Didymus the Blind (313–98), blind from early childhood, committed himself to study Origen, and became one of his most influential successors in Alexandria. Brilliant, Didymus became one of the best educated men of his day. His memory of Scripture, as well as Christian, Jewish and pagan literature rivaled Origen, who he followed closely in exegetical methods. Didymus’ primary concern was the interpretation of Scripture and he played an important role in the transmission of Origen’s methods to a wider Christian audience.
Because of anti-Origenistic pronouncements, his works were condemned along with Origen’s in 553. As a result, many of his commentaries and works were lost and remained largely inaccessible until several thousand papyruses were discovered at Tura, near Cairo, in 1941.
