DIDACHE. " LORD'S TEACHING.".

 THE GREEK WORD DIDACHE MEANS "TEACHING"/ 'TRAINING" AN ACTIVITY ( OFTEN DISTINGUISHED FROM 'PROCLAMATION';  KERUGMA) BUT IT IS THE TITLE OF THIS TEXT. IT'S THE STUFF OF A SCHOLARS' DREAM AND THE PLOT OF A HUNDRED FILMS. A YOUNG LIBRARY- BOUND-ACADEMIC TURNS OVER THE LEAF OF ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT AND THERE BEFORE HIS EYES, IS A LONG LOST TEXT. PEOPLE HAD HEARD OF IT. AND WONDERED ABOUT IT, BUT NOW, WITHOUT A DOUBT HE HAS FOUND IT  WHO? HAS FOUND IT?  DIDACHE "1873." PHILOTHEOS BRYENNIOS  WAS BORN IN CONSTANTINOPLE  (ISTANBUL) IN 1833. HIS FAMILY LIVED IN A GREEK AND CHRISTIAN SUBURB OF WHAT WAS THEN THE CAPITAL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.THE FAMILY WAS VERY POOR BUT THEY MANAGED TO OBTAIN SOME BASIC EDUCATION FOR THEIR SON AND THIS ALLOWED HIM TO BECOME LEADER OF THE SINGING IN HIS CHURCH. A CHANCE DISCOVERY BY BRYENNIOS IN 1873, AS   BRYENNIOS WAS WORKING IN THE LIBRARY OF THE CONSTANTINOPLE HOUSE OF THE MONASTERY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE (JERUSALEM), WHEN HE FOUND A MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN IN AD 1O56, FOUND THE "DIDACHE" WHICH TRANSLATES LITERALLY AS 'THE LORD'S TEACHING TO THE NATIONS  THROUGH THE TWELVE APOSTLES.  MOREOVER, IT IS THE SAME TITLE AS THAT REFERRED TO IN ANCIENT WRITERS WHO MENTION THAT THERE WAS A BOOK WITH THIS TITLE USED BY THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS. SO WHAT IS THE TEACHING'?
 IT IS BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE GROUP'S LIFE STYLE AND THEIR ACTIVITIES
AS  THE "NEW PEOPLE" ON THE WAY OF LIFE.. ONCE ONE HAD ABSORBED THIS TEACHING, ONE HAD FINISHED ONE'S OWN APPRENTICESHIP AND WAS READY TO ENTER FULLY INTO THE BODY OF CHRIST. THEN, HAVING MASTERED THE TEACHING, ONE WAS IN THE POSITION, WITHOUT NEEDED BOOKS OR ANYTHING ELSE TO ACT AS A MENTOR IN THE PROCESS OF SHAPING OTHERS AS APPRENTICE CHRISTIANS. THE DIDACHE WAS NOT JUST FOR TEACHING CLASSES OR FOR TEACHERS, IT WAS NOT JUST A SET OF LESSONS, IT WAS MEANT TO BE ABSORBED SO  ITS POSSESSOR WOULD FUNCTION AS  A PART OF CHRIST. (ROM.12).  AND HELP OTHERS TO 'JOIN THE WAY.' (ACTS 9. 2) OVER 125 YEARS THE DIDACHE HAS BEEN STUDIED IN  USUALLY AS A SUPPORTING DOCUMENT, BY BIBLICAL SCHOLARS, HISTORIANS, OF THE EARLY CHURCH, LITURGISTS. THAT THERE WERE WANDERING CHRISTIANS KNOWN AS 'APOSTLES AND PROPHETS' FROM THOSE WHO WERE USING THE GOSPEL FOR THEIR OWN END. SO THE DIDACHE SETS UP A TEST:  THEY MUST ONLY STAY FOR ONE DAY AS GUESTS, TO A POOR COMMUNITY THIS RULE PROVIDED FOR A WELCOME.
 "HENRY FORD SAID THAT HISTORY IS BUNK." SOMEONE ELSE PASSED OVER HISTORY AS SIMPLY 'PROLOGUE";  BUT, FOR CHRISTIANS, HISTORY IS REVELATION.
 IF A CHRISTIAN IS TO UNDERSTAND TODAY, WE MUST REMEMBER YESTERDAY. OR AS CARDINAL NEWMAN PUT IT: [ THE HISTORY OF THE PAST ENDS IN THE PRESENT]; AND THE PRESENT IS OUR SCENE OF TRIAL AND TO BEHAVE OURSELVES TOWARDS ITS VARIOUS PHENOMENA DULY AND RELIGIOUSLY, WE MUST UNDERSTAND THEM;
 WE MUST HAVE RECOURSE TO THOSE PAST EVENTS WHICH LED TO THEM. THUS THE PRESENT IS TEXT AND THE PAST IS TODAY'S
 INTERPRETATION.

