The So-Called Coptic Ointment Prayer of Didache 10,8 Once More

Author(s): Joseph Ysebaert

Source: Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Feb., 2002), pp. 1-10
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THE SO-CAT.TJED COPTIC OINTMENT PRAYER OF
DIDACHE
10,8
ONCE MORE
BY
JOSEPH
YSEBAERT
In
my
Greek
Baptismal Terminology
I added a
long
footnote on the
Coptic
ointment
prayer
of Did
10,8.
Since then other scholars have dealt with
the
subject;
their views invite me to return to it and to extend
my argument.'
The editio
princeps
and the
problem
of
Did
10,8
The
Coptic fragment
of the Didache
(BM
Or.
9271)
contains a well-known
passage
at the end of ch. 10 that is
missing
in the Greek
manuscript
(H 54).
It is a
blessing
of or a
thanksgiving
for
something
named in
Coptic
twice
stinoufi.
Its
authenticity
is still
questioned although nowadays greater
value is attributed to the
Coptic fragment
as the oldest witness for the
establishing
of the Greek text.2
G. Horner
published
the
Coptic
text in
April
19243 and translated
stinoufi
as aroma but
explained
this within brackets as ointment: 'But
concerning
the words with the aroma
(ointment) give
thanks thus as we
say
We
give
thanks to
thee, O Father,
concerning
the aroma
(ointment),
this about
which thou showedst us
through Jesus thy
son. Thine is the
glory eternal,
amen.'
The Greek text of the
Coptic fragment
has been
preserved
in a
long
passage
of the
Apostolic
Constitutions 7 where the Constitutor in his usual
manner has worked over the text of the Didache:
reopi 6 p
ToiV
[LOpo) OiToOc(; El)apaTio'araT- EOXapl2To4Lev COI,
e
?T 6i,Lto)pyE TO3V
OXov, lKai
ti7p Tih;
euo6ia(
ToO
puipovu Kiai incp
o5 d&aovavaroo atiovoS
o{
eyvopioaS
ilLiv
la& 'IaTo
xoT 7otati6; C oi0,
OT i
ooi)
eotv
ii 66S0a
...
ConstAp 7,27.
'J. Ysebaert,
Greek
baptismal terminology, Nijmegen 1962, p.
299 n. 1.
2
See the edition of K.
Wengst,
Didache
(Apostellehre),
Munchen
1984, p.
11 and 57-59.
3
G.
Homer,
'A new
papyrus fragment
of the Didache in
Coptic',
in
Journal of
Theological
Studies 25
(1924)
225-231.
?
Koninklijke
Brill
NV, Leiden,
2002
FVgiliae
Christianae
56,
1-10
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JOSEPH
YSEBAERT
In the same
year
1924
Bihlmeyer published
a new edition of the
Apostolic
Fathers.4 Time had been too
short,
he notices in the
preface,
dated
September
of that
year,
to use the variant
readings
of the
Coptic fragment
for this
edition but on
p.
xx he offers a retranslation into Greek of the aroma/oint-
ment
fragment.
The
square
and
pointed
brackets show the corrections
made
by
C. Schmidt in his edition of 1925:5
IrEpi a6 <TOo X6yo)u> TOi
(itpoV
oixCi; ecapit?roaT?e <XyoveT?;> Ei%XaptoTobit
v
aot, Tarrep [,lCov (or: ayie)], nr~Ep
rTO) uZ)pou o) Eyv POptoaao iltv
6ta 'Irlooi TOi
7iati6S oou oo
T
fi
86 a ...
For the
interpretation
of the text as an
anointing
of the sick
Bihlmeyer
referred to
Jac 5,14f.
and to some
liturgical
texts.6
Further research
The
explanation
of
stinoufi
in the
Coptic fragment
as ointment has been
generally adopted
in the commentaries and translations. The first and most
important exception
is L.-Th. Lefort in his edition of the
fragment
in 1952.7
4 K.
Bihlmeyer,
Die
Apostolischen Vater, Neubearbeitung
der Funkschen
Ausgabe, Tiibingen
1924.
5
C.
Schmidt,
'Das
koptische Didache-Fragment
des British Museum' in
Zeitschriftf
d. Neutestamentliche
Wissenschaft
24
(1925)
81-99. The noun
stinoufi
is now translated as
Salbol:
'Wegen
des Wortes aber des
Salbols,
danket
also,
indem ihr
sagt:
Wir danken
Dir, Vater, wegen
des
Salbols,
das Du
kundgetan
hast durch
Jesus,
Deinen Knecht...'
