COSTITUZIONI APOSTOLICHE. — A pseudo-apostolic writing. It is stated therein (VI, 18, 11) that it was sent to the Church by the Apostles through Clement and other disciples. According to the C. a. (VIII, 10, 7), at the beginning of the Church there were four bishops: Giacomo (Jerusalem), Clement (Rome), Evodio (Antioch), and Annianos (Alexandria). In VIII, 47, 85 (p. 592, 6 ff., ed. Funk), the compiler of the C. adds his eight books to the two epistles of Clement in the list of canonical writings, while nevertheless ordering that they not be made public, on account of the mysteries (ibid., p. 592, 9) contained therein. This latter text therefore attributes the authorship of the C. not to the Apostles, as in VI, 18, 11, but to Clement.
The forger was certainly acquainted with pseudo-Clementine literature, and this explains, at least in part, the importance attributed to Giacomo and Clement. The author of the apocryphal work wrote in Syria (contrary to H. Lietzmann, Geschichte der alten Kirche, III, Berlin 1938, p. 293), probably at Antioch, and perhaps presupposes the activity of s. Giovanni Crisostomo in that city. The purpose of this forgery is unclear. Ed. Schwartz’s assertion (Über die pseudo-apostolischen Kirchenordnungen, Strasbourg 1910, p. 20) that the writing was directed against monasticism seems erroneous. The first six books are a reworking of the Syrian Didascalia (v. DIDASCALIA). The seventh book is, in its first part, an expansion of the Didache. Chapters 33–38 are a collection of Jewish prayers, slightly Christianized, of the greatest importance for the history of the liturgy and of Antiochene theology. The text contains, among other things, a Trishagion in its Jewish form (VII, 35, 3) and a prayer for the Sabbath (chap. 36). Chapters 39–45 contain precepts for the instruction of catechumens (cf. Drews, in Zeit. für Neutetum. Wissenschaft, 1907, p. 226 ff.) and for Baptism. Chapter 46 contains lists of the earliest bishops; chapter 47, the angelic hymn (Gloria in excelsis Deo) for the Office of the morning (for the text V. A. Baumstark, in Hundert Jahre Marcus und Weber Verlag, Bonn 1919, p. 86 ff.); chapter 48, the Laudate pueri Dominum for the Office of the evening; and chapter 49, a prayer for the meal. The eighth book is based on the Constitution of Hippolytus. Chapters 5–15 contain the famous liturgy generally called Clementine (12, 5, 6 also in a papyrus, cf. S. G. Mercati, in Aegyptus, 8 [1927], pp. 40–42), probably an ideal liturgical formulary whose relationship to Jewish prayers was studied by W. Bousset, in Nachrichten der Götting. Gesellschaft. der Wissenschaften, 1915 (passim). Chapters on the consecration of the various degrees of the hierarchy and other liturgical ordinances follow. Chapter 47 contains 85 Canones apostolorum (v. CANONI APOSTOLICI).
The author of the C. a. is not identical with the author of the long recension of the letters of Ignatius. In his theology he is neither Arian nor Apollinarian; rather, he represents a type of ancient Syrian theology which, because of its affinity with Jewish theology, gives the impression of Arianism. The Council in Trullo in 692 declared the C. a. to be a forgery; but this had no effect on their authority, because, despite the condemnation, they were introduced into the collections of the Eastern Churches.
Edition: Didascalia et Constitutiones apostolorum, ed. F. X. Funk, Paderborn 1906. For the text of Book VIII V. Turner, in Journ. Theol. Studies, 31 (1930), p. 128 ff.