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thistles it will bring forth for you, and you will eat the grass of the field that is set apart for the beasts and the irrational animals; in the sweat of your face you will eat your bread, until you return to the earth from which you were taken, for earth you are and to earth you will return."

Rightly, therefore, it was necessary for the one who had been brought down into corruption and death through the transgression to inhabit a likewise transient and corruptible earth and to partake worthily of such food. For since the unstinting luxury, the incorruptible and toil-free life, led him into forgetfulness of the good things that came from God and to contempt for the given commandment, he was justly condemned to work the earth in toil and sweat and thus little by little to receive his food from it as from a certain steward. Did you see how the earth, having first been cursed and deprived of its former spontaneous growth, thus received the transgressor? For whose sake and why? So that when worked by him in sweat and toil, it might provide what grows commensurately from it for his self-sufficient need, but when not worked, it might remain fruitless, bringing forth only thorns and thistles. Therefore also (58) when all creation, which was brought forth from non-being by God, saw him having come out of paradise, it no longer wanted to be subject to the transgressor; the sun did not want to shine, the moon did not bear to give light, the stars did not choose to be seen by him, the springs were not about to gush forth; the rivers did not want to flow, the air contemplated contracting upon itself and not to give breath to the one who had offended; the beasts and all the animals of the earth, seeing him stripped of his former glory, despising him, all immediately became savage against him; the heaven was, as it were, moved to justly fall upon him and the earth did not endure to bear him on its back.

What then? God, the creator of all things and the one who formed him, knowing before the foundation of the world that Adam was going to transgress the commandment and having predestined his life from regeneration and his re-creation through the incarnate birth of His only-begotten Son and God, what does He do? He holds all things together by His own power and compassion and goodness, He checks the impulse of all created things, and immediately He likewise subjects all things to this man, so that creation, having served the man for whose sake it came to be, having become corruptible for the corruptible one, when that man is again renewed and becomes spiritual, incorruptible, and immortal, then it too, being freed from bondage—creation, which was subjected by God to the one who had offended and which had served him—might be renewed together with him and be made incorruptible and become wholly spiritual; for this the most compassionate God and Lord predestined before the foundation of the world.

But with these things having been so wisely done by God, Adam, having been cast out of paradise, begot children, lived, and died; and so likewise also those from him. Therefore also the people of that time, having a fresh memory of the fall, (59) being taught it by Adam and Eve, revered God and honored him as master. For this very reason both Abel with Cain offered to Him sacrifices from their possessions; whence also it is written that God had regard for the offering and sacrifice of Abel, but for Cain's, no longer; and Cain, knowing this, is said to have been grieved unto death and from there to have proceeded to envy and the murder of his brother. But Enoch, after these things, having pleased God, was translated by Him, and Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire, God showing by these things that, if after the sentence brought against Adam and his seed, if after his being exiled by Him, He so honored with translation and long life those of his sons who pleased Him and freed them from corruption, that is, from the return to earth and the descent into Hades, they being destined to die later or, to speak more truly, to be changed, of how much that one himself, if not

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τριβόλους ἀνατελεῖ σοι καί φαγῇ τόν χόρτον τοῦ ἀγροῦ τόν τοῖς θηρίοις καί τοῖς ἀλόγοις ζῴοις ἀφωρισμένον· ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου σου φαγῇ τόν ἄρτον σου, ἕως τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι σε εἰς τήν γῆν ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθης, ὅτι γῆ εἶ καί εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ ".

Εἰκότως οὖν ἔδει τῷ εἰς φθοράν καί θάνατον κατενεχθέντι διά τῆς παραβάσεως ῥευστήν καί φθαρτήν ὡσαύτως γῆν κατοικεῖν καί τοιαύτης ἀξίως μετέχειν τροφῆς. Ἐπειδή γάρ ἡ ἄφθονος τρυφή, ἡ ἄφθαρτος καί ἀκάματος διαγωγή, εἰς λήθην τῶν παρά Θεοῦ γεγονότων ἀγαθῶν καί εἰς καταφρόνησιν αὐτόν τῆς δοθείσης ἤγαγεν ἐντολῆς, ἐν κόπῳ κατεδικάσθη δικαίως καί ἱδρῶτι τήν γῆν ἐργάζεσθαι καί οὕτω κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ἐξ αὐτῆς ὡς ὑπό οἰκονόμου τινός κομίζεσθαι τάς τροφάς. Εἶδες πῶς καταραθεῖσα ἡ γῆ πρότερον καί τῆς προτέρας αὐτομάτου βλαστήσεως στερηθεῖσα, οὕτως τόν παραβάτην ἐδέξατο; Οὗ χάριν καί διατί; Ἵνα ἐργαζομένη μέν παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐν ἱδρῶτι καί κόπῳ παρέχῃ τά ἐξ αὐτῆς συμμέτρως φυόμενα εἰς αὐτάρκη χρείαν αὐτῷ, μή ἐργαζομένη δέ μένῃ ἄκαρπος, ἀκάνθας καί τριβόλους μόνον προσφέρουσα. Τοιγαροῦν καί (58) ἐξελθόντα τοῦ παραδείσου αὐτόν πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις, ἡ ὑπό Θεοῦ παραχθεῖσα ἐκ τοῦ μή ὄντος, θεασαμένη, οὐκέτι ὑποταγῆναι τῷ παραβάντι ἐβούλετο· ὁ ἥλιος λάμψαι οὐκ ἤθελεν, ἡ σελήνη φᾶναι οὐκ ἔφερε, τά ἄστρα ὀφθῆναι τούτῳ οὐχ εἵλοντο, αἱ πηγαί βρύειν οὐκ ἔμελλον· οὐκ ἐβούλοντο ῥέειν οἱ ποταμοί, ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτόν ἐμελέτα ὁ ἀήρ συσταλῆναι καί μή δοῦναι τῷ προσκεκρουκότι ἀναπνοήν· τά θηρία καί πάντα τά ζῷα τῆς γῆς, γυμνωθέντα τοῦτον τῆς πρώην θεασάμενα δόξης, καταφρονήσαντα αὐτοῦ, ἐτραχύνθησαν ἅπαντα εὐθύς κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ· ὁ οὐρανός καταπεσεῖν δικαίως ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν οἱονεί πως κεκίνητο καί ἡ γῆ ἐπί τοῦ νώτου φέρειν τοῦτον οὐκ ἔστεγε.

