7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 86 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 86 pagesAbout this book
How does a community prepare for the last days while ordering its prayers, choosing its leaders, and building its church?
The Testament of Our Lord, also known as the Testamentum Domini, presents itself as the risen Christ's instructions to his apostles. Its opening vision describes the last days, warning of hardship, false teachers, and the coming of the Adversary. Here, the prospect of trouble frames the question of how believers should live together.
The longer second part turns from apocalypse to practical order: the arrangement of a church, the duties of ministers, and the pattern of worship. Written by an unknown author, this early Christian church order brings together prayers, rules, and rites. It remains outside the Bible and offers detailed instructions rather than a Gospel or a story.
What you’ll discover
- A vision of trials Explore warnings about false teachers and the Adversary within the text's vision of the last days.
- A place for worship Discover how instructions for arranging a church building give communal worship a concrete setting.
- The choosing of bishops Examine ordination prayers, the people's consent, and the laying on of hands by other bishops.
- Prayer through the hours Follow a rhythm of prayer that marks the community's life through day and night.
- Baptism and the Eucharist Read detailed instructions for these rites alongside rules governing the lives of church ministers.
Who will love it
For readers who love early church history, Christian worship, and discovering how ancient communities organised their lives, with an interest in visions of the last days, prayer and church order.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Christ speaks to the apostles after Easter
- The last days bring trials and the Adversary
- The church building has a meaningful order
- Bishops and clergy are ordained by prayer
- Worship follows set prayers, baptism and the Eucharist
- The book survives in Syriac and stays outside the Bible
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The Testament of Our Lord
by Attributed to the early Church Fathers · 450
A vision of the last days gives way to prayers and rules for a church facing the end of the world.
Challenging2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Testament of Our Lord, known in Latin as the Testamentum Domini, is an early Christian church order. It presents itself as the teaching of the risen Christ to his apostles.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Christ speaks to the apostles after Easter
The text opens by setting a scene. The risen Lord gathers his apostles and gives them a testament, a kind of last charge before he leaves them. This framing is a familiar device in ancient Christian writing. By placing its rules in the mouth of Christ, the book gives them the weight of the earliest teaching.
Scholars do not read this as a record of real words spoken after the resurrection. They treat it as a work written several centuries later, in the voice of the apostles' time. Other church orders do the same. The Didascalia, the Apostolic Constitutions and the Apostolic Tradition all speak as if from the first generation, though they were shaped by later communities.
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What is the Testament of Our Lord about?
It is an early Christian church order presented as Christ's teaching to his apostles after the resurrection. It describes the last days and the Adversary, then gives rules for church buildings, clergy, baptism, the Eucharist and daily prayer.
When was the Testamentum Domini written?
Scholars generally date it to the fourth or fifth century, probably in Syria or nearby lands. It was most likely written in Greek, but the Greek is lost, and the complete text survives in Syriac.
Is the Testament of Our Lord in the Bible?
No. It was never counted among the books of the New Testament. It belongs to the church order tradition, which gave practical rules for communities, and it was valued mainly in some Eastern churches.
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