It will be sufficient here to mention shortly the chief collections of
this kind which came into existence during the first four centuries;
generally as the work of private individuals, and having, at any rate,
no more than a local authority of some kind, (a) The earliest known to
us is the _Didache_ or _Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_, itself
compiled from earlier materials, and dating from about 120 (see
DIDACHE). (b) _The Apostolic Church Order_ (_apostolische
Kirchenordnung_ of German writers); _Ecclesiastical Canons of the Holy
Apostles_ of one MS.; _Sententiae Apostolorum_ of Pitra: of about 300,
and emanating probably from Asia Minor. Its earlier part, cc. 1-14,
depends upon the _Didache_, and the rest of it is a book of discipline
in which Harnack has attempted to distinguish two older fragments of
church law (_Texte u. Unters_. ii. 5). (c) The so-called _Canones
Hippolyti_, probably Alexandrian or Roman, and of the first half of the
3rd century. It will be observed that these make no claim to apostolic
authorship; but otherwise their origin is like that of the rest, unless
indeed, as has been suggested, they represent the work of an actual
Roman synod, (d) The so-called _Egyptian Church Order_, in Coptic from a
Greek pre-Nicene original (c. 310). It is part of the Egyptian
Heptateuch and contains neither communion nor ordination forms, (e) The
_Ethiopic Church Order_, perhaps twenty years later than (d), and
forming part of the _Ethiopic Statutes_. (f) The _Verona Latin
Fragments_, discovered and published by Hauler, portions of a form akin
to (e), which may be dated c. 340, though possibly earlier. It has a
preface which refers to a treatise _Concerning Spiritual Gifts_ as
having immediately preceded it. (g) The recently discovered _Testament
of the Lord_, which is somewhat later in date (c. 350), and likewise
depends upon the _Canones Hippolyti_. (h) The so-called _Canons of
Basil_. This is an Arabic work perhaps based on a Coptic and ultimately
on a Greek original, embodying with modifications large portions of the
Canons of Hippolytus. (On the relations between the six last-named, see
HIPPOLYTUS, CANONS of.)

Here also may be noticed the _Didascalia Apostolorum_, originally
written in Greek, but known through a Syriac version and a fragmentary
Latin one published by Hauler. It is of the middle of the 3rd
century--in fact, a passage in the Latin translation seems to give us
the date A.D. 254. It e