6
Notably:
F.X.
Funk,
Didascalia et
Constitutiones,
Paderborn
1905, part 2,
The
Egyptian
Church Order
22f.,
pp.
100f.:
qui
oleum
offert
tempore
eucharistiae similiter
(faciat atque)
in
pane
et
vino,
eodem modo
gratias agens... Sanctificans
oleum hoc tribue
(sanitatem).
Likewise the
Euchologion Serapionis 17,
ib.
pp.
178-180:
E?XoyoblEV...
ra
K1Tcioar
ratat
'
...
X%apoat
56vagiv
7rv?evi),axriv...;
cf.
29, p. 190; Horner,
The Statutes
of
the
Apostles
or Canones
Ecclesiastici,
London
1904, p.
141: 'Oil he
(the priest)
shall offer
according
to the obla-
tion of bread and wine... Whenever he does not
speak
the same words he shall
give
thanks...
saying
thus:
Having
sanctified oil thou shalt
grant
to all who are anointed
or receive it that with which thou anointedst
priests
and
prophets',
cf.
168f.;
I.E.
Rahmani,
Testamentum
Domini,
Mainz
1899, 1,24:
'Si sacerdos consecrat oleum ad sanitatem
eorum
qui patiuntur, ponens
ante altare vas illud
(continens oleum),
dicat . .'. For the oil of the
sick
may
be added
Apostolic
Tradition 5
(text
see
below),
cf. ib. 6
(Botte p. 18). Compare
also for the
postbaptismal anointing:
TO 8E i&
cop
avti
tacfjS,
to X
,aiov
vxTi
Tiveiuatog;
axyiov, i1 o(ppayis
avrx
oraupou,
to6
Rupov P?FEpaioot;
xic
o6joXoyias (ConstAp 3,17,1,
cf.
7,22,2
and
7,44,2).
7
L.-Th.
Lefort,
Les
peres apostoliques
en
copte:
Corp.Script.Chr.Orient. 136,
Louvain
1952, p.
26. W.
Rordorf,
'Le
bapteme
dans la Didache' in
Milanges
B.
Botte,
Louvain
1972, 507-509,
see
p. 507,
n. 47
(English
transl. in:
J. Draper, (ed.)
The Didache in mod-
2
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COPTIC OINTMENT PRAYER OF DIDACHE
IO,8
He translates: 'Dans la
question
des
parfums
rendez
graces...
nous te ren-
dons
graces pour
le
parfum que
tu nous a fait connaitre...' In a note
Lefort
rejects
Schmidt's
rendering (n. 5)
and
points
out that in the
Coptic
New Testament
PrVpov corresponds
to
socn,
whereas
stinoufi
means 'chose
adoriferante, parfum'.
Lefort's correction was taken over
by
A.
Adam,
who
combined this with the
theory
that the Didache was
originally
written in
Syriac.
The
stinoufi prayer
would then be a
thanksgiving
for an
agape.
Adam's solution has been
disapproved
as a
Syriac origin
of the Didache
is difficult to
accept.8
In 1962 I
adopted
Lefort's conclusion. I found that
nDopov
as a
precious
and
fragrant
oil was
being
used for the
postbaptismal anointing,
seldom
in other rites and never for the
anointing
of the sick.
Moreover,
in the
Coptic
Bible the the noun
stinoufi
is the usual
rendering
of Greek
ei6o5ia,
and of the three occurrences in the New Testament
only
that of 2Cor
2,15
fits in with the context of the
Coptic
fragment:
'We are the
good
smell
(or: aroma)
of Christ to God'.9 See also below.
Voobus,
in
1968, acknowledged
the fact that
stinoufi
means
'good
smell'
and
accepted
Lefort's comment on
perfume but,
as this does not
clarify
the
text,
he
kept
to the
meaning
'ointment'
and,
after a discussion of
many
passages referring
to various rites of
anointing,
he
explained
the
expres-
sion
e?io&ia
Tro)
gVpou
as a
paraphrase
of
n'pov.10
S.
