Didascalia Apostolorum

tr. Connolly, 1929

Teaching every man that he should please his wife alone; and that he should not adorn…

Bear with one another, O servants and sons of God.¹ Let not a man despise or contemn his wife,² nor be lifted up against her; but let him be merciful, and let his hand be open to give.³ And let him please his wife alone, and cherish her with honour; and let him study to be loved by her alone, and by none other. Adorn not thyself that a strange woman may see and desire thee. And if indeed thou be constrained by her and sin with her, death in fire shall come upon thee of a surety from God, even that which abides for ever, which is in sore and bitter fire; and thou shalt know and understand when thou art grievously tormented. But if thou do not this uncleanness, but put her from thee and deny her:⁴ in this only hast thou sinned, that by thy adornment thou hast caused the woman to be taken with the desire of thee; for thou hast caused her, to whom it so happened by reason of thee, to commit adultery through her desire. But not so art thou under sin, because thou didst not desire her: but there shall be mercy upon thee from the Lord, because thou didst not deliver thyself to her nor consent to her when she sent unto thee, neither in thought didst thou turn thyself to that woman who was taken with the desire of thee: but she on a sudden encountered thee, and was stricken in her thought and sent unto thee; but thou as a godfearing man didst deny her and avoid her, and didst not sin with her; but she was stricken in her heart, because thou art young and fair and comely, and didst adorn thyself and cause her to desire thee: and thou art found to be guilty⁵ of the sin of her to whom it so happened by reason of thy adornment. But entreat of the Lord God that sin be not ascribed to thee on this account. And if thou wouldst please God and not men, and lookest and hopest for the life and rest everlasting, adorn not thy natural beauty which is given thee from God, but with humility of neglect make it mean⁶ before men. In like manner also thou shalt not nourish the hair of thy head, but do thou shear it off; and thou shalt not comb and adorn it, nor anoint it, lest thou bring upon thee such women as ensnare, or are ensnared, by lust. Neither shalt thou put on fine raiment, nor be shod on thy feet with shoes which are fashioned according to the lust of folly; nor shalt thou put upon thy fingers rings of gold device: for all these things are the wiles of harlotry, and every thing that thou dost apart from nature.⁷ For to thee, a faithful man of God, it is not permitted to nourish the hair of thy head and to comb and smooth it, which is a wantonness of lust; neither shalt thou arrange and adorn it, nor adjust it so that it may be beautiful. And thou shalt not destroy the hairs of thy beard,⁸ nor⁹ alter the natural form¹⁰ of thy face and change it to other than God created it, because that thou desirest to please men. But if thou do these things, thy soul shall be deprived of life, and thou shalt be rejected before the Lord God. As a man therefore who would please God, take heed thou do no such things; and avoid all those things which the Lord hateth.

And thou shalt not stray and go about idly in the streets and see the vain spectacle of those who behave themselves evilly; but be thou always attending to thy craft and thy work, and be willing to do those things that are pleasing to God; and thou shalt be meditating constantly upon the words of the Lord. But if thou art rich and hast no need of a craft whereby to live, thou shalt not stray and go about vacantly; but be ever¹¹ constant in drawing near to the faithful and to them that are like-minded with thee, and be meditating and learning with them the living words. And if not, sit at home and read the Law, and the Book of Kings and the Prophets, and the Gospel the fulfilment of these. But avoid all books of the heathen. For what hast thou to do with strange sayings or laws or lying prophecies, which also turn away from the faith them that are young? For what is wanting to thee in the word of God, that thou shouldst cast thyself upon these fables of the heathen? If thou wouldst read historical narratives, thou hast the Book of Kings; but if wise men and philosophers, thou hast the Prophets, wherein thou shalt find wisdom and understanding more than that of the wise men and philosophers; for they are the words of the one God, the only wise. And if thou wish for songs, thou hast the Psalms of David; but if (thou wouldst read of) the beginning of the world, thou hast the Genesis of the great Moses; and if laws and commandments, thou hast *the glorious Law*¹² of the Lord God. All strange (writings) therefore, which are contrary (to these), wholly avoid.

