A
third-century pseudo-Apostolic collection of moral and hierarchical
rules and instructions, compiled in the main from ancient Christian
sources, first published in Ethiopic by Ludolf (with Latin
translation) in the "Commentarius" to his "Historia
Ethiopica" (Frankfort. 1691). It served as a law-code for the
Egyptian, Ethiopian, and Arabian churches, and rivalled in authority
and esteem the Didache, under which name it sometimes went. Though
of undoubted Greek origin, these canons are preserved largely in
Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Syriac versions. The Apostolic
Church-Ordinance was first published in Greek by Prof. Bickell of
Marburg (1843) from a twelfth-century Greek manuscript discovered by
him at Vienna (Geschichte des Kirchenrechts, Giessen, 1843, I,
107-132). He also gave the code the name "Apostolische
Kirchenordnung" by which it is generally known, though in
English it is usually called as above, sometimes Apostolic
Church-Order, Apostolic Church-Directory, etc. The document, after a
short introduction (i-iii) inspired by the "Letter of
Barnabas", is divided into two parts, the first of which
(iv-xiv) is an evident adaptation of the first six chapters of the
Didache, the moral precepts of which are attributed severally to the
Apostles, each of whom, introduced by the formula "John says",
"Peter says", etc., is represented as framing one or more
of the ordinances. The second part (xv-xxx) treats in similar manner
of the qualifications for ordination or for the duties of different
officers in the Church. The work was compiled in Egypt, or possibly
in Syria, in the third, or, at the latest, in the early part of the
fourth, century. Funk assigns its compilation to the first half of
the third century; Harnack to about the year 300. Who the compiler
was cannot be conjectured, nor can it be determined what part he had
in framing canons 15 to 30. Duchesne considers them largely the
compiler's own work; Funk thinks he drew upon at least two sources
now unknown; while Harnack undertakes to identify by name the now
lost documents upon which the compiler almost entirely depended. The
Sahidic (Coptic) text was published by Lagarde in "Ægyptiaca"
(Leipzig, 1883), and the Bohairic (Coptic) by Tattam (The
Apostolical Constitutions, or Canons of the Apostles, London, 1848).
The complete Syriac text, with English translation, was published by
Dr. Arendzen in "Journal of Theol. Studies" (October,
1901).
HARNACK.
Texte und Untersuchungen (Leipzig, 1886), II, 5 sq.; PITRA, Juris
ecclesiast. Grœcorum Hist. et Monum. (Rome, 1864). I, 75-88;
FUNK, Doctrina Duodecim Apostolorum (Tübingen, 1887), 44 sq.,
50 sq.; SCHAFF, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (New York, 1885),
127-132, 237-257, where the dependence of the Apostolic Church
Ordinance (Canons 4-14) on the Didache is graphically set forth;
BARDENHEWER, Gesch. der altkirch. Lit. (Freiburg, 1903), II,
262-269; Patrologie (ib., 1901), 141; DUCHESNE, Bulletin Critique
(October, 1886), 361-370.
JOHN B. PETERSON.
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