Didache

An early Christian teaching and church-order text used by some communities but not in later closed New Testament canons.

The Didache, or Teaching of the Apostles, is an early Christian church-order text from the late first or early second century, at medium confidence. Communities used it for instruction in baptism, prayer, and church life. It is not one of the twenty-seven New Testament books. Athanasius names “the Teaching of the Apostles” among writings appointed to be read by newcomers and not included in his canon list. That is an edifying, noncanonical classification in 367. Later closed New Testament lists leave it outside the canon. Usefulness in the second century and absence from the twenty-seven are both part of the record.

Edifying early Christian literature; not one of the 27 New Testament books.

Date

Late 1st–early 2nd century CE (medium confidence)

Confidence

medium

Languages

Greek

Traditional authorship

The Twelve Apostles

Authorship note

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles; honored by early Fathers, not received into the New Testament

• H · Codex Hierosolymitanus

  1056 CE · Greek · Complete Greek Didache

  Codex Hierosolymitanus was copied in 1056 by a scribe named Leo. It is the only complete Greek copy of the Didache, and it also contains 1 Clement, 2 Clement, and other early Christian writings. The Didache itself is much older than 1056. This codex is a medieval witness to an early book, found again for Western scholarship in the nineteenth century. 1 Clement is also copied at the end of the fifth-century Codex Alexandrinus, which is the older biblical pandect. Hierosolymitanus is still the manuscript that preserves the full Didache.

• lists noncanonical

  Jewish canon

  The Didache is not a book of the Tanakh. Josephus, near the end of the first century, describes twenty-two Jewish books his people trust and sets later writings in a lower rank. The later rabbinic Bible, counted as twenty-four books, likewise leaves The Didache outside Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. The Didache is a Christian church-order manual. It uses Jewish prayer patterns and the Two Ways tradition, but Jewish communities did not receive the Didache as a biblical book. Jewish copying or quotation, where it exists, is reception. It is not the same fact as a place in the Hebrew canon, and it is not a Christian council’s decision.

• lists noncanonical

  Athanasius

  Athanasius names the Teaching of the Apostles among books to be read by newcomers and not among the canonical books. The only complete Greek copy is the eleventh-century Codex Hierosolymitanus. Early reception is real and limited: useful to read, not in the New Testament list.

• ProtestantRelated literature

  the Didache is not one of the Protestant 27 New Testament books.

• CatholicRelated literature

  the Didache is not in the Catholic New Testament.

• OrthodoxRelated literature

  the Didache is not in the 27-book Eastern New Testament.

• EthiopianRelated literature

  the Didache is not identified as a separate EOTC 81 New Testament unit in the list used here.

• TanakhNot applicable

  Christian writing, not Tanakh.

• LXXNot applicable

  Not an Old Testament book.

• Early ChristianEdifying, noncanonical

  the Didache was read or copied by some early Christians and generally classed as useful rather than among the later 27.

• Second TempleNot applicable

  Early Christian writing.

• 367 CE · Canon list · Alexandria

  Athanasius, Festal Letter 39

  Athanasius lists 22 Old Testament books and the 27-book New Testament, and names some other writings as useful to read but not canonical.

  Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote Festal Letter 39 for Easter 367. The public-domain text in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers preserves his reminder of which books the church accepts as divine Scripture, written because some readers were mixing other books in with them.

  He counts twenty-two Old Testament books, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet as he had heard it handed down. In that count, several familiar writings share one entry: the two books of Samuel and the two books of Kings are two books of Kings, the two books of Chronicles are one, Ezra and Nehemiah are one, the twelve prophets are one, and Jeremiah is counted with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle. He then names the New Testament as the four Gospels, Acts, seven Catholic epistles, fourteen Pauline epistles including Hebrews, and the Revelation of John.

  He also names books that are outside that canon and still appointed to be read by newcomers who want instruction in godliness: the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd. He calls the first list the books in which the doctrine of godliness is proclaimed, and the second list books that are read.

  Read the letter as one bishop’s Easter list from Alexandria. It belongs on Councils & Lists because it names books and draws a line around them. It is an influential episcopal list, especially for the twenty-seven-book New Testament, and it is a single letter rather than a council minute that bound every church on that date.

  Why it matters. An influential episcopal list, not a claim that every church already agreed or that earlier Jewish collections were identical.

  Follow-up questions

  Where does Athanasius place Esther, Judith, and Tobit?

  In this letter they stand with the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach, the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd: appointed to be read for instruction, and outside the twenty-two-book Old Testament list. That is his classification in 367. Later Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant lists do not all copy it.

  How does he reach twenty-two Old Testament books?

  He pairs some English Bible books into one entry. Samuel and Kings become two books of Kings, Chronicles are one book, Ezra and Nehemiah are one book, the twelve prophets are one book, and Jeremiah is one book together with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle.

  Is Festal Letter 39 a church council?

  It is an Easter letter from the bishop of Alexandria. Corpus Witness files it as a canon-list on this tab because it names books. A council minute and a bishop’s letter are different kinds of evidence, and both can still be read side by side.

  Source: Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367), lists 22 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books and names some other writings as useful but not canonical.

• Shared tradition · Two Ways ↔ Two Ways

  High confidence — strong primary or manuscript support.

  The Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas both preserve a Two Ways catechesis. The shared tradition does not make one a copy of the other.

1. 367 CE — Athanasius, Festal Letter 39

• Westminster Confession I.2–3 names the 66-book Protestant canon and says the books commonly called Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and are not part of the canon of Scripture.
• Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), lists the Catholic canonical books including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate.
• Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367), lists 22 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books and names some other writings as useful but not canonical.
• The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church publishes an 81-book list that includes 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the Meqabyan books.
• Josephus, Against Apion 1.8, speaks of 22 Jewish books and distinguishes later writings as not equally trusted.
• Brenton’s public-domain Septuagint translation includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, the Additions, and Maccabees as part of the Greek Old Testament corpus.
• Codex Hierosolymitanus (1056) preserves the Didache together with 1 Clement and other early Christian writings.
• Codex Sinaiticus preserves a fourth-century Greek Bible and, after the New Testament, includes the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas.