TheApostolic Constitutions orConstitutions of the Holy Apostles (Latin:Constitutiones Apostolorum) is aChristian collection divided into eight books which is classified among theChurch Orders, agenre ofearly Christian literature, that offered authoritative pseudo-apostolic prescriptions on moral conduct,liturgy andChurch organization.[1] The work can be dated from 375 to 380 AD. The provenance is usually regarded asSyria, probablyAntioch.[2] The author is unknown, although sinceJames Ussher it has been often considered to be the same author as that of the letters ofPseudo-Ignatius, perhaps the 4th-centuryEunomian bishop Julian ofCilicia.[3]
TheApostolic Constitutions contains eight books onEarly Christian discipline, worship, and doctrine, apparently intended to serve as a manual of guidance for the clergy, and to some extent for the laity. It purports to be the work of theTwelve Apostles, whether given by them as individuals or as a body.[4]
The structure of theApostolic Constitutions can be summarized:[5]
The best manuscript,Vatican gr 1506, hasArian leanings, which are not found in other manuscripts because this material would have been censured as heretical.[3]
TheApostolic Constitutions is an important source for the history of the liturgy in theAntiochene rite. It contains an outline of ananaphora in book two, a full anaphora in book seven (which is an expansion of the one found in the Didache), and the completeLiturgy of the eighth book of theApostolic Constitutions, which is the oldest known form that can be described as a completedivine liturgy.
In antiquity, theApostolic Constitutions were mistakenly supposed to be gathered and handed down byClement of Rome, the authority of whose name gave weight to more than one such piece of early Christian literature (see alsoClementine literature).[4]
TheApostolic Constitutions were rejected as apocryphal by theDecretum Gelasianum, and the 692Quinisext Council rejected most of the work asheretical interpolations.Eastern Christianity accepted only part of Book 8, known as theCanons of the Apostles. Nevertheless, the 1913Catholic Encyclopedia describes the Constitutions as held in "high esteem" in antiquity, and as the basis for significant amounts ofcanon law.[4]
TheApostolic Constitutions were accepted as canonical byJohn of Damascus and, in a modified form, included in the 81 book canon of theEthiopian Orthodox Church.
Even if the text of theApostolic Constitutions was extant in many libraries during theMiddle Ages, it was largely ignored. In 1546 a Latin version of a text was found inCrete and published.[4] The first complete edition of theGreek text was printed in 1563 byTurrianus.[6]
William Whiston in the 18th century devoted the third volume of hisPrimitive Christianity Revived to prove that "they are the most sacred of the canonical books of the New Testament; "for "these sacred Christian laws or constitutions were delivered atJerusalem, and inMount Sion, by our Saviour to the eleven apostles there assembled after His resurrection."
Today theApostolic Constitutions are regarded as a highly significant historical document, as they reveal the moral and religious conditions, as well as the liturgical observances of3rd and4th centuries.[4] They are part of theAnte-Nicene Fathers collection.
The forty-seventh and last chapter of the eighth book of theApostolic Constitutions contains the eighty-fiveCanons of the Apostles, which present themselves as being from an apostolicCouncil at Antioch. These canons were later approved by the EasternCouncil in Trullo in 692 but rejected byPope Constantine. In theLatin Church only fifty of these canons circulated, translated toLatin byDionysius Exiguus on about 500 AD, and included in theWestern collections and afterwards in theCorpus Juris Canonici.
Canon n. 85 is a list ofcanonical books: a 46-bookOld Testament canon which essentially corresponds to that of theSeptuagint, 26 books of what is now theNew Testament (excludesRevelation), twoEpistles of Clement, and the Apostolic Constitutions themselves, also here attributed to Clement, at least as compiler.[7]
It is also known as theEpitome, and usually namedEpitome of the eighth Book of the Apostolic Constitutions (or sometime titledThe Constitutions of the Holy Apostles concerning ordination through Hippolytus or simplyThe Constitutions through Hippolytus) containing a re-wording of chapters 1–2, 4–5, 16–28, 30–34, 45–46 of the eighth book.[8] The text was first published byPaul de Lagarde in 1856 and later byFranz Xaver von Funk in 1905.[9] This epitome could be a later extract even if in parts it looks nearer to the Greek original of the Apostolic Tradition, from which the 8th book is derived, than the Apostolic Constitutions themselves.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Apostolic Constitutions".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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Constitutions of the Holy Apostles public domain audiobook atLibriVox