Dimitrios ZAGANAS - Against Origen and/or Origenists? Cyril’s of Alexandria rejection of John the Baptist’s angelic nature at his Commentary on John.

In his Commentary on John (1:6), Cyril of Alexandria rejects the conjecture (hyponoia) of some people (tines) that John the Baptist was an angel, sent by God, who took a human body. The text of Origen’s Commentary on John 1:6, which survives in Greek, enables us to identify ‘some people’ (tines) mentioned by Cyril as Origen, and to show, for the first time, the direct access that Cyril had to that particular work of Origen. Does Cyril, however, target Origen personally with this criticism? Does he seek to condemn him especially? No answer can be given, it seems, without taking into account the elements of Origen’s arguments made use of by the Bishop of Alexandria, and additionally, his reference to the many (polloi) who deny John the Baptist’s human nature.