A work transmitted under apostolic authority that presents instruction for Christian belief, conduct, worship, or community order within the broad and textually complex church-order tradition.
Author
Anonymous Syriac compiler
Traditional attribution
The Apostles
Date
Probably 4th century
Origin
Syria
Genre
Church Order
The generic title is used for more than one textual tradition; the exact corpus witness must be identified before firmer metadata is supplied.
This work is taken, and printed verbatim, from the same ms. as the preceding, Cod. Add. 14,644, fol. 10. That ms., however, has been carefully compared with another in the Brit. Mus. in which it is found, Cod. Add. 14,531, fol. 109; and with a third, in which the piece is quoted as Canons of the Apostles, Cod. Add. 14,173, fol. 37. In using the second, a comparison has also been made of De Lagarde’s edition of it (Vienna, 1856). This treatise had also been published before in Ebediesu Metropolitæ Sobæ et Armeniæ collectio canonum Synodicorum by Cardinal Mai. It is also cited by Bar Hebræus in his Nomocanon, printed by Mai in the same volume. These three texts are referred to in the notes, as A. B. C. respectively. [It seems to me that this and the Bryennios fragment are alike relics of some original older than both. To that of vol. vii. (p. 377) and the Apostolic Constitutions, so called, this is a natural preface.]
2
A. omits “three hundred and.” They are supplied from B. The reading of C. is 342.
3
This month answers to Sivan, which began with the new moon of June.—Tr.
4
C. reads “fourteenth.”
5
The day of Pentecost seems to be put for that of the Ascension.
6
Syr. “Baith Zaithe.” Comp. Luke xxiv. 50 sqq.
7
Comp. Acts i. 12 sqq.
8
[It is evident that the apostles had no such ideas until after the vision of St. Peter, Acts x. 9–35.]
9
[It is evident that the apostles had no such ideas until after the vision of St. Peter, Acts x. 9–35.]
10
The reading of B. and C.: A. reads “answered them.”
11
B. reads “suddenly.” [The translator interpolates upon him.]
45
Acts xvi. 4; comp. ch. xv.
46
The belief was common among the Jacobites that Caiaphas, whose full name was Joseph Caïaphas, was the same person as the historian Josephus, and that he was converted to Christianity. See Assem., Bibl. Orient., vol. ii. p. 165.
47
[The visible Church and sacraments are necessary, on this principle, to the conversion of the world.]
48
[Perhaps a metaphrase of Job v. 12, 13.]
49
This would seem to have been written anterior to the time when the title of Bishop, as specially appropriated to those who succeeded to the apostolic office, had generally obtained in the East. [Previously named as in the Greek of 2 Cor. viii. 23.]
50
For writings ascribed to Andrew and Thomas, see Apocryphal Scriptures, this volume, infra. Comp. Eccl. Canons, No. 85.—Tr. There is no mention here of the Epistles of Paul. They may not at this early period have been collected and become generally known in the East. The Epistle of Jude is also omitted here, but it was never received into the Syriac canon: see De Wette, Einl., 6th ed. p. 342.
51
So the printed text. But “the apostles” seems to be meant.—Tr.
52
See note 10 on p. 668.—Tr. It is plain from this that the Epistles were not at that time considered part of what was called the New Testament, nor the prophets of the Old.
53
Lit. “nod,” or “bidding,” or “impulse.”—Tr. [See Tertull., vol. iii. p. 252.]
54
Lit. “were quiet and silent at.”—Tr.
55
Lit. “be an advocate.”—Tr.
56
[Heb. x. 33, 34.]
68
B. reads “Priscilla,” C. “Pricillas.” Prisca and Priscilla are the forms in which the name occurs in the New Testament.
69
Probably the same as Manaen, mentioned in Acts xiii. 1, as associated with Paul at Antioch.
70
[The failure to praise the work of him who “laboured more abundantly than all” others, is noteworthy, and can only be accounted for by Middle-Age corruptions of the text.]
71
C. adds, “crucifying him on a cross.” C. also adds, “Here endeth the treatise of Addæus the apostle.”
