The Statutes of the Apostles (Apostolic Tradition)

Furthermore, fragments of a Latin version of the first form have recently been published, agreeing closely with the Ethiopic, while the Testamentum Domini nostri Latin: "Testament of our Lord." provides parallel content without a similar arrangement. Lastly, the Canons of Hippolytus and Constitutions by Hippolytus are extant in Arabic; his name is also found in the Ethiopic, likely derived from the Arabic source. How far the authorship of Hippolytus is to be accepted cannot currently be determined; the chief interest of the name lies in the additional evidence it provides for a Western origin of the canons.

If the various versions mentioned had the same, or even a single, rendering of the canons in question, there would be grounds for supposing they were derived from the eighth book, differing only according to the requirements of the excerptor. However, some versions give not only two forms of the same canons but also prefix a third form, which has been called the Apostolic Church Order. This links the regulations of the eighth book to an earlier state of ecclesiastical affairs and can hardly have been derived from it.

The existence of these various statements—or perhaps stages of Church ordinance—has suggested the possibility of a lost "Church Order." Perhaps this idea is too definite and offers an escape that is too easy from the perplexing obscurity of the situation and the complexity of the documents. Nevertheless, it may serve as a working hypothesis, distinguishing the position of those who work upon it from the view of scholars who seek the origin of all these documents in the authorship of Hippolytus, or from those who would derive all of them from the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions.