Беседа XVII

“And she heard the voice of the Lord God, going into paradise at noon” (Gen. 3:8). 1. Quite, it seems, we recently explained, to the best of our ability, about the tree, showing your love the reason why the Divine Scripture called it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, today I want to turn to the following, so that you know the unspeakable love of God and the condescension He showed as a result of caring for our race. Truly, He did and directed everything so that the rational animal He created would enjoy all honor and in no way be inferior in life to the Angels, but would also acquire their dispassion in the body. And when he saw that both of them (the first parents), out of impersonality, violated His commandment, despite the fact that He had preceded and protected them with a threat, then even after that he did not stop His love for mankind, but (remained) faithful to His goodness. Just as a child-loving father, seeing that his son, through carelessness, behaves unworthy of his nobility and has fallen from the heights of honor into extreme humiliation, out of a feeling of ardent parental love, does not leave him in this position, but again fulfills his (duty), trying little by little to free him from this humiliation and raise him to his former honor, in the same way the all-good God, taking pity on a person because of the evil intent to which he was subjected, seduced by his wife and having accepted the advice of the devil through the serpent, he immediately comes to him, like a doctor to a sick and suffering person who lies and needs many different treatments and help from a doctor. But in order for you to know the unspeakable condescension of God from the very words (of Scripture), you need to listen to what has been read. “And they heard,” it is said, “the voice 105 of the Lord God, going into paradise at noon, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord in the midst of the tree of paradise” (Gen. 3:8). Let us not pass, beloved, without taking into account what is said by the Divine Scripture and let us not dwell on the words, but let us think that such simple words are used for the sake of our weakness, and everything is done decently for our salvation. After all, tell me, if we want to take words in their literal meaning, and do not understand what is being communicated in a godly manner, then won’t many things seem strange? Let's look at the very beginning of this reading. “And they heard,” it is said, “the voice of the Lord God, walking into paradise at noon,” and they were afraid. What are you saying? God walks? Shall we attribute His feet too? And let’s not mean anything higher by this? No, God does not walk - let him not! How, in fact, is it possible that He Who is everywhere and fills everything, Whose throne is heaven and earth is His footstool, walks in Paradise? What reasonable person would say this? What does it mean: “she heard the voice of the Lord God, going to heaven at noon?” He wanted to arouse in them such a feeling (of the closeness of God) in order to plunge them into anxiety, which is what actually happened: they felt this and tried to hide from God approaching (to them). Sin and crime arose, and shame fell upon them. An impartial judge, i.e. conscience, rebelling, cried out in a loud voice, reproached them, showed them and, as it were, brought before their eyes the gravity of the crime. For this reason, the philanthropic Master, having first created man, placed conscience in him, as an incessant accuser who cannot be deceived or deceived. Even if the one who has committed a sin and committed an unlawful deed has managed to hide from all people, he cannot hide from this judge; on the contrary, he always carries within himself this accuser who worries him, torments him, punishes him, never subsides, but attacks him at home, and in the square, and in meetings, and at the table, and during sleep, and when waking up, demands an account of his misdeeds, and presents in sight the severity of his sins, and the punishment that threatens him, and, as a diligent doctor, does not cease to apply her medicine, although she sees that they will not listen to her, does not retreat, but continues to constantly care. 2. This is precisely the point: to constantly remind (of sin) and not allow him (the sinner) to ever reach the point of forgetting about his misdeeds, but to expose them to his sight, so that at least through this he will make us not so prone to repeating previous sins. If many of us do not overcome carelessness and with such assistance and help from conscience, having within ourselves such a strong accuser and punisher - conscience that torments the heart and strikes more powerfully than any executioner, then without this help we would not immediately perish? Therefore, now the primordial one, having felt this feeling in himself and having received the thought of the presence of God, at that very moment hides. Why (this), tell me? Because he saw that a strong accuser had arisen against him, i.e. conscience. He had no other accuser and witness of sin other than the one he carried within himself. And on the other hand, along with the conviction of conscience, the loss of glory, which had hitherto clothed them like a bright robe, gave them, through (the feeling of) nakedness, to understand the severity of the sin they had committed. When, therefore, after that grave sin they were covered with shame, they tried to hide. “He heard,” it is said, “the voice of the Lord God, walking into paradise at noon, and Adam and his wife hid from the presence of the Lord God 106 in the middle of the tree of paradise.” There is nothing, beloved, worse than sin: having come, it not only covers us with shame, but also makes mad those who were previously reasonable and filled with great wisdom. Think to what madness the one who previously possessed such wisdom, who actually showed us the wisdom bestowed upon him, who uttered such a prophecy, finally reached what madness. Having heard, as it is said, “the voice of the Lord God who walks into paradise at noon,” he, together with his wife, hid from the face of “the Lord God in the middle of the tree of paradise.” What madness is it to want to hide from God, who is omnipresent, from the Creator, who called everything from non-existence into existence, who knows the hidden, who created the individual hearts of people, who knows all their deeds, who tests hearts and wombs and sees the very movements of our hearts? But don't be surprised, beloved! This is the custom among sinners: although they cannot hide, they nevertheless try to hide. That they did this, unable to bear the shame with which they were covered after sin, having lost that imperishable glory, think about where they are hiding? "In the Middle of Paradise" Just as worthless and ungrateful servants, unable to hide from their master, rush from one corner of the house to another because fear troubles their souls, so too these (ancestors), not finding any refuge, take refuge in the house itself, i.e. in Paradise. It is not without intention that the time (of God’s coming) is indicated; “I heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in paradise at noon,” and in order for you to know the Lord’s love for mankind, He did not hesitate at all, but as soon as he saw what had happened and the severity of the wound, he immediately hastened with healing, so that the wound, having become inflamed, would not become inhealable. Therefore, He hastens to warn and immediately stops the growth of the wound, and, following the attraction of His goodness, did not leave it without care for a minute. The enemy of our salvation, always jealous of our bliss, showed such malice that at the very beginning he set up intrigues and, through his disastrous advice, deprived them of that wonderful state. But the All-Wise God, who organizes our (life) according to His wisdom, seeing both the malice of the devil and the carelessness of man, by which he, being deceived together with his wife, plunged himself into such shame, appears and, as a meek and humane Judge, opens a court full of fear and trembling, carries out an accurate investigation, inspiring us through this to judge our neighbors not before having made an accurate investigation. 3. So let us listen, if you like, to what the Judge asks, what the defendants answer, what punishment is determined for them, and what kind of condemnation is imposed on the one who gave them such a slander. But, I ask, strain your mind and listen to what is said with great fear, because if we, seeing the earthly judge sitting on an elevated place and leading the defendants into the middle, beating and punishing them, stand with considerable fear, wanting to hear what the judge says and what the guilty person answers, then all the more should we do so now that we see the Creator of nature carrying out judgment over his creatures. But if you listen carefully, you will see what a difference there is between God’s love for mankind and people’s cruelty towards their neighbors. “And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Adam, where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9)? The question itself already makes one marvel at God’s immeasurable love for mankind, not only in the sense that He called, but also in the fact that He called Himself, which people do not do in relation to others like themselves, who have the same nature as themselves. You know that when judges, sitting on a high seat, judge criminals, they do not deign to give them a (personal) answer, showing them through this what dishonor they have subjected themselves to by committing bad deeds; Although the judge answers, his answers are conveyed to the defendant, and then the words of the defendant are reported to the judge by someone else, standing between them. This, as everyone knows, is the custom among judges everywhere. But God (did) wrong - how? He Himself calls. “And he called,” it is said, “the Lord God to Adam, and said to him: Adam, where are you?” See what power lies in this short speech. To call the guilty person is already a matter of great and unspeakable love for mankind; covered with shame and not daring to open his mouth and move his tongue - to give a reason (for justification) with a question is a matter of great goodness. But the words: “where you are” have a great meaning in addition to (indicating) philanthropy. God seemed to be saying this to Adam: what happened? I left you as someone else, and as someone else I find you today; having left you clothed with glory, now I find you naked. “Where are you”? How did this happen to you? Who brought you to such a change? What robber and thief, having so suddenly stolen all your wealth, left you in such poverty? Where did your feeling of nakedness come from? Who is to blame for the fact that you have lost the wonderful clothing with which you were clothed? What is this sudden change? What storm drowned all your cargo so quickly? What happened that you are trying to hide from the One who has blessed you so much and elevated you to such honor? Afraid of whom are you now trying to hide? Has the accuser appeared? Did any witnesses come forward? Where did such timidity and fear come from in you? “I heard Your voice 107 and went into paradise, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Gen. 3:10). Where do you get the consciousness of nakedness? Tell Me, what is this news and strangeness? Who could ever have told you this if you had not caused yourself such shame, if you had not eaten from that one tree from which I commanded you not to eat? Pay attention to the philanthropy and extreme kindness of the Lord. He could immediately, without even deigning to answer the one who committed such a sin, subject him to the punishment that He had already determined in advance for the crime, but He endures for a long time, hesitates, asks and listens to the answer, and asks again, as if calling the guilty person to justify himself, so that, if a case opens, he can show him His love for mankind even after such a crime. Through this, He inspires us so that when judging the guilty, we should not treat them rudely and not show brutal cruelty towards them; but they would show their generosity and condescension, as if carrying out judgment on their members and remembering that they are of the same nature as us, they would dissolve the punishment with philanthropy. It was not without intention that Divine Scripture used such condescension (in words); through rudeness of speech it teaches us God’s love for mankind and arouses zeal to imitate the goodness of the Lord to the best of human ability. “And he said to him: Who can tell you that you are naked, except from the tree of which you were commanded not to eat?” (Gen. 3:11)? How could you, he says, know this and be covered with such shame if you had not indulged in extreme intemperance and neglected My commandment? 4. Pay attention, beloved, to the abundance of God’s goodness: He speaks with him (Adam) as with each other, and reproaches him for violating His commandment. “Who can tell you that you are naked, except from the tree of which you were commanded not to eat?” A lot of power lies in the words: “this one.” Did I, he says, hinder you from enjoying (the pleasures of heaven)? Didn’t I give you complete freedom and give you the power of everything that is in Paradise, commanding you to abstain from only wood, so that you could see that you are under the Master and must show some obedience? What kind of carelessness is this that you, having so many pleasures, could not abstain from this one (tree), but so quickly broke the commandment I gave and subjected yourself to so many disasters? What benefit did you receive? Didn't I talk about this in advance? Did you not restrain and protect yourself through fear of punishment? Didn't he tell you what would happen to you? Was it not for this reason that I forbade you to eat (from the tree) so that you would not be exposed to these (disasters)? Who will forgive you when, after so many warnings, you turned out to be so inattentive? Didn’t I command about everything, like a father to a beloved child, and didn’t I inspire you to eat from other trees, and refrain from that, so as not to lose all your benefits? But you, of course, recognized the advice of another as good and even more worthy of trust than My commandment, and you did this, hoping to achieve more; having despised My commands, he dared to eat from the tree. You have learned from your own experience how harmful this advice is. Do you see the Judge's philanthropy? Do you see His unspeakable meekness and gentleness? Do you see the condescension that surpasses every word and thought? Do you see how with the question and words: “Who can tell you that you are naked, except from the tree of which you were commanded not to eat?” - (God) wants to open the door to justification for him in order to show such a sinner His love for mankind. Let's listen to the culprit, what is his response to this? “And Adam said,” it is said, “The woman that you gave with me, she gave to me from the tree, and it died” (Gen. 3:12). Unhappy words, arousing great pity and capable of inspiring the Lord, who so meekly and with goodness overcomes our iniquities, to love for mankind. Since (God) with His great long-suffering shook his soul and showed him the severity of his sin, Adam, in his justification, says to Him: “The woman that you gave with me, you gave to me from the tree, and I died.” I admit myself, he says, a sinner; but “the woman you have given to be with me,” about whom You yourself said: “Let us make him a helper after him,” she was the cause of my destruction. “Wife, you have given it to be with me.” Could I have expected that she would subject me to such shame, who was created for this purpose, to give me consolation? You gave it to me; You brought her to me. She, I don’t know for what reason, “gave me from the tree, and died.” This has some form of justification, but it does not bring forgiveness. What kind of forgiveness, says (God to Adam), can you really deserve, having forgotten My commandments and preferring what was given by your wife to My words? Even though your wife gave it, My commandment and the fear of punishment were enough to make you run away from the meal. Didn't you know? Didn't he know? Taking care of you, I said in advance so that you would not be subjected to this. So, although your wife gave you a reason to break the commandment, you will not be innocent from this. You should show more confidence in My commandment, and not only refrain from eating it yourself, but also show your wife the importance of sin. You are the head of the wife; she was created for you; but you perverted the order and not only did not correct it, but you yourself got carried away; the body should obey the head, but the opposite happened: the head followed the body, and the higher became the lower. Since you have perverted the whole order, you are now in this state, you who were hitherto clothed with such glory. Who will adequately pay you for the loss of so many benefits? And for everything that happened to you, do not blame anyone else but yourself and your carelessness. If you had not wanted, your wife could not have brought you to this destruction. She didn’t beg you, didn’t persuade you, didn’t seduce you. She just served it, and you immediately decided to eat with such ease, not at all remembering My commandment, but thinking that I had deceived you and did not allow you to eat so that you would not acquire greater benefits. And for what purpose could you be deceived by Me, Who poured out so many blessings on you? And the very fact that I preceded you and commanded abstinence so that you would not be exposed to real disaster, and what a blessing it was! But you, imputing all this to nothing, learned from experience the severity of your sin. So, do not attribute guilt to your wife alone, but also to your carelessness. 