2.

And so, taking advantage of this wordless for the construction of the Devil, (the devil) enters through him into conversation with the woman and says: "What is it that God has said, Let not the food of every tree of paradise?" Look, what an extremely subtle trick is here! What God did not say, the devil offers in the form of advice and a question, as if caring for them, because such a disposition is shown by these words: "What is it that God says, Let there be no food of every tree of paradise?" As the evil demon would say: Why did (God) deprive you of such pleasure? Why does He not allow us to fully enjoy the blessings of paradise, leaving them to enjoy contemplation, and does not allow us to taste and feel the greater pleasure from this? What has God said? What is this thing for? What is the use of living in paradise, since it is impossible to use what is in it, but one has to experience all the greater sorrow because one can look at it, but not receive the pleasure that comes from it? Do you see how through these words, as if through a bait, he lets poison in? From this very beginning, the woman should have guessed the extreme audacity of the devil - that he deliberately speaks about what is not there, and also, as if caring for them, (speaks) in order to find out what God has commanded them, and thus lead them to crime. Thus, the wife could immediately recognize the cunning of the devil, avoid talking to him as one who speaks empty things, and not bring herself to such humiliation; but she did not want (this). She should not even enter into conversation with him, but converse only with the one for whom she was created, to whom she was equal in dignity and created as a helper. When, I do not know how, she had already entered into conversation with the serpent and through him, as through an instrument, she accepted the disastrous words of the devil, and then, understanding the incongruity of his words, and seeing that the Creator had commanded some things, and that the devil had spoken others, contrary to the words of the Creator, she should have immediately turned away her ears, fled from conversing with him, and despised daring to sharpen her tongue against the commandment given to him. But through extreme inattentiveness, not only did she not deviate, but also fully revealed to him the commandment of God, threw the pearls before the swine, and the word of Christ was fulfilled: "Do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and when they turn you will be torn asunder" (Matt. VII, 6). And so it was now: (the woman) threw down the divine pearls before the swine, before this evil beast, or demon that worked through him, and he not only trampled them down and opposed what was said (from God), but having turned he dragged into the abyss of obedience not only the woman, but also the first-created one with her. It is so dangerous to reveal, without reasoning, as one had to, the divine mysteries! Yes, to hear (these) those who speak to everyone without distinction and without reasoning. And Christ does not speak to us about a sensual pig, but means people like these animals, wallowing like dumb people in the impurity of sin; and by this he admonishes us both to pay attention to the difference of persons, and to carefully consider the circumstances under which it is necessary to reveal something from the word of God, so as not to do harm either to others or to ourselves. Such not only do not themselves benefit from the words offered to them, but often drag into the same abyss of destruction those who recklessly give them these precious pearls. Therefore, we must carefully watch that we also do not suffer the same thing as those who are now deceived (the first parents). After all, if in this case the wife had wanted not to throw the divine pearls before the pig, then she herself would not have plunged into that abyss, and would not have carried away her husband.