Gero,
in
1977,
rejects
the
meaning
'ointment' and starts his inter-
pretation
from the Old Testament use of
eo06tia
for the
good
smell of
burnt
offerings, usually
in the
expression 6o[il e{co&iaS
(Hebr.
r.ha
(han)nihoha)
Gen
8,21,
Exod
29,18
etc. The use of the
expression
in the Didache
may
then be occasioned
by
the fact that Did 9-10 refers to the
usage
of burn-
ing
incense
during
the Eucharistic meal. The weak
point
of this
explana-
tion
is,
of
course,
that there is no evidence for the use of incense and even
less that this was blessed at the end
(!)
of the meal. But the fact remains
that
stinoufi
means
'good
smell'."
em
research,
Leiden
1996, pp. 212-222)
considers the
perfume
of Lefort's translation to
be the
baptismal
oil.
8
A.
Adam, 'Erwagungen
zur Herkunft der Didache' in
Zeitschrif f.
Kirchengeschichte
68
(1957) 1-47,
see 8ff. See S. Gero
(n. 11) p.
72 n.
29,
also A. Voobus
(n. 10) pp.
44f.,
and K. Niederwimmer
(n. 11) pp.
205-209.
9
See n. 1:
p.
299 n. 1 and the index of Greek
words, p.
433b s.v.
gupov.
10
A.
Voobus, Liturgical
traditions in the
Didache,
Stockholm
1968, pp.
41-60.
"
S.
Gero,
'The so-called ointment
prayer
in the
Coptic
version of the Didache: a
re-evaluation' in Harvard
Theological
Review 70
(1977)
67-84. New commentaries and
3
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JOSEPH
YSEBAERT
The
meaning of
sti
(also
spelled
stoi), of stinoufi (stinoufe
or
sthoinoufi)
and
of
socn
Hebr. reah 'smell' is
usually
translated in the Greek Bible with
6oOgiI,
and
the
Coptic equivalent
is sti/stoi. Yet Wilmet's Concordance
gives
two
instances where stoi renders Greek
'ipov 'fragrant
ointment': Lk
23,56
and
Rev
18,13.12
This
implies
that the
Coptic
word from a more or less abstract
concept
of smell has
developed
to
designate
a concrete
thing.
Hebr. nihoah is translated in the Greek Bible with
e&i0o6ia
'good
smell',
usually
in the
pleonastic expression
ei; 6oagiv etvo1ia;
'for a
fragrance
of
good
smell',
said of a burnt
offering (holocaust). Following
its Hebrew
equivalent
the
meaning
of
EU6toia
develops
from 'a
good
smell' into that
of a 'well
smelling object'.
This
may
be a well
smelling offering
or
per-
fume. Thus Yahweh is said to
reproach
the Israelites for their idolatrous
offerings:
'There
(on any high hill) they put
their
good
smell'
(Ezek 20,28).
From a
stylistic point
of view this is an abstract word used with the sense
of a concrete
one,
and this is combined with
irony,
cf. Sir
50,15.
In a
similar
way
the
plural
e6xco1ia obtains the
meaning
of 'well
smelling objects,
perfumes': King
Nebuchadnezzar commanded that
perfumes
be offered to
Daniel
(Dan
Th
2,46).
In a
metaphorical
sense e6o6ia is used for the
influence Wisdom
says
to
spread
around herself: 'as
pure myrrh
(ogiupva)
I
spread
a
good
smell'
(Sir 24,15).
In
45,16, however,
the noun
has,
at
least
according
to Greek
usage,
the function of a
hendiadys:
'a burnt
offering
and
(i.e. with)
a
good
smell'.
In accordance with
ei)co5ia
the
Coptic
noun
stinoufi
obtains the
meaning
of a well
smelling object
in the instances mentioned in the
preceding
sec-
tion.
Moreover, stinoufi
is found as translation of
OgaiaCa (or 09oiaosla)
in
the sense of incense or
perfume
or a mixture of both that was burnt in
sacrifices,
in Isa
43,24 (Hebr. qaneh)
and Ezek
16,18 (Hebr. qetoret).'3
translations
keep
to the
meaning
'ointment'. See K.
Wengst,
1984
(n.
2:
pp. 57-59),
K.
Niederwimmer,
Die
Didache, Gottingen 1989, pp.
205-209
(adds
a
question mark);
W. Rordorf in the second edition of the
Didache,
Sources Chretiennes
248bis, 1998,
Annexe
p. 215, rejects
Gero's
proposal
of the
burning incense;
F.S.
Jones
and P.A.
Mirecki,
'Considerations on the
Coptic papyrus
of the Didache' in C.N.
Jefford, (ed.)
