Constitutions of the Holy Apostles

The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles,contains eight treatises on Early Christian discipline, worship, and doctrine, intended to serve as a manual of guidance for the clergy, and to some extent for the laity. It purports to be the work of the Twelve Apostles, whose instructions, whether given by them as individuals or as a body. The best manuscript has Arian leanings, which are not found in other manuscripts because this material would have been censured as heretical. The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles is an important source for the history of the liturgy in the Antiochene rite. It contains an outline of an anaphora in book two, a full anaphora in book seven, and the complete Liturgy of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions, which is the oldest known form that can be described as a complete divine liturgy.