Word XII. The Expulsion of Adam and Eve From Paradise

Let the world weep bitterly with the first parents: fallen with the fallen through the sweet food (opening verse of the Synaxarion).

Two words to the first humans—the word of God the Creator and the word of Satan—and their consequences for the human race.

Today Holy Church calls to mind the sorrowful expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise for their disobedience to the Word of the Creator and for their trust in the false word of His enemy, the devil. O word, word, how weighty, how powerful and effective you are in your consequences! Behold, one word of the Creator brings forth out of non-being into being—a countless world of bright, intelligent, holy, good, mighty, and blessed, immortal spirits; then a world, boundless in space, thought, imagination, and sight—the material world, or, more precisely, the countless bright worlds of sun and stars, among them our own small world, the earth, with all its elements, with all the kingdoms of nature; and finally man—a rational, sentient creature, made in the image and likeness of God, upright, joyful, and blessed, a king over the whole earth; He plants for him, for this earthly king of creation, the paradise of delight, He promises him blessed immortality of body as well, on this one condition: that he keep this one commandment, that he faithfully and unquestioningly fulfill this one word of the Creator, as King and Giver of life—not to touch the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—so that, for obedience and humility, for faithfulness and devotion to His holy will, he might receive as a reward eternal favor and immortality.

It would seem that he need only have kept, gladly and joyfully, this light commandment of his Creator and Benefactor, if only out of gratitude to Him, and all the more so since the Creator had hedged the commandment about with the threat that they would die for its transgression.

There appears the crafty tempter, who envied the blessedness of humans, the evil spirit fallen through pride, the Day Star, and he speaks his crafty word to Eve: you shall not die, but you shall be like gods yourselves, knowing good and evil; do not believe God—taste the forbidden fruit. And what effect did this flattering word have upon Eve? She counted the word of the Creator false, and the word of the devil true; she tasted the forbidden fruit, and at the same time entered into a moral union, a covenant, a fellowship with the enemy of God, taking into herself the poison of sin and death; she led Adam into disobedience, passing on to him her whole sinful contagion; and they declared enmity against God, and at the same time were deprived of His grace, His light, His life, His peace. The poison, the foulness of sin, infected the whole being of the first humans. They became unfit for God, unworthy of His companionship. God’s righteousness required the expulsion of the transgressors from the bright, blessed dwelling of paradise, and from the company of the angels, and the fearsome Angel of God expelled them, settling them just outside paradise, to weep over their thoughtless fall. Let the whole world weep bitterly with the first parents: fallen with the fallen through the sweet food. Rational creatures, O men! I turn to all of you, as a member of the human family, with this question: what do these two words mean—the word and commandment of the Creator to the first humans, and the false, tempting word of the man-slaying devil?

Consider the consequences for men of the one word and of the other. What are they in their essence? The one word is living, creative, life-giving; the other, flattering, deluding, darkening, deadening. What has been, and to this day still is, the consequence of men’s obedience to the word of the enemy, or of a sinful man’s following of every suggestion of the bodiless enemies and of every passion? Is it not every kind of turmoil in the world—unbelief, godlessness, lawlessness, self-will, envy, sedition, murder, theft, plunder, drunkenness, foul deeds, every kind of violence, mutual enmity of nations, idolatry, countless discords in matters of faith, and the most absurd delusions?

And what are the consequences of a believing man’s obedience to the word of God, to the commandments of God, to the Gospel and to the holy, God-established Church of Christ? Faith, righteousness in every regard, every kind of social order, meekness, obedience, self-restraint, wisdom, courage, goodness, mercy. Obedience to the word of God leads to quiet, to peace, to every order in family, political, and economic life; to obedience to authorities, spiritual and civil.

To these two words—the word of God and the word of the bodiless enemy—all of us to this day are obedient; we listen to the one or to the other. Having obeyed the man-slaying enemy at the beginning, and still obeying him to this day, the human race has fallen into boundless madness; it has exchanged life for death, light for darkness, beauty for ugliness, wisdom for folly, incorruption for corruption; peace for the constant tumult of the passions, truth for falsehood, courage for constant fear, riches for poverty—for man was at the beginning rich with Godhead, and having lost God, lost everything, and became morally more destitute than any beggar, be he a tsar or a commoner, a nobleman or a plain man, rich or poor, priest or layman, learned or unlearned, merchant or farmer, man or woman. Through sin all fell short of the glory of God; all became destitute, all were stripped of the garment of righteousness, all fell from incorruption into corruption, all grew feeble in soul and body; all were clothed in the darkness of countless passions; all are guilty before God; all lie under the righteous, impartial judgment of God, which awaits each one of us, and all must humbly cry out: merciful Lord, have mercy on me who am fallen. Amen.