The Didache in
context,
Leiden
1995, 47-87,
offer a new critical edition with an
English
translation but do not mention Lefort's footnote and
join
the usual
rendering by
'oint-
ment';
see
p.
53. A.H.B.
Logan, 'Post-baptismal
chrismation in
Syria'
in
Journal
Theol.
Studies 49
(1998) 92-108,
also takes
stinoufi
in the sense of
ointment;
see
pp.
11 Off.
12
Cf. M.
Wilmet,
Concordance du Nouveau Testament
sahidique, Corp.Scr.Chr.Or. 183,
Louvain
1958,
s.v.
p. 827;
cf. also H.
Tattam, Prophetae maiores,
Oxford 1852.
13
Cf. L. Koehler
-
W.
Baumgartner,
Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti
Libros,
Leiden
1958,
s.v.,
Crum
(n. 14)
s.v.
p. 363a,
and Gero
(n. 11) p.
70 n. 17.
4
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COPTIC OINTMENT PRAYER OF DIDACHE
10,8
As a translation of various Hebrew words the Greek noun
,vpov
'fra-
grant
oil,
balm' occurs 18 times in the
Septuagint,
and 13 times in the
NT. Its
Coptic equivalent
is socn.
However,
there are three
exceptions:
in
a list of merchandise:
6ipopwv
Kaci
iactiaS
'of
fragrant
ointments and cassia'
(Ezek 27,17;
Hebr.
equivalent uncertain),
the
Coptic
word is
stinoufi.
In the
two other cases it is stoi: with
regard
to the burial of
Jesus: apcliara
icai
t9jpa 'spices
and
fragrant ointments,
balm'
(Lk 23,56)
and in another list
of
precious objects:
0ulgt1iaxa Kcati lupov (Rev 18,13).
As a result of this
inquiry
one
may say
that the
meaning
of
stinoufi
devel-
oped
from
'good
smell' to 'a well
smelling object, perfume,
incense'.
However,
only once,
in Ezek
27,17,
and here in the
plural, gipov/sthoinoufi
has the
meaning
of 'well
smelling ointments,
balm'. This
development
is
supported by
a similar use of
stoi,
which obtains the
meaning
of 'well
smelling ointment(s),
balm' in Lk
23,56
and Rev
18,13.
Thus for a ren-
dering
of
stinoufi by [jrpov
the
linguistic
base is confined to one instance.
The
Coptic
dictionaries
The old Lexicon of
Peyron (1835, p. 215b) gives
for stoi the
meanings
'odor, lipov, unguentum,
oleum
odoratum',
but the
alleged
instances Sir
24,15; 39,14
do not
prove
this.
Spiegelberg (1921, p. 125)
translates like-
wise:
'Geruch,
Salbe
(pupov),
wohlriechende
Essenz,
Parfum'. Crum
(1939,
pp. 362b-363a)
is more accurate. He
distinguishes
two
meanings
and adds
the Greek
equivalents: (i) 'smell',
corresponding
to
6aogi,
and
(ii) 'fragrant
plant,
fragrant substance, incense, ,uvpov' (in
Lk
23,56).
Westendorf
(1965/77,
p. 200)
translates
'Geruch, Parfum, Weihrauch, Salbe',
without
giving
instances.
Stinoufe
is translated
by Peyron
as
'fragrans odor, unguentum
odoratum',
and
by Spiegelberg
as
'guter Geruch,
wohlriechende Salbe'. Crum distin-
guishes (i) 'good
smell,
perfume,
smell of
perfume'
(in
Num
15,7),
and
(ii)
the concrete senses: Esther
4,17 i6Soua;
Ezek
27,17
and Did 10
gu'pov;
Mk
16,1 &p(poXa;
Ezek
16,16 Ovliaxa;
Isa
43,24 ioixaalua
and IClem
25,2
apbljaTxa.
Westendorf translates
by 'Wohlgeruch (auch
zur
Bezeichnung
von
wohlriechenden
Salben)'.
These dictionaries
agree
about socn as
meaning
'ointment
(Salbe)', ',tpov'.14
Crum treats the concrete senses of stoi and
stinoufe
in one section on
14
A.
Peyron,
Lexicon
linguae copticae,
Turin
1835;
W.
Spiegelberg, Koptisches
Handiwrterbuch,
Heidelberg 1921;
W.E.
Crum,
A
Coptic Dictionary,
Oxford
1938;
W.
Westendorf, Koptisches
Handworterbuch, Heidelberg
1965/77.
5
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JOSEPH
YSEBAERT
p.
363a and this
may
have caused some confusion so that Lk
23,56
has
been seen
by
Gero
(n.
10:
p. 69,
n.
9),
and
by Wengst (n.
2:
p.
57,
n.
193),
as evidence for
stinoufi.
Horner
(n. 3)
in 1924 could use
only Peyron
and
Spiegelberg.
Thus one
can understand that he translated
stinoufi
in the
Coptic fragment
twice as
'aroma
(ointment)'. However,
Horner must have seen that the first mean-
ing
of
stinoufi
is
'good
smell'
but, apparently,
did not consider this to make
a
good
sense in the
context,
and most translators after him likewise. Even
Lefort
rejects
a translation of
stinoufi
as 'la bonne odeur'.
But, again,
those
who
change
'fragrant
object'
into
'fragrant
ointment' can in
support only
refer to Ezek
27,17.
The
difference
between a
thanksgiving
and a
blessing
Yet there is other evidence I was not aware of in
my
footnote of 1962 and
which is most conclusive. The fact has been noticed
by
Voobus
(n.
9:
pp. 56f.)
and
by
Niederwimmer
(n.
10:
p. 208),
but without
seeing
the
consequences.
The verb
eUXapptoaco
has two
meanings
with distinct constructions. In
the sense 'to
give
thanks' it has a dative to
express
the
person
who receives
thanks and a
preposition
E7ci, itepi
or
bicep
to
express
the reason for the
thanksgiving.
This
usage
is classical. In the other
meaning
the verb is con-
structed with an accusative and means 'to bless' or 'to
consecrate';
the
object
is
always
the Eucharistic bread and wine. As the
only exception
Lampe's
Patristic Greek Lexicon s.v. le mentions
ConstAp
7,27: inrtpp Ti; e'6coia;
TOV
itpoV (cf.
Did
10,8)
'the
blessing
of chrism'. Crum
(n.
13:
pp.
681a-
682a)
does not mention this
meaning
for the
Coptic equivalent
hmot. In
fact,
to
prove
that this has been an
existing usage
of
EsixaptoTco ti,
one
needs more instances. And if one assumes after all that this is the correct
meaning,
the
prayer says
that we
(must) give
thanks to God for
perfume
or
fragrant ointment,
and
thatJesus
has made known this to us.
According
to Voobus 'the ointment
prayer
in
astounding
fashion offers
thanksgiving
for the
aroma,
the
myron,
as the vehicle of the sacramental
gift' (n.
9:
p. 56).
Whereas the text and the translations
speak
of
giving thanks,
schol-
ars
usually
understand this here in the sense of a
blessing. However,
the
proper
Greek verbs for the
blessing
of an
object, except
the bread and
wine of the
Eucharist,
are
eX6ooyeo
and
&ytico.
It
may
further be noticed that the accusative
5ioa
in Did
10,7 repre-
sents an internal
object
as found in
expressions
like 'to
fight
the
good fight'
(2Tim 4,7).
6
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COPTIC OINTMENT PRAYER OF DIDACHE
10,8
The
thanksgiving for
the
good
smell in Did
10,8
Bihlmeyer (n.
4:
p. xx)
has
already
noticed the archaic and
Jewish
char-
acter of the ointment
prayer
and its
similarity
in structure with the
pre-
ceding prayers.
But the word eixobia of the Greek
original may
soon have
caused a
problem
as it was no
longer
understood within the context. The
prayer
became unfit for
liturgical
use and
may
therefore have been
dropped.
On the other
hand,
those scholars who deem the
fragment
unauthentic
or,
as Niederwimmer
(n.
10:
p. 208,
n.
120)
consider it an imitation of
the
preceding prayers,
should
explain why
such a text has been inserted.
The
Coptic
translator-who
may
be
distinguished
from the scribe of the
papyrus-could
render
e6t0o8ia
by
its usual
equivalent
without
being
trou-
bled so much about its
meaning
in the context. The
Constitutor, however,
who is
always
inclined to
adapt
and to
amplify
the
original,
tried to make
some sense of the
cryptic
word
by adding
a
genitive
toD
wu'pou.
Thus he
made the text refer to the
fragrant
oil of the
postbaptismal
rite and there-
fore inserted the final words on eternal life.
