Didymus the Blind

Who was Didymus the Blind?

Didymus the Blind was a Christian theologian in the Coptic Church of Alexandria, whose famous Catechetical School he led for about half a century. Despite his impaired vision, his memory was so powerful that he mastered dialectics and geometry, subjects whose study usually benefits appreciably from sight.

Didymus wrote many works: Commentaries on all the Psalms, the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of John as Against the Arians, and On the Holy Spirit, which Jerome translated into Latin. He also wrote on Isaiah, Hosea, Zechariah, Job, and many other topics. Didymus’ biblical commentaries, which supposedly addressed nearly all the books of the Bible, survive in fragments only. His Catholic Letters are of dubious authenticity. He is probably the author of a treatise on the Holy Spirit that is extant in Latin translation.

He was a loyal follower of Origen, and opposed Arian and Macedonian teachings. Such of his writings as survive show a remarkable knowledge of scripture, and have distinct value as theological literature.