Yet when thou readest the Law, beware of the Second Legislation, that thou do but read it merely; but the commands and warnings that are therein much avoid, lest thou lead thyself astray and bind thyself with the bonds which may not be loosed of heavy burdens. For this cause therefore, if thou read the Second Legislation, consider this alone, that thou know and glorify God who delivered us from all these bonds. And have this set before thine eyes, that thou discern and know what [in the Law] is the Law, and what are the bonds that are in the Second Legislation, which after the Law were given to those who, in the Law and in the Second Legislation, committed so many sins in the wilderness. For the first¹³ Law is that which the Lord God spoke before the people had made the calf and served idols, which consists of¹⁴ the Ten Words and the Judgements. But after they had served idols, He justly laid upon them the bonds, as they were worthy. But do not thou therefore lay them upon thee; for our Saviour came for no other cause but to fulfil the Law, and to set us loose from the bonds of the Second Legislation. For He set loose from those bonds and thus called¹⁵ those who believe in Him, and said: Come unto me, all ye that toil and are laden with heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.¹⁶ Do thou therefore, without the weight of these burdens, read the simple Law, which is in accord with the Gospel; and moreover the Gospel itself, and the Prophets: and the Book of Kings likewise, that thou mayest know that as many kings¹⁷ as were righteous were both advanced¹⁸ by the Lord God in this world, and continued in God’s promise of everlasting life; but those kings who turned aside from God and served idols did justly, by a summary judgement, perish miserably, and were deprived of the kingdom of God, and instead of (obtaining) rest are punished. When therefore thou readest these things, thou wilt grow the more in faith and be improved.

And afterwards rise up, go forth to the market-place and bathe in a bath of men: but not in one of women, lest, when thou hast stripped thyself and shewn the nakedness of thy bare body,¹⁹ either thou be ensnared, or thou constrain another²⁰ and she slip and be ensnared by thee. Beware of these things therefore, and thou shalt live unto God.²¹

Learn, then, what saith the holy word in Wisdom:²² ¹ My son, keep my words, and my commandments hide within thee. My son, honour the Lord, and be strengthened; and beside him thou shalt fear none other.²³ ² Keep my commandments, and live well, and my laws as the apple of thine eye; ³ and bind them upon thy fingers, and write them on the tables of thy heart. ⁴ And say to wisdom: Thou art my sister, and make known to thy soul understanding: ⁵ that she may keep thee from a strange and adulterous²⁴ woman, whose words are flattering. ⁶ For from the window of her house and from the porch²⁵ she looked forth into the streets; ⁷ and whomsoever she saw of the youths that are simple and lack understanding, ⁸ that pass in the street beside the corners of the paths of her house, ⁹ and speak in the darkness, at even and in the gloom of the stillness of the night: ¹⁰ then the woman went forth and met him, in the harlot’s dress that fluttereth the heart of youths. ¹¹ And she is wanton and bold and dissolute: and her feet cannot be quiet in her house; ¹² but now she roameth abroad, and now she lurketh in the streets and in the corners. ¹³ And she caught him and kissed him, and made her face impudent, and said to him: ¹⁴ Sacrifices I have, even peace offerings, to-day do I pay my vows: ¹⁵ therefore am I come forth to meet thee; for I was looking to see thee, and I have found thee. ¹⁶ I have spread my couch with a coverlet, and with rugs of Egypt have I overlaid it: ¹⁷ I have sprinkled saffron upon my couch, and cinnamon in my house. ¹⁸ Come, let us take our pleasure with love until morning, and let us embrace each other with desire. ¹⁹ For my husband is not at home: he is gone a long journey, ²⁰ and hath taken a bag of money in his hand; and after many days will he come to his house. ²¹ And she beguiled him with her many words, and with the flattery of her lips she drew him unto her. ²² And he went after her like a simpleton, and as an ox that goeth to the slaughter, and as a dog to the leash, ²³ and as a hart stricken with an arrow; and he maketh haste [and] as a bird to the snare: and he knew not that he went to the death of his soul. ²⁴ Now therefore, hear me, my son, and hearken to the words of my mouth. ²⁵ Let not thy heart incline to her ways, and draw not nigh to the door of her house, and go not astray in her paths²⁶; ²⁶ for many slain hath she cast down, and there is no number to them that are slain by her. ²⁷ The ways of her house are the ways of Sheol, which bring down to the chambers of death.²⁷ ¹ My son, hearken to my wisdom, and to mine understanding bend thy mind: ² that my counsel may keep thee, and the knowledge of my lips which I command thee.²⁸ ³ For the lips of an adulterous woman drop honey, and with her flatteries she maketh sweet thy palate: ⁴ but the latter end of them is more bitter than wormwood, and sharper than a twoedged sword. ⁵ For the feet of a foolish (woman)²⁹ lead down to the chambers of Sheol them that cleave unto her: for there is no standing for her footsteps, nor treading in the land of life: ⁶ for her paths are error, and they are not known. ⁷ Now therefore, my son, hear me, and turn not aside from the words of my mouth. ⁸ Keep thy way far from her, and draw not nigh to the door of her house; ⁹ lest thou give thy life to others, and thy years to them that have no mercy; ¹⁰ and lest strangers be satisfied of thy strength, and thy revenues go into the houses of others: ¹¹ and in thine old age thy soul repent thee, when the flesh of thy body is consumed, ¹² and thou say: Why then did I hate correction, and my heart reject reproof; ¹³ and hearkened I not to the voice of my teachers, and to them that admonished me inclined not mine ears? ¹⁴ I am come well-nigh into every evil.

