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What does faith ask of ordinary people—in their spending, their quarrels, their reading, and their clothes?
Book One of The Apostolic Constitutions turns from church leadership to the daily lives of ordinary believers. It warns against greed, calls for forgiveness, directs readers toward Scripture, and sets expectations for men and women at home and in public. Its voice is firm, but caring: conduct matters in the smallest choices.
Scholars place this anonymous Greek manual in fourth-century Syria. Its compiler presents the teaching in the voices of the twelve apostles, a literary frame rather than an accepted claim of authorship. This first book offers a direct source for understanding how Christians were told to live, not a story or a work of poetry.
What you’ll discover
- The dangers of greed Explore how the text links love of possessions with fraud, envy, and neglect of the poor.
- Forgiveness in daily life Encounter counsel against grudges and slander, with peace placed at the heart of relationships.
- A rule for reading Examine the call to read sacred writings and leave the books of unbelievers aside.
- Conduct at home and outside See how instructions on dress, speech, and restraint shape expectations for men and women.
- An apostolic literary voice Consider how an unknown compiler uses the apostles' voices to address the whole church.
Who will love it
For readers who love early Christian history, church life in Syria and the Greek East, and accounts of how ordinary believers were taught to live, from forgiveness and reading Scripture to conduct at home and in public.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A fourth century manual in apostolic voice
- Covetousness is the root of many wrongs
- Forgive, avoid slander, and seek peace
- Read the Scriptures, and leave other books aside
- Modesty and order for men and women
- Why it stands outside the Bible and how it is read
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The Apostolic Constitutions
by Attributed to Clement of Rome · 380
A Syrian church speaks in the apostles' voice, making money, speech, reading and dress matters of faith.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A fourth century manual in apostolic voice
The Apostolic Constitutions belongs to a family of early Christian church orders. These are books that tell communities how to worship, whom to appoint, and how to behave. Scholars generally agree that the work was put together in the Greek-speaking East, probably in Syria, in the later fourth century. The compiler is unknown. Some later writers have guessed at his identity, but the question stays open.
He did not write from nothing. Book One draws heavily on an older work called the Didascalia of the Apostles, which was written in Syria in the third century and survives in full in Syriac. The compiler took its teaching, expanded it, smoothed its language and reshaped some of its advice. Later books of the Constitutions use other sources too, among them the Didache, a very short early manual, and a church order often linked with Hippolytus of Rome.
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What is the Apostolic Constitutions about?
It is a large collection of rules and teaching for Christian communities, in eight books. It covers lay conduct, clergy, worship, charity, and church law. Book One is addressed to the laity and deals with daily moral life.
Who wrote the Apostolic Constitutions and when?
The compiler is unknown. Scholars usually date the work to about 375 to 380, probably in Syria. It was written in Greek and presents itself as the teaching of the twelve apostles, with Clement of Rome as its messenger.
Is the Apostolic Constitutions in the Bible?
No. The churches did not count it among the New Testament writings, since it was seen as a later church order rather than the work of the apostles. It was valued as a guide to practice, not as Scripture.
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