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.