Didache

Anonymous

Didache. The Apostolic Fathers with an English translation In Two Volumes. Vol. I. Lake, Kirsopp, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1912.

My child, thou shalt remember, day and night,[*](The duty of the catechumen to the Church) him who speaks the word of God to thee, and thou shalt honour him as the Lord, for where the Lord’s nature is spoken of, there is he present.

And thou shalt seek daily the presence of the saints, that thou mayest find rest in their words.

Thou shalt not desire a schism, but shalt reconcile those that strive. Thou shalt give righteous judgment; thou shalt favour no man’s person in reproving transgression.

Thou shalt not be of two minds whether it shall be or not.

Be not one who stretches out his hands to[*](Against meanness) receive, but shuts them when it comes to giving.

Of

whatsoever thou hast gained by thy hands thou shalt give a ransom for thy sins.

Thou shalt not hesitate to give, nor shalt thou grumble when thou givest, for thou shalt know who is the good Paymaster of the reward.

Thou shalt not turn away the needy, but shalt share everything with thy brother, and shalt not say that it is thine own, for if you are sharers in the imperishable, how much more in the things which perish?

Thou shalt not withhold thine hand from thy[*](Household duties) son or from thy daughter, but thou shalt teach them the fear of God from their youth up.

Thou shalt not command in thy bitterness thy slave or thine handmaid, who hope in the same God, lest they cease to fear the God who is over you both; for he comes not to call men with respect of persons, but those whom the Spirit has prepared.

But do you who are slaves be subject to your master, as to God’s representative, in reverence and fear.

Thou shalt hate all hypocrisy, and everything[*](Against hypocrisy) that is not pleasing to the Lord.

Thou shalt not forsake the commandments of the Lord, but thou shalt keep what thou didst receive, adding nothing to it and taking nothing away.

In the congregation thou shalt confess thy transgressions, and thou shalt not betake thyself to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life.