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a breath of life, and man became a living soul. Have you seen the exceptional creature of God's creation? Have you seen Adam established as king of creation? Have you seen the surpassing honor of the one created by hand? Learn also of his gifts, which God bestowed upon him with his creation. And God planted a paradise in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man whom he had formed; and he made to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the paradise, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Oh, the honor of God shown to us! Oh, the love of mankind which he showed to the human race! Oh, the unutterable good things of which Adam partook! For his unspeakable care was not satisfied; he made him out of nothing, from dust he appointed him king of creation; from the earth he revealed him more honorable than angels; from the soulless he introduced a living image. What virtue did Adam show, that He bestowed such a reward upon him? What struggles and toils did he endure, that he obtained such crowns? What doxology did he offer to the Maker, that He revealed him as a dweller in the midst of paradise? What glorious work did he accomplish, that he drew to himself a life without toil? What God-pleasing service did he perform, that he enjoyed such a gift? But nevertheless the Lover of mankind adorned his creature with such gifts, whence also for greater joy and exultation, he displayed another work. For God, it says, cast a deep sleep upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and formed a woman. Truly marvelous are the works of the Lord! Truly unsearchable are his ways! Truly inexpressible is his goodness! For he was not satisfied with Adam becoming man from dust and commanding him to enjoy the delight in paradise, but he also made a helper for him. How much joy had Adam then received, when he beheld from his sleep the woman sitting beside him? With how much gladness was his soul filled, seeing the woman as a companion, established as of one manner and one mind with him? Of how much delight and prophecy was he counted worthy, when Adam saw Eve, his own form and character standing right before his perceptible eyes? Whence in exultation 56.531 of soul he prophesied the truth openly; for he says, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of her own man. Have you seen a prophet most clearly foretelling the things that were to come? Have you seen Adam partaking of the communion of the Holy Spirit, and of the grace of which he was counted worthy? Have you seen an exceptional word being confirmed after many generations until the last things? d. But the most crooked dragon did not bear the great confidence and the supply of the Spirit. He did not bear to behold with his eyes the honor and the grace of the creature, which he had received from the Creator; but what he planned, these things he also accomplished. For finding the serpent as an instrument of his own awkwardness and evil counsel, he makes him a co-worker of his evil; and he did not dare to approach Adam, but the weaker and more tender one, both in mind and in action. And let no one blame the creation of God. For just as God made Adam, so also he built Eve, of the same mixture, of the same leaven, of the same order. But the counsel of the adversary made both the body and the mind of Eve weak. For he who was made of earth, earthy, immortal, and had received the dignity of being fashioned by the hand of the Almighty, and who had taken the name of the human appellation through the Lord's worthiness, and having heard the title of which he was not worthy, of this also the action

