The members meet on tiie Lord's Day for worship. Here Ave have the first testimony outside the NT to the Lord's Day as a day of public Avorship. A little later Pliny reports to Trajan from Bithj-nia that the Christians there Avere accustomed on a fixed day (stato die) to assemble before dayliglit to sing hymns to Christ as a God, and to bind them-
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selves by a sacramentum. On every detail of this report Ave have fresh light from the Didache. Wor- ship is on the Lord's Day. It consists in the break- ing of bread, giving of thanks, and confession of sins— the sacramentuvi (?). And the Eucharist (see below) has as one of its closing sentences, ' Hosanna to the God of DaA-id' — a hymn to Christ as a God.
Baptism is the rite of initiation. ' Living Avater,' i.e. Avater of spring or stream, is to be preferred to other kinds, but even warm Avater is alloAved in exceptional circumstances. Immersion is normal, but, Avhere the Avater is insufficient, affusion is per- missible. The rite is administered after a definite course of instruction, and always in the Name of the Trinity. The candidate for baptism is to fast beforehand. Fasting, recommended to the bap- tizer and those associated Avith him, is enjoined on the baptized. No mention is made of any anoint- ing, or the use of anything save Avater.
The Eucharist is the centre of Christian Avorship, but the evidence of the Didache has proved a bone of contention. Instructions in regard to it seem to be given tAvice over, in chs. ix. x, and in ch. xiv. It is AA^th regard to the former instructions that difficulties emerge and controversies have arisen. The instructions are thus introduced : ' Noav as regards the Eucharist (the Thank-offering) give thanks after this manner' (irepl 5^ r^? ei^xapto-Was, ovTM evxapicTT'^aaTe). Forms of prayer are given, simple and non-theological.
'AVe thank Thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy servant [Trats] : to Thee be the glory for ever.'
' We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy servant. To Thee be the glory for ever. As this broken bread was scattered [in grains] uijon the mountains and being gathered together became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth unto Thy Kingdom : for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever.'
The former is given for the cup (troT-npiov), the latter for the broken bread {K\d<r/j.a), and there is another form, similar in thought and diction but longer, for the close, after being filled (/teri to ifnr\Ti(T6-7}vai).
The difficulties in regard to these two chapters arise in this AA'ay. There is no trace of the Avords of institution, and there seems no room for them. Were these simple prayers meant as consecration prayers ? Were they meant for the use of the pre- siding brother at all, or Avere they Avritten to be used by the recipient (so Box, JThSt iii. 367 f.)? Why does the thanksgiving for the cup come before the thanksgiving for the bread? Why are these AA'ords, Avhich sound like an invitation to the Table, placed at the very end — ' If any one is holy, let him come ; if any one is not holy, let him repent ' ? And Avhy does the previous chapter end Avith a similar ' fencing of the tables,' given in the very midst of the forms of prayer ('let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist except those Avho have been baptized into the name of the Lord ') ? What do the Avords fieTo. to i/j.TrX-qcrdTji'cu imply ? Are they to be interpreted in a literal or spiritual fashion ? Finally, Avliy Avas it necessary to give instructions about the Eucharist in ch. xiv., if these had already been given in detail in chs. ix. and x. ?
Beginning Avith the last question, it has been suggested ( V". Ernioni, V Agape dans V Eglise primi- tive, 1904, p. 17 ft".) that the first instructions refer to the Agape, and the Agape alone. But there is no other case in which any Avriter uses the word €vxa.pi<TTia in the sense of the Agape alone. All the indications point to a combined Agape and Eucharist, and the Avord ei^xap'C'"'* refers to this combination, i.e. it includes the Agape, just as in Ignatius (Smyrn. 8) the Avord Agape lias the same meaning, i.e. it includes the Eucharist. Tiie Avords Avere never interchangeable, but either, it seems,
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might be nsed of the combined celebration. The pro- bability, then, being that these chapters refer to such a combination, can we disentangle tlie Agape from the Eucharist? Are they inextricably mingled, or can we see that one preceded the other? Certain of the questions asked above seem to point to the former alternative, but the balance of evidence is •with the latter, and points to the Agape preceding the Eucharist. The words ' after being filled ' seem to shut us in to that. The attempt to find true analogies to a spiritual or mystical interpretation has failed. Jn 6^-, so often appealed to, makes for the opposite view. And the author of the Apostolic Constitutions, who was dealing with the Eucharist only, has to alter the words to ' after reception' [ixera. di TTjv /jieTd\7]\^Lv). The prayers already given for the cup and the bread refer, then, to the Agape : the ' fencing of the tables ' at the end of ch. ix. is pre- paratory to the Eucharist proper ; the prayer in ch. X. is the transition, the closing prayer of the Agape, or the opening prayer of the Eucharist, according to the point of view; the Eucharist follows immediately on the prayer. No formula is given for it. The words of institution may then have been recited. At both Agape and Eucharist the prophets are to have full liberty in prayer. The closing invitation is to catechumens present to come forward to the full privilege and duties of Church membership. One grave objection to this interpretation is that it presupposes a simple liturgy for the Agape and none at all, or practi- cally none, for the Eucharist. A priori, we expect the exact opposite. But no other explanation seems to satisfy nearly so many of the conditions. Fur- ther, absence of fixed forms is cliaracteristic of the Eucharist even later. Justin Martyr {First Apo- lorjy, 65-67) tells us that the presiding official (6 irpoearws) offers prayers and thanksgivings accord- ing to his ability (oa-rj duva/xis avrw).