Did Ignatius of Antioch Know the Didache?

Abstract

This chapter argues together with the current views of modern scholarship, that among the various sources which were available to Ignatius in his role as bishop of Antioch, there is specific evidence that he utilized the following materials: the Hebrew Scriptures; the Gospel of Matthew; the letters of Paul; other early Christian traditions, including credal formulations, Christological confessions, and various themes and stories which ultimately have appeared in the Gospels of John and Luke. In addition to the general use of these materials by Ignatius, it seems that he chose as his favorite resources those materials which offered little or no trace of sympathy for the Jewish perspective within Christianity. The author endorses the view that Ignatius was at least familiar with those early Christian materials within the Antiochian community which eventually were subsumed into the Didache and, perhaps, even with an early form of the text itself. Keywords: Antioch; Christianity; Didache ; Ignatius; John