The Didache - The REAL Early Church
INTRO
If you've been around Christianity for awhile, someone may have told you this line, or you've heard it somewhere... maybe even YOU have used it:
For good measure, this may also include something about how it was all the Roman emperor
Constantines' doing.
Interestingly, there are
actually a lot of Christians who claim they undid all that “bad
Catholic stuff,” and have reverted to just as it was 2,000
years ago. They even like to refer to themselves as, “apostolic.”
Well, first off, there was no Bible widely available for
centuries after the Apostolic period. So, if that is included, well, right away there's an issue. And if Constantine enters the picture, well, there is a LOT of misinformation about him that still goes around. I've covered that in this article:
What Constantine Was Not
But still,
it does make good copy for them to say it, as it seems unassailable. And I suppose its natural for some to imagine themselves as preservers of Christian virtue.
However, there may also be many who simply wonder
about, "how it was back then." Especially if you love the Church, or you are drawn to her,
and you want to know the ground under your feet is solid. Or maybe
you just want to know the truth, regardless of your religion.
If
that is the case, then the present article may help.
The Didache
The
truth is, these claims from modern-day, "apostolics" are a little true - up to a point – and
glaringly misleading and untrue in the main. This is because, as
we've noted, there was no Bible until well into the 5th
Century. And what is IN the Bible from that period is informative, but rather limited. So you can't really take that approach.
Rather, the actual early Christians had another resource available to them which you may not know much about, but one which they knew used... a little
collection of writings called the, “Teaching
of the 12 Apostles,” or maybe,
“The
Way.” It also goes by the name, "The Didache," (Dee-dak-ee), which means, "The Teaching." This is the name I prefer, and I will use that name extensively hereafter.
And yet, as things developed in the Catholic world and the Bible eventually
became more dispersed, The Didache gradually
fell out of circulation and ceased to be widely copied. This gradual decline occured sometime between the late 5th
and 8th centuries.
And oddly, while its use was well known for ages, no copies were known to exist –
until 1873, when it was found in Constantinople.
Why The Didache Matters
As we've already noted, the name
itself, means "teaching." The Didache is only sixteen small chapters long, too – pretty short. Of course, we should not hold
that against it, as we could probably have all that Christ wanted us
to know in as many chapters.
The Didache is thought to have been composed around 50–100 AD,
and most estimates put it somewhere between 70-90 AD. This makes it one of the earliest complete, surviving Christian writings outside the New Testament.
But
what makes it relevant to our story is that it was widely known and
respected in numerous early Christian communities, as it was written
very close to the age of the Apostles. By the fifth century,
however, it was becoming less prominent.
Several factors
probably contributed to its decline:
The New Testament canon was settling in. The Didache was not ultimately included among the canonical books.
Its contents became absorbed into later church writings. Much of its teaching—especially concerning baptism, fasting, Eucharist, bishops, deacons, and church discipline—appear in later ecclesiastical literature.
It was increasingly copied less frequently. As the Bible spread and took hold, the Didache was superceded. Its manuscripts started to be shelved and forgotten, and the work became progressively harder to find.
It survived in quotations and adaptations. Writers such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Athanasius appear to have known it, or material closely related to it.
Then, remarkably, the complete Greek text was rediscovered in 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios, a Greek Orthodox bishop. He discovered it in Turkey, in a manuscript known as the, “Codex Hierosolymitanus,” copied in A.D. 1056. The first modern reprint of the Didache occurred in 1883.
A Particularly Important Point
That is all interesting history, but why are we even talking about it?
For an important reason: The Didache is very significant for studying early Christianity - it gives us a literal window into established Christian practice well before the New Testament canon was fully settled.... before all the New Testament writings were even finished, and long before the first Bible was produced (405AD)
For example, the Didache describes:
baptism, fasting, the Eucharist, confession, itinerant prophets, bishops and deacons, Sunday worship, and moral instruction.
And its Eucharistic prayers are particularly interesting because they do not simply reproduce the words of the Last Supper found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul...they transform them. This makes the ol' Didache an important piece of evidence when asking the historical question:
"What
did Christians actually
believe and practice before the New Testament canon had been
finalized?"
We
can safely call them Apostolic Chrisitians, in fact, because the
Didache describes what was already hapenning before the New Testament
was compiled.
The Didache - Lens of Reality
Many of the “apostolic” congregations
mentioned in the intro rely on what is in Scripture to give us a
glimpse of the early Church. For example...
