@LuxMundi ...LM let me add a little more info from that souce I gave in post # 2,342..it is eye-opening
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Today we would hardly divide a script of a mere 97 verses into 16 separate chapters, but that’s what the
editors have done in an attempt to elevate the importance of the Didache. In fact, 7 of those 16 chapters
consist of 5 verses or less each. It is a short work.
The first line of this treatise reads: "Teaching of the Lord to the Nations by the Twelve Apostles",
an obvious appeal to Matthew 28:19. Now that brings us to why this document is deemed to be
so very important.
You see, some of the early Catholic so-called "church fathers" had mentioned a work they called
"Teachings of the Apostles". They classified this as amongst the spurious works, alongside works like
"The Epistle of Barnabas" and "The Apocalypse of Peter", etc. For example, Eusebius wrote around 324
A.D. in his "Historia Ecclesiastica", in Book III, chapter 25 the following:
"Let there be placed among the spurious works the Acts of Paul, the so-called Shepherd and the
Apocalypse of Peter, and besides these the Epistle of Barnabas, and what are
called the Teachings of
the Apostles, and also the Apocalypse of John, if this be thought proper, for as I wrote before, some
reject it, and others place it (i.e. the Book of Revelation) in the canon."
Note that Eusebius used the expression "what are called" and not "what is called". Eusebius may have
had several different works in mind, rather than just one specific work? Those other early "church
fathers" likewise used the plural "Teachings" and not the singular "Teaching" for the title of what they had
in mind, perhaps a collective title for several works?
Yet the Didache uses the singular "Teaching" in its
title.
Those scholars today who have gone all gaga over the work presented by Bryennios (and very many
have!)
very conveniently overlook small details like this. They have convinced themselves that there was
one work that circulated amongst the early Christians, and that what Bryennios presented is a faithful
copy, made in 1056 A.D., of that one ancient work.
A number of those "church fathers" placed the works they referred to as "Teachings of the Apostles" in
the "apocrypha" category (i.e. secret mystical books of unknown authorship) with questionable merit, and
some of those "church fathers"
rejected "Teachings of the Apostles" outright. Whatever those "Teachings
of the Apostles" had been, they had not enjoyed the support of those early Catholic church leaders.
However, before Bryennios nobody knew anything at all about the supposed content of the "Teachings
of the Apostles", how long it was or what subjects it addressed; or whether it was just one specific work
or whether it consisted of several different works.
The content of the work or works mentioned by the
"church fathers" was totally unknown to all the scholars prior to 1883 when Bryennios published his
find. In fact,
there is actually no concrete evidence that what Bryennios found is actually connected with
the "Teachings of the Apostles" that those "church fathers" made reference to.
..........................and of course this is not all of it-------------