The “Two Ways” of Early Church teaching
“There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.” (Didache Ch.1)
During the final week of our 2026 Spring Course Series at St. Therese Institute, we had the privilege of exploring the ancient text of The Didache with Hieromonk Gregory Hrynkiw—a Ukrainian Catholic priest, monk, teacher, and founder of the Monastery of the Three Holy Hierarchs. His life, marked by vocation, exile, scholarship, and quiet perseverance, offers a living witness to the ancient choice “between the two ways” which the Didache describes.
What Is the Didache?
The Didache—from the Greek word for “teaching”—is one of the earliest Christian writings we possess outside of the New Testament. Though rediscovered in full only in 1873, fragments and references to it appear in the writings of the early Church Fathers, suggesting it was widely known in the first centuries.
Fr. Gregory describes it simply, “It’s the most ancient, non-biblical or scriptural text of the New Testament era.”
Written in the wake of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), the Didache appears to have served as a guide for new converts—especially Gentiles entering the Christian faith. As Fr. Gregory explains, it likely functioned much like later Church catechisms:
“After a council, like the Council of Trent or the Second Vatican Council, there’s a collection of documents and there’s a catechism. In Acts 15, after the council in Jerusalem, they wrote a letter to the other churches that was to be accompanied by two others to explain the letter to those churches. And I believe that there was also a catechism. And that’s the Didache. It’s probably the first catechism in the church, and it was based on the catechisms that the Jewish believers used in the synagogue when people became proselytes and converted over to Judaism, based on the two ways: the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death.”
Fr. Gregory’s own life’s path, from seminary in Manitoba, to continuing studies with the Basilian order in Rome, to Ukraine and the assumption of authority over dozens of monasteries before being forced to flee for his life due to death threats, to Saskatchewan and the foundation of a new monastery east of Saskatoon, embodies the Didache’s vision of a life chosen deliberately and always oriented toward something beyond comfort or convenience.
The Two Ways: A Choice That Runs Through Every Generation
The opening lines of the Didache are striking in their clarity: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.” It echoes the teaching of Moses in Deuteronomy: “I have set before you life and death… therefore choose life.” It reflects Christ’s own words about the narrow gate and the wide road (cf Mt 7:13-14).
It is remarkable how central this idea is to the earliest Christian formation. Before doctrine is explained, before liturgy is described, before community structures are established—the choice is presented: Life or death.
The way of life, according to the Didache, is marked by love of God and neighbor, humility, generosity, purity, and truth. It is deeply relational, deeply ethical, and deeply embodied. The way of death, by contrast, is not merely the absence of goodness—it is a distortion of it. It includes violence, deceit, exploitation, and self-centeredness. It is the unraveling of community and the erosion of the human person. Fr. Gregory notes how striking it is that even in this earliest document, moral clarity is not ambiguous. “The moral requirements… are very explicit… about abortion, infanticide… those things are very clearly said to lead to death.”
As Fr. Gregory connects it to our present moment through St. John Paul II: “We’re living in a time now where we have to decide—are we going to create a culture of life or a culture of death?” This is not abstract spirituality. It is a way of life that must be chosen and lived.
A Window into the Early Church
Beyond its moral teaching, the Didache opens a window into the daily life of the early Church. It describes liturgical structure, including one of the earliest Eucharistic prayers. It references the Agape meal and reflects a community still forming its identity. It speaks to a Church that is both spiritual and practical. And perhaps most strikingly, it reveals a community navigating diversity—particularly the integration of Gentiles into what had been a predominantly Jewish movement. This was not a smooth process.
The Council of Jerusalem wrestled with these emerging questions of identity, practice, and unity. What traditions should be retained? What could be adapted? How could different cultures live together without compromising the Gospel? The Didache emerges from that context as a kind of guidebook—for belief, but also for living together.
Why It Matters Now
It would be easy to treat the Didache as a historical artifact. But its relevance is immediate.
“It’s an incredible window into… one of the earliest layers of the Church…and yet we see all those structures already in place that we see now.”
We are not as far removed from the early Church as we might think. We live in a time that, in many ways, mirrors the tension of the early Church. Questions of identity, morality, and community are once again at the forefront. The pressures of culture—what St. John Paul II would later call the “culture of death”—are pervasive. And we, too, are faced with the choice between two ways, which Fr. Gregory insists “cross through the human heart in every generation… we have to make those choices.”
The Narrow Path vs. The Little Way
The Didache and St. Thérèse of Lisieux seem worlds apart, but they both give witness to the daily choice to love. St. Thérèse writes: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice… do all for love.” This is still the Two Ways, almost 1900 years later, lived out quietly in daily choices.
Indeed, Fr. Gregory sees something distinctive about the community at St. Therese. They are already, in many ways, trying to walk that narrow path towards life. Fr. Gregory believes the Gap Year experience here, “is forming the whole person, not just academically, but a discipline of prayer, of study, of responsibility.” He sees this tied to our communal way of life—the shared meals, the rhythm of prayer, the responsibilities and relationships that shape life at St. Therese. The early Church, too, was a community living together; navigating challenges; supporting one another and holding each other accountable. Fr. Gregory says, “The St. Therese Gap Year program fills a gap within the Church,” echoing the Didache’s vision of the Church as a lived reality.
Choosing the Way of Life
The Didache leaves no room for neutrality. There are two ways. The difference between them is great. Both the Didache and St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus remind us that the choice for life is not made just once. It is made daily, quietly, often unnoticed. For the early Christians, for a Carmelite nun in Lisieux, for a monk in rural Saskatchewan, for participants at St. Therese Institute, and for all of us—the call is the same:
Choose life. Keep choosing it.
James Riley has been at St. Therese Institute longer than any of the rest of the mission staff can remember. He has seen many things and has worn many hats. He currently serves Christ here as the Deputy of Operations.