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Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

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A short treatise which some of the Fathers accounted as next to Holy Scripture, supposed to have been written A.D. 65-80. It was rediscovered in 1883 by Bryenhios, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Nicomedia, in the codex, from which, in 1875, he had published the full text of the Epistles of Saint Clement. It may be divided into three parts:

• first, the "Two Ways," the Way of Life and the Way of Death;
• second, a rituale dealing with Baptism, fasting, and Holy Communion;
• third, a treatise on the ministry.

Doctrinal teaching is pre-supposed, and none is given. The Way of Life is the love of God and of our neighbor; the Way of Death is a mere list of vices to be avoided. The second part begins with an instruction on Baptism; the third speaks of teachers or doctors in general, and the last chapter exhorts to watching and tells the signs of the end of the world. See also: The Didache (text).