                                                                                                     ( NEWMAN, 1890,


 AS THE TEACHING OF THE LORD GIVEN TO THE GENTILES BY THE "TWELVE APOSTLES."
 IN MOST TRANSLATIONS, THERE ARE NOTES INSERTED INTO THE TEXT OR PLACED IN FOOT NOTES POINTING TO SOURCES OR OVERLAP WITH OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS.
 SUCH APPARATUS BELONGS TO THE WORLD OF READING, AND WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN HEARD WHEN THE DIDACHE WAS BEING USED;  RATHER THE TEXT WOULD HAVE "RANG BELLS IN THE MEMORIES OF THE AUDIENCE AS THEY LISTENED WITHOUT BEING DISTRACTED AS WE TEND TO BE BY NOTES. SO AS TO LET THE TEXT SIMPLY RING BELLS IN THE MEMORY, THIS TRANSLATION IS WITHOUT NOTES.
1.1 THERE ARE TWO WAYS: ONE IS THE WAY OF LIFE, THE OTHER IS THE WAY OF DEATH, AND THERE IS A MIGHTY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE TWO WAYS. IF YOU WENT TO JOIN A CHRISTIAN CHURCH; DURING THIS TIME THE MINISTER WOULD ASK YOU. DO YOU WANT THE WAY OF LIFE, OR THE WAY OD DEATH.
1.2 THE WAY OF LIFE IS THIS: FIRST, YOU SHALL LOVE GOD WHO CREATED YOU;  SECOND, YOUR NEIGHBOR; ALL THOSE THINGS WHICH YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE DONE TO YOU, YOU SHOULD NOT DO TO OTHERS.
1.3 THE TRAINING ABOUT THESE WORDS IS THIS:
       BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU;
       PRAY FOR THOSE WHO CURSE YOU;
        PRAY FOR THOSE WHO WHO PERSECUTE.
       PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE YOUR ENEMIES;
       DO FASTS FOR THOSE WHO WHO PERSECUTE YOU.
       WHAT BENEFIT IS IT IF YOU LOVE THOSE WHO LOVE YOU?
       DO NOT EVEN THE GENTILES DO THAT? RATHER,  YOU MUST LOVE THOSE WHO           HATE YOU,  AND YOU ARE NOT TO TREAT THE OTHER PERSON AS YOUR ENEMY.
 1.4  ABSTAIN FROM CARNAL DESIRES.
        IF SOMEONE STRIKES YOUR LEFT CHEEK, THEN TURN THE RIGHT TOWARDS HIM           ALSO, AND YOU WILL BE PERFECT.
         IF SOMEONE MAKES YOU GO  ONE MILE, THEN GO THE EXTRA MILE WITH HIM.
16:4   THEN WHEN LAWLESSNESS IS INCREASING, PEOPLE WILL HATE AND PERSECUTE  AND BE TREACHEROUS WITH ONE ANOTHER. THEN THE DECEIVER OF THIS WORLD WILL APPEAR AS IF HE IS THE "SON OF GOD" AND HE WILL DO SIGNS AND WONDERS AND THE EARTH WILL BE DELIVERED INTO HIS HANDS AND HE WILL COMMIT LAWLESS ACTS SUCH AS HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN.
16.5 THEN ALL PEOPLE WILL BE BROUGHT THROUGH THE TRIAL OF FIRE. THEN MANY WILL FALL AWAY AND WILL PERISH; BUT THOSE WHO STAND FIRM IN THEIR FAITH WILL BE SAVED BY THE CURSED ONE HIMSELF.
16:6 AND THEN, THE SIGN'S OF TRUTH WILL APPEAR:
        THE FIRST SIGN WILL BE THE HEAVENS OPENING;
         THEN [SECOND,]  THE SOUND OF THE TRUMPET;
          AND, THIRD, THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD-
 16.7  BUT NOT OF EVERYONE, BUT AS IT HAS BEEN SAID:' THE LORD WILL COME                     AND ALL HIS SAINTS WITH HIM.
  16.8  THEN THE WORLD WILL SEE THE LORD COMING UPON THE CLOUDS.

THE DIDACHE CONCERNS AND PRIMARY PURPOSE WAS THE TRAINING OF NEW MEMBERS OF A COMMUNITY, NEW BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, AND TO GUIDE NEW PEOPLE ON THE WAY. IT WAS A TASK THAT WAS UNDERSTOOD AS PERTAINING TO EVERY EXISTING MEMBER OF THE CHURCH- THOUGH IT WAS MOST UNLIKELY  EVERY CHRISTIAN TOOK AN EQUAL SHARE IN IT. HOWEVER, WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THAT THE COMMUNITY WAS LOOKING OUTWARDS AND WAS ADAPTING ITS  APPROACH  TO THE LAW.  ONE CAN CREATE THE MOST ELABORATE  EXPLANATION OF WHY THERE CANNOT BE INTERCOMMUNION BETWEEN CHRISTIANS, BUT FAIL TO NOTICE THAT THE EUCHARIST WAS NOT INTENDED AS A BOUNDARY RITUAL BUT AS A UNIFYING AND SUSTAINING RITUAL, THE ASSUMPTION WAS THAT "BAPTISM" FORMS THE BOUNDARY, AND THEN PEOPLE'S OTHER DIFFERENCES ARE RECONCILED IN THE UNITY  OF CHRIST AT HIS TABLE . WHILE NOT WISHING TO DOWN PLAY. WE HAVE ACTS WHICH SHOWS US HOW CHRISTIANS WERE FORMULATEING THEIR BELIEFS, WE HAVE IN THE DIDACHE WE SEE THEIR APPROACH TODA-TO DAY LIVING. IT PRESENTS US WITH A STRING OF INSIGHTS INTO WHAT THEY CONSIDERED TO BE THE IMPORTANT ISSUES THAT HAD TO BE GOT RIGHT. IF THEY WERE TO  BE DISCIPLES ON THE WAY OF LIFE. JESUS PREACHED AND FORMED A PEOPLE AND THE PEOPLE FORMED BY THE "DIDACHE" ONLY A GENERATION LATER. WHEN WE VIEW IT THIS WAY, WE CAN SEE THAT IF THIS LITTLE TEXT IS A "SPOILED CHILD", THEN IT REPAYS THE ATTENTION PAID TO IT.