The Apostolic Tradition (or Egyptian Church Order) is an early Christian treatise which belongs to genre of the Church Orders. It has been described as of "incomparable importance as a source of information about church life and liturgy in the third century".
Re-discovered in the 19th century, it was given the name of Egyptian Church Order. In the first half of 20th century this text was unanimously identified with the lost Apostolic Tradition presumed by Hippolytus of Rome. Due to this attribution, this manual played a crucial role in the liturgical reforms of main mainstream Christian bodies. Recent scholarship has highly contested this attribution.
If the Apostolic Tradition was work of Hippolytus, it could be dated about AD 215 and its origin would be Rome. On the contrary recent scholars (see Bradshaw) believe that it contains material of separate sources ranging from the middle second to the fourth century, being gathered and compiled on about AD 375-400, probably in Egypt or even to Syria. Some scholars also suggest that the Apostolic Tradition portrays a liturgy that was never celebrated.
Read more about Apostolic Tradition: Manuscript Tradition, Attribution To Hippolytus, Content, Fortune
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