James Donaldson

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles James Donaldson

The Apostolic Constitutions are made up of eight treatises covering the early church's discipline, worship, and doctrine. It was intended to act as a manual to guide the clergy and to serve as a catechism for the laity. It claims to be written by the Twelve Apostles. The structure of the work is: Books 1-6: Admonitions about Christian life, prayer, orphans and martyrdom. Rules about the qualifications of bishops, deacons and deaconesses and widows. Rules about church-building, fasting, the education of children and heresies. Book 7: A rewrite of the Didache along with prayers. Book 8: A treatise on charismata and a rewrite of the Apostolic Tradition along with the "Canons of the Apostles." This work is taken from: Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts (1826-1901), and A. Cleveland Coxe (1818-1896). (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) Translated by James Donaldson (1831-1915). The original footnotes and Bible references are preserved. Also, illustrations have been added of the Gospels events and the Biblical characters referred to in the text.