"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers."
Acts
2:42
Don't laugh – I've actually had non-Catholics say things like that. Instead, it refers to the Eucharist...yes THAT Eucharist.
But, if we are honest, these passages from the Bible are helpful, but don't really tell us all that much by themselves. They can even be a little misleading. This is where The Didache comes in, because it opens the window and takes us right inside. And what you find there is not a house meeting with a Bible (since that didn't exist at the time). Rather, you find...
- Baptism with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
- Fasting on set days.
- The Lord's Prayer three times a day.
- Bishops, prebyters (priests) and deacons... and more.
At this point, one might be tempted to say, "Well, the Church is not the same.”
Fair enough. But here again, a little truth is mixed in with a lof of misdirected ideas. We are 20 centuries down the line - of course it isn't exactly the same. Yet, what the Didache details is still at the core of the Church.
What The Didache Teaches Today
A lot of us know a great deal about our faith.
- We can explain the Trinity, or Marian devotion, or the Eucharist.
- We read the books.
- We watch the videos.
And much the same can be said for those outside the Church and THEIR beliefs. Basically, everyone knows lots of "stuff" - or thinks they do.
And still, Monday through Saturday, faith can feel like it lives somewhere in our heads. Something we believe, but maybe not something we purposefully walk.
And the first Christians of the Didache would find that strange.
The Way and The Didache
This is because the Didache begins by setting two roads in front of the reader. A way of life... and a way of death.
Before it says anything about doctrine, or how you're supposed to act or interpret Scripture (which didn't exist yet) - it says Christianity is a Way.... a path...a road. You walk it. That is how Christ spoke too...
"Because
narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it."
- Matthew
7:14
A, “way,” in this context, is something you may not
always agree with. Rather, it is something you travel, through bad
weather and good...it is how you get through the ups and downs. This is
one step at a time.... Then the next, and the next; a journey of
ten thousand steps.
Think about what that means for an ordinary
week....
- How you speak to the cashier.
- What you do with
your anger in traffic.
- Who you forgive before you go to
bed.
All of it is The Way...the path we walk. And a path can
be learned, especially if you walk it daily.
In fact, the early Church of The Didache taught people how to walk the path before they ever came to the chalice. This is what the Didache was all about.
The Two Ways, slowly,
one teaching at a time.
So ask yourself, "What would change in my faith
if I literally walked it every day, and it wasn't just something I
“knew?”
A line attributed to Albert Einstein in our day is,
"Any fool can know. The point is to understand." And while
Einstein didn't actually say that – it is a profound truth.
The Didache Leads to More
If you're still here reading this, odds are good you would like to pray more. You just never quite find the
time.
- Morning gets away from us.
- Noon is a sandwich on the job.
- By night we are too tired to form a sentence.
So prayer
happens when it happens. Which often means it doesn't.
By contrast
the first Didache Christians lived a different life. It wasn't so crammed full of activity as ours, and it had its share of problems – some of them downright
perilous.
But they were given something many of us never received... A
shape to go by.
- The
Didache tells them to pray the Lord's Prayer three times each
day.
- To fast on Wednesdays and Fridays (not Tuesdays and
Thursdays – those were the fasting days of the hypocrite Temple
Jews).
- Once before bed.
Simple. Steady. The
same for everyone. Rhytmic, one step after the other. And we
should note that they didnt originate that kind of rhythm of
days...they inherited the concept.
- Psalm 55:17
Morning. Noon. Evening.
Didache - More Shape
If you are Catholic, either Latin Rite or Orthodox, you may have noticed something....
Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays is still something that is done. And there it is, in a book written right on the heels of the age of the Apostles. Long before the Bible
It is a shape like that changes a life quietly.
With prayer, you stop waiting to feel like praying. The prayer is simply there, three times a day, like a railing on a staircase. On good days you barely notice it. On hard days you hold on to it.
This can also be carried to other aspects if we examine how the Apostolic Church worshipped. Baptism. Fasting. The Lord's Prayer.
And real prayers of thanksgiving that Christians prayed before the New Testament was even thought of. It is something small you can do tonight, in fact.
Start with the Lord's Prayer, once today in the morning.
Tomorrow, add noon.
Day three, do it in the evening.
Boom! Now you really ARE living "the way" the first Christians did.
