CHAP. CI.

DIDYMUS OF ALEXANDRIA.

1. His history and character, his commentaries upon the scriptures, and other works. II. His testimony to the scriptures farther shown. III. Select passages.

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1. 1. DIDYMUS, master of the catechetical school at Alexandria, flourished about the year 370. He lost his sight by a distemper, when very young, in the fourth or fifth year of his age, before he had learned to read, or whilst he was learning letters. He attained nevertheless to great learning; beside grammar and rhetoric, he understood logic, music, geometry, astronomy, the most abstruse problems of the mathematicians, and all the opinions of the philosophers; as we are assured by divers ancient ecclesiastical writers, who cannot forbear to call him a wonderful man. They also say, that he had great acquaintance with the divine oracles of the Old and New Testament, so as to write many commentaries upon them. As Sozomen says: Many excited by his great fame, came from far to Alexandria, some to hear him, others only to see him. And it was no small 'grief to the Arians that he maintained the Nicene doctrine.' He adds, that he persuaded men not so much by the force of his reasons, as by the agreeable manner of proposing προϊσαμενος εν Αλεξανδρεια το ἱερα διδασκαλειο των ἱερων μαθημάτων. Soz. 1. iii. c. 15. in. b Vid. Cav. H. L. T. i. p. 253. Didymus Alexandrinus multa de nostro dogmate per notarios commentatur; qui, post quintum navitatis annum luminibus orbatus, elementorum quoque ignarus fuit. Hieron. Chr. ad A. 372. p. 187. Et vid. infr. not. '.

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Is namque in parvâ ætate, cum adhuc etiam prima literarum ignoraret elementa, luminibus orbatus. Ruf. H. E. 1. ii. c. 7.

Ουτος κομιδη νεος ων, και τα πρωτα των γραμματων τοιχεια μαθων. Socr. 1. iv. c. 25.

1. iii. c. 15.

τυφλος εγενετο εν τη πρώτη πειρᾳ της μαθήσεως των τοιχείων. Soz.

πώς αυτος μοι διηγήσατο, τετραετής τας όψεις αποβαλων, μητε γραμμатwv μeμаłŋкws. Pallad. Hist. Laus. cap. 3. Ap. Bib. PP. Morell. T. xiii. p. 904.

d Ου μην αλλα και τα θεια λογια παλαιας και καινης διαθηκης έτως ακριβως εγνωκει, ώςε πολλα μεν εκδεναι βιβλια. Socr. 1. iv. c. 25. p. 241.

• Ην δε κ το τυχον θαυμα και πολλοι κατα το κλεος τε ανδρος εις Αλεξανδρειαν παρεγίνοντο, οἱ μεν αυτό ακεσομενοι, οἱ δε ἱπορησοντες μονον, κ. λ. Soz. 1. iii. c. 15. p. 523. C.

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them for he would make every one to be judge of the point in question.' Some account of the character of Didymus was given formerly, when the amiable mildness of his temper, here intimated by Sozomen, was collected from the moderation conspicuous in his writings against the Manichees.

2. In the preface to his own Commentaries upon Hosea, Jerom styles Didymus the most learned man of his time. Palladius says, he surpassed all the ancients in knowledge.

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3. Jerom often expresses great affection and esteem for Didymus. And though, when the controversy about Origen's orthodoxy was on foot, he takes notice of his acceding to the peculiar opinions of that eminent ancient, he always allows him to have maintained the catholic doctrine concerning the Trinity; and acknowledges his prodigious memory, great learning, and fine manner of writing.

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4. Jerom who has placed Didymus in his Catalogue of Illustrious Men, there says, that he wrote commentaries

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Vol. iii. p. 275. quum essem Alexandriæ, vidi Didymum, et eum frequenter audivi, virum sui temporis eruditissimum. Rogavique eum, ut, quod Origenes non fecerat, ipse compleret, et scriberet in Osee commentarios. Qui tres libros, me petente, dictavit, quinque quoque alios in Zachariam. Pr. in Osee. T. iii. p. 1238.

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· ὡς παντας ὑπερβεβηκεναι τες αρχαιες εν γνώσει. Hist. Laus. cap.

iii. ubi supra.

Prætermitto Didymum videntem meum. Pr. in ep. ad Gal. T. iv. P. i.

p. 222.

Et Didymus, cujus amicitiis nuper usi sumus. Prol. in Is. T. iii. p. 6.

Jam canis spargebatur caput, et magistrum potius quam discipulum decebat. Perrexi tamen Alexandriam; audivi Didymum. In multis ei gratias ago. Quod nescivi, didici: quod sciebam, illo docente, non perdidi. Ad Pamm. et Ocean. ep. 41. [al. 65.] T. iv. p. 342.