5. After the all-good Lord had a sufficient conversation with Adam and he made a confession of sin, placing, as he thought, the blame on his wife, look what kind of condescension (the Lord) again uses, how he deigns the wife to answer before Him. “God said,” it says, “to the woman: What have you done?” (Gen.3:13). You heard, he says, that your husband places the blame on you and attributes everything to you, who was given to help him and was created in order to give him the consolation that you can, as being similar to him and having a common nature with him. Why did you do this, wife? Why did she become the culprit of such shame both for herself and for her husband? What benefit did you get from such intemperance? What profit do you have from the seduction to which you voluntarily succumbed and in which you made your husband a participant? What about the wife? “The serpent deceived me,” she answered, “and I died.” Look, she is seized with great fear and justifies herself in committing sin. Just as the husband thought to lay the blame on his wife, saying: the wife brought it and gave it to me, and I ate, so she, not finding any refuge, admits what she had done and says: “The serpent deceived me, and I was poisoned.” This evil animal, he says, caused us such destruction; its harmful advice plunged us into such shame, it deceived me, and I ate. Let us not, beloved, pass these words without attention, but let us consider them carefully, so that we may receive great benefit from this. The judgment here is terrible and full of horror, and one must listen carefully to everything that is said, and collect from it a great treasure for the mind. Look, and the husband says: “Wife, even as you gave with me, you gave to me, and I died.” There is no coercion, no violence, willfulness and determination are visible: only “dade”, not coerced, not forced. And the wife again did not say in her defense: the serpent forced me, “and I died,” but what? “The serpent deceives me”; and it was in her power to yield or not to yield to seduction. “The serpent,” he says, “deceive me.” And indeed, the enemy of our salvation, who acted and gave advice through this evil animal, deceived (the wife), i.e. he did not force or force, but brought his deception into play through disastrous advice, since he found that the wife could easily accept a deception that did not deserve any apology. The serpent “deceives me and kills me.” See how the all-good Lord is content with their words and does not force them to say anything more. After all, He did not ask about this because He did not know: He knew, and knew completely, but in order to show His love for mankind, He condescends to their weakness and calls them to confession of sin. That's why He doesn't ask anything else. It was necessary to know the type of 109 deception; but to show us that the question (to the wife and husband) was not made out of ignorance, God is satisfied with what they said. Having said: “The serpent deceived me, and poisoned me,” the wife thereby pointed out the disastrous suggestion that she received from the devil through the serpent, i.e., that after eating it “you will be like a god.” Have you seen how carefully Adam was questioned? With what leniency was the wife brought into the court? How did they both justify themselves? Look now at the excess of the Judge’s unspeakable philanthropy. When the wife said: “The serpent deceived me and poisoned me,” then (God) no longer deigns the serpent to answer, does not allow him to justify himself and does not ask him, as he (asked) the husband and wife; but, having accepted their justification, she rushes at him as the culprit of all evil. And since He, as God, who knows and knows the hidden, knew that the serpent served as an instrument of the devil’s intrigues and malice against man, so that you would know His goodness towards people, by which He, although He knew it, spoke to only one: “Where are you? Who will tell you that you are naked? - another: “What have you done?” - does not act this way in relation to this evil beast, but how? “And the Lord God said to the serpent: for thou hast created this.” Do you see the difference? He said to his wife: “Why have you done this?” - and to the snake: “As thou hast created this.” Since you, he says, did this evil, gave this disastrous advice, served as an instrument of such great malice, so sharpened (the sting) of envy against what I created, then “cursed are you from all cattle and from all the beasts of the earth; 110 You will walk on your belly and take away the earth all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will keep your head, and you will keep his heel” (Gen. 3:14-15). 