Didascalia Apostolorum 19

1[v. 1] You shall not turn away your eyes from a Christian who for the name of God and for His faith and love is condemned to the games, or to the beasts, or to the mines; but of your labour and of the sweat of your face do you send to him for nourishment, and for a payment to the soldiers that guard him, that he may have relief and that care may be taken of him, so that your blessed brother be not utterly afflicted. For let him that is condemned for the name of the Lord God be esteemed of by you as a holy martyr, an angel of God, or God upon earth, even one that is spiritually clothed with the Holy Spirit of God; for through him you see the Lord our Saviour, inasmuch as he has been found worthy of the incorruptible crown, and has renewed again the witness of (His) passion. To those therefore who are bearing witness it is the duty of all you the faithful to minister with care, and to refresh them out of your possessions through your bishop. But if there be a man who has nothing, let him fast, and that which would have been spent by him that day let him give for his brethren. But if thou art rich, thou must minister to them according to thy power, or even give thy whole possession and redeem them from bonds; for they it is who are worthy of God, and the sons who perform His will; as the Lord has said:? Every [] one that shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father [Mt 10.32].? And you shall not be ashamed to go to them where they are imprisoned. And when you do these things, you shall inherit everlasting life, for you become sharers of their martyrdom. For let us learn how our Lord said in the Gospel: Come unto me, all ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom which was prepared for you from before the foundations of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; and I was thirsty, and ye gave me to drink.? I was a stranger, and ye gathered me; and I was naked, and ye covered me. ?I was sick, and ye visited me; and I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then will the righteous answer and say:? Our Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and gave thee to eat? or thirsty, and gave thee to drink? (p. 78) or naked, and covered thee? or sick, and did visit thee? or a stranger, and gathered thee? or in prison, and came unto thee?? And he will answer and say to them:? All that ye did to one of these little and mean ones, ye did it to me [Mt 25.34-40]. And then shall they go into life everlasting [Mt 25.46]. [ v. 2] But if there be one who is called a Christian, and he fall away and be tempted by Satan, and be convicted of evil deeds and condemned for (his) deeds, whether of theft or murder: avoid such persons, lest anyone of you be put on trial by those who seize him. For if one seize thee and question thee, and say to thee: 'Art thou also a Christian, like this man?' thou canst not deny that thou art a Christian, but must needs confess it. But thou wilt not be condemned as a Christian, but punished as a malefactor. For he asks thee whether thou art 'like this man:' and thy confession is rendered void. But if thou deny, thou hast also denied the Lord. Therefore avoid them, that you may be without offence. But the faithful who are violently and unjustly seized and imprisoned as evildoers, or even bound, help (as) your members with abundant care and with much pains, that you may deliver them from the hand of evil men. But if any man come near to them and be seized with them, and for no offence suffer [] affliction for his brother's sake, blessed is he in being called a Christian; for he has confessed the Lord, and he shall live before God. For if a man come near to those who are bound for the name of the Lord and be seized with them, he shall be blessed in being found worthy of such company. [v. 3] And those again who are persecuted for the faith and pass from city to city [Mt 10.23; 23.34], according to the Lord's command, do you receive and refresh; and when you receive them, rejoice, for you are made sharers of their persecution, For our Lord spoke concerning them in the Gospel thus: Blessed are ye, when they shall persecute you and revile you for my name's sake [Mt 5.11]. For when a Christian is persecuted and bears witness and is slain for the faith, he becomes a man of God [cf. 1Tim 6.11; 2Tim 3.17]; and he is now no more persecuted by any man, for he has won him approval of the Lord. [v. 4] But if he deny, and say that he is not a Christian, he shall be called an offence; and (though) not persecuted by men, yet is he (p.79) cast off by God for his denial; and he shall receive henceforth no portion with the saints in the kingdom everlasting, according to the Lord's promise, but his inheritance shall be with the ungodly. For the Lord God has said: Whosoever shall deny me and my words before men, or shall be ashamed of me: I also will be ashamed of him, and will deny him before my Father who is in heaven [Lk 9.26; Mt 10.33], when I come with power and glory to judge the dead and the living [cf. Mt 24.30; 2Tim 4.1]. And again you find it written: Every one that loveth his father or his mother more than me, is not worthy of me " and everyone that loveth his son or his daughter more than me, is not worthy of me; and every one that taketh not up his cross rejoicing and glad and cometh after me, is not worthy of life; and every one that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it; ?and every one that shall [] save his life, by denying, shall lose it. For what shall a