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Repentance and the Change of Nature
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Having repented of him very much. For in this way, the one having cast away the prostituting way in the house of God was received to the Church.
Regarding the fact that there is nothing of an evil nature, as some of the heterodox boast, a change of choice occurs; this is shown from the Gospel, by the Canaanite woman changing from a dog into a woman, becoming a daughter of the one who saved her, having said these things: 'Daughter, your faith has saved you' (Matthew 15:28 ). For perhaps because of this she happened to be a dog before the faith, because she was an unrestrained woman;... for she was looking toward a greedy and shameful flattery... a dog; immediately indeed, with a prostituting wage it is forbidden, the law saying: 'Not...
Greek αὐτὸν σφόδρα̣ μετανοήσαντα. Οὕτ̣ω̣ς γὰρ ὁ ἀπ̣οβαλὼν τὸν πορνικὸν τρόπον ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῇ [̓Εκκλησίᾳ εἰσήχθη. ‹5.210› Ὅτι δὲ οὐδενὸς ὄντος φύσει κακοῦ, ὡς δοξάζουσί τινες τῶν ἑτεροδόξων, μεταβολὴ προ̣αιρετικὴ γίνεται, παρίσταται ἐκ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, μεταβαλούσης τῆς Χαναναίας γυναικὸς ἐκ κυνὸς εἰς γυναῖκα, χρηματίζουσαν θυγατέρα τοῦ σώσαντος αὐτήν, εἰρηκότος τάδε· «Θύγατερ, ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε.» ‹5.211› Τάχα γὰρ διὰ του῀̣το ἐτύγχανεν κύων πρὸ τῆς πίστεως, ὅτι ἀκόλαστος ἦν γυνή· ······ορον γὰρ πρὸς ὀχείαν καὶ αἰσχροπαθῆ κολακείᾳ το······ κ̣ύων· αὐτίκα γοῦν σὺν πορνικῷ μισθώματι ἀπαγορεύεται, τοῦ νόμου λέγοντος· «Οὐκ
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About this text Didymus the Blind explains Zechariah verse by verse, from the measuring of Jerusalem and the high priest's filthy garments to the lampstand and flying sickle.
Didymus the Blind (c. 313–c. 398) was a Christian theologian in Alexandria who lost his sight at about age four and nevertheless became head of the city's catechetical school. He remained a layman and an ascetic scholar, deeply influenced by the work of Origen. He wrote this commentary for readers seeking a Christian understanding of the prophet Zechariah.
Jerome visited Alexandria in 386 and asked Didymus to write on Zechariah because Origen's own commentary had stopped at chapter five and Zechariah was considered the longest and most obscure of the Minor Prophets. Didymus composed the work shortly after that request and delivered it to Jerome by 393. The commentary survived in a single papyrus codex found in 1941 at Tura near Cairo, copied in the late sixth or early seventh century.
The commentary moves verse by verse through all fourteen chapters of Zechariah. Didymus reads the prophet's visions and oracles as prophecies of Christ's incarnation, the calling of the Gentiles, and the spiritual restoration of Jerusalem, understood as the Church or the purified soul. A reader will meet Zechariah himself, Joshua the high priest, Zerubbabel, the interpreting angel, and the devil, and will hear Didymus argue against heretics such as Tatian, Paul of Samosata, Photinus, Marcellus, Artemas, and Theodotus. To follow the work, know that Jerusalem and Zion are spiritual realities, the Dawn is a title for Christ, and the author quotes the Septuagint, so Psalms are numbered one lower than in many modern Bibles and books such as 1 Kingdoms are cited as 1 Samuel.
We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.
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