6. Pay attention here to the order and sequence, which fully reveals the love of mankind (of the Lord). When doing the interrogation, He began with the husband, then moved on to the wife. And when she pointed out the culprit, He, approaching the serpent and not demanding an answer from him, imposes (on him) a punishment and, moreover, one that would always last and, being in sight, constantly teach all subsequent (generations) not to accept such disastrous advice and not to be deceived by his tricks. But perhaps someone will say: if the devil gave the advice, using a snake as an instrument, then why was this animal subjected to such punishment? And this was a matter of God’s ineffable love for mankind. Just as a loving father, punishing the murderer of his son, breaks both the knife and the sword with which he committed the murder, and breaks them into small pieces - in the same way, the all-good God, when this animal, like some sword, served as an instrument of the devil’s malice, subjects him to constant punishment, so that we can conclude from this sensory and visible phenomenon in what dishonor he is. If the one who served as an instrument was subjected to such anger, then what punishment should he suffer? Christ especially showed this to us, saying in the Divine Gospel to those standing on the left: depart from me the curse into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel (Matthew 25:41). It was prepared for him from ancient times, that unquenchable fire awaits him. What could be more unfortunate than those people who, through neglect of their salvation, make themselves guilty of the same execution that is prepared for the devil? That if we want to do virtue and fulfill the laws established by Jesus Christ, the Kingdom is prepared for us - listen to what He (Christ) says about this: “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Do you see that an unquenchable fire is prepared for him, and for us, if we are not careless, the Kingdom? Thinking about this, let us take care of life, let us avoid evil and never be deceived by the tricks of the devil. If you want and do not feel tired, let us also examine the punishment imposed on the serpent, so that in this way, little by little, having reviewed the judgment to the end, we can see the greatness of God’s love for mankind. If people often spend the whole day looking at the judge sitting at the public tribunal and pronouncing sentence on the defendants, and do not leave until they see that the judge has stood up, with all the more diligence should we now look at the all-good God - how He, on the one hand, determines a heavy punishment for the snake, so that by punishing this with the senses of the comprehended animal, which the evil demon used as an instrument, to give us an understanding of that the punishment that will befall him, and how, on the other hand, he mercifully imposes on both the wife and the husband a proportionate punishment, serving more for correction than for torment, so that we, having carefully examined all this, marvel at the care of the man-loving God, which He showed in relation to our race. What is He saying? “And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are you from all cattle and from all the beasts of the earth. You will walk on your stomach and belly, and you will take away the earth all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will watch over your head, and you will watch over his heel.” 7. Great and strong is the wrath, because the deception that the evil devil did through the serpent is also excessively great. “And the Lord God said to the serpent: for thou hast created this.” Since you, he says, served as an instrument of such malice and thus carried out the deception, giving disastrous advice and dissolving the deadly cup for (the ancestors); since you did this and wanted to deprive My favor of those who were created by Me, having served as an instrument of the will of the evil demon, who fell, out of malice and immeasurable pride, from heaven to earth, then for this, that he used you as an instrument, I impose on you constant execution, so that from what happened to you, he could know what punishment would befall him, and subsequent people learned not to be carried away by his suggestions and do not heed his seduction, so as not to be subjected to the same thing: for this “you are cursed... from all the beasts,” since you did not use your wisdom properly; on the contrary, the advantage that you had over all animals became the cause of all evil for you. “The serpent,” it is said, “is the wisest of all the cattle and beasts” of the earth 111. For this you will be “cursed from all the cattle and beasts of the earth.” But since the object of the curse was not subject to the senses and was not visible to the eyes, that is why (God) imposes sensory punishment on it, so that we can constantly have before our eyes traces of his execution. “You will walk on your stomach and belly, and you will carry away the earth all the days of your life,” - he says because you did not use (your) device in the proper way, but dared to enter into a conversation with the rational animal created by Me. Just as the devil, who worked through you and used you as an instrument, was thrown out of heaven for dreaming (about himself) beyond his dignity, in the same way I command you to accept a different form of structure - to creep on the earth and feed on it, so that it will no longer be possible for you to look up, but must constantly be in this position and, alone among all the animals, feed on the earth. And not only that, but “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.” I will not be content with this, for you to crawl on the ground, but I will also make your wife an implacable enemy to you; and not only her, but I will make her seed also constantly hostile to your seed. “He will watch over your head, and you will watch over his heel.” I will give it (the seed of the wife) such power that it will always step on your head, and you will be under its feet. Look, beloved, how in the punishment of this animal God shows us His care for the human race! And this applies only to the sensual serpent; but anyone who wishes can then delve into the meaning of what is written and understand that if it is said about the sensory (serpent), then it is even more necessary to apply what was said to the mental serpent. And having destroyed him, God cast him under our feet and gave us the power to step on his head. Isn’t this what He points to when He says: “tread on the serpent and the scorpion” (Luke 10:19)? So that we do not think that this is said about sensual animals, He added: “and against all the power of the