3. But let us hear what she answers the devil. When the serpent said, "What did God say, Let not ye eat of every tree of paradise?" then the woman said to him, "Of every tree of paradise we shall eat: but of the fruit that is in the midst of the garden, God said, "Do not eat, touch it below, lest you die" (v. 2, 3). Do you see how treacherous? (the devil) said something that did not happen, so that, having called her to a conversation, he would find out what had happened (in fact). The wife, trusting him, as if he were well disposed towards her, opens the entire commandment, tells about everything in detail, and by her answer takes away all justification from herself. In fact, what can you, wife, say (in your own defense). God said, Let not the food of every tree of paradise. You ought to turn away from him (the devil), as having said the contrary (to the truth), and say to him, "Go away, you are a deceiver, you know neither the power of the commandment given to us, nor the greatness of what we use, nor the abundance of gifts (of God). You say that God said that we should not eat of any tree of paradise; and the Lord and Creator, in great goodness, having permitted us to use and possess all (trees), commanded us to abstain from one thing, this because of His care for us, so that we, through eating of it, would not be subjected to death. She should, if she had been prudent in saying these words to him, turn away altogether and no longer speak to him or listen to his words. But she, having opened the commandment and told them what God had spoken to them, received from the devil a new suggestion, more pernicious and deadly. When the woman said, "From every tree of paradise we shall eat, but from the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of paradise," God said, "Do not eat of it, touch it below, that you may not die," then the evil enemy of our salvation offers his suggestion, contrary to (the word of) the Lord. Whereas the loving God, out of great solicitude, forbade them to eat, lest they should become mortal through obedience, this one says to the woman, "Ye shall not die by death," v. 4. What excuse does the wife deserve for listening so willingly to one who spoke so boldly? God said, "Touch below, lest you die," but this one says, "You will not die." Then, not content with contradicting the divine words, he still presents the Creator as envious, so that in this way it is more convenient to deceive and, by seducing his wife, he will achieve his goal. Not by death, he says, you will die. For God knoweth that in the next day ye shall take away from him, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil, v. 5. Here's the whole bait! Having filled the cup with the deadly poison, (the devil) gave it to the woman, and she, not paying attention to the deadly action (if she had wished, she could have known it from the very beginning), but hearing that God had therefore forbidden you to eat (from the tree), because your eyes would be opened, and you would be like God, knowing good and evil, carried away by the hope of equality with God, At last I dreamed of myself a lot. Such are the tricks of the enemy: he raises him to a great height with flattery, and then throws him down into a deep abyss. Dreaming of equality with God, she hastened to partake (of the fruit) and thither she directed both her mind and her thought, and saw nothing else but to drink the cup dissolved by the evil demon. And to assure you that she took care of this, as soon as she took the fatal poison on the advice of the serpent, listen to what the Scripture says: "And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it pleased her eyes to see, and that it was beautiful to understand, and she took of its fruit and poison" (v. 6). Verily, good customs corrupt, and evil conversations (1 Cor. XV, 33). In fact, why did not (Eve) experience anything of this kind before the suggestion of this evil demon, did not think about the tree and did not see its beauty? Because she was afraid of the commandment of God and the future punishment for eating. And now, when she had been deceived by this wicked beast, as if they would not only not suffer it (punishment), but would become equal to God, the hope of this promise impelled her to eat of the tree, and she, not wishing to remain within her bounds, but acknowledging the enemy and adversary of our salvation more trustworthy than the words of God, not long afterwards knew by experience the perniciousness of the suggestion (of the devil) and the misery, which had to come upon them for eating. Seeing, as it is said, that the tree is good for food, and that it is pleasing to the eyes to see, and to understand it clearly, the woman, through the deception of the devil, into which he led her through the serpent, thought to herself: if the tree tastes good, you can. so to delight the eye, and there is a certain inexpressible beauty in it, and to eat of it will bring us the highest honor, so that we will have the same dignity as the Creator, then why should we not taste of it?

4. Do you see how the devil took his wife into captivity, carried away her mind and forced her to dream of herself above her dignity, so that, carried away by vain hopes, she would lose even what had already been given to her. And he took of his fruit, and of the poison, and gave it to his husband also the poison. And the eyes of the vow were opened, and the mind was opened, as if it were a besha (v. 7).

Was the one who gave the advice of the same nature as you? It was from among the subordinates, from among the slaves under your rule. Why did you put yourself to shame so much, and, leaving him for whom you were created, to whom you were made to help, to whom you were equal in dignity, in essence and in the gift of speech, you decided to enter into conversation with the serpent and through this beast to receive the suggestion from the devil, and despite the fact that (this suggestion) clearly contradicted the commandment of the Creator, you did not evade, but in the hope of a promise dared to taste? Let it be so, even if you have plunged yourself into such an abyss and have lost the highest honor: why then do you make your husband a participant in this terrible fall, and to whom you are appointed to be a helper, you have become a libel, and through the partaking of a little food you have deprived him, along with yourself, of the favor of God? What extreme madness has brought you to such audacity? Was it not enough for you to lead a life without sorrow, to be clothed with a body and not to need anything bodily, to enjoy all the fruits of paradise, except for one tree? Were you not satisfied that everything visible was in your power and that you had dominion over everything? Seduced by hopes, did you want to rise to the highest height? And so you will learn by your own experience that not only will you not gain that which you had hoped, but that you will deprive yourself and your husband of all that has already been given to you, and that you will both be so repentant that you will acknowledge that it is useless, and that the evil demon who gave you the disastrous advice will laugh and triumph over you, as if you had already fallen and experienced something like him. As he, having dreamed of himself more properly, fell from the dignity he had acquired and was cast down from heaven to earth, he wanted to do the same to you - through the transgression of the commandment to subject you to the punishment of death and to satisfy his envy, as the most wise one said: "Through the envy of the devil death has entered into the world" (Wis. II, 24). And it is said, he gave to his husband, and poison. And the eyes of the vow were opened. Great is the carelessness of the husband. Although (the one who offered the fruit) was of the same nature as him, and his wife, yet he, as one who vividly remembered the commandment of God, had to prefer it to the inappropriate desire of his wife, not to take part in the crime, not to deprive himself of so many blessings for the sake of a momentary pleasure, and not to offend such a Benefactor, who showed him so much love and gave him such a painless and comfortable life. Were you not allowed to enjoy all the other fruits of paradise in abundance? Why did you not want to keep such an easy commandment? But you, of course, heard from your wife about the promise of the evil counselor, immediately, carried away by hope, and took part in the meal. Therefore the punishment extends to both of you, and experience itself will teach you not to believe in the suggestion of the evil demon more than in God.

5. And he will give to his husband, and poison. And the eyes of the vow were opened, and the mind was stirred, as if it were a besha. Here arises a very important question for us, which we have promised your love before. Another will justly ask what power this tree had, that eating of it opened their eyes, and why is it called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Be patient, if you will, I want to talk to you a little about this and teach your love that if we are willing to accept with reasoning what is said in the Divine Scriptures, then not a single word will seem difficult to us. It was not eating from the tree that opened their eyes: they saw before they ate. But since this eating served as an expression of disobedience and violation of the commandment given by God, and for this guilt they later lost the glory that clothed them, having become unworthy of so great an honor, therefore the Scriptures, following their custom, say: "Poison, and the eyes of the vow were opened, and the mind was opened, as if it were a besha." Having been deprived of the commandment of the highest grace for their transgression, they also feel sensual nakedness, so that from the shame that has seized them they may fully understand into what abyss the transgression of the Lord's commandment has brought them. In fact, hitherto they had enjoyed such freedom, and did not even know that they were naked (they were not naked, because they were covered better than any garment by the highest glory), but after eating, i.e. after transgressing the commandment, they came to such humiliation that, unable to endure shame, they began to seek a veil. The transgression of the commandment committed by them took away (from them) that wonderful and unusual garment, that is, (the garment of) glory and high favor, with which they were clothed, and at the same time aroused in them a sense of nakedness, and covered them with unspeakable shame. And she sewed together fig leaves, and made her girdles, v. 7. Consider, Beloved, from what a height into what deep abyss the devil's suggestion has plunged them. Hitherto clothed with such glory, they now sew fig leaves together and make themselves girdles. Such is the fruit of the devil's deception; Such is the cunning of this suggestion, that it not only did not bring great benefits to people, but also deprived them of those that they had. Since such a reason - eating - produced disobedience, therefore the Scripture says: "And the poison, and their eyes were opened, meaning not the bodily eyes, but the mental sight." Since they transgressed the commandment, (the Lord) also made them feel what they had not felt before, because of the favor which He showed them. When you hear that their eyes have been opened, understand it in such a way that (God) has made them feel nakedness and deprived of the glory that they enjoyed before they partook of it. And that this is the custom of the Scriptures, listen to how it says in another place. When Sarah's maidservant, having fled from her mistress, was wandering, and having thrown the child under a single tree, she awaited his death from afar, (of whom the Scripture) says: "God opened the eyes of Hagar" (Gen. 2:10). XXI, 19), not because she had not seen before, but because God (at that time) had stirred up her mind. Do you see that the word "opening" does not refer to the bodily eyes, but to the mental sight?

We can say the same about another question that arises here. They say: why is this tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Many lovers of arguments dare to say that Adam, after already eating from the tree, received the ability to distinguish between good and evil. It would be extremely crazy to think so. In order that no one should be able to speak in this way, for this reason, foreseeing this, we have recently reasoned so much about the wisdom given by God to man, proving it by the naming of the names which he gave to all beasts, and birds, and dumb (animals), and by the fact that, in addition to this lofty wisdom, he was also vouchsafed the gift of prophecy. How could the one who gave names and uttered such a wonderful prophecy about a woman not know what is good and what is bad? If we allow this (which may not happen!), then we will again utter blasphemy against the Creator. How did He give a commandment to one who did not know that transgression was evil? It's not that; on the contrary, he knew it clearly. Therefore, from the beginning (God) created this animal (man) autocratic: otherwise he should not have been punished for transgressing the commandment, and rewarded for its observance. That he became mortal for a crime is evident both from the commandment itself and from subsequent events. Listen to what the woman herself said to the serpent: "Of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God saith, that ye may not eat of it, lest ye die." This means that they were immortal before eating: otherwise God, even after eating, would not have brought death upon them as a punishment.

6.

