First Christian Voices: Practices of the Apostolic Fathers

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First Christian Voices

the Jews for their desire to restore the temple. While the Apostolic Fathers do write about the sacraments, there are only two: baptism and the Eucharist. Rather, the Apostolic Fathers reinforce the importance of how believers treat one another, and of living lives devoted to prayer, fasting, and gathering together. If there is anything significant that we might take away from the Apostolic Fathers it is the fact that the early Christians gathered together frequently. They understood that the days were evil and had a sense that the Lord could return at any moment. Therefore, it was important to be with one another to encourage each other and to hold each other accountable. “Watch your life,” the author of the Didache states, as it is a light for all to see. Submission to One Another F irst C lement 37–38: Let us then, dear ones, with all urgency act the part of soldiers, in accordance with His holy commandments. Let us consider those who serve under our generals, with what order, obedience, and submissiveness they perform the things which are commanded of them. All are not prefects, nor commanders of a thousand, nor of a hundred, nor of fifty, nor the like, but each one in his own rank performs the things commanded by the king and the generals. The great cannot survive without the small, nor the small without the great. There is a kind of combination of all and from there emerges a mutual advantage. Let us take our body for an example. The head is nothing without the feet, and the feet are nothing without the L ife in the C hristian C ommunity