not to be criticized. This exhortation reflects the esteem in which the prophetic message was held. At the same time, the author of the Didache and the communities to which he wrote were not naive. They had learned that not everyone who said he was a prophet in fact was, and it seems that at the time when the Didache was written there was a large number of men, both inside and outside the Church, who were claiming this status.5 A suspicion of prophets (and of wandering ministers in general) appeared,