In 1875 Philotheos Bryennois, then Metropolitan of Serrae (now Serres), in ancient Mesopotamia, published the two Epistles of Clement of Rome, from a manuscript discovered by him in the Library of the Most Holy Sepulchre in Fanar of Constantinople. The last six chapters (60-65) of the First Epistle, and the last eight sections (13-20) of the so-called Second Epistle, had never been published before. The date of the manuscript is 1056 a.d. As described by the finder, “it is an octavo volume, written on iii parchment, in cursive characters, and consists of 120 leaves.” First comes Chrysostom’ Synopsis of the Books of the Old and New Testament; then the Epistle of Barnabas; then the two Epistles of Clement; then the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles; then the Epistle of Mary of Cassobelae to Ignatius; followed by eight Epistles of Ignatius (the current seven, besides one to the Virgin Mary).
The “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” Διδαχὴ τῶν δώδεκα Ἀποστόλων, occupies leaves 76-80 of the manuscript. It now seems strange to us that the document thus announced attracted so little attention. This same Bryennious, now Metropolitan of Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, has again surprised the literary world by publishing, with an abundance of learned illustration, this long-lost document. It is printed in Constantinople, and the date of publication is 1883. The genuineness of the document can hardly be doubted. It is cited by Clement of Alexandria in his First Stroma; by Eusebius, ivwho speaks of it (Hist. iii. 25) as τῶν Ἀποστόλων αἱ λεγόμεναι διδαχαί; and by Athanasius in his 39th Festal Epistle. Bickell and Gebhardt had recently argued that there must have been some such document underlying both the Seventh Book of the Apostolic Constitutions and the Apostolic Epitome. In 1882 Kravutzky undertook, from these sources, to recover and reconstruct the embedded earlier and simpler document; and with a success of the most pronounced and brilliant character, as now tested by the work just published.
This document belongs undoubtedly to the second century; possibly as far back as 120 a.d., hardly later than 160 a.d. The whole tone of it is archaic. It contradicts nothing belonging to that age; corroborates some things which may henceforth be more strongly emphasized; and adds some things for which we may well be very profoundly grateful.
The present editors are happy to be able to put this “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” so vpromptly before the American public. The text has been carefully edited. The translation will be found to be studiously literal. A few notes have been added, which, it is hoped, may be of service both to the students and to general readers.
Roswell D. Hitchcock.
Francis Brown.
Union Theological Seminary,
New York City, March 20, 1884