To understand
stinoufi/edco6ia
in the
Coptic fragment,
we must now look
which of the
possible meanings
of the noun best fits in with the immedi-
ate context. First of all
contemporary
texts,
i.e. the three instances of the
New
Testament,
must be considered.
1. 'We are the aroma
(EoSioa)
of Christ to God
among
those who are
being
saved and
among
those who are
perishing' (2Cor 2,15);
cf.
2,14
and 16.
2. 'As Christ loved us and
gave
himself
up
for us as an
offering
and
sacrifice to God to
(be)
a
fragrance
of
good
smell
(eiS
6o'gilv
ev6o8ia)
.. .'
(Eph 5,2).
3. Paul considers the financial
gifts
he received as 'a
fragrance
of
good
smell
(6oca,l
et0o6ia),
a sacrifice
(09tia) acceptable, pleasing
to God'
(Phil 4,18).
It
might
seem attractive to take the third instance and to understand
the
Coptic fragment
as a
thanksgiving
for the collection made
during
or
at the end of the
service,
but within the context this would mean that the
members of the
community
are exhorted to
give
thanks for their own
gifts.
On the other
hand,
the
meaning
of 2Cor
2,15
suits the context
very
well as
may appear
from the
following
translation:
'Concerning
the
say-
ing/question
of the
good
smell/aroma,
give thanks
just
as
you say:
'We
give
thanks to
you,
Father,
for the
good
smell/aroma
(of Jesus
that we are
now
and)
which
you
made known to us
through Jesus, your
child.' In the
7
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JOSEPH
YSEBAERT
retranslation as
given
above
by
C. Schmidt
only 'ivpov
has to be
replaced
by
e0)o6ia.
A.
Stumpf
in the Theol. Wrterbuch zum NT
2,808,
s.v.
e6oSia, Lit.,
refers
to a short
study by
H.
Vorwal,
who adduces instances from ancient and
later sources for the
symbolism
of
'good
smell',
which
may clarify
the lit-
erary background
of the
prayer.15
The
dating of
the Didache and some
final
remarks
For a further
interpretation
of the eixo8ia
prayer
it is
necessary
to refer to
the
problem
of the
dating
of the Didache. When Harnack one
year
after
the editio
princeps by Bryennios published
his edition with notes and a com-
mentary,
he concluded to a date about 130 AD. His main
argument
was
the fact that the Didache
belongs
to the Catholic
period
which in his view
begins
about 100
AD.'6
Now it is
generally agreed
that at least
many
sec-
tions of the Didache are
archaic,
even if the final redaction should be
dated after 100 AD. In
my Amtsterminologie
I
argued
that the
plural
dct6ooXot
without
any explanation
is used as a technical term that is
supposed
with-
out
any explanation
to be known to the addressees and thus can
only
refer
to the
Twelve,
moreover that the transition from the 2nd
person pl.
to
the 2nd
person sg.
in Did
1,4-6; 6,2f.; 7,2-4; 13,3
and 5-7 is a
literary
feature of the author which shows how he worked on his
sources;
it marks
the
unity
of the work rather than two
layers
as was
argued by
Audet.'7
It
follows that the Didache has its 'Sitz im Leben' in the new situation which
arose after the
stoning
of
Stephan
and the
expulsion
of the Greek
speak-
ing
Christians from
Jerusalem.18
15
H.
Vorwal, Eio)wia Xptaxoi:
in Archiv
f Religionswiss.
31
(934)
400f.
16
A.
Harack,
Lehre der
zwdif Apostel
nebst
Untersuchungen..., Leipzig 1884, reprinted
1898, 1991,
2
(of
two
parts
in one
volume), pp.
106-118. In order to
prove
that the
term a&n6oxoXko can be used in a broader sense Harnack draws a list of instances
which,
however, only gives
evidence for the word
euayyeyloTqS (pp. 11lf.).
This is indeed a
generic
term for itinerant
missionaries,
not used for one
specific
office. See
Amtsterminologie
(n. 18) pp.
40-42.
17
J.-P. Audet,
La
Didache,
Paris
1958,
pp.
105f.
18
J. Ysebaert,
Die
Amtsterminologie
im Neuen Testament und in der Alten Kirche, Breda
1994,
pp. 17-20,
34-38 and 203f. G.
Schollgen,
'Der
Abfassungszweck
der fruhchristlichen
Kirchenordnungen'
in
oJahrbuch
f
Antike u. Christentum 40
(1997) 70,
refers for a second
meaning
of
a&nooTokoo to Acts
14,4
and
14,
where the noun
occasionally
occurs in a
broader,
non-technical sense.
