The Didache

The Didache sums up what it claims is the Lord's teaching to the heathen by the twelve apostles. It's an ancient document written  between year 50 and 120 in the early days of the church.

I was reading the Didache some weeks ago and There are a few things about it that are worth noting. For the first of all early Christians lived according to the instructions given in the sermon on the mount. " Now, the teaching of these words is this: "Bless those that curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those that persecute you. For what credit is it to you if you love those that love you? Do not even the heathen do the same?" But, for your part, "love those that hate you," and you will have no enemy." They lived according to the instructions given by Jesus in the Gospels which must be why these teachings were preserved for future generations. 

The ethics in the Didache is a combination of rule ethics, consequentialist ethics and virtue ethics. It counsels the reader to not be "proud, for pride leads to murder, nor jealous, nor contentious, nor passionate, for from all these murders are engendered."One should, in other words avoid vices because of their consequences. One should not be passionate for passions lead to murder as it explains and murder is unethical. The rules that the Didache gives are for example: "Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery"; thou shalt not commit sodomy; thou shalt not commit fornication; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not use magic; thou shalt not use philtres; thou shalt not procure abortion, nor commit infanticide; "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods"; No explanation is given as to why one should not for example procure abortion. Any definition for sodomy isn't given. The reader was expected to know what is meant by "sodomy". An explanation would be necessary for our modern context, but apparently the writer saw no reason to explain this. One should not have certain vices for vices lead to sinful actions and there are several vices that are mentioned and several sinful actions that are prohibited according to the Didache. The vices one should avoid are lustfulness, double-mindedness, double tonguedness, covetousness, hypocrisy, pride, jealousy and several others. They lead to murders, thefts, adultery, blasphemies and many more actions. Some things would require an explanation. Why does pride lead to murder? Why does stubbornness lead to blasphemy? It doesn't follow.

A second thing worth noting is that these early Christians prayed three times per day and they didn't say just any prayer but the Lord's prayer. "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, as in Heaven so also upon earth; give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into trial, but deliver us from the Evil One, for thine is the power and the glory for ever." They fasted two days per week, on Wednesdays and Fridays. I made the experiment for a couple of weeks and fasted on Wednesday and Friday. The results were mixed. I didn't feel more blessed, just hungrier than before. I would perhaps have benefitted from it if I would have fasted for a  longer period of time than just one day a time. I tried saying the Lord's prayer three times per day but it was difficult to remember to pray three times a day and even more difficult to do it wholeheartedly meaning every word of the prayer. It requires some discipline to live like the early Christians.

The Didache is published online at http://thedidache.com/ feel free to explore.