Fragment on Hebrews · §1 · Didymus the Blind

The Superior Nature of Christ

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If all created nature worships Christ—for through the designation of the angels he signifies a nature superior in reason, just as it was once said in some passage concerning the angels: 'Sit at my right hand' (Ps 110:1); and he is above this—and the word of the scriptures forbade worshiping a creature, saying: 'lest, looking up into heaven and seeing the sun and the moon and the stars and all the cosmos of heaven, going astray, you worship them' (Deut 4:19). Since worshiping these is forbidden, so also for the other creatures, even if any should happen to be highly ascended. As has been said before, it is fitting to be confirmed that it is not a creature but the Creator who is Christ, even if for our sake he united to himself the created flesh, having obtained a soul rational and intelligent, and thus he is worshiped as God by all the creation (Heb 1:6).

To all belongs time, and an opportune time to every single thing under the heaven.

Greek

Fragmentum in epistulam ad Hebraeos 1,6 Εἰ πᾶσα ἡ γενητὴ φύσις προσκυνεῖ τῷ Χριστῷ–διὰ γὰρ τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων προσηγορίας τὴν ὑπέρτερον λογικὴν σημαίνει φύσιν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῷ τίνι γὰρ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἴρηκέν ποτε· κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου; καὶ ὑπεράνω ταύτης ἐστὶν αὐτός–καὶ προσκυνεῖν ὁ λόγος τῶν γραφῶν κτίσματι ἀπεῖπεν, μὴ ἀναβλέψας, λέγων, εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς 45 ἀστέρας καὶ πάντα τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πλανηθεὶς προσκυνήσῃς αὐτοῖς. ὡς δὲ τούτοις προσκυνεῖν κεκώλυται, οὕτω καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις κτίσμασι, κἄν τινα ὑπεραναβεβηκότα τυγχάνῃ. ὡς καὶ ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, διαβεβαιοῦσθαι προσήκει οὐ κτίσμα ἀλλὰ κτίστην εἶναι τὸν Χριστόν, εἰ καὶ δι' ἡμᾶς ἥνωσεν ἑαυτῷ τὴν κτιστὴν σάρκα ἐτυχωμένην ψυχῇ λογικῇ τε καὶ νοερᾷ, καὶ οὕτω δὲ προσκυνούμενος ὡς θεὸς ὑπὸ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως. 65lem τοῖς πᾶσιν χρόνος, καὶ καιρὸς τῷ παν-τὶ πράγματι ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν. 1

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About this text

A few lines on Hebrews 1 by Didymus the Blind: all creation, the angels included, worships Christ, and since Scripture forbids the worship of a creature, Christ is the Creator, who also took created flesh.

Didymus the Blind (c. 313–c. 398) is the author of this fragment on Hebrews. It is not Severian's fragments on that letter.

He argues that if all creation worships Christ, Christ is not a creature. The fragment then speaks of Christ's union with created flesh.

A reader needs the line in which the angels worship the Son, and the difference between the Creator and a creature. The citations use the old names of the biblical books.

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Translated from PG (Greek)

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