Τί οὖν; Ὁ δημιουργήσας τά πάντα καί πλάσας τοῦτον Θεός, παραβῆναι μέλλοντα πρό καταβολῆς κόσμου γινώσκων τήν ἐντολήν τόν Ἀδάμ καί τήν ἐκ παλιγγενεσίας αὐτοῦ ζωήν καί ἀνάπλασιν διά τῆς ἐνσάρκου γεννήσεως τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ Υἱοῦ καί Θεοῦ προορίσας, τί ποιεῖ; Συγκρατεῖ πάντα τῇ οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει καί εὐσπλαγχνίᾳ καί ἀγαθότητι, ἀναστέλλει τήν ὁρμήν τῶν κτισμάτων ἁπάντων, εὐθύς καί τούτῳ τά πάντα ὡσαύτως καθυποτάττει, ἵνα τῷ δι᾿ οὗ γέγονεν ἀνθρώπῳ δυλεύσασα, φθαρτῷ φθαρτή γεγονυῖα, ὅτε πάλιν ἐκεῖνος ἀνακαινισθῇ καί πνευματικός, ἄφθαρτος καί ἀθάνατος γένηται, τότε καί αὐτήν ἐλευθερωθεῖσα τῆς δουλείας ἡ κτίσις ἡ ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ προσκεκρουκότι ὑποταγεῖσα καί αὐτῷ ἐκδουλεύσασα συνανακαινισθῇ αὐτῷ καί ἀφθαρτωθῇ καί πνευματική ὅλη γένηται· τοῦτο γάρ πρό καταβολῆς κόσμου ὁ πολυεύσπλαχνος Θεός καί Κύριος προωρίσατο.

Ἀλλά τούτων οὕτω σοφῶς ἐκ Θεοῦ γεγονότων, τοῦ παραδείσου ἐκβληθείς ὁ Ἀδάμ ἐτέκνωσεν, ἐβίωσε καί ἀπέθανεν· οὕτω δέ ὁμοίως καί οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ. Τοίνυν καί νεαράν τήν μνήμην ἔχοντες οἱ τότε ἄνθρωποι τῆς ἐκπτώσεως, (59) ὑπό τοῦ Ἀδάμ καί τῆς Εὔας ταύτην ἐκδιδασκόμενοι, ἐσέβοντο τόν Θεόν καί ὡς δεσπότην ἐτίμων αὐτόν. ∆ιά δή τοῦτο καί ὁ Ἄβελ σύν τῷ Κάϊν θυσίας ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτοῖς αὐτῷ προσέφερον· ὅθεν καί ἐπί μέν τοῦ Ἄβελ τῇ προσφορᾷ καί θυσίᾳ προσεσχηκέναι τόν Θεόν γέγραπται, ἐπί δέ τοῦ Κάϊν οὐκέτι· καί τοῦτο γνόντα τόν Κάϊν λυπηθῆναι λέγεται ἕως θανάτου καί ἐντεῦθεν πρός φθόνον καί φόνον τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ προχωρῆσαι. Ἀλλ᾿ Ἐνώχ μέν μετά ταῦτα εὐαρεστήσας Θεῷ ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ μετετέθη, Ἠλίας δέ ἐν ἅρματι ἀνελήφθη πυρός, τοῦ Θεοῦ δεικνύντος ἐκ τούτων ὅτι, εἰ μετά τήν ἀπόφασιν τήν κατά τοῦ Ἀδάμ καί τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ ἐξενεχθεῖσαν, εἰ μετά τό ἐξόριστον αὐτόν παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι τούς εὐαρεστήσαντας αὐτοῦ υἱούς οὕτως τῇ μεταθέσει καί μακροζωΐα ἐτίμησε καί τῆς φθορᾶς, ἤτοι τῆς εἰς γῆν ἀποστροφῆς καί τῆς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ καταβάσεως, αὐτούς ἠλευθέρωσεν ὕστερον τεθνήξεσθαι ἤ, ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, ἀλλαγήσεσθαι μέλλοντας, πόσης ἄν αὐτόν ἐκεῖνον, εἰ μή