The Didache

One of the oldest handbooks of Christian life outside the New Testament, and short enough to read in one sitting.

The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is a short early Christian handbook that most scholars date to the first century. In sixteen brief chapters it teaches the Two Ways of life and death, baptism, fasting on Wednesday and Friday, the Lord's Prayer three times a day, and the Eucharist.

The Didache, from the Greek for "teaching", is one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament. Its fuller title is The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations. It is a handbook, not a letter or a story: short instructions for how a Christian community lives, prays and gathers.

It opens with the Two Ways: "There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways." The way of life is love of God and neighbour, and the chapters that follow set out what that means in daily conduct.

Then it turns to the Church's life. Baptism is given in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in "living", running, water if it can be had. Christians fast on Wednesday and Friday and pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day. It gives prayers of thanksgiving over the cup and the bread, tells the faithful to gather on the Lord's Day, and asks them to appoint bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord. It ends with a call to watchfulness before the Lord's coming.

The Didache was known and valued in the early Church, then lost for centuries. Metropolitan Philotheos Bryennios found it in 1873 in a Greek manuscript copied in 1056, and published it in 1883. Its Wednesday and Friday fast is still kept by the Orthodox Church today.

Read the Didache yourself

Free to read

The Didache, translated by M.B. Riddle (New Advent)From the Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 7 (1886), in the public domain.

Modern translations

The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, Michael W. Holmes (Baker Academic, third edition, 2007)The Didache with the other earliest Fathers, in Greek and English side by side.

Questions about the Didache

Is the Didache in the Bible?

No. The Church did not receive it into the canon of Scripture, but it was read and valued in the early Church. St Athanasius, in his Festal Letter of 367, names "that which is called the Teaching of the Apostles" among the books not in the canon but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join the Church.

How old is the Didache?

Most scholars now date it to the first century, many to near its end, though some date it to the early second century. It is one of the oldest Christian writings outside the New Testament.

What does the Didache say about fasting?

It tells Christians to fast on Wednesday and Friday, and to fast before baptism. The Orthodox Church still keeps the Wednesday and Friday fast through most of the year.

How long is the Didache?

Sixteen short chapters, a few thousand words in all. Most people can read it in under half an hour.

More questions about the Orthodox Church, answered ›

“There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways.”

The Didache 1 (M.B. Riddle translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers, public domain)

In Orthros

Orthros keeps the Wednesday and Friday fast the Didache describes, marked in its fasting calendar.