According
to the same author in his: Die
Anfdnge
der
Professionalisierung
des
Klerus,
Minster
1998, p.
37 n.
15,
the rules for the
reception
of
8
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COPTIC OINTMENT PRAYER OF DIDACHE
10,8
The
consequences
of this
dating
are
far-reaching
for the
interpretation
of the Didache. As for Did
9-10,
I intend to deal with it in a
paper
on
the Eucharist in the Didache.
For the
metaphor
of the
good
smell in Did
10,8
it follows that this is
older than 2Cor
2,15
and must have been occasioned
by
the Old Testament
usage
for burnt
offerings.
One can
compare:
'an
offering by fire,
a
pleas-
ing
odour to the Lord'
(Lev 1,9),
and the instance
quoted
above from Sir
25.15. Paul then refers to this
liturgical usage
he
got acquainted
with after
his conversion.
One has wondered that the e)xc6ia
prayer
obtained its
place
after the
rubric
allowing
the
prophets
to
give
thanks with their own words and as
much as
they
wish. But we see now that the
prayer
offers the
right
words
to conclude the service.
And, finally:
when the
prayer
was no
longer
understood,
one could think
that the Greek word
eUxXaptorto
here had the
meaning
of
blessing (an
object).
Thus the
prayer may
have occasioned the custom of
blessing
cer-
tain
objects
at the end of the service. The oldest
example
of this is found
in the
prayer
for the
blessing
of oil in the
Apostolic
Tradition 5.
Referring
to the eucharistic bread and
wine,
the text as
preserved
in the old Latin
version calls the
blessing
of the oil a
thanksgiving
which
corresponds
to
e)%aptaoto
in the lost Greek
original.
This
thanksgiving
should be done
not with the same words but
only
similar to those used at the
offering
of
bread and wine: Si
quis
oleum
offert,
secundum
panis
oblationem et
uini,
et non ad
sermonem dicat sed simili uirtute
gratias referat
dicens. . .' Further
on,
the text has
the terms sanctiicare and
benedictio,
corresponding
to
atitaco
and
e{Xkoyia,
which one
expects
as the
proper
terms for a
blessing:
oleum hoc
sanctficans
das, deus,
sanitatem utentibus...
(TradAp
5 Botte
18).
For later
liturgical
texts
see the list of
Bihlmeyer quoted
in n. 6.
the
apostles
in Did 11.3-6 are too harsh if the Twelve were
meant, especially
because
they
are the fictive authors of the Didache.
If, however,
these rules are more severe than
those transmitted in Mt
10,9ff., they
are
just
more archaic and so
they provide
remark-
ble information about the circumstances when the mission outside
Jerusalem
started.
For the
rest,
the
apostles
cannot be seen as the fictive authors of the Didache. The short
title
only expresses
that the doctrine or
teaching
is that of the
(twelve) apostles.
The
author of a book can make known himself with the
preposition atd 'by' following
the
title or with a
genitive preceding
it. Thus the full title of the Acts
of
the
Apostles
does not
suggest
that some
apostles
are the
(fictive)
authors. And the
long
title of the Didache
says
that the
Teaching
of the Lord has been written
by (tda)
the
twelve(!) apostles
and for
the
gentiles.
This cannot be relied on and the
long
title is now
generally
seen as a later
addition;
cf. Audet
(n. 17) pp.
91-103 and Rordorf-Tuilier
(n. 11) pp. 14-17).
9
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10 JOSEPH YSEBAERT
Summa?y
In the so-called
Coptic
ointment
prayer
of Didache
10,8
the
Coptic equiv-
alent
stinoufi
does not mean 'ointment' but
'good
smell'. It
corresponds
to
Greek
e6Io6ia
which in 2Cor
2,15
is used for the
good
smell of
Jesus
that
Christians are to God. This
gives
a
good
sense in the context of Did
10,8.
Moreover,
the
expression eDXaplatao
08e4
ienp
means 'to
give
thanks to
God for'
something.
In Did
10,8
this is
wrongly
understood as 'to bless'
or 'to consecrate'. In this
meaning c'Xaplptoxo
has an accusative
object
and
is
only
used for the
consecrating
of the Eucharistic bread and wine.
NL 4851 EA
Ulvenhout,
Slotlaan 11
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