Milavec, Aaron. The Didache: Faith, Hope, & Life of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50-70 C.E. New York: The Newman Press, 2003.
“How the Greek Manuscript was Discovered, Transcribed, and Translated” pp. 3-11.
The text of the Didache was discovered by Archbishop Philotheos Bryennios in 1873, located “in the library of the Greek Convent of the Holy Sepulchre in Istanbul” (Milavec 2003, 3). Although the library had been catalogued in 1845 and 1856, this text was missed. It was in a volume of other early writings and filled only a few pages (Milavec 2003, 4). Bryennios published one of the other texts from the manuscript but overlooked the Didache. Others saw it mentioned in his table or contents but missed the significance. It was finally published in 1883 (Milavec 2003, 5). Milavec used a transcription of the text with its taxigraphic signs expanded, a s published by J. Rendel Harris in 1887. He does make note of a number of small corrections based on photos of the manuscript (Milavec 2003, 6-7). Milavec does note that punctuation may well have been absent in the original. Most of his editorial corrections pertain to punctuation. As to corrections in the text, Milavec prefers not to include emendations based on the Latin or Coptic records or in the Apostolic Constitutions. The text may have challenges, but the complete Greek text is considered authoritative (Milavec 2003, 8). The text and translation as presented by Milavec is arranged in word groups which Milavec thinks will make the logic more clear (Milavec 2003, 9).
Milavec’s side-by-side Greek and English version of the text comprises pages 12-45. A review of the text and translation gives me the impression that Milavec’s work is rather non-literary. The purposeful genderless interpreation, in my opinion, obscures the natural flow of the language.