enemy.” Have you seen God's immeasurable love for mankind and the punishment inflicted on the devil's instrument? Let's move on, if you like, to the wife again. Since he (the snake) deceived him, he was the first to receive punishment; and since he was the first to seduce his wife, and then she had already seduced her husband, then God subjects her first to punishment, which, however, was aimed at correction. “And he said to the woman: I will multiply your sorrows and your sighs: in your pain you will bear children, and when you turn to your husband, she will have possession of you” (Gen. 3:16). Look at the goodness of the Lord, what meekness He shows after such a crime. “By multiplying I will multiply your sorrows and your sighs.” I, he says, wanted you to lead a carefree, painless life, free from all sorrow and sorrow and filled with all pleasure, (I wanted you, being clothed with a body, not to feel anything corporeal). But since you did not properly take advantage of such happiness, but the excess of blessings brought you to such great ingratitude, so that you do not indulge in even greater self-will, I put a bridle on you and condemn you to sorrow and sighing. “By multiplying I will multiply your sorrows and your sighs: in sickness you will give birth to children.” I, he says, will make sure that the birth of your children - a source of great consolation - will begin with sadness, so that you yourself in everyday sorrows and sorrows during childbirth will have a constant reminder of how great this sin and disobedience is, so that over time you will not consign to oblivion what happened now, but would know that the reason for this was deception for you. Therefore, “by multiplying I will multiply your sorrows and your sighs: in sickness you will give birth to children.” Here we mean the diseases of birth and the great labor that (the wife) must endure, carrying the fetus like a burden for so many months, as well as some special pains that arise from this, stretching of the limbs and those unbearable sufferings that only those (wives) who have experienced (them) know. 8. However, the humane God gave, along with sorrows, such great consolation that the joy of the birth of a baby is equal to those illnesses that torment the mother’s womb for so many months. Those who endure such labor, so tormented by illnesses and, so to speak, despairing of life itself, after they give birth and enjoy the joy of (their) suffering, again, as if forgetting everything that happened, indulge in childbearing: this is how God arranged it for the continuous preservation of people! The hope of future blessings always makes it easier to endure present sorrows. Anyone can see this in enterprising merchants who cross vast seas, endure shipwrecks and (attacks of) sea robbers and often, after many such dangers, are deceived in their hopes, and despite this, do not stop, but again take up the same thing. The same can be said about farmers: and they, after cutting deep furrows, use a lot of labor to cultivate the land and generously sow seeds, are often deceived in their hopes, due to drought or lack of fruit, or the onset of rust at the very end (ripening) of the ears, 112, however, despite this, they do not lag behind, but again, when the time comes, they take up farming. This can be noticed in any activity. It’s the same with the wife: often she, after many of those months (of pregnancy), after unbearable pain, after sleepless nights, after stretching of the limbs, due to some insignificant unfavorable circumstance, having prematurely thrown out a baby who has not yet formed and has not received a certain form, or although formed, but not completely, unhealthy or often even dead, as soon as she avoids danger, as if forgetting all this, she again begins the same thing, again endures the same thing. And what am I saying: the same? It often happens that he dies along with the child, but this does not enlighten others and does not keep them from doing this: such and such God has combined pleasure and joy with sorrow! Therefore (He) said: “By multiplying I will multiply your sorrows: in sickness you will give birth to children.” Christ also said this, talking with his disciples and showing at the same time both the severity of sorrow and the abundance of joy: “When a woman gives birth, she will have sorrow, for her year has come”; then, wanting to imagine to us how feelings of sorrow quickly pass and are replaced by joy and joy, he says: “When the child is born, he does not remember the sorrow for the joy that a man was born into the world” (John 16:21). Do you see (God’s) immeasurable care? Do you see that the punishment is full of admonition? “In illness, give birth to a child.” Then: “Your address is to your husband, and he will possess you.” As if justifying himself to his wife, the man-loving God says: at first I created you of equal honor (to my husband) and wanted you, being of the same dignity (with him), to have communication with him in everything, and entrusted power over all creatures to both your husband and you; but since you did not take advantage of equality as you should, for this I subordinate you to your husband: “and your address is to your husband, and she will possess you.” Since you, having left the one for whom you were created, who is equally honorable and has a common nature with you, decided to enter into a conversation with the crafty animal-serpent and accept advice from him, then I already subordinate you to him and declare him your master, so that you recognize his power; since you did not know how to boss, then learn to be a good subordinate. “Your address is to your husband, and he will possess you.” It is better for you to be under his command and to be under his control than, taking advantage of freedom and power, to rush along the rapids. And it is more useful for a horse to have a bridle