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πνοὴν ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν. Εἶδες ἐξαίρετον πλάσμα τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργίας; εἶδες βασιλέα τῆς κτίσεως καθεστῶτα τὸν Ἀδάμ; εἶδες τιμὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν τὸν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ δημιουργηθέντα; Μάθε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ χαρίσματα, ἃ παρέσχεν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς μετὰ τῆς πλάσεως. Καὶ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς, καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὃν ἔπλασε· καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν, καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν, καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ παραδείσου, καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν. Βαβαὶ τῆς τιμῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς γενομένης! βαβαὶ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας, ἧς ἐπεδείξατο τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων! βαβαὶ τῶν ἀῤῥήτων ἀγαθῶν, ὧν μετέσχηκεν ὁ Ἀδάμ! Οὐ γὰρ ἠρκέσθη ἡ ἄφατος αὐτοῦ κηδεμονία, ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος αὐτὸν ἐποίησεν, ἐκ χοὸς βασιλέα τῆς κτίσεως ἐχειροτόνησεν· ἀπὸ γῆς ὑπέρτιμον ἀγγέλοις ἀνέδειξεν· ἐκ τῆς ἀψύχου ἔμψυχον ἴνδαλμα ἐπεισήγαγε. Ποίαν ἀρετὴν ἐπεδείξατο ὁ Ἀδὰμ, ὅτι τοιαύτην ἀμοιβὴν αὐτῷ ἐχαρίσατο; ποίους ἀγῶνας καὶ ἱδρῶτας ὑπέμεινεν, ὅτι τοιούτων στεφάνων ἐπέτυχε; ποίαν δοξολογίαν ἤνεγκε τῷ ποιήσαντι, ὅτι μέσον τοῦ παραδείσου οἰκιστὴν αὐτὸν ἀνέδειξε; ποῖον ἔργον ἔνδοξον ἀπετέλεσεν, ὅτι ἄμοχθον βίον ἐπεσπάσατο; ποίαν δουλείαν θεάρεστον κατειργάσατο, ὅτι τοιαύτης ἀπήλαυσε δωρεᾶς; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ φιλάνθρωπος τοιούτοις ἐκόσμησε χαρίσμασι τὸ πλάσμα, ὅθεν καὶ πρὸς περισσοτέραν χαρὰν, καὶ ἀγαλλίασιν, καὶ ἄλλην ἐργασίαν ἐπεδείξατο. Ἐπέβαλε γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὁ Θεὸς ἔκστασιν, καὶ ὕπνωσε, καὶ ἔλαβεν μίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνέπλασε γυναῖκα. Ὄντως θαυμαστὰ τὰ ἔργα Κυρίου! ὄντως ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ! ὄντως ἀνεκδιήγητος ἡ ἀγαθότης αὐτοῦ! Οὐ γὰρ ἠρκέσθη τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἀπὸ χοὸς γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἐν παραδείσῳ τῆς τρυφῆς ἀπολαύειν κελεύσας, ἀλλὰ καὶ βοηθὸν αὐτῷ ἐποίησε. Πόσην χαρὰν τότε ἦν εἰληφὼς ὁ Ἀδὰμ, ὅτε ἐθεάσατο ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕπνου παρακαθιζομένην αὐτῷ τὴν γυναῖκα; πόσης εὐφροσύνης αὐτοῦ ἡ ψυχὴ ἐνεπίμπλατο κοινωνὸν θεωρῶν τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ ὁμότροπον καὶ ὁμόδοξον αὐτὴν καθεστῶσαν; πόσης θυμηδίας καὶ προφητείας ἠξιώθη, ἐν τῷ θεάσασθαι Ἀδὰμ Εὔαν, τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ μορφὴν ἰδίαν καὶ χαρακτῆρα ἄντικρυς παρισταμένην; Ὅθεν ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει 56.531 ψυχῆς προεφήτευσεν ἀναφανδὸν τὴν ἀλήθειαν· φησὶ γὰρ, Τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστῶν μου καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός μου. Αὕτη κληθήσεται γυνὴ, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἰδίου ἀνδρὸς ἐλήφθη. Εἶδες προφήτην τηλαυγέστατα προλέγοντα τὰ μετέπειτα γενησόμενα; εἶδες Πνεύματος ἁγίου κοινωνίας μετέχοντα τὸν Ἀδὰμ, καὶ χάριτος, ἧς ἠξίωται; εἶδες ἐξαίρετον λόγον τὸν μετὰ πολλὰς γενεὰς ἕως ἐσχάτων βεβαιούμενον; δʹ. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἤνεγκε τὴν μεγίστην παῤῥησίαν καὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν χορηγίαν ὁ σκολιώτατος δράκων. Οὐκ ἔφερε τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ θεωρεῖν τὴν τιμὴν καὶ τὴν χάριν τοῦ πλάσματος, ἣν εἴληφε παρὰ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ· ἀλλ' ἅπερ ἐμελέτησε, ταῦτα καὶ κατειργάσατο. Εὑρὼν γὰρ ὄργανον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σκαιωρίας καὶ κακοβουλίας τὸν ὄφιν, συνεργὸν ποιεῖται τῆς κακίας αὐτοῦ· καὶ οὐκ ἐτόλμησε πρὸς τὸν Ἀδὰμ εἰσελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ σαθρότερον καὶ ἁπαλώτερον, καὶ τῷ φρονήματι καὶ τῇ πράξει. Καὶ μηδεὶς τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν δημιουργίαν μέμψοιτο. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς, οὕτως καὶ τὴν Εὔαν ᾠκοδόμησε, τοῦ αὐτοῦ κράματος, τοῦ αὐτοῦ φυράματος, τῆς αὐτῆς τάξεως. Ἀλλ' ἡ βουλὴ τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ἐποίησε σαθρὸν καὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν φρένα τῆς Εὔας. Ὁ γὰρ ἐκ γῆς χοϊκὸς γενόμενος ἀθάνατος, καὶ τὴν ἀξίαν τῆς διαπλάσεως εἰληφὼς χειρὶ τοῦ Παντοκράτορος, καὶ ὁ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπωνυμίας διὰ δεσποτικῆς ἀξίας προσλαβὼν τὸ ὄνομα, καὶ ἧς οὐκ ἦν ἄξιος προσηγορίας ἀκούσας, ταύτης καὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν