Does the Didache say αφες ημιν την οφειλην ημων (Forgive us Our Debts) or is the phrase missing?

[Hal Smith]

I have found versions of the Didache that include the phrase αφες ημιν την οφειλην ημων ("Forgive us our debts") in the Lord's Prayer and I have found versions of the Didache that do not include it. Yet the Textual Criticism website says: "The only known complete Didache in Greek is the Codex Hierosolymitanus, which was first published by Bryennios in 1883." It says that other fragments have been found, but doesn't list the section in question (Chapter VIII) as being part of those fragments. (http://textualcriticism.scienceontheweb ... dache.html)

Someone wrote on the Christianity Stack Exchange page:

The version that appears in The Didache uses the word for "debts" (οφειληματα) rather than trespasses (παραπτωματα). (It seems that there are two variants - one that contains the phrase "as we forgive our debtors" (https://www.psalm11918.org/References/A ... dache.html), and another that does not).(https://www.ccel.org/l/lake/fathers/didache.htm) The Liturgy of St. James, which is the oldest eastern Liturgy still used also uses the term for "debt" rather than "trespass".

https://christianity.stackexchange.com/ ... respassers

The Pulpit commentary on Matthew 6:12 comments: "The 'Didache,' 8, gives the singular, ὀφειλήν (cf. infra, Matthew 18:32), which Dr. Taylor ('Lectures,' p. 62) thinks is preferable. The singular, especially with "debtors" following, would very naturally be corrupted to the plural."

However , the Textual Criticism website has a copy of the Greek without "Forgive us our debts" and says:

Greek Text : - Taken from Loeb's Edition of The Apostolic Fathers

...ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς· τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸ ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς οφειλέταις ἡμῶν...

Loeb's Classics Library is generally very good quality, so it would be unusual for them to make a mistake about this.

I am not looking to solve a translation issue or to interpret the meaning of the text, but rather to see what Greek words the Greek hard copy has.

[Daniel Semler]

The edition I have edited by Michael Holmes has it :

“καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν,”
(Didache 8:2 Apostolic Fathers (Greek tagged text))
https://accordance.bible/link/read/AF-T#Did._8:2

Lightfoot's says the same.
Holme's claims to note almost all differences in modern editions, and notes none here.

The Perseus version in the Scaife viewer has it https://scaife-cts.perseus.org/api/cts? ... K-grc1:8.2. This is apparently the edition from 1912 by Lake.

I've not studied the textual variants in the Didache so I cannot speak to the variants. Is the textualcriticism website right in it's rendering or did it drop a clause by accident ? If so, does the Loeb edition have any text critical notes on this passage ?

Curiously the ccel.org edition would appear to be the Lake edition, based on it's URL. That would make it at odds with the Scaife Lake. And further it's title page https://www.ccel.org/l/lake/fathers/fathers-title.htm says :

Based on the text of the Loeb Classical Library

First published 1913

Reprinted 1917, 1924, 1930, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1959, 1965,

1970, 1976, 1992, 1997

No mention of Lake.

At a point like this I'd be seriously inclined to go back to paper and check the online sources are accurate.

Having ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν without the previous clause would certainly sound a little odd, not that that's any kind of proof. And that's possibly/probably because I've committed to memory a version containing it.

Thx
D

[Hal Smith]

I've not studied the textual variants in the Didache so I cannot speak to the variants. Is the textualcriticism website right in it's rendering or did it drop a clause by accident ? If so, does the Loeb edition have any text critical notes on this passage ?

Curiously the ccel.org edition would appear to be the Lake edition, based on it's URL. And further it's title page https://www.ccel.org/l/lake/fathers/fathers-title.htm says :

Based on the text of the Loeb Classical Library

First published 1913

Reprinted 1917, 1924, 1930, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1959, 1965,

1970, 1976, 1992, 1997

No mention of Lake.

At a point like this I'd be seriously inclined to go back to paper and check the online sources are accurate.

Daniel,
Your advice worked. I checked the paper/pdf version of Loeb's Classics online and it does have the missing Greek phrase:
(LOEB PDF: https://archive.org/details/theapostoli ... t/page/320 )
There are no textual variants of Chapter VIII in the Didache - the only surviving manuscript with this part comes from a Byzantine one found in modern times.
It must have been that the online typed editions made a copying error and skipped the Greek phrase, because the sources online without the phrase point to the Loeb edition as their source, which does have the phrase.

[Barry Hofstetter]

Text criticism lives! Hey, as a moderator, I can sometimes break the the "silly post/amen post" rule, right? But seriously, if you think about it, you guys did actual text critical work, comparing texts, considering the internal meaning if the text were omitted, and so forth.

Let me suggest that before making public claims, that it's a good idea if possible to check a text critical edition, and not just rely on an electronic edition. This is especially the case for materials on Perseus, which is good for quick reference or online reading, but not always accurate (though mistakes are rare, admittedly). Interestingly enough, I recently found a typo in the Loeb edition of Homer's Iliad which is in the print edition, but the Perseus text (drawn from a different source) has correct.