man be profited if he acquire the whole world, and forfeit his soul? or what shall he give in exchange for his soul? [Mt 10.37-39; 16.25-26] And again: Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but fear me rather, that am able to destroy soul and body in hell [Mt 10.28]. [v. 5] Now everyone who learns any craft watches his master and sees how by his skill and his knowledge he executes the work of his craft; and he himself copies him and executes the work which he has set him, that he may not be ill spoken of by him. But if he abate anything of the (tasks) set him, he is not perfect. We, then, who have our Lord for master and teacher, why do not we imitate His teaching and His conversation? For He left riches and favour, and power and glory, and came thus in poverty; and moreover He parted with Mary His blessed mother, and with His brethren, and with His life itself, and endured persecution even unto the cross. And these things He endured for our sake, that He might redeem us, who are of the People, from the bonds of the Second Legislation, of which we have already spoken, and might redeem you also, who are of the Gentiles, from the worship of idols and from all ungodliness, and get you for an inheritance. If then He suffered thus for our sake, to redeem us who believe in Him, and was not ashamed, why do not we also imitate His sufferings, while He gives us endurance? -- and this for our own sake, []? that we may be delivered from the death of fire. For He endured for our sake, but we for our own sake. Or has our Lord any need that (p. 80) we should suffer for Him? Rather it is this alone that He desires, to make proof of the love of our faith, and of our free will. [ v. 6] Let us then part with our parents and our kinsfolk, and with all that is in this world, and even with our life. We must indeed pray that we come not into temptation [Mt 26.41 (cf. 6.13)]; yet if we be called to martyrdom, let us confess when we are interrogated, and when we suffer let us endure, and when we are afflicted let us rejoice, and when we are persecuted let us not grieve; for so doing, not only shall we deliver ourselves from hell, but we shall also teach those who are young in the faith, and the hearers, to do the like:? and they shall live before God. But if we fail in faith towards the Lord, and deny through the infirmity of the body -- as our Lord said:? The spirit is willing and ready, but the body is weak [Mt 26.41]-- we shall not only destroy ourselves, but shall kill also our brethren with us. For when they see our denial, they will think that they have been made disciples of an erring doctrine; and when they stumble, we shall render an account for them as well as for ourselves, everyone of us, to the Lord in the day of judgement. But if thou be taken and brought before the authority, and deny the hope that thou hast towards the Lord by thy holy faith, and thou be set at large to-day, but to-morrow fall sick of a fever and take to thy bed; or if thy stomach ail thee and retain no food, but vomit it out with grievous pains; or thou be afflicted with a disease of the belly, or with a disease in one of thy members; or thou bring up blood and bile from within thee by reason of dire disorders; or thou have an ulcer in one of thy members and be cut by the hands of physicians, and [] die in manifold afflictions and torments:? what then will thy denial have availed thee which thou hast denied, O man? For behold, thy soul has inherited pains and afflictions, and thou hast destroyed thy life for ever before God; and thou shalt burn and be tormented without respite everlastingly:? even as the Lord has said:? Everyone that loveth his life, shall lose it; and everyone that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it [Mt 10.39]. Now a Christian who denies, loves his life for a little while in this world, that he may not die for the name of the Lord God; but he has destroyed himself for ever in fire, for he has fallen of himself into Gehenna. For Christ has denied him, as He said in the Gospel: Whosoever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven [Mt 10.33]; but those (p. 81) whom the Lord has denied they put forth and cast into the outer darkness: and there is their weeping and their gnashing of teeth [Mt 8.12; 22.13]. For He said: Everyone that loveth his life more than me, is not worthy of me [Mt 10.37 (cf. Jn 12.26)]. Let us be earnest then to commit ourselves to the Lord God; and if any man be found worthy of martyrdom, let him accept of it with joy, seeing that he has been counted worthy of so great a crown, and that his departure from this world is by martyrdom. For the Lord our Saviour has said: There is no disciple better than his master: but everyone shall be perfected as his master [Lk 6.40]. Now our Lord consented to all these His sufferings that He might save us; and He submitted to be beaten, and that men should blaspheme Him and spit in His face, and to drink vinegar and gall; and at last He endured even to be hanged upon the cross. Let us therefore, who are His disciples, be also His imitators. For if He bore and endured all things for us, even to the sufferings (of His passion), how much more ought we, for our own sakes, to be [] patient when we suffer? And we ought not to doubt; for so He has promised us, that if we should be burned with coals of fire, while we believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in God His Father, the Lord God Almighty, and in His Holy Spirit, -- to whom be glory and honour for evermore, Amen. --