Didache, Didache, 16

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[1] Watch over your life: let your lamps be¹ not quenched and your loins be not ungirded, but be ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh.

[2] But be frequently gathered together seeking the things which are profitable for your souls, for the whole time of your faith shall not profit you except ye be found perfect at the last time;

[3] for in the last days the false prophets and the corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall change to hate;

[4] for as lawlessness increaseth they shall hate one another and persecute and betray, and then shall appear the deceiver of the world as a Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders and the earth shall be given over into his hands and he shall commit iniquities which have never been since the world began.

[5] Then shall the creation of mankind come to the fiery trial and many shall be offended and be lost, but they who endure in their faith shall be saved by the curse itself.²

[6] And then shall appear the signs of the truth. First the sign spread out in Heaven, then the sign of the sound of the trumpet, and thirdly the resurrection of the dead:

[7] but not of all the dead, but as it was said, The Lord shall come and all his saints with him.

[8] Then shall the world see the Lord coming on the clouds of Heaven.

Didache. Didache. . 1912.

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Current edition Perseus

The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (English) (Didache. The Apostolic Fathers with an English translation In Two Volumes. Vol. I. Lake, Kirsopp, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1912.)

Editions (1)

Διδαχή των Δώδεκα Ἀποστόλων First1KGreek (Didache. The Apostolic Fathers with an English Translation In Two Volumes. Vol. I. Lake, Kirsopp, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1912.) — 16 focus

[1] Γρηγορεῖτε ὑπὲρ τῆς ζωῆς ὑμῶν: οἱ λύχνοι ὑμῶν μὴ σβεσθήτωσαν, καὶ αἱ ὀσφύες ὑμῶν μὴ ἐκλυέσθωσαν, ἀλλὰ γίνεσθε ἕτοιμοι: οὐ γὰρ οἴδατε ¹ τὴν ὤραν, ἐν ᾗ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν ἔρχεται.

[2] πυκνῶς ² δὲ συναχθήσεσθε ζητοῦντες τὰ ἀνήκοντα ταῖς ³ ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν: οὐ γὰρ ὠφελήσει ὑμᾶς ὁ πᾶς χρόνος τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν, ἐὰν μὴ ἐν τῷ ἐσχάτῳ καιρῷ τελειωθῆτε.

[3] ἐν γὰρ ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις πληθυνθήσονται οἱ ψευδοπροφῆται καὶ οἱ φθορεῖς, καὶ στραφήσονται τὰ πρόβατα εἰς λύκους, καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη στραφήσεται εἰς μῖσος.

[4] αὐξανούσης γὰρ τῆς ἀνομίας μισήσουσιν ἀλλήλους καὶ διώξουσι καὶ παραδώσουσι, καὶ τότε φανήσεται ὁ ⁴ κοσμοπλανὴς ὡς υἱὸς θεοῦ, καὶ ποιήσει σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα, καὶ ἡ γῆ παραδοθήσεται εἰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ, καὶ ποιήσει ἀθέμιτα, ἅ οὐδέποτε γέγονεν ἐξ αἰῶνος.

[5] τότε ἥξει ἡ κτίσις τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς τὴν ⁵ πύρωσιν τῆς δοκιμασίας, καὶ σκανδαλισθήσονται πολλοὶ καὶ ἀπολοῦνται, οἱ δὲ ὑπομείναντες ἐν τῇ ⁶ πίστει αὐτῶν σωθήσονται ὑπ̓ αὐτοῦ τοῦ καταθέματος. ⁷

[6] καὶ τότε φανήσεται τὰ σημεῖα τῆς ⁸ ἀληθείας: πρῶτον σημεῖον ἐκπετάσεως ἐν οὐρανῷ, εἶτα σημεῖον φωνῆς σάλπιγγος, καὶ τὸ τρίτον ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν.

[7] οὐ πάντων δέ, ἀλλ̓ ὡς ⁹ ἐρρέθη: Ἥξει ὁ κύριος καὶ πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι μετ̓ ¹⁰ αὐτοῦ.

[8] τότε ὄψεται ὁ κόσμος τὸν κύριον ἐρχόμενον ἐπάνω τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.

Notes on the current edition

Didache

1. Warning that the end is at hand

2. The meaning is obscure; but there seem to be other traces in early literature of a doctrine that each curse also contained the elements of a counterbalancing power to salvation. There is a valuable and long note on the subject in Rendel Harris’s edition of the Didache.

Didache Didache 16

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