DIDACHE  .)

Apostolical Constitutions.—For the various collections of these ecclesiastical regulations—the Syriac Didascalia, Ecclesiastical Canons of the Holy Apostles, &c.—see separate article . (c) EPISTLES.—The Abgar Epistles.—These epistles are found in Eusebius (H.E. i . 3), who translated them frdm the Syriac . They are two in number, and purport to be a petition of Abgar Uchomo, king of Edessa, to Christ to visit Edessa, and Christ's answer, promising after his ascension to send one of his disciples, who should " cure thee of thy disease, and give eternal life and peace to thee and all thy people." Lipsius thinks that these letters were manufactured about the year 200 . (See Diet . Christ . Biog. iv . 878-881, with the literature there mentioned.) The above correspondence, which appears also in Syriac, is inwoven with the legend of Addai or Thaddaeus . The best critical edition of the Greek text will be found in Lipsius, Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, 1891, pp . 279-283 . (See also ABGAR.) Epistle of Barnabas.—The special object of this epistle was to guard its readers against the danger of relapsing into Judaism . The date is placed by some scholars as early as 70-79, by others as late as the early years of the emperor Hadrian, 117 .

The text has been edited by

Hilgenfeld in 1877, Gebhardt and Harnack in 1878, and Funk in 1887 and 1901 . In these works will be found full bibliographies . (See further BARNABAS.) Epistle of Clement.—The object of this epistle is the restoration of harmony to the church of Corinth, which had been vexed by internal discussions . The epistle may be safely ascribed to the years 95-96 . The writer was in all probability the bishop of Rome of that name . He is named an apostle and his work was reckoned as canonical by Clement of Alexandria (Strom. iv . 17 . 105), and as late as the time of Eusebius (H.E. iii . 16) it was still read in some of the churches . Critical editions have been published by Gebhardt and Harnack, Patr . Apost . Op., 1876, and in the smaller form in 1900, Lightfoot2, 1890, Funk2, 1901 .

The Syriac version has been edited by Kennet, Epp. of St Clement to the

Corinthians in Syriac, 1899, and the Old Latin version by Morin, S . Clementis Romani ad Corinthios epistulae versio Latina antiquissima, 1894 . " Clement's" and Ep. to the Corinthians.—This so-called letter of Clement is not mentioned by any writer before Eusebius (H.E. iii . 38 . 4) . It is not a letter but really a homily written in Rome about the middle of the 2nd century . The writer is a Gentile . Some of his citations are derived from the Gospel to the Egyptians . Clement's Epistles on Virginity.—These two letters are pre-served only in Syriac which is a translation from the Greek . They are first referred to by Epiphanius and next by Jerome . Critics have assigned them to the middle of the 2nd century . They have been edited by Beelen, Louvain, 1856 .

Clement's Epistles to

James.—On these two letters which are found in the Clementine Homilies, see Smith's Dict. of Christian Biography, i . 559, 570, and Lehmann's monograph, Die Clementischen Schriften, Gotha, 1867, in which references will be found to other sources of information . Epistles of Ignatius.—There are two collections of letters bearing the name of Ignatius, who was martyred between 1o5 and 117 . The first consists of seven letters addressed by Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans and to Polycarp . The second collection consists of the preceding extensively interpolated, and six others of Mary to Ignatius, of Ignatius to Mary, to the Tarsians, Antiochians, Philippians and Hero, a deacon of Antioch . The latter collection is a pseudepigraph written in the 4th century or the beginning of the 5th . The authenticity of the first collection also has been denied, but the evidence appears to be against this contention . The literature is overwhelming in its extent . See Zahn, Patr . A post . Op., 1876; Funk2, Die apostol . Voter, 1901; Lightfoot2, Apostolic Fathers, 1889 .

Epistle of Polycarp.—The genuineness of this epistle stands or falls with that of the Ignatian epistles . See article in Smith's

Dictionary of Christian Biography, iv . 423-431; Lightfoot, A postolic Fathers, 1 . 629-702; also POLYCARP . Pauline Epistles to the Laodiceans and the Alexandrians.—The first of these is found only in Latin . This, according to Lightfoot (see Colossians8, 272-298) and Zahn, is a translation from the Greek . Such an epistle is mentioned in the Muratorian canon . See Zahn, op. cit. ii . 566-585 . The Epistle to the Alexandrians is mentioned only in the Muratorian canon (see Zahn ii . 586-592) . For the Third Epistle of Paid to the Corinthians, and Epistle from the Corinthians to Paul, see under " Acts of Paul " above .

(R . H .