The book of Zechariah is "the longest and most obscure" of the Twelve Minor Prophets, Jerome remarked. That may have been the reason why in 386 he visited the Alexandrian scholar Didymus the Blind and requested a work on this prophet. Though long thought to be lost, the work was rediscovered in 1941 at Tura outside Cairo along with some other biblical commentaries. As a result we have in our possession a commentary on Zechariah by Didymus that enjoys particular distinction as his only complete work on a biblical book extant in Greek whose authenticity is established, which comes to us by direct manuscript tradition, and has been critically edited. Thus it deserves this first appearance in English.
A disciple of Origen, whose work on Zechariah reached only to chapter five and is no longer extant, Didymus's commentary on this apocalyptic book illustrates the typically allegorical approach to the biblical text that we associate with Alexandria. Even Cyril of Alexandria in the next generation will lean rather to the historical style of commentary found in the Antiochene scholars Theodore and Theodoret, whose works on the Twelve are also extant and who had Didymus open before them. Didymus alone offers his readers a wide range of spiritual meanings on the obscure verses of Zechariah, capitalizing on his extraordinary familiarity with Holy Writ (despite his disability), and proceeding on a process of interpretation-by-association, frequently invoking also etymology and number symbolism to plumb the meaning of the text. No wonder he remarks, "The reader who understands it is a seer"; such is the richness of the hermeneutical offering.
 ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR: 
 Robert C. Hill is honorary fellow and adjunct professor at the Australian Catholic University. He has translated many volumes in the Fathers of the Church Series, particularly those of the Old Testament commentaries of the Antioch Fathers, including John Chrysostom's Commentary on Genesis, Theodoret's Commentary on the Psalms, and Theodore of Mopsuestia's Commentary on the Twelve Prophets.
 PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: 
 "Hill's is the first complete English translation of any of Didymus's exegetical works. . . it will certainly set the tone for further research. . . . Hill's translation is readable and reliable." ― Peter Steiger, Journal of Early Christian Studies
 "This monograph is quite unique as it is the only complete commentary by Didymus extant in Greek on a biblical book where authenticity is confirmed, it comes to us by direct manuscript tradition, and the work has been critically edited by L. Doutreleau. This volume is its first appearance in English." ― Jonathan Ignatius von Kodar, Laval Theologique et Philosophique

Commentary On Zechariah (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)

Religion & Spirituality

Didymus The Blind

Christian Books & Bibles

The Catholic University of America Press

Commentary on Genesis (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)

Blind since early childhood, the Egyptian theologian and monk Didymus (ca. 313–398) wielded a masterful knowledge of Scripture, philosophy, and previous biblical interpretation, earning the esteem of his contemporaries Athanasius, Antony of Egypt, Jerome, Rufinus, and Palladius, as well as of the historians Socrates and Theodoret in the decades following his death. He was, however, anathematized by the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553 because of his utilization and defense of the works of Origen, and this condemnation may be responsible for the loss of many of Didymus's writings. Jerome and Palladius mentioned that Didymus had written commentaries on Old Testament books; these commentaries were assumed to be no longer extant until the discovery in 1941 in Tura, Egypt, of papyri containing commentaries on Genesis, Zechariah, Job, Ecclesiastes, and some of the Psalms. Certain features of the Genesis commentary, unfortunately not preserved in its entirety, seem to indicate that it may have been Didymus's earliest work. In addition to his silence regarding his other works, remarks on specific heresies as well as Christological interpretations occur much less frequently here than in his Zechariah commentary (previously published in Fathers of the Church Vol. 111). Moreover, the heavier reliance on Philo and Origen may indicate relative inexperience. Whereas Didymus specifically names Philo in this commentary, he never identifies Origen as one of his sources even when quoting the latter verbatim. Like Origen, he rejects anthropomorphic interpretations and proceeds to an allegorical approach when the literal meaning repels him. He does not, however, neglect the literal-historical level; see, for example, his examination of the story of the Flood. All three of Origen's levels of interpretation―literal, moral, and allegorical―are mobilized here. This previously untranslated text is crucial for studies of the fourth century and of the monumental influence of Origen.

Translated by Mark DelCogliano, Andrew Radde-Gallwitz, &amp; Lewis Ayres. In the second half of the fourth century the mystery of the Holy Spirit was the subject of fierce debate. Those who fought against the Nicene Creed opposed the idea that the Spirit was God. Even some of those willing to accept the equality of the Father and the Son saw the Spirit as more angelic than divine. The first great testament to the Spirit's divinity -showing how the Spirit creates and saves inseparably with the Father and the son- is St. Athanasius' Letters to Serapion. Only a few years later, Didymus the Blind penned his own On the Holy Spirit, which is here translated into English for the first time. For Didymus, the Spirit transforms Christians by drawing them into the divine life itself, and must therefore be one with the Father and Son. This volume offers new translations of two of the most powerful Patristic reflections on the work and nature of the Holy Spirit. Mark DelCogliano teaches at the University of St Thomas in St Paul, Minnesota, Andrew Radde-Gallwitz at Loyola University Chicago, and Lewis Ayres at Durham University in the United Kingdom.

Works on the Spirit (Popular Patristics)

Biographies & Memoirs

St. Athanasius the Great

Leaders & Notable People

St. Vladimir's Seminary Press

Lectures on the Psalms (Ancient Christian Texts)

History

Didymus

Hicks, Jonathan Douglas

Didymus the Blind, Didymus the

World

IVP Academic

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