“Τί ὅτι συνεφωνήθη ὑμῖν…” Community and Domestic Implications in the Episode of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5.1-11)

Abstract

One of the strangest episodes of Acts of the Apostles is that of Ananias and Sapphira, believers who suddenly die for defrauding the church with the amount of a donation. Our aim will be to understand this story as part of the author´s reflection on the charismatic and itinerant leadership, resisted by the end of the first century by new local authorities with a domestic base. While Acts vindicates the power of the apostles-prophets other contemporary writings such as Didache are demanding that the community tests charismatic teachers and take refuge in local leaders.