The most striking feature of Didymus' Christology is his
insistence on the reality and completeness of the human nature of the Savior.
This also can be explained by historical circumstances, since at this time
Didymus was involved in polemics with the Manichaean Docetists and with the
Apollinarians. He was also trying to refute the Arian denial of the completeness
of the human soul in Christ. At the same time Didymus stresses the absolute
indivisibility of these two natures, which were united forever when the Word
assumed flesh or, more exactly, when He became man.
Didymus does not examine the way in which the two natures are united, but he
makes clear that within this union they remain unblurred and unchanged. For some
reason he avoids the words μιξις, κρασις and συναφεια. Instead, he restricts
himself to the indefinite term “a single Christ,” which indicates the two
natures, divine and human, in Him Who is one and the same. For this reason there
is a single worship of Christ, Who has two natures. In connection with
this Didymus always refers to the Virgin Mary as the Bearer of God (apparently
the term Theotokos had already been used by
Origen and Pierius of Alexandria), and he also stresses her continuing virginity
(Athanasius had expressed this with αει παρθενος. The second, human
generation of the Word from the Virgin, is a mystery which in the opinion of
Didymus can only be compared to His eternal generation from the Father.
Didymus most frequently refers to Christ as the Savior. He
emphasizes that the primary significance of our salvation is our liberation from
sin and our victory over the devil and the power of death. This was apparently a
feature of Origen's system. Didymus also opposes the disobedience of Adam to the
obedience of the Second Adam, an obedience which extended even to the
sacrificial death on the cross, which he considers vital to our redemption. The
first gift of salvation is victory over death and eternal life. Didymus does not
deal with deification but speaks only about the return or the restoration of the
image and the likeness. He also focuses on the ransom.
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