“ The Clementine form for the administration of baptism is given at cap. xxxix.–xlv. of the 7th book of the Apostolic Constitutions, and does not resemble that given in the Didache, being a service of some length, containing a confession of faith and directions for the details of the baptism, which included the anointing with oil, and instructions for the consecration of the oil and water employed. ”
Didache
Definition and stakes
The Didache, an early Christian text dating from the 1st or 2nd century, provides practical guidance and rituals for emerging Christian communities, covering baptismal procedures and Eucharistic customs. Scholars such as Frank Edward Brightman and the Encyclopaedia Britannica’s contributors underscore its influence on liturgical practices, contrasting its straightforward nature with more elaborate later developments found in the Apostolic Constitutions.
Others, including Cuthbert H. Turner and his associates, stress its importance in marking the shift from charismatic leadership to an organized church structure. These viewpoints together illustrate the Didache as a foundational yet dynamic framework for early Christian identity and worship.
Quotes about “Didache”
Frank Edward Brightman, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica (1911)
“ Among the special characteristics of Serapion are the simplicity of the Sanctus, and of the Institution, which lacks the dramatic additions already found in Ap. Const.; the interpolation of a passage containing a quotation from Didachē 9 between the institutions of the bread and of the chalice; the form of the ἀνάμνησις; and the invocation of the Word, not of the Holy Ghost, to effect consecration. That the Lord’s Prayer before communion is not referred to may be only because it is a fixed formula belonging to the structure of the rite. ”
Cuthbert H. Turner, Francis C. Burkitt , George B. Gray, John F. Stenning, Kirsopp Lake, Samuel R. Driver & William Sanday, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica (1910)
“ The moment of transition is clearly marked in the Didachē, where the charismatic ministry of “apostles and prophets” is beginning to give place to permanent local officials of the Church, bishops, presbyters and deacons. The literature that we now call the New Testament held its place because it was regarded as a product of the palmy days of that great movement. It was considered to be the work of inspired men, of men whom the Holy Spirit, at that time specially active in the Church, had chosen as its organs. ”
