For any modern reader a cursory glance will dispose of these claims. The detailed injunctions about ordinations and festivals, the triumphant proof of the possibility of the Resurrection by a reference to the phoenix, do not strike the apostolic note ; and it is easy to remark delinite points such as the reference to the heresy of Basilides (vi. 8), and the conversion of the Romans (vi. 24), which show the suggestion of the title to be unwarranted. The author, however, found the apostolic claim made in tiie sources he used ; his own contribution to the fiction is the assertion that Clement was the channel of communication.
AI^OSTOLIC COI^STITUTIOXS
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS 85
In 692 the Trullan Council of Constantinople repudiated tlie 'Constitutions' as having been tampered with by heretics, but accepted the 85 Canons ; while, although in the Gelasian Decree they are called apocryphal, Dionysius Exiguus (c. A.D. 500) had translated 50 of the Canons into Latin, and thus these 50 obtained acceptance in the West. The 85 Canons were translated into Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Arabic ; and, though the ' Constitutions' was not translated as a whole, and, in the West, remained unj^nown, we find Nicetas (A.D. 1154) quoting books v. vi. vii. in his book contra Latinos. After the first publication of the Greek text at Venice, in 156.3, by the Jesuit Turrianus from a good Cretan MS, the spuriousness of their authority soon came tp be recognized. The convenient edition of W. tjltzen (Schwerin and Rostock, 1853) is based on this text.
Modern criticism, it may be said summarily, has shown that the ' Apostolic Constitutions ' is a compilation made by a single writer, often referred to as pseudo-Clement, who seems identifiable with the author of the spurious Ignatian epistles ; that it is of Syrian origin, and that it must be dated in the 4th or early in the 5th century. One leading consideration is the absence of a polemical theo- logical note, which demands a period sufficiently subsequent to the Council of Nicsea (A.D. 325). Interest is thus transferred to the task of dis- tinguishing the older materials present, and tracing in them, and in the modifications made by the compiler, and by still later hands (especially in book viii., which, being most in practical use, was subject to current alteration), the flux of ecclesi- astical usages — a task in which the Church historian still waits to some extent for the textual oi'itic.
Books i.-vi. are based on the Didascalia, a book originally written in Greek, but known only through a single MS of the Syriac version, now in Paris, published as Didascalia apostolorum syriace by P. Lagarde (Leipzig, 1854), by M. D. Gibson with Eng. tr. in Horce Semiticce, i., ii. (Cambridge, 1903), by H. Achelis in TU xxv. 2 [1904]. This document is to be placed in Syria about the middle of the 3rd century. It contemplates a large city-church attended hj all sorts and conditions, conscious of the gulf between Christians and pagans, yet apparently neither persecuted nor unpopular. After some general exhortations to men and women, the subject of the bishop and his duties is treated in detail. Remarkable emphasis is laid on a ready and kindly reception of the penitent. We hear of Church courts for civil cases between Christian disputants, which are to meet on Monday, so that feeling maj- be cooled before the days of worship. The church building lies eastwards — in the direction of the earthly Paradise — and is arranged with special seats for the Presbytery and the different sexes and ages in the congregation. Deacons, sub-deacons, deacon- esses, widows, orphans, martyrs, readers, are mentioned as special classes. By a strange chron- ology of the Passion, a foundation is ottered for Easter regulations evidently requiring defence, whether as new or as in conflict with neighbouring custom. There are some Jewish-Christian mem- bers, and at the close these are specially addressed. The style throughout is homiletic, with copious citations from Scripture. A short account of this book is given in Harnack, The Mission and Ex- pansion of Christianity- [tv. Moffatt, London, 1908), ii. 157, 158.
The work of the compiler of the ' Constitutions ' is seen in the additional Scripture references, moral reflexions and exhortations. He makes, for ex- ample, an unhappily conceived attempt at an elaborate analogy between a well-arranged church and a ship, the deacons being the sailors, the congre-
gation passengers, and so forth. He revises the account of the Passion referred to, in the interests of the shorter fast of his day (v. 14). He boldly reverses the direction to follow the Jewish com-
Eutation for Easter (ib. 17). He refers to the Ionian adoption of Christianity (vi. 24), where instead the Didascalia mentions persecution.
Book vii. consists of an amplification of the Didache (g.v. )with modifications. An injunction to fear the king (ch. 16) and pay taxes willingly is inserted. The permission of warm water at baptism is omitted (ch. 20). The rule about weekly fast- days is taken to apply to the Easter fast. The connexion of Eucharist with Agape, apparent in the Didache, is avoided. A number of liturgical forms are appended, among which the baptismal symbol in ch. 41 has been doubtfully attributed to Lucian of Antioch — a suggestion wliich might, as Achelis points out, connect the ' Constitutions ' with his congregation. For a comparison of book vii. with the Didache see Harnack, ' Didache,' in TU ii. 2 [1884], and art. Didache below.