"Thus
says the LORD: 'Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths,
where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for
your souls.'"
- Jeremiah
6:16
The Didache Confessed
What about the, “hot button” that nearly all non- and
anti-Catholics get grief over: Confession.
Didn't the Church
concoct that later, to keep people in line and under control? You
sometimes hear that, or the very popular exclamation, “...I dont
need to confess no stinkin' priest – I go straight to God!”
Unfortunately, that is a sad product of the Protestant
Reformation. The Didache-period Christians would have choked on this, because the Didache
explicitly mandates the confession of sins.
It directly mentions the need for confession of sins in two
distinct entries, linking it directly to prayer and the reception of
the Eucharist.
The
two passages regarding confession include:
1.
In the Context of Daily Prayer (Chapter 4:14)
The
text instructs believers to maintain a clear conscience before even
engaging in prayer:
"In church you shall confess your transgressions, and you shall not betake yourself to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the Way of Life."
2.
In the Context of the Sunday Liturgy (Chapter 14:1)
The
text lays out a strict prerequisite for partaking in the "breaking
of bread"* (the Eucharist):
"On the Lord's Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure."
* once more, in case you missed it earlier, this “breaking of bread” does not refer to a potluck lunch in the church fellowship hall. It meant the partaking of the Eucharist, in the same manner as Christ shared it with the pilgrims at Emmaus. That was always its meaning.
Historical Context
The Didache thus shows that confessing ones sins was both obligatory, and a formalized part of early Christian community life from the beginning. However, it was different than the private "confessional booth" model that we are familar with in our time...that came later and was about the pastoral healing of the people the Church ministered to.
In the Didache world, confession refers to a localized, communal acknowledgement of sins — out loud before the congregation or during the gathering — to ensure reconciliation between community members before worship.
At the time of the Didache, the concept of "absolution" was deeply communal and relational, fundamentally operating differently than the private, sacramental formula used today. This was inherited from Jewish communal, synagogue, and sectarian traditions. Remember, these Christians were primarily converted synagogue Jews.
Because this early Church viewed serious sin as a wound that damaged the entire spiritual body of the community, forgiveness was handled through the lenses of mutual reconciliation, communal prayer, and public restoration.
The historical details of how absolution was practiced during this era include:
1. Mutual Reconciliation as Absolution
In the Didache tradition, absolution — meaning the release from sin and reconciling with God and the community — was heavily tied to interpersonal forgiveness. The document explicitly forbids anyone with an active grievance from joining the assembly until they are reconciled.
For "everyday sins," making amends with the person you wronged and confessing to the congregation was the mechanism that restored a person to a "pure" state, allowing them to take Communion.
2. The Formula Was Intercessory (Deprecatory), Not Declarative
If you present your sins in the modern confessional, a Catholic priest listens, counsels, prays, offers penance and acknowledges the surety of God's forgiving mercy through Christ's death and resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Then acting on behalf of the authority and ministry of the Church (the community of the faithful, at large) to grant pardon and peace, he concludes with the sacramental formula.: "I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
This is an indicative, first-person declaration. In the 1st and 2nd centuries, it wasnt done in this way. Instead, the early Church used deprecatory formulas—meaning the bishop or community prayed on behalf of the sinner, asking God to grant forgiveness. The bishop did not claim to forgive the sin himself, just as the Catholic priest today does not... it is God, through Christ, that forgives.
The difference is the Catholic priest today assures us that God forgives – he is but the vehicle that leads us to that reconcilation.
In the Didache congregations, the bishop begged Christ to do so, acting as an intercessor.
3. Penance Came Before Absolution
In later church history, a priest would hear a confession, grant immediate absolution, and then assign a penance to do afterward.
At the time of the Didache and the early Church Fathers, this order was reversed:
- Confession: The sinner confessed their sin to the bishop.
- Penance: For severe sins, the bishop placed the sinner into the order of "penitents". They had to spend a lengthy period (sometimes weeks, months, or years) fasting, weeping, and performing acts of mortification outside and excluded from the congregation assembly.
- Absolution: Only after the penance was fully completed did the bishop publicly lay hands on the sinner, pronouncing them forgiven and welcoming them back to the altar.
Apostolic Authority and the Bishop
By the early 2nd century, writing shortly after the Didache, Church Fathers like Ignatius of Antioch explicitly noted that the bishop presided over the process of penance and reconciliation.