* In Didymo vero et memoriam prædicamus, et super Trinitate fidei puritatem sed in cæteris, quæ Origeni male credidit, nos ab eo retrahimus. Adv. Ruf. 1. iii. p. 463. f. T. iv. Conf. adv. Ruf. 1. i. p. 355. M.

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Quid respondebis pro Didymo, qui certe in Trinitate catholicus est? Cujus etiam nos de Spiritu Sancto librum in Latinam linguam vertimus.terum in aliis dogmatibus et Eusebius et Didymus apertissime in Origenis scita concedunt; et, quod omnes ecclesiæ reprobant, catholice et pie dictum esse defendunt. Adv. Ruf. 1. i. p. 407, 409.

Quis prudentior, doctior, eloquentior Eusebio et Didymo, assertoribus Origenis, inveniri potest? Ad Pamm. et Ocean. Ep. 41. [al. 65.] T. iv. p. 347. in.

1 Didymus Alexandrinus, captus a parvâ ætate oculis, et ob id elementorum ignarus, tantum miraculum sui omnibus præbuit, ut Dialecticam quoque et Geometriam, quæ vel maxime visu indiget, usque ad perfectum didicerit. Hic plura nobiliaque opera conscripsit: Commentarios in evangelium Matthæi et Johannis: et de dogmatibus, et contra Arianos libros duos: et de Spiritu Sancto librum unum, quem ego in Latinum verti: in Isaïam tomos decem et octo: in Osee, ad me scribens, Commentariorum libros tres: et in Zachariam,

upon the whole book of Psalms, and upon the gospels of Matthew and John; a treatise of the Holy Spirit, translated into Latin by Jerom; also commentaries upon Isaiah, Hosea, Zechariah, Job; against the Arians, in three books; and many other works. When Jerom wrote his book of Illustrious Men, in 392, Didymus was living, being then in the 84th year of his age. He died a short time afterwards. 5. The commentaries upon Hosea and Zechariah were written at Jerom's request. Many of Jerom's passages, where he speaks distinctly of Didymus's commentaries upon the scripture, are transcribed at length at the bottom of the pages of the chapter of Apollinarius; where they may be read by those who are curious.

6. Beside the commentaries mentioned by Jerom, Didymus wrote also enarrations, or short notes upon the seven catholic epistles, of which we saw a good proof some while" ago.

7. They who are desirous to know more of his commentaries upon the scriptures, may consult Fabricius and P Tillemont.

8. We still have a book of Didymus against the Manichees, in the original Greek, of which some notice was taken in the history of that' sect; the treatise of the Holy Spirit, in Jerom's version; and the Enarrations upon the seven catholic epistles in Latin. And in the Greek Chains are fragments of some of his commentaries. The late excellent Mr. J. C. Wolff, of Hamburg, published" a large collection of notes and observations of Didymus upon the Acts of the Apostles, taken from a manuscript Greek Chain at the University of Oxford.

II. In these three works still remaining, Against the Manichees, Of the Holy Spirit, and the Enarrations upon the catholic epistles, many of the books of the New Testament are frequently quoted.

1. The epistle to the Ephesians is quoted with that title.

meo rogatu, libros quinque: et Commentarios in Job: multaque alia, quæ digerere proprii indicis est. Vivit usque hodie, et octogesimum tertium ætatis excessit annum. De V. I. cap. 109.

m See note 8.

• Bib. Gr. T. viii. p. 353-357.

n See Vol. ii. p. 244.

Ap. S. Hieron. Opp. T. iv. P. i. p. 494, &c.
Ap. Bib. PP. Lugdun. T. iv. p. 319, &c.

" Vid. Wolff. Anecdot. Græc. T. iv. p. 1-52.

P Mem. Ec. T. x. &c. et ap. Canis. Lection. See Vol. iii. p. 275.

Hamb. 1724.

▾ Beatus quoque apostolus ad Ephesios scribens ait. De Sp. S. ap. Hieron.

T. iv. p. 497. in.

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2. Didymus received the epistle to the Hebrews, as Paul's. It is quoted in all the three works just mentioned; in the tract concerning the Holy Spirit, against the Manichees, and they Enarrations.

3. He supposeth the first epistle of Peter to be written to Jews scattered abroad in several countries.

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4. At the end of his Enarration upon the second epistle of Peter, he either says that it is spurious, or that it has been corrupted and interpolated, and therefore is not in the canon. Nevertheless, I think, it must generally have been in authority with the christians among whom Didymus lived, that is, at Alexandria; otherwise he would not have written notes upon it, together with the other catholic epistles. However, this passage, if rightly represented in the Latin version, may be allowed to be an intimation, that there were some, who had doubts about its genuineness and authority.

