St. Didymus Bookstore features a wealth of spiritually edifying materials for both English– and Arabic-speakers as well as several devotional items, such as icons, crosses, pendants, necklaces, vigil lamps, and more from the Orthodox tradition. The Bookstore also features a burgeoning multimedia library.
The Bookstore was developed in only a few weeks due to the tireless efforts of the servants of the parish. May the Lord reward them thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.
Our work in developing this important resource will continue in the future, but for now, St. Didymus is officially open to all Orthodox Christians in the area during the following times:
Sundays — 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Wednesdays — 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Thursdays — 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Fridays — 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
We accept cash, check, or credit card.
For a tour, see the photos below.
Who was St. Didymus of Alexandria?
“You cannot surely be ignorant of Didymus, unless you are ignorant of the great city wherein he has been night and day pouring out his learning for the good of others.” — Libanius
Didymus the Blind, was revered as the foremost Christian scholar of the fourth century and an influential spiritual leader. He became entirely blind at age four; yet this turn of events in his life seems to have contributed to his voracious hunger for learning, and an amazing ability to apply himself to retaining information. From his youth, he prayed earnestly not for his physical eyesight, but for the illumination of the heart. After hearing lectures and scriptures read, he was known for spending hours “chewing the cud” on what he had just heard, until the message was truly inscribed on the pages of his mind.
He was noted for his exceptional kindness and angelic disposition. His fame spread far and wide. As head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria, Didymus had as his more famous students and hearers St. Antony of the Desert, Palladius, Evargrius Ponticus, St. Jerome and Rufinus of Aquilaea who studied with him for six years. He admitted to St. Anthony that the loss of his sight was a grief to him; to which Antony reportedly replied that he wondered how a wise man could regret the loss of that which he had in common with ants and flies and gnats, and not rather rejoice that he possessed a spiritual sight that saw into the glories of the kingdom of heaven.
As a “Seer,” Didymus had a prophetic gift. Palladius recounts a story told to him by Didymus: One day, when fasting and praying over the persecution of the church through Julian, Didymus fell asleep in his chair and saw a vision of white horses running in different directions, while the riders cried out, “Tell Didymus, to-day at the seventh hour Julian died; arise and eat, and inform Athanasius the bishop, that he may also know it.” Didymus noted the hour and the month and the week, and learned later that Julian died at the time of his vision.
Excerpted from Mercy Aiken