And that we prolong not and extend the admonition of our teaching with many (words), if we have left anything, do you as wise men choose for yourselves those things that are good from the holy Scriptures and from the Gospel of God, that you may be made firm, and may put away and cast from you all evil, and be found blameless in life everlasting with God.

Notes

Cf. Gal. vi 2.
Bear with . . . his wife] βαστάζετε οὖν, οἱ δοῦλοι καὶ υἱοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλήλους· ὁ μὲν ἀνὴρ τὴν γυναῖκα, μὴ ὑπερήφανος, κτλ. AC. The Syriac verb means to endure or put up with: βαστάζειν in this sense is rare (cf. βαστάσαι κακούς in Apoc. ii 2).
hand be open to give] A paraphrase of εὐμετάδοτος (AC): so again at p. 32, l. 27.
put her . . . deny her] ἀποσεισάμενος αὐτὴν ἀρνήσῃ αὐτό (sc. ‘this uncleanness’—τὸ μύσος) AC; but one MS. has αὐτήν, and lower down we find ἠρνήσω αὐτήν (p. 10, l. 4, Funk p. 11, l. 4).
thou art found to be guilty] C: ‘thou findest (? thyself) guilty’ BHS (a construction which can hardly be justified): ἔνοχος εὑρίσκῃ σύ AC.
mean] lit. ‘poor’.
apart from nature] παρὰ τὸ προσῆκον AC. Flemming accordingly vocalizes the word for ‘nature’ as if it were the adj. ‘right’, ‘just’, and translates ‘und es ist alles (derartig), dass du (damit) wider das Rechte handelst’; but for this we should require the subst. kēnūtha, the adj. here would be untranslatable. I see no reason to alter the text, which gives a good sense.
And . . . thy beard] (‘destroy’ is lit. ‘corrupt’): χρὴ δὲ οὐδὲ γενείου τρίχα διαφθείρειν AC. Cf. Epiphan. Haer. lxxx 7 ἐν ταῖς διατάξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων φάσκει ὁ θεῖος λόγος καὶ ἡ διδασκαλία μὴ φθείρειν, τουτέστι μὴ τέμνειν, τρίχας γενείου.
Cf. Lev. xix 27.
the natural form, etc.] lit. ‘the form of the nature of thy face’ (see below p. 26, l. 5).
but be ever, etc.] ἀλλ᾽ εἴτε προσέρχῃ τοῖς πιστοῖς τε καὶ ὁμοδόξοις, συμβάλλων τὰ ζωοποιὰ προσομίλει ῥήματα AC. Comp. Didache iv 2 ἐκζητήσεις δὲ καθ᾽ ἡμέραν τὰ πρόσωπα τῶν ἁγίων, ἵνα ἐπαναπαῇς τοῖς λόγοις αὐτῶν.
the glorious Law] We must restore this from Lat. and AC: Syr. has ‘the Law, the Book of Exodus’, misreading ἔνδοξον (AC) as ἔξοδον, and then supplying ‘the Book of’.
