About the text
About this work
The Didache, or Teaching, is an anonymous early Christian church order. This edition presents the Greek text, Kirsopp Lake’s 1912 public-domain translation, and an independent modern English translation made from the synchronized Greek units. The modern translation was compared with the public-domain translations of Lake, J. B. Lightfoot, Charles H. Hoole, and Roberts–Donaldson as historical and interpretive witnesses.
Historical context
The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is an anonymous early Christian church order. Its final form is commonly placed in the late first or early second century, though it may preserve materials from more than one stage of the Church’s earliest life. The complete Greek text survived in the eleventh-century Codex Hierosolymitanus and was brought to modern attention by the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Philotheos Bryennios, who discovered the manuscript in 1873 and published the Didache in 1883.
Contents
The work begins with the “Two Ways,” a compact catechesis on the way of life and the way of death. It then gives practical directions for baptism, fasting, the Lord’s Prayer, thanksgiving over the cup and broken bread, the reception of traveling apostles and prophets, support for ministers, Sunday worship, the appointment of bishops and deacons, reconciliation within the community, and watchfulness for the coming of the Lord.
Text & source details
- Edition
- Original Greek
- Translator
- Kirsopp Lake
- Publication
- Kirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (1912)
- Rights
- Digital source distributed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Edition
- Public-Domain English Translation
- Translator
- Kirsopp Lake
- Publication
- The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (1912)
- Rights
- First published in 1912; public domain in the United States.
- Edition
- J. B. Lightfoot (1889)
- Translator
- Joseph Barber Lightfoot
- Publication
- The Apostolic Fathers, Part II, vol. 2 (1889)
- Rights
- Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA.
- Edition
- Charles H. Hoole (1894)
- Translator
- Charles H. Hoole
- Publication
- The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (1894)
- Rights
- Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA.
- Edition
- Ante-Nicene Fathers (1886)
- Translator
- Matthew B. Riddle, in Philip Schaff et al.
- Publication
- Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (1886)
- Rights
- Public domain; Wikisource transcription available under CC BY-SA.
- Edition
- Voices of the Fathers Modern Translation
- Translator
- Voices of the Fathers editorial translation
- Publication
- An independent modern English translation from the aligned Ancient Greek text, informed by four public-domain English translation witnesses.
- Rights
- Voices of the Fathers Modern Translation © 2026, released under CC BY 4.0.
Orthodox Church in America: Church Order and Liturgy
Source website
Orthodox Church in America: The Apostolic Fathers
Source website