History

The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles)

Era: late 1st century
Location: Syria (probable origin)
Discovered: 1873 (full Greek text rediscovered in Constantinople)

The earliest known Christian church manual. Sixteen short chapters walking readers through the Two Ways (life and death), baptism, fasting, the Lord's Prayer, the Eucharist, and how to test itinerant prophets.

The find

Quotes Matthew extensively and prescribes baptism "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" exactly as in Matthew 28:19. Gives directions for the Eucharist using prayers that closely parallel John 6 and 1 Corinthians 11. Provides the earliest known liturgical and disciplinary practice of the post-apostolic church.

Why it matters

It shows that within a single generation of the apostles, churches were already baptizing trinitarianly, celebrating the Eucharist weekly, fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, and using the Lord's Prayer in worship. None of this was a later invention.

Cross-linked Scripture

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Sources