If you try to know the peculiarities of the divine Scriptures, you will understand why it gave this tree such a name. It is so called not because it communicated such knowledge; but since the transgression of the commandment was committed with him, and from him later came the knowledge of sin and shame, therefore it is so called. The Divine Scriptures have the custom of naming the places where these events took place according to the events that took place. Therefore, the divine Scripture called this tree the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because it had to commit a crime and (or) keep the commandment. The loving Lord, from time immemorial and from the beginning desiring to enlighten and impress upon man that he has a Creator and Creator, Who produced all visible things and created himself, deigned to show him His authority in this small commandment. As a generous owner, having given a large and beautiful house to someone for use, he does not take the whole payment for it, but some small part, in order to preserve (the right) for himself

But since (Adam) through extreme carelessness, together with his wife, fell into misfortune through the transgression of this commandment and eating of the tree, therefore (the Scriptures) called it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is not that man did not know what is good and what is evil; he was so ignorant that the woman, talking to the serpent, said, "God said, Do not eat of him, lest you die; So she knew that death would be the punishment if they transgressed the commandment. But since, after eating of this tree, they lost both the highest glory and felt bodily nakedness, therefore (the Scriptures) called it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: it had, so to speak, an exercise in obedience or disobedience.

Ye have learned why (the Scriptures) said, "Their eyes were opened, and they were in their minds, as if they were besha." We learned why the tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Think, then, what shame seized them at last, when, having eaten of the tree, they transgressed the commandment of the Lord: they sewed together fig leaves, and made girdles for themselves. See from what glory into what humiliation they have fallen. Those who have hitherto lived like earthly angels invent for themselves a garment out of leaves. Such is evil - sin. He not only deprives us of the highest favor, but also plunges us into great shame and humiliation, robs us of the blessings that we possess, and takes away all boldness. But in order not to make the whole word sad for us, considering the sin committed by man through eating from the tree and disobedience, let us translate the speech, if you will, from this tree to another, to the tree of the cross, and see what disasters this has caused and what blessings it has brought. However, the calamities did not arise from the tree itself, but from careless arbitrariness and contempt, which (he) showed in relation to the commandment. That tree introduced death, because disobedience was followed by death; This granted immortality. He drove him out of paradise; This has raised us up to heaven. Then for one transgression Adam subjected Adam to such punishment; this has freed us from the innumerable burdens of sin, and has given us boldness before our Lord. Do you see the difference between a tree and a tree? Do you see the wickedness of the devil, the carelessness of man, and the love of mankind of the Lord? Therefore, let us arm ourselves, I beseech your love, with this life-giving tree, by its power let us put to death the passions that destroy the soul, as the Apostle Paul says: "Who is Christ's, the flesh is crucified with passions and lusts" (Gal. V, 24). And this means: those who have completely given themselves over to Christ have put to death every unclean lust that arises in the body to the detriment of all the powers of the soul. By imitating them, we too will make our members ineffective for the establishment of the dominion of the devil in us, so that we may calmly sail across this stormy and dangerous sea in our present life, and, having entered the quiet harbor of God's love for mankind, we may receive the blessings promised to those who love Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Discourse XVII: And the voice of the Lord God was heard, walking in paradise at noon. III, 8)

1. It seems that we have lately spoken of the tree to the best of our ability, showing your love the reason why the divine Scriptures called it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, today I would like to turn to what follows, so that you may know God's unspeakable love for mankind and what condescension He has shown as a result of His care for our race. Truly, He made and directed everything in such a way that the rational animal created by Him would enjoy all honor and in no way inferior in life to the angels, but would also acquire their impassibility in the body. And when He saw that both of them (the forefathers), through impersonality, had violated His commandment, despite the fact that He had preceded and protected them with a threat, He did not cease His love for mankind even after that, but remained faithful to His goodness. As a child-loving father, seeing that his son, through carelessness, behaves unworthy of his nobility and has fallen from the height 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, so also the all-good God, Having taken pity on a man, because of the evil intent to which he has been subjected, seduced by his wife and having accepted the advice of the devil through the serpent, he immediately comes to him as a physician to a sick and suffering man, who lies and needs the manifold treatment and help of a physician.

But in order for you to know the unspeakable condescension of God even from the very words (of the Scriptures), it is necessary to listen to what has been read. And the voice of the Lord God was heard, it is said, walking in the garden at noon, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord in the midst of the tree of paradise (Gen. 2:10). III, 8). Let us not pass, beloved, without exacting what is said by the Divine Scriptures, and let us not dwell on 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. For, tell me, if we want to take the words in their literal meaning, and do not understand what is communicated in a Godly manner, then will not many things seem strange? Let us look at the very beginning of today's reading. And he heard, it is said, the voice of the Lord God, walking in paradise at noon, and was afraid. What do you say? Does God walk? Shall we also ascribe legs to Him? And let us not understand by this anything higher? No, God does not walk, let it not be! How, indeed, does He Who is everywhere and fills everything, whose throne is heaven and earth is the footstool, walk in paradise? What reasonable person would say that? What does it mean: I heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in paradise at noon? He wanted to arouse in them such a feeling (of the nearness of God) in order to plunge them into restlessness, which was in fact the case: they felt it, tried to hide from God approaching (to them). Sin came - and crime, and shame fell on them.