TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOS TLES (Gk. aLaaXil 3thafKa di duch.tontt dodaa apostol5n), also called the DIDACHE. An ancient Christian document, writ ten in Greek, probably before 150, of great value for the study of organization, belief, and worship in the early Church. It was found in 1873 by Bryennios (q.v.), Metropolitan of Nicomedia, in an eleventh-century manuscript in the Monastery of the Holy Sepulchre in Constantinople, and was published by him ten years later. Modern edi tors include it, by general consent, among the Apostolic Fathers (q.v.). The Teaching was ap parently compiled from earlier material, for use as a church manual. It contains a description of the Two Ways, one of life, the other of death, in the form of rules for Christian conduct, some what akin to the Decalogue, but longer. Whether or not this prt of the Teaching was originally separate from the rest, it is evident that it was used in catechetical instruction, to prepare con verts for baptism. The second portion of the Teaching sets forth the proper observance of the rites of baptism and the Lord's Supper, with di rections for their administration, and prayers and forms for use in the same. It further defines the office and duties of the Christian leaders, es pecially apostles, prophets, teachers, bishops, and deacons. Ceremonial and organization are alike
extremely simple. The whole concludes with a paragraph announcing the speedy second com ing of Christ and the final judgment.
The Teaching was held in high honor in the early Church. falling short, however, of canonici ty. It forms the basis of the seventh book of the Apostolic Constitutions (q.v.), and bears some literary relationship to the Shepherd of Hermes and perhaps to the Apology of Aristides. Most critics are inclined to attribute it to Syria or Egypt, hut no decisive argument exists for either. By the fourth century the Teaching had taken its place definitely among the 'ecclesiastical' as distinguished from the 'canonical' books, and it was thenceforward employed only for edifi cation, not for authoritative teaching in t-he Church. Consult: Schaff, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (3d ed., New York, 1839) ; Har ris, The Teaching of the Apostles (Baltimore, 1887; contains facsimiles of the manuscript) ; Crnttwell, Literary History of Early Christianity (London, 1893; contains an English transla tion) ; Krfiger, History of Early Christian Lit erature (New York, 1897). The text will he found critically edited, in Funk, Patres Apostot ici (2d ed., Tubingen, 1901).