5. I suppose, that the book of the Revelation was received by Didymus; it is quoted in the Enarrations.

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6. He manifests his respect for the scriptures, calling them the divine scriptures, and continually proving what he asserts from the books of the Old and New Testament, and the writings of the apostles and prophets, in both which speaks the same Spirit.

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III. Shall I now add a few select passages, before I conclude this chapter?

1. Eph. ii. 3, " And were by nature children of wrath, as well as others." Didymus says, the meaning of " by

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Paulus in epistolâ, quam ad Hebræos scribit. De Sp. S. p. 495. Vid. et p. 502. et passim.

* Ως γράφει Παυλος τοις πιςοις· Τιμιος ὁ γαμος. κ. λ. Contr. Manich. ap. Combefis. p. 26. in. y Vid. Enarr. in 1 Joan. cap. iv. ap. z Positus Petrus circumcisionis

B. PP. T. iv. p. 333. B. apostolus, omniumque Judæorum habens studium, scribit eis qui in totius orbis dispersione morabantur, tanquam advenis civitatum extranearum. In 1 ep. Pet. c. i. in. p. 321. E. Vid. et Enarr. in ep. Jacob. p. 320. A. Non est igitur ignorandum, præsentem epistolam esse falsatam. Quæ licet publicetur, non tamen in canone est. Enarr. in 2 Pet. iii. ap. B. PP. T. iv. p. 326. G.

b

-cujus fit memoria in Apocalypsi per Jezabel. Enarr. in ep. Jud. p. 336. D. 'Ai Jelai ypapal. Contr. Manich. p. 22. m. Plena sunt volumina divinarum scripturarum his sermonibus. De Sp. S. p. 495. in.

d Veteris quoque Testamenti homo David.-Necnon etiam in Novo Testa

mento. Ibid.

* Possumus quidem testimonia de divinis literis exhibere, quia idem Spiritus et apostolis et prophetis fuit. Ibid. et passim.

f Ότι ημεν φύσει τεκνα οργης, ώς και οἱ λοιποι ανθρωποι· οἱ εισετι δευρο εν τῳ ἁμαρτάνειν οντες. Προσκείμενον δε το φύσει – το κατα φυσιν σημαίνει, αλλά

nature" is really, truly, indeed; for all sinners are obnoxious to wrath. "We were" once truly, really, "children of wrath, as well as others;" that is, as they who are still in sin.

2. He rejected the common notion of the Millennium, embraced by many at that time.

3. Didymus asserts the personality of the Holy Spirit: and yet he supposeth, that thereby is meant in many texts of scripture a gift, or a fulness of divine gifts.

CHAP. CII.

EPHREM THE SYRIAN.

I. His time and character. II. The editions of his works. III. A farther account of his works, for showing what books of the Old and New Testament were received by him. IV. General titles and divisions. V. Marks of respect for the scriptures. VI. Select passages.

I. EPHREM, or Ephraim, called the Syrian, was born at Nisibis, or near it, in Mesopotamia. But he spent the larger and latter part of his time at Edessa. He lived for a while a monastic kind of life; afterwards he was made deacon, which was the highest ecclesiastical order to which he attained.

το αληθεια-δηλων, ότι αληθείᾳ ὑπευθυνοι οργῇ ὑπαρχεσιν οἱ ἁμαρτανοντες. Contr. Manich. p. 23. A. Ed. Combef.

Si ergo in cœlis fidelibus hæc servatur hæreditas, frivola quædam et tepida proferant aliqui putantes, eam se percipere in terrenâ Jerusalem, &c. Enarr. in 1 ep. Pet. cap. i. ver. 4. p. 321. G. H.

h Nam eundem evangelii locum Matthæus Lucasque describens, alter ex his ait: Quanto magis Pater cœlestis dabit bona petentibus se?' [Matt. vii. 11.] Alter vero: " Quanto magis Pater vester cœlestis dabit Spiritum Sanctum petentibus se?' [Luc. xi. 13.] Ex quibus apparet, Spiritum Sanctum plenitudinem esse donorum Dei. De Sp. S. p. 496. in.

Dicimus autem virtutis et disciplinæ quosdam esse plenos: ut illud: Repletus est Spiritu Sancto.' Ex. xxxi. 3. non allud significantes, quam plenos esse consummatæ atque perfectæ virtutis. Ib. p. 498. m.

Quia nunc proposuimus ostendere, superintelligi semper in Spiritu Sancto dona virtutum: ita ut qui eum habet, donationibus Dei plenus habeatur. Unde et in Isaïâ,- Ponam Spiritum meum super semen tuum, et benedictiones meas super filios tuos.' Ib. p. 500. infr. in.