on it and walk under control than to rush along the rapids without it. So, with your benefit in mind, I want you to have an “appeal” to your “husband”, obey him like a body to your head, and joyfully recognize his dominance. I see that you are tired of the length of the word; but, I ask you, take some courage, so that we do not leave the trial unfinished and do not leave, leaving the Judge still sitting (at the trial): after all, we are already approaching the very end. 9. Let us see what, after the wife, God says to the husband and what punishment he imposes on him. “And I said to Adam: Because you listened to the voice of your wife, and you ate from the tree of which you were commanded not to eat this one thing; Thorns and thistles will grow for you, and take down the grass. By the sweat of your brow you have carried away your bread, until you have returned to the land from which you were taken, as if you were the earth, and returned to the earth” (Gen. 3:17-19). And from here the great and unspeakable care of the Lord for man is revealed; but let's listen carefully to every word. “And I said to Adam: Because you listened to the voice of your wife, and you ate from the tree of which you were commanded not to eat.” Since you, he says, listened to your wife and ate from the tree, preferred her advice to My commandments and did not want to abstain from only that tree from which I commanded you not to eat (I commanded you not to abstain from many trees, but from only one, and you did not abstain from it either, but, forgetting My commandments, listened to the wife), then for this you will actually know what evil you have done. Listen, husbands; listen, wives! One, not to listen to wives when they advise evil; others to avoid offering such advice. If he (Adam), although he laid the blame on his wife, did not receive any apology, then what excuse will he have who begins to say: “For the sake of my wife, I sinned in this and that, I did this and that?” This is why your wife is subordinate to your power, this is why you have been made her master, so that she obeys you, so that her head does not follow her feet. But you can often see the opposite: the one who should be in the rank of head does not even hold the rank of feet; placed in the rank of feet, becomes in the rank of head. Therefore, blessed Paul, the teacher of the universe, foreseeing all this, cried out: “Why, woman, will you save your husband? Or what do you tell your husband if you save your wife?” (1 Cor. 7:16). However, the husband must, with great caution, reject the disastrous advice of his wife, and the wife, vividly remembering the punishment that Eve suffered for giving her husband disastrous advice, should not dare to advise her husband anything like that and should not imitate Eve, but, admonished by her example, let her advise something that will not subject both her and her husband to any condemnation or punishment. But let's return to the subject. “God said to Adam: Because you listened to the voice of your wife, and you ate from the tree, which you were commanded not to eat, from which you ate.” Since you, he says, showed such carelessness regarding the observance of the commandment given by Me and did not take advantage of either fear or My preliminary announcement of what was going to happen to you for eating, but reached such wickedness that with such (abundance) of pleasures you could not resist one tree, therefore “cursed will be the earth in your deeds.” Look at the Lord’s love for mankind, how (differently) He punishes the serpent and this rational animal (man). He says to him: “You are cursed from the earth”; but this is not so; how? - “Cursed is the earth in your deeds.” And fair enough. Since the earth was created for man so that he could enjoy its fruits, therefore now God, for man who has sinned in this way, places a curse on it; and since the curse imposed on the earth deprived a person of peace and well-being, then “cursed,” he says, “the earth is in your deeds.” Then, so that you know what it means: “cursed,” he added: “bear it in sorrow all the days of your life.” Look, each punishment extends throughout the entire age, so that not only they (the first parents) benefit from it, but also subsequent generations learn from this why this punishment befell them. “In sorrow,” he says, “bear it all the days of your life.” Then, even more precisely defining the type of curse and the cause of sadness, he added: “thorns and thistles will grow for you.” Here are the monuments of the curse! Thorns, he says, will also produce thistles. I will make sure that you endure hard work and care, and spend your whole life in sadness, so that this will be a bridle for you, so that you will not dream of yourself beyond your dignity, but will constantly remember your nature, and will never allow yourself to be deceived in this way in the future. “And take down the sessile grass. By the sweat of your brow, eat your bread." Look how, after disobedience, everything became different for him than in his previous life! “I,” he says, introducing you into this world, wanted you to live without sorrow, without labor, without worries, without sorrows, so that you would be content and prosperous and not subject to bodily needs, but would be alien to all this and enjoy complete freedom. But since such freedom was not useful to you, I will curse the earth so that in the future it will no longer, as before, produce fruit without sowing and cultivating, but only with great labor, effort and care; I will subject you to constant sorrows and sorrows, I will force you to do everything with exhausting effort, so that these painful works will always admonish you to behave modestly and know your nature. And this will not be for a short or short time, but will continue throughout your entire life. “By the sweat of your brow, bear away your bread, until you