first] om. AC (= Lat.). Compare Irenaeus Haer. IV xxv 3 ‘Nam Deus primo quidem per naturalia praecepta, quae ab initio infixa dedit hominibus, admonens eos, id est per decalogum, . . . nihil plus ab eis exquisiuit’; then IV xxvi 1 ‘At ubi conuersi sunt in uituli factionem . . . aptam concupiscentiae suae acceperunt reliquam seruitutem’; and IV xxviii ‘decalogi quidem uerba ipse per semetipsum omnibus similiter dominus locutus est . . . Seruitutis autem praecepta separatim per Moysem praecepit populo apta illorum eruditioni siue castigationi’. Compare also the argument at pp. 218, 224, 230.
consists of] lit. ‘is’. The ‘Judgements’ must be the δικαιώματα of Ex. xxi 1 ff. (see again p. 218).
For He . . . called] See again p. 226, and note.
Mt. xi 28.
as many kings, etc.] Comp. Hippolytus in Dan. lib. iii, c. 4 (ed. Bonwetsch p. 126, l. 1) ὥστε ὅσοι βασιλεῖς εὐλαβῶς καὶ θεοφιλῶς ἀνεστράφησαν, οὗτοι καὶ παρὰ θεοῦ ἐτιμήθησαν, ὅσοι δὲ κατὰ φυσίωσιν ὑπὲρ τὸ δέον ἐπήρθησαν, οὗτοι ἀξίαν καὶ δικαίαν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τιμωρίαν ἀπέλαβον (after speaking of the punishment of Nebuchadnezzer and the death of Antiochus Epiphanes).
advanced] lit. ‘known’, which is also used in the above sense: ηὐξήθησαν AC.
the nakedness . . . body] lit. ‘the nakedness of the exposure of thy body’: (ἵνα μὴ διὰ) τὸ ἐπιδεικνύναι σε σῶμα ἐν ἀσχήμῳ ἀποκαλύψει AC.
another] Perhaps only a scribe’s error for ‘a woman’—the words are similar in form.
live unto God] An expression occurring repeatedly in Hermas. Elsewhere in Didasc. we find ‘live before God’, pp. 113, 163, 165.
Wisdom] Eusebius, H.E. iv 22, tells us that Hegesippus, as well as Irenaeus and ὁ πᾶς τῶν ἀρχαίων χορός, called Proverbs ἡ πανάρετος σοφία. So 1 Clem. lvii 3, while ‘Wisdom’ simply is found in Justin Dial. 129, Melito apud Euseb. H.E. iv 26, and Clem. Alex. See Lightfoot’s note to 1 Clem. lvii 3. Our author uses ‘Wisdom’ about ten, and ‘Proverbs’ about six times.
Prov. vii 1-27.
adulterous] = πόρνης, for πονηρᾶς (AC LXX): Pesh. has ‘strange’.
and from the porch] An addition from Pesh., which has the same Gk. word ξυστήριον.
and draw not nigh . . . in her paths] om. LXX (= Lat.). The second clause is from Pesh., the first is perhaps due to Prov. v 8 (below).
Prov. v 1-14.
I command thee] + μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί AC LXX (= Lat.). The words are omitted in Syr. under influence of Pesh.
a foolish (woman)] H: S has (with difference of one letter) ‘a sinful (woman)’ or ‘sin’: ἀφροσύνης LXX (= Lat.): om. Pesh. (simply ‘and her feet’).