Didache
<p >The <i><b>Didache</b></i> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/ˈdɪdəkiː/</a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koine_Greek" title="Koine Greek" >Koine Greek</a>: Διδαχή) or <i><b>The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles</b></i> (<i>Didachē</i> means "Teaching")<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didache#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup> is a brief <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity" title="Early Christianity" >early Christian</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise" title="Treatise" >treatise</a>, dated by most scholars to the mid to late <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_1st_century" title="Christianity in the 1st century" >first century</a>. The first line of this treatise is "<i>Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles (or Nations) by the Twelve Apostles</i>"<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didache#cite_note-2" >[2]</a></sup>
The text, parts of which constitute the oldest surviving written <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catechism" title="Catechism" >catechism</a>, has three main sections dealing with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_ethics" title="Christian ethics" >Christian ethics</a>, rituals such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism" title="Baptism" >baptism</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharist" title="Eucharist" >Eucharist</a>, and Church organization. It is considered the first example of the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre" title="Genre" >genre</a></i> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Church_Orders" title="Ancient Church Orders" >Church Orders</a>.
The work was considered by some of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Fathers" title="Church Fathers" >Church Fathers</a> as part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament" title="New Testament" >New Testament</a><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didache#cite_note-3" >[3]</a></sup> but rejected as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrypha#Spurious_writings" title="Apocrypha" >spurious</a> or non-canonical by others,<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didache#cite_note-4" >[4]</a></sup> eventually not accepted into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_the_New_Testament_canon" title="Development of the New Testament canon" >New Testament canon</a>. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Orthodox_Church" title="Ethiopian Orthodox Church" class="mw-redirect" >Ethiopian Orthodox Church</a> "broader canon" includes the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didascalia" title="Didascalia" class="mw-redirect" >Didascalia</a>, a work which draws on the <i>Didache</i>.
Lost for centuries, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koine_Greek" title="Koine Greek" >Greek</a> manuscript of the Didache was rediscovered in 1873 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philotheos_Bryennios" title="Philotheos Bryennios" >Philotheos Bryennios</a>, Metropolitan of Nicomedia in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Hierosolymitanus" title="Codex Hierosolymitanus" >Codex Hierosolymitanus</a>. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin" title="Latin" >Latin</a> version of the first five chapters was discovered in 1900 by J. Schlecht.<sup id="cite_ref-Cathency_5-0" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didache#cite_note-Cathency-5" >[5]</a></sup> The Didache is considered part of the category of second-generation Christian writings known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Fathers" title="Apostolic Fathers" >Apostolic Fathers</a>.
 
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