return to the land from which you were taken, as if you were the earth and returned to the earth.” You will endure this until the end of your life comes, when you are released into the earth from which you were formed. Although I gave you a bodily nature, out of My love for mankind, this body (came) from the earth and will again be earth: “You are earth and you will go back to earth.” To prevent this from happening, I commanded you not to touch that tree, adding: “If you destroy it one day, you will die.” I didn’t want this, but since everything was done on My part, and you arranged it for yourself, then don’t blame anyone else, but attribute everything to your carelessness. Here another question arises for us, which, if you wish, we will solve briefly, and then finish the word. “Speech,” it is said, “God: if you take away a day from him, you will die”; but it turns out that after disobeying and eating, they lived for many more years. This seems bewildering only to those who take a superficial view of the words cited. But whoever listens with good reflection, what is said clearly does not present any confusion to those who are attentive. Although they (Adam and Eve) lived for many years, from the very minute they heard: “you are earth, and you will go back to earth,” they received a death sentence, became mortal and, one might say, died. Pointing to this, Scripture said: “If you take the day, you will die” - instead of saying: you will receive a sentence - to be already mortal. Just as in human courts, a person sentenced to beheading, being then put in prison, even if he stayed there for a long time, will lead his life no better than the dead, since he has already been sentenced to death - so in the same way, from the very day on which they heard the death sentence, although they lived for a long time, they already died according to the sentence. I know that much has already been said and our teaching has reached very far. Therefore, with the help of God, to the best of our ability, having explained to you to the end the current reading from Scripture, we will stop our words here. 10. One could, however, offer something else and show that this very imposed punishment and the fact that people became mortal contain an abyss of philanthropy; but in order not to burden your mind with numerous (thoughts), we only ask you - when you leave here, do not indulge in idle conversations and useless talkativeness, but reflect with yourself and talk with others about what was said, and bring to mind what the Judge said, how the guilty were justified, also how one blamed the other, and this one - on the serpent, and how (God) punished the latter by laying it on him the execution is permanent, extending throughout the entire time, and, having expressed strong anger at him, this showed His care for the deceived. From the very fact that He rewarded the seducer in this way, it is clear that this seducer especially seduced those dear to Him. Then, remember the punishment the wife suffered, or better yet, correction; Remembering what was said to Adam and imagining in your mind not the sentence: “For you are earth, and you will go back to earth,” marvel at the indescribable love of the Lord, according to which He, if only we decide to do good and run away from evil, promised us, who came from the earth and go to the earth, to be worthy of those ineffable blessings prepared for those who love Him, “whose eye has not seen, and ear has not seen.” Hearing, there was no sigh in the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). So, we must give great gratitude to our Lord for such blessings and never let them out of our memory: on the contrary, with good deeds and perfect removal from evil we will propitiate Him and gain His favor towards us. If He, being an immortal God, did not refuse to take upon Himself our mortal and earthly nature, to free us from ancient deadness, to exalt us above heaven, to honor the Father with our neighbor and to be worthy of worship from the entire heavenly army, then would it not be extremely ungrateful if we were not ashamed to repay Him to those who were contrary, and having nailed the immortal soul, so to speak, to the flesh, made it earthly, dead and inactive? No, I beg you, let us not be so ungrateful to the One who has shown us so many benefits, but, following His laws, we will do what is pleasing and pleasing to Him, so that He will recognize us as worthy of eternal blessings, of which may we all be worthy of the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Zlat. τῆς φωνῆς – “voices” according to Lucian. sp. instead of τὴν φωνὴν; but then departs from these lists, reading ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου, without adding Θεοῦ to this (see, however, below), although in Lucian. and other Greek lists, as in Hebrew. text, used Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ; further, instead of ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ παραδείσου in Zlat., read in Lucian. sp. ἐν μέσῳ τοῦπαραδείσου – “in the middle of heaven”; at this point reading Zlat. agrees with Alex. sp. and Hebrew text. Zlat is here. reads: ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Zlat. τῆς φωνῆς σοῦ according to Lucian. sp. instead of τὴν φωνὴν σοῦ, as in Alex. sp. Zlat. reads here also one name ὁ Θεὸς according to Lucian. sp. and contrary to Alex. sp. and Jewish text, where – Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς – Jehovah Elohim Zlat. reads: ᾿Επὶ τῳ῀ στήθει according to Lucian. sp. and contrary to Alex. and other sp., where ἐπὶ τῳ῀ στήθει σου – “on your sides”; the last reading is in agreement with Heb. text. Zlat. like this: θηρίων τῆς γῆς instead of the usual reading in Lucian. etc. lists: γῆς - “the serpent is the wisest of all the beasts that exist on earth.” (Προς αὐτῷ τῷ τέλει τῶν δραγμάτων ερυσίβης) You might be interested in: