Testamentum Domini

[2] The author is unknown, even if the work declares to be the legacy left by Jesus Christ himself to his Apostles before the Ascension, and to give his own words and commands as to the government of the Church.

[5] Extracts were published by Paul de Lagarde in 1856,[6] and a Latin fragment, edited by Montague Rhodes James, appeared in 1893.

[10] A manuscript of a different family than the one used by Rahmani, the MS 8/11 of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus dated 1204, was published in 1975 by Arthur Võõbus.

They are set in the midst of "wolves", despised and slighted by the careless and worldly: there is frequent mention of "the persecuted," and of the duty of "bearing the cross" There appears to be no place for penitence for serious sins excepting in the case of catechumens, and there is a notable "perfectionist" tone in many of the prayers.

Great stress is laid upon virginity (although there is not a sign of monasticism), upon fasting (especially for the bishop), upon the regular attendance of the whole clerical body and the "more perfect" of the laity at the hours of prayer.

[9] With regard to the prayers, they are based upon forms common to this and other Church Orders, but have many lengthy interpolations of an inflated and rhapsodic kind.

The deacons have functions in the Eucharist and about the altar which point to an early date; they have also much administrative work of an important kind, and especial provisions are made for the care of the sick and the dead, and the burial of those who perish by shipwreck.