Drawing from the New Testament passages where Jesus granted the Apostles the power to "bind and loose" (Matthew 18:18; John 20:23), the local bishop acted through his Apostolic succesion authority as the official judge of a person’s repentance. If genuine enough to grant them reconciliation and "peace," he and readmitted them to the Eucharist.
The shift from this public process of penance to private confession took place gradually over several centuries, driven by a very practical crisis: the original public system we have described here was so severe that people were leaving, or delaying their entry into, the Church!
The transition unfolded across four major historical stages:
1. The Crisis of the "One-Time-Only" Rule (3rd–4th Century)
In the early Church, public penance was treated like a "second Baptism" and could only be performed once in a lifetime. Yikes!
This means that if a Christian committed a serious sin (like murder, adultery, or apostasy) a second time, there was no second public reconciliation available; they were left to God’s mercy until, and upon, their deathbed.
Because this process of penance was so strict and unrepeatable, millions of Christians began delaying their confession—and even their Baptism—until their actual deathbeds (a practice famously followed by Emperor Constantine). The Church realized the public system was not healing, or pastorally effective, and was scaring believers away from the sacraments.
2. The Monastic Influence (5th–6th Century)
The true blueprint for private confession came out of Celtic and Eastern monasteries. Monks practiced, "spiritual direction," where a junior monk would privately disclose his daily thoughts, temptations, and minor faults to an elder monk, who was often not a priest, for spiritual guidance. Today we call this “working with a spiritual advisor,” and it is commonly practiced by Christians of all ilks.
This process was obviously not directed toward absolution, but it was confidential, and focused on healing the soul. The practice was entirely private, therapeutic, and repeatable, and monks did this frequently,
3. The Irish Missionary Boom (6th–7th Century)
Irish and Scottish monks, most notably Saint Columbanus, traveled across mainland Europe establishing monasteries and preaching to rural populations. They brought this private monastic practice to the laypeople.
Instead of public public humiliation, these Irish missionaries introduced "Penitential Books" (penitentials). These books were private manuals for priests that listed specific sins alongside a corresponding private penance (for example, fasting for 40 days on bread and water for stealing).
Now, for the first time:
- Confession was private.
- It could be repeated as needed....God always forgives.
- The priest granted absolution immediately after confession, and the onus of performing the penance was place where it belongs – on the sinner.
4. Official Church Law (1215 AD)
For centuries, bishops fought against this, "Irish method," because it lacked the formal, often harsh public discipline of the ancient Church. However, private confession became overwhelmingly popular with laypeople because for the first time, it offered a realistic path to spiritual reconciliation and peace.
This shift became official Catholic dogma at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 AD. Presided over by Pope Innocent III, the Council issued Canon 21, which mandated that every Christian* must privately confess their sins to their local priest at least once a year. This effectively codified private, auricular (spoken into the ear of a priest) confession as the universal standard.
The spirit of communal confession was retained, as each person is still part of the Church family. But the nature of it had changed dramatically. It was now an act of pastoral care, healing, and reconciliation instead of a strict, punitive imposition.
And because the Church confirms by its Apostolic authority the forgiving mercy of God through the sacrifuce if his Son, Jesus Christ, absolution is administered directly, through an Apostolic succesor in the person of the priest.
* “...every Christian,” above signifies Catholics, per se, as believers in 1215 were members of the Catholic Church. It wasn't until the Protestant Reformationists appeared and widely splintered Christian doctrine that we see competing, “denominations” and the spurious concept of the, "invisible church."
Closing
Seek out the old paths – on purpose. That is what the Didache gives us. A window into those old paths. The "way" the first Christians walked, written down on the heels of the age of the Apostles. And notice the promise at the end of the passage from Jeremiah: Rest for your souls.
The kind of rest you achieve from knowing where you stand. Of knowing why the Church prays and fasts and worships the way she does. Of walking a road that people who loved Christ walked long before you...long before the Bible.
The road the Church still has at its core.
Post Notes
If something here made sense, or struck a chord with you, spend some time learning the Didache. It's not going to replace Scripture – and it should not. But it will work with it, side by side, to deepen your spiritual life in Christ. And that is what its all about.
Here are two sources for free versions of the Didache available on line:
1. earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-roberts.html
(I highly recommend this entire website)
2. https://www.aliceandbooks.com/book/the-didache/unknown/1209
(This offers a free download in .pdf)
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