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Apostolic Fathers: Didache

Chapter 8

1 Do not fast with the hypocrites. They fast on Monday and Thursday. Fast on Wednesday and Friday. 2 Do not pray as the hypocrites, but as the Lord exhorted in His Gospel. Thus you shall pray, “Our Father, who is in Heaven, let Your name be holy, let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done as in Heaven also on earth, our bread that suffices give to us today, and forgive us our trespasses, as also we forgive those who trespass against us, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, because yours is the power and the glory forever.” 3 Three times a day you should pray thus.

Unfortunately, fasting is enjoyed by the hypocrites. The hypocrites, like the Pharisee praying in the Temple (Luke 18:9-14), and following Jewish tradition, fasted on Monday and Thursday. To keep from being lumped together with hypocritical fasting, Christians were encouraged to fast on Wednesday and Friday. Friday is the day of Jesus' crucifixion. The Wednesday of Holy Week was the one day Jesus did not enter Jerusalem. But fasting was not to be done publicly to boost the Christian's ego (Matthew 6:16-18). These days were standardized by Pope Damasus as the Ember days, days specifically set aside for fasting around the great feasts of the Church Year: during Lent, after Pentecost, in September (the beginning of the Jewish calendar) and during Advent.

In the midst and as the capstone of fasting prayers, the Teaching gives the Lord's Prayer. The Teaching's version of the Lord's Prayer has five major differences in wording to Matthew 6:9-13: Matthew 6:9-13 Teaching 8:2 “Our Father who is in the heavens” (v9). “Heavens” is plural (????????????????). “Our Father who is in the heaven”. “Heaven” is singular (????????????). “as in Heaven also on the earth” (v10). “The earth” has the definite article (???????????). “as in Heaven also on earth”. “Earth” does not have the definite article (???????). “forgive us our sins” (v12). “Sins” is plural (??????????????????). “forgive us our sin”. “Sin” is singular (??????????). “for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” (v13). Matthew ascribes “the kingdom” (??????????) to the Father. “for Thine is the power and the glory forever”. The Teaching does not ascribe the kingdom to the Father. The Matthew text ends the prayer with “Amen” (????). The Teaching has no “Amen” at the end of the prayer.

None of these differences change the meaning of the Lord's Prayer in the Teaching. With antiquity's oral traditions, the differences between the singular and plural can be easily explained. Also the lack of verbiage, whether a definite article or the “Amen”, can be ascribed to a copyist error. The copyist simply skipped the word as he or she was copying the text.

Throughout the Scriptures, Heaven is seen both in the singular and in the plural. The singular is seen especially in Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven, 32 times in Matthew's Gospel. (The singular appears 75 times in Matthew's Gospel out of 492 total in Scripture.) The plural is seen in Scriptures 210 times in the ESV, including 14 times in the Creation account and 52 times in the Psalms. It is also found in St. Paul's report of being brought up into the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2).

Sin is also spoken of as either singular or plural. In the singular, it is used for the sinful condition. In the plural, it is used for the collection of individual sins committed. In the Lord's Prayer, we ask for the forgiveness of all our sins, but we also ask for the forgiveness of our sinfulness in the same petition.

The encouragement to pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day illustrates an early understanding of the Daily Offices of the Church. These Offices have a basis in the Scriptures:

• Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and He hears my voice” (Psalm 55:17).
• Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules” (Psalm 119:164).
• When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously” (Daniel 6:10).
• [Peter said:] “For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day” (Acts 2:15).
• Now Peter and John were going up to the Temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour” (Acts 3:1).
• The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray” (Acts 10:9).

From the Psalmist, the monastic communities of the early Church came up with seven prayer hours to accompany the Divine Service on weekdays. The seven hours were: Prime, Matins, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. These hours have their own liturgy and selections of readings.

From Daniel and the Apostles, we have prayer hours three times a day. In the Apostolic Age, the three hours were centered around the hours of the Cross: Jesus was crucified at the third hour (Mark 15:25); darkness descended upon the earth at the sixth hour (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44); Jesus died at the ninth hour (Matthew 27:46-56; Mark 15:34-41; Luke 23:44-49).