The Saints of Didache

Leviticus 22,10 forbids anyone unworthy to take part on the holy portion of the sacrificial meal. In the early Christian communities this meal was replaced by the Lord’s Supper. From the first struggles of whether to invite also Gentile Christians, the Church made a long path when they started to treat their own sacrificially understood meal with the same strictness as their Mother-group and when they required of the participants of the “Eucharist” nothing less than holiness. Rigs (1995,266) speaks about “a transition from the table-sharing towards a divine food”. Who may “come” (10,6) as the Didache suggests (//Rev 22,17)? The criterium is: e? t?? ????? ?st??. Who are then these "saints"? Are they baptized Christians in general (Milavec, Niederwimmer stands in the middle) or some special group of "holier" inter pares (Dibelius, Leitzmann, Asting, Prinzivalli-Simonetti)? In my presentation I will argue for the first option through examples of several NT cases (Pauline prescripts etc.) and the three occurrences of “saints” in Didache: In 4,2 in the Two Way Tractate, the new initiates are encouraged to "cleave to the saints". Further, 10,6 invites the "saints" to the Eucharist, as opposed to the “dogs”, who should repent. Finally, 16,7 expects the saints to be in the eschatological party at the resurrection. The saints are those who have been baptized and who thus belong to the new age if they persist in the perfect walk on the Way of Life (//Isa 35,8).