The First Word

1. What was Adam's transgression?

2. How, by reason of his transgression, did all men become corruptible and mortal?

3. How did the merciful and loving God, through the economy of the Incarnation, deliver the human race from corruption and death?

4. And what is the mystery of the cross and the three-day burial of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ?

The first-created Adam, being in paradise, fell into pride, at the suggestion of the serpent, and, dreaming of being a god, as the devil told him, he ate of the tree from which God commanded him not to eat. For this he is given over to great punishments - corruption and death, for the humility of his pride. But when God condemns to something, He gives a sentence, and His sentence becomes a deed and an eternal punishment, and there is no longer any possibility of abolishing this punishment, which occurs according to God's decree. Think now: Adam sinned with a great sin, because he did not believe the words of God, but he believed the words of the serpent. Compare God and the serpent, and you will see how great was the sin of the all-wise Adam. In his great wisdom he gave names to all the animals; but when with all his heart he believed in the serpent, and not in God, the Divine grace that rested in him departed from him, since he became an enemy of God, because of the unbelief that he showed at His words. Adam thought that God was jealous of him and did not want him to know good and evil, and for this reason He commanded him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so that he too would not become a god like the God who created him. And he tasted, and immediately knew his nakedness, and instead of becoming a god, he became corruptible, and as corruptible he became mortal.

2. And now, as you see, God's judgment endures forever with eternal punishment. And we all became corruptible and mortal, and there is nothing that could remove this great and terrible sentence. And when it is not possible to remove this sentence, what is the use of wisdom, or of wealth, or of power, or of the whole world? For this reason the Most High Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to humble Himself in the place of Adam – and indeed humbled Himself even unto death on the cross. And the word of the cross, as the Scripture says, is this: "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). - Adam, having no need, took of the fruit of this tree (of which God commanded him not to eat, threatening that as soon as he ate he would die), he ate, and died. It is necessary to know that since man has a body and a soul, he has two deaths: one is the death of the soul, the other is the death of the body, as well as two immortality, the soul and the body, although both are in one person, for the soul and the body are one person. Thus Adam died in soul as soon as he tasted, and later, nine hundred and thirty years later, he also died in body. For just as the death of the body is the separation of the soul from it, so the death of the soul is the separation from it of the Holy Spirit, by Whom God Who created him was pleased to overshadow man, so that he might live like the angels of God, who, being always enlightened by the Holy Spirit, remain immovable to evil. For this reason, the entire human race was made what the forefather Adam had become through the fall – mortal, that is, in soul and body. Man, as God created him, no longer existed in the world, and there was no possibility for anyone to become such as Adam was before the transgression of the commandment. And it was necessary to have such a person.

3. And so, God, desiring to have such a man as He created Adam in the beginning, sent His only begotten Son to earth in the last times, and He, having come, became incarnate, taking on perfect humanity, in order to be perfect God and perfect man, and the Godhead thus had a man worthy of Him. And behold the man! There was no other such thing, there is no and there will never be. But why did Christ become such? In order to keep the law of God and His commandments, and to enter into battle and defeat the devil. Both were accomplished in Him by themselves.

For this purpose, instead of the tree of knowledge, there was a cross, instead of the treading of the feet with which the forefathers went to the forbidden tree, and instead of the outstretching of their hands, which they stretched out to take the fruit of the tree, the immaculate feet and hands of Christ were nailed to the cross, instead of eating the fruit there was a taste of gall and ozt, and instead of the death of Adam, the death of Christ. Then what happened? Christ lay in the tomb for three days, for the sake of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, in order to show that although He alone was incarnate and suffered, yet this economy is the work of the Most Holy Trinity.

From that time on, people are baptized in water, immersed in it and taken out of it three times, in the image of the three-day burial of the Lord, and after they have died in it to all this evil world, in the third time they are taken out of it they are already alive, as if they had risen from the dead, that is, their souls are quickened and again receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, as Adam had it before the transgression. Then (the baptized) are anointed with holy myrrh, and through it they are anointed with Jesus Christ, and they smell very naturally. Having thus become "worthy to be partakers of God, they eat of His flesh and drink His blood, and by means of the consecrated bread and wine they are made co-corporeal and hidden with the incarnate and self-sacrificing God. After this, it is no longer possible for sin to rule and tyrannize over them, as over gods by grace. Since Adam fell into the oath, and through him all the people descended from him, and God's judgment about this could not be destroyed in any way, Christ was cursed for us, because He was hanged on the tree of the cross, in order to offer Himself as a sacrifice to His Father, as it is said, and to destroy the sentence of God by the abundant dignity of sacrifice. For what is greater and higher than God? As in all this visible creation there is nothing higher than man, for everything visible is created for man, so God is incomparably higher than all created things, and nothing can be compared with Him, neither all visible and invisible creation. Thus God, Who is incomparably above all visible and invisible creation, took upon Himself human nature, which is above all visible creation, and offered it as a sacrifice to God and His Father. Being ashamed of such a sacrifice, I will say this, and honoring it, the Father could not leave it in the hands of death, wherefore He destroyed His sentence and raised from the dead, first and in the beginning, Him Who gave Himself as a sacrifice, as an atonement, and in exchange for His kindred men, and afterwards, on the last day of the end of the world, He will raise up all men. However, the souls of those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in this great and terrible sacrifice, God resurrects in the present life, and the sign of this resurrection is the grace of the Holy Spirit, which He gives to the soul of every Christian, as if it were another soul. Such a Christian soul is called faithful because the Holy Spirit of God has been entrusted to it, and it has received Him, the Spirit of God, Who is eternal life, since the Holy Spirit is eternal God, proceeding from the eternal God and Father.

4. Since in this way the cross became as it were the altar of this terrible sacrifice, since the Son of God died on the cross for the fall of men, then the cross is justly revered and worshipped, and is depicted as a sign of the salvation common to all people, so that those who worship the wood of the cross may be freed from the oath of Adam and receive the blessing and grace of God for the practice of every virtue. For Christians, the cross is magnification, glory and power, for all our strength is in the power of Christ crucified; all our sinfulness is put to death by the death of Christ on the cross, and all our exaltation and all our glory are in the humility of God, Who humbled Himself to such an extent that He was pleased to die even among evildoers and robbers. For this reason, Christians who believe in Christ sign themselves with the sign of the cross, not simply, not haphazardly, not with negligence, but with all attention, with fear and trembling, and with extreme reverence. For the image of the cross shows the reconciliation and fellowship into which man has entered with God. For this reason the demons also fear the image of the cross, and do not tolerate seeing the sign of the cross depicted even in the air, but flee from it immediately, knowing that the cross is a sign of the fellowship of men with God, and that they, as apostates and enemies of God, removed from His divine face, no longer have the freedom to approach those who have been reconciled to God and united with Him, and they can no longer tempt them. If it seems that they tempt some Christians, let everyone know that they are fighting those who have not properly understood the lofty mystery of the cross. Those who have understood this mystery and have actually experienced the power and power that the cross has over demons, have also come to know that the cross gives the soul strength, strength, meaning and divine wisdom - these with great joy exclaim: "Let me not boast except in the cross of our Lord, in whom the world was crucified for me and I was crucified for the world" (Galatians 6:14). Thus, since the sign of the cross is great and terrible, every Christian has the duty to perform it with fear and trembling, with reverence and attention, and not simply and haphazardly, out of habit only and with negligence, for according to the reverence that one has for the cross, he receives the corresponding power and help from God, to Whom be glory and dominion forever. Amen.

Second Word

1. That human nature, through the incarnation of the Son and God the Word, comes back to well-being, that is, to that good and divine state in which it was before Adam's transgression.