. Rayez (Paris, 1957), 3, col. 863. 32 Kirchliche Rechtsgeschichte: Die katholische Kirche (Koln, 1964), p. 33. 3" History of  Early Christian Literature, revised and enlarged by R. M. Grant (Chicago, 1966), p. 12. Die syrische Didaskalia, p. 378. 35 La Didascalie, p. 35. 36 New Schatf-Herzog, 1 : 245. 37 "Didascalie," DACL, 4, c01. 812. 26 JAMES J. C. COX n ~ l l y , ~ ~  B r k i t t , ~ ~  Bartler40 Galtier,(l B e a u ~ a m p , ~ ~  von Campen- ha~sen,'~ Q ~ a s t e n , ~ ~  Cro~s,'~ and Altaner46). 47 And, of those who discuss the question of the ploce of the compvsitwn of the original Greet text, the majority favor Syria (so for example, Jiilicher [Syria] ,48 Harnack [Syria] 49 Achelis and Flemming [ Coele-Syria] Funk [Syria] ," Viard [Syria] ,62 Achelis [Coele-Syria] ,53 Leclercq [Syria or Coele-Syria] ,54 Con- 38 Didascalia Apostolorum, p. xci. S9 "The Didascalia," JTS 31 (1930): 261. 40 Church-Life and Church-Order, p. 89. "La date de la Didascalie," RHE 42 (1947): 316. "Un dveque du IIIe si&cle," BLE 69 (1949): 27. "Ecclesiastical Authority, p. 240. Patrology, 2: 147. 45 Early Christian Fathers, p. 96. 46 Patrology, p. 56. 47 Of course, the Didascalia Apostolorum itself purports to have been writ- ten by "the twelve Apostles"-at the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15). In addition to the title, K C Z ~ O X L K ~  6t6au~aXia TGV 666e~a ~ T O U T ~ X W V  (see, be- low, the discussion on the title), note especially Didasc. 6.12. If.; 6. 13. If.; and 6. 14. 11: "When therefore the entire church was in peril (on account of heresy) we, the twelve apostles (666e~a br6u~ohoi) gathered at Jerusalem and conferred on what should be done. And it seemed good to us (we were all of one mind) to write this Catholic Didascalia ( K U ~ ~ ~ L K ~ V  & & u ~ a ~ b v )  for your confirmation [P. de Lagarde, Didascalia Apostolorum Syriace (Leipzig, 1854 [reprint, Osnabriick/Wiesbaden, 1967]), p. 102, 11. 4ff .;Tidner, Didascaliae Apostolorum, p. 73, 11. 15ff.; Funk, Didascalia et Con- stitutiones Apostolorum, 1: 327, 11. 12ff.I . . . and we remained in Jerusalem for some days conferring concerning the common good with the aim of rectifying [the situation], and, at the same time, we wrote this Catholic Didascalia (Ku~OXLK$V &6aa~a~fav) [Lagarde, Didascalia Apostolorum, p. 104, 11. 26ff.; Tidner, Didascaliae Apostolorum, p. 74, 11. 5ff.; Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum, 1: 333, 11. 22fE.l . . . and we have left this Catholic Didascalia ( K ~ ~ O X L K ~ ~ V  6L6auKaXfav) worthily and justly, as a memo- randum of the confirmation for the believers [Lagarde, Didascalia Aposto- lorum, p. 106, 11. 28f.; Tidner, Didascaliae Apostolorum, p. 78, 11. 7ff.; Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum, p. 347, 11. Iff.]." L8Pauly- Wissowa, 9, col. 394. Geschichte, 1. 2, p. 516; 2.2, p. 489. Die syrische Didaskalia, p. 364. Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum, 1, p. V .  " L a  Didascalie, pp. 31-32. New Schafl-Herzog, 1: 245. "Didascalie," DACL, 4, col. 812. DOMINICAL LOGOI I N  T H E  DIDASCALIA 27 nolly [between Antioch and Edessa] ,55 Burkitt [between Antioch and Edessa] ,56 Bartlet [northern Syria] ,57 Graf [northern Syria] ,58 Galtier [Syria ( 2  ) 1 ,59 Beaucamp [Syria] Rahner [northern Syria] von Campenhausen [Syria] ,62 Quasten [northern Syr- ia]63 Jungmann [northern Syria] ,64 Cross [northern Syria] ,65 Altaner [northern Syria] ,66 van Unnik [Syria] ,67 Feine [Syria] ,68 and Strecker [SyriaIGg), although some do not rule out the possibility of Palestine (so, for example, J i i l i ~ h e r , ~ ~  Harnack,ll Funk," and Connolly73), or even Arabia (so, for example, H a r n a ~ k ~ ~  and Galtier75 ) . That the Didascalia was originully composed in Greek is the unanimous opinion of those who deal with that question (so, for example, P. Boetticher [P. de Lagarde],76 E. Hauler,77 Nau,18 65 Didascalia Apostolorum, p. lxxxix. "."The Didascalia," JTS 31 (1930): 261. Review of Connolly, Didascalia Apostolorum, CQ 8 (1930): 222; and Church-Life and Church-Order, pp. 75, 89, 119, 146. 68 Geschichte, p. 564. 69 "La date de la Didascalie," RHE 42 (1947): 516. BO "Un kveque du IIIe siecle," BLE 69 (1949): 27. "Busslehre and Busspraxis," ZKT 72 (1950): 257. Ecdesiastical Authority, p. 239. Patrology, 2: 147. 6L "Didaskalia," LTK, 3, col. 189. Early Christian Fathers, p. 96. ae Patrology, p. 56. s7 "Didaskalia," RGG, 3d ed., 2, col. 189. Kirchliche Rechtsgeschichte, p. 33. BB In Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy, p. 244. 70 Pauly-Wissowa, 9, col. 394. Geschichte, 1. 2, p. 516; 2.2, p. 489. 7a Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorurn, 1, p. V .  73 Didascalia Apostolorum, p. lxxxix. 74 Geschichte, 2. 2, p. 489. 76 "La date de la Didascalie," RHE 42 (1947): 316. 76 Constitutiones Apostolicae G-raece in Analecta Ante-Nicaena, 2: Reliquiae Canonicae (ed. by C .  C. J. Bunsen; London, 1854), pp. 42-43. 77 Didascaliae Apostoloru~?~: Fragpenta Veronensia Latinu (Leipig, 1900), p. IX. * L a  Didascalie, pp. 2,  164. 28 JAMES J. C. COX J i i l i ~ h e r ~ ~ W i b s o n , ~  Harnack,&l Viard,wW'Leary,8"A. J. Mac- lean,84 Bardenhe~er,~"artlet,~~ Turner,87 Harden,8"eclercq,89 C o n n ~ l l y , ~ ~  B~rkitt ,~ '  van Unnik,g2 Cadoux," Graf," T idne~- ,~~  gal tie^-,^^ Qua~ten,~? von C a r n p e n h a ~ s e n ~ ~ ~ ~ a r d y , ~ ~  Altaner luo and TidnerlO1 ) . And with respect to its literary genre the Didu.sculiu is usually classified as a "church order," along with such works as the Diduche, the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, the Apostolic Church Order, the Colzstitutiones Apostolorurn, the Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. ( so, for example, Maclean,lo2 T~rner , '~"  Harden7104 Bartlet,lu5 Quasten,lo6 von Carnpenhau~en,'~~ and P~u~JJ-Wissowa,  9, col. 394. Didascalia Apostolorum, 1, p. v;  2, p. v .  Geschichte, 1. 2, p. 516; 2. 2, p. 488. s2 La Didascalie, pp. 14-15. 83 The Apostolical Constitutions, pp. 19, 24, 26, 28. * The Ancient Church Orders (Cambridge, 1910), p. 30. sS Geschichte, 2: 304. s6 "Fragments of the Disascalia APostolorum in Greek," JTS 18 (1916): 308- 309; and Review of Connolly, Didascalia Apostolorum, CQ 8 (1930): 222. s7''The Church Order of St. Hippolytus," CQR 85 (1917): 77. Ethiopic Didascalia, p. xi. 8Q "Didascalie," DACL, 4, col. 802. Didascalia Apostolorum, p. xi. 91 "The Didascalia," JTS 31 (1930): 259. O2 "De Beteekenis," NAK 31 (1939): 67-68. 83 In Bartlet, Church-Life and Church-Order, p. 76, n. 3. 84 Geschichte, 1: 564. Sprachlicher Kommentar, p. I X .  O6 "La date de la Didascalie," RHE 42 (1947): 316. 97 Patrology, 2: 151. O8 Ecclesiastical Authority, p. 239, n. 7. Oe "Didascalie," DS, 3, col. 863. loo Patrology, p. 57. lol Didascaliae Apostolorum, p. I X .  lo2 Ancient Church Orders, p. 2. lo3 "The Church Order of St. Hippolytus," CQR 85 (1917): 77, 88-89. Ethiopic Didascalia, pp. ix-xii. lo5 Church-Life and Church-Order, pp. 75-77. lo6 Patrology, 2: 147. lW Ecclesiastical Authority, p. 239. DOMINICAL LOGOI IN  THE DZDASCALIA 29 Altaner l"~.  Connolly, however, challenges this designation. He writes, The book has naturally been classed with that family of docu- ments which we know as the Church Orders, among which it forms a third in point of time to the Didache and the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus. In its aims, however, and in the char- acter of its contents it stands apart from most of the other documents of this class, for it deals hardly at all with formal legislation. The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, to take what is probably the nearest contemporary example, might fairly be descril~ed as a rudimentary Ordinal or Sacramentary, providing as it  does set rules and forms for the ordination of ministers, the celel~ration of the Eucharist, and the administration of baptism. But any such description would be quite inapplicable to the Didascalia, which is much more an elementary treatise on Pastoral Theology. While the author does not come before us here as a theologian in the strict sense of the term, neither does he appear in any sense as a canonist, or one who formulates ecclesiastical rules on the basis of custom or tradition. His inter- est is engaged with other matters, with personal conduct, and with ecclesiastical discipline only in its wider aspect, as it affects the daily life of the community at large.lo9 Various other descriptive phrases have been employed to classify this document, for example, "un de ces recueils de pre- scriptions morales et disciplinaires qui se donnent comme d'origine apostolique" ( Viardl lo)  ; "the earliest manual on canon law" ( O'Learyl l1 ) ; "a constitution" ( Achelis112 ) ; "Sammlung von Sittenvorschriften und Rechtsnormen . . . der alteste uns bekannte Versuch eines, 'corpus iuris canonici"' (Bardenhewer,ll\nd following him, Graf 114 ) ; "a sort of Pastoral" ( Burkitt115 ), "ouvrage canonico-liturgique" (Bardy116); and a "collection of miscellaneous precepts of professedly Apostolic origin" ( Cross117 ) . (To be continued) Patrology, pp. 54-58. lU8 Didascalia Apostolorum, pp. xxvi-xxxvii. 110 La Didascalie, p. 9. 111 Apostolical Constitutions, p. 27. 112 New Schafl-Herrog, 1 : 245. U3 Geschichte, 2: 304. 114 Geschichte, 1: 564. U6 "The Didascalia," JTS 31 (1930): 259. llg "Didascalie," DS, 3, col. 863. Early Christian Fathers, p. 96. 

Prolegomena to a Study of the Dominical Logoi as cited in the Didascalia Apostolorum. Part I: Introductory Matters

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Prolegomena to a Study of the Dominical Logoi as cited in the Didascalia Apostolorum. Part I: Introductory Matters

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