Overview
About this work
The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is one of the earliest surviving Christian manuals of faith and community life outside the New Testament. Its short chapters join moral instruction with practical directions for Baptism, fasting, prayer, Eucharistic thanksgiving, hospitality, church leadership, and preparation for the Lord’s coming. The work is especially important because it shows ordinary Christian practices at an early stage of the Church’s life. Its teaching assumes that doctrine, worship, moral conduct, care in receiving ministers, and watchfulness for Christ all belong to one pattern of discipleship.
Setting
Historical context
The Didache is anonymous and is usually placed around the late first or early second century, though its individual materials may come from different stages of early Christian tradition. Its title associates the teaching with the apostles, not by claiming that one apostle wrote the surviving text, but by presenting a pattern of life handed on within the early Church. The work reflects communities still close to the apostolic age, with traveling apostles and prophets alongside local bishops and deacons. Orthodox readers value it as an ancient witness to Christian moral teaching, sacramental practice, fasting, prayer, and church order.
Structure
Contents
The first six chapters present the “Two Ways,” contrasting the way of life with the way of death through commandments on love, purity, generosity, truthfulness, and rejection of grave sins. The next section gives practical instructions for Baptism, Wednesday and Friday fasting, the Lord’s Prayer, Eucharistic thanksgivings, and the reception of traveling apostles, prophets, and other guests. The community is then told to appoint worthy bishops and deacons and to gather on the Lord’s Day in reconciliation. The final chapter turns to watchfulness, deception in the last days, and hope for the Lord’s coming.
Text & source details
Editions
- Edition
- Original Greek
- Reader label
- Ancient Greek
- Publication
- Kirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (1912)
- Date
- 1912
- Rights
- The underlying ancient Greek text and qualifying historical printed edition are public domain in the United States. The Open Greek and Latin / First1KGreek digital transcription and encoding used here are distributed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Edition
- Voices of the Fathers Modern English
- Reader label
- Modern English — VOTF
- Translator
- Voices of the Fathers editorial project
- Publication
- Voices of the Fathers
- Date
- 2026
- Rights
- Voices of the Fathers currently publishes this Modern English edition under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), to the extent copyright and related rights subsist in the translation and associated editorial material. An earlier public release of this translation was offered under CC BY 4.0; that earlier Creative Commons grant remains effective and is not revoked by this current licensing notice. The underlying ancient text and identified public-domain source editions retain their respective status.
- Edition
- Public-Domain English Translation
- Reader label
- English — Lake (1912)
- Translator
- Kirsopp Lake
- Publication
- The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (1912)
- Date
- 1912
- Rights
- First published in 1912; public domain in the United States.
- Edition
- J. B. Lightfoot (1889)
- Reader label
- English — Lightfoot (1889)
- Translator
- Joseph Barber Lightfoot
- Publication
- The Apostolic Fathers, Part II, vol. 2 (1889)
- Date
- 1889
- Rights
- Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA.
- Edition
- Charles H. Hoole (1894)
- Reader label
- English — Hoole (1894)
- Translator
- Charles H. Hoole
- Publication
- The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (1894)
- Date
- 1894
- Rights
- Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA.
- Edition
- Ante-Nicene Fathers (1886)
- Reader label
- English — ANF (1886)
- Translator
- Matthew B. Riddle, in Philip Schaff et al.
- Publication
- Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (1886)
- Date
- 1886
- Rights
- Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA.
Text and edition sources
Kirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (1912)
Applies to: Ancient Greek Digital source distributed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source websiteOpen Greek and Latin, First1KGreek
Applies to: Ancient Greek Digital source distributed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source websiteOpen Greek and Latin / First1KGreek, Didache digital Greek transcription (based on Kirsopp Lake's 1912 edition).
Applies to: Modern English — VOTF The underlying ancient Greek text and qualifying historical printed edition are public domain in the United States. The Open Greek and Latin / First1KGreek digital transcription and encoding used here are distributed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source websiteKirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (1912), Didache translation.
Applies to: Modern English — VOTF The identified historical translation is public domain in the United States. The linked Wikisource page is subject to Wikisource/Wikimedia terms for any separately copyrightable page-level contributions. Source websiteJ. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers (1889), Didache translation.
Applies to: Modern English — VOTF The identified historical translation is public domain in the United States. Voices of the Fathers makes no claim here about separately copyrightable presentation or editorial material on the linked website. Source websiteCharles H. Hoole, The Didache; or, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (1894).
Applies to: Modern English — VOTF The identified historical translation is public domain in the United States. The linked Wikisource page is subject to Wikisource/Wikimedia terms for any separately copyrightable page-level contributions. Source websiteThe Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (1886).
Applies to: Modern English — VOTF The identified historical translation is public domain in the United States. Voices of the Fathers makes no claim here about separately copyrightable presentation or editorial material on the linked website. Source websiteThe Didache, Voices of the Fathers Modern English, Voices of the Fathers, 2026, CC BY-NC 4.0.
Applies to: Modern English — VOTF Voices of the Fathers currently publishes this Modern English edition under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), to the extent copyright and related rights subsist in the translation and associated editorial material. An earlier public release of this translation was offered under CC BY 4.0; that earlier Creative Commons grant remains effective and is not revoked by this current licensing notice. The underlying ancient text and identified public-domain source editions retain their respective status. Source websiteThe Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (1912)
Applies to: English — Lake (1912) First published in 1912; public domain in the United States. Source websiteDidache (Lightfoot translation)
Applies to: English — Lightfoot (1889) Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA. Source websiteDidache (Hoole translation)
Applies to: English — Hoole (1894) Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA. Source websiteThe Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7
Applies to: English — ANF (1886) Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA. Source website