Apostolic Tradition
Traditio apostolica · Ἀποστολικὴ παράδοσις
About the English. The Greek original is lost. The work survives in the Verona Latin (a palimpsest of the fifth century, which breaks off in places and lacks the preface and chapters 9–20), in Sahidic, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions of later church orders, and in the reworking in book 8 of the Apostolic Constitutions. Where the Verona Latin survives it is given in Latin for translation (Hauler 1900); the other passages are G. W. Horner's English translation of the Sahidic Ecclesiastical Canons (1904), published as it stands. The Sahidic is a shorter, rearranged form, so these passages are an abridged witness. Chapter numbers are set from the content and are provisional.
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Contents
Reading pages: 2.1–21.2 · 23–43.2
- 2.1
- 2.2The bishop-elect receives the laying on of hands in silent prayer for the Spirit, and one bishop begins the prayer of ordination.
- 3The ordination prayer asks that the new bishop shepherd the flock and serve as high priest without reproach.
- 4After the kiss of peace the new bishop offers the eucharistic prayer: thanksgiving for Christ's incarnation and passion, the words of institution, the remembrance and offering, and the prayer for the Spirit.
- 5A thanksgiving is said over oil offered by the faithful, asking that it give strength and health.
- 6Blessings are given for offered cheese and olives, and every blessing ends with a doxology.
- 7A presbyter is ordained by the bishop's hand with the presbyters also touching him, and the bishop prays for the Spirit of grace and counsel, recalling the elders chosen by Moses.
- 8The deacon is ordained by the bishop alone, because he is ordained not to the priesthood but to the bishop's service; the presbyters join in laying hands only on a presbyter.
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21.1
- 21.2The candidate is baptized three times after three questions of faith, anointed, receives the bishop's hand, prayer and seal, and joins the people for the peace and a first communion of bread, cup, milk and honey, and water.
- 23
- 26
- 27Catechumens receive exorcized bread and do not recline at the Lord's supper; guests remember their host and eat with decorum and sobriety.
- 30Widows invited to a meal are sent home before evening, or given food and wine to take home.
- 31First fruits are brought to the bishop, who blesses God for the fruits of the earth.
- 32The fruits and flowers that may be offered and blessed are listed; vegetables are not blessed.
- 33The paschal fast lasts until the offering; the pregnant and sick fast on Saturday only, and those who missed the day make up the fast after Pentecost.
- 34Deacons and subdeacons attend the bishop and tell him of the sick so that he may visit them.
- 35The faithful pray on rising before work and give priority to instruction in the word at the church.
- 36The faithful receive the eucharist before any other food, and it protects the one who receives in faith.
- 37The eucharist must be guarded from unbelievers and animals, and none of it be lost.
- 38The eucharistic body and cup are to be treated with reverence, so that nothing is spilled.
- 41.1
- 41.2Prayer at the ninth hour recalls the water and blood from Christ's side; one also prays before going to bed.
- 41.3
- 42The sign of the cross, made in faith, puts the devil to flight, as the blood of the paschal lamb protected Israel.
- 43The closing words commend these traditions for the church's edification.
- 43.2