33

a matter which, I think, no one has clearly revealed, but it has been spoken of obscurely. Which one? Hear the divine Scripture saying: "And God said to Adam—I am speaking of after the transgression—"'Adam, where are you?'" What does the Maker of all mean by saying this? Wanting, surely, to bring him to awareness and calling him to repentance, "Adam, where are you?" he says. Understand yourself, learn of your nakedness! See what a garment, what glory you have been deprived of. Adam, where are you?" as if somehow exhorting him and saying: "yes, come to your senses, humble one, yes, come out from where you have hidden yourself. Do you think you can hide from me? Say: I have sinned!" But he does not say this—or rather, it is not I, the wretched one, who says this (for the passion is my own!)—but what? (93) "I heard your voice as you were walking in paradise and I knew that I was naked and I hid myself." What then does God say? "And who told you that you are naked, unless you ate from the tree from which alone I commanded you not to eat?".

Do you see, beloved, the long-suffering of God? For when he said, "Adam, where are you?" and he did not confess his sin immediately, but said, "I heard your voice, Lord, and I knew that I was naked and I hid myself," God was not angered, he did not turn away immediately, but deems him worthy of a second response and says: "Who told you that you are naked, unless you ate from the tree from which alone I commanded you not to eat?" Understand for me the depth of the words of God's wisdom. "Why do you say," he says, "'I am naked,' but hide your sin? Do you think that I see only your body, and not your heart and your thoughts?". For Adam, being deceived, hoped that God did not know his sin and spoke thus to himself, as if to say: "If I say that I am naked," he says, "God, not knowing, will have to say: 'And why are you naked?'. Then I can deny it and say: 'I do not know,' and I can escape his notice and receive again my first garment. And if not, at least he will not cast me out, at least he will not exile me!". While he was thinking these things—as many do even now, and I myself first among them, hiding our own evils—God, not wanting to multiply his judgment, says: "And from where did you know that you are naked, unless you ate from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?", as if saying: "And (94) do you think you can hide from me at all? Do I not know what you have done? You do not say, 'I have sinned'? Say, humble one: 'Yes, truly, Master, I have transgressed your commandment, I have erred by listening to the counsel of the woman, I have failed greatly by doing her word and disobeying yours, have mercy on me!' " But he does not say this, he is not humbled, he does not bend, the neck of his heart is an iron sinew—just as mine, the wretched one, is. For if he had said this, he would have remained in paradise and he would have gained escape from that whole cycle of countless evils, which he underwent when he was exiled and lay in Hades for so many ages, from that one utterance then.

This, then, is what I promised to say. And listen to what follows and know that the word is true and there is not any falsehood in it. God said to Adam: "In the hour you eat from the tree, from which alone I commanded you not to eat, you shall surely die," that is, spiritual death, which also happened in that very hour, for which reason he was also stripped of the immortal garment; but God had said nothing more beforehand and nothing more happened. For God, foreknowing that Adam was going to sin and wanting to forgive him when he repented, had, as was said, decreed nothing more against him beforehand; but since he denied his sin and did not repent even when convicted by God, (for he said: "The woman, whom you gave to me, she deceived me." — "Whom you gave to me!" O inattentive soul, as if saying to God: "You," he says, "have erred; the woman, whom you gave to me, she deceived me"— just as I also suffer now, the humble and wretched one, and I do not ever wish to be humbled and to say from my soul (95) that I am the cause of my own destruction, but "So-and-so," I say, "urged me to do and to say the things

33

πρᾶγμα ὅπερ σαφῶς, οἶμαι, οὐδείς ἀπεκάλυψε, συνεσκιασμένως δέ τοῦτο εἴρηται. Ποῖον; Ἄκουε τῆς θείας λεγούσης Γραφῆς· "Καί εἶπεν ὁ Θεός τῷ Ἀδάμ μετά τό παραβῆναι λέγω · "'Αδάμ, ποῦ εἶ;" Τί τοῦτο λέγων, ὁ τοῦ παντός Ποιητής; Πάντως εἰς συναίσθησιν αὐτόν ἀγαγεῖν βουλόμενος καί τοῦτον πρός μετάνοιαν ἐκκαλούμενος, "Ἀδάμ, ποῦ εἶ; φησί. Κατανόησον σεαυτόν, κατάμαθέ σου τήν γύμνωσιν! Ἴδε οἵου ἐνδύματος, οἵας δόξης ἐστέρησαι. Ἀδάμ, ποῦ εἶ;" οἱονεί πως τοῦτον παρακαλῶν καί λέγων· "ναί, φρόνησον, ταπεινέ, ναί, ἔξελθε ὅθεν εἶ κεκρυμμένος. Ἐμέ οἴει κρύπτεσθαι; Εἰπέ· Ἥμαρτον! " Ἀλλ᾿ οὐ λέγει τοῦτο, μᾶλλον δέ οὐκ ἐγώ λέγω τοῦτο ὁ ἄθλιος ἐμόν γάρ τό πάθος ἐστίν! , ἀλλά τί; (93) "Τῆς φωνῆς σου ἤκουσα περιπατοῦντος ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ καί ἔγνων ὅτι γυμνός εἰμι καί ἐκρύβην". Τί οὖν ὁ Θεός; "Καί τίς ἀνήγγειλέ σοι ὅτι γυμνός εἶ, εἰ μή ἀπό τοῦ ξύλου, οὐ ἐνετειλάμην σοι τούτου μόνου μή φαγεῖν, ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔφαγες;".

Ὁρᾶς, ἀγαπητέ, μακροθυμίαν Θεοῦ; Εἰπόντος γάρ αὐτοῦ· "Ἀδάμ, ποῦ εἶ; " καί μή ὁμολογήσαντος τήν ἁμαρτίαν εὐθύς, ἀλλ᾿ εἰπόντος· "Τῆς φωνῆς σου ἤκουσα, Κύριε, καί ἔγνων ὅτι γυμνός εἰμι καί ἐκρύβην", οὐκ ὠργίσθη ὁ Θεός, οὐκ ἀπεστράφη εὐθύς, ἀλλά καί δευτέρας ἀξιοῖ αὐτόν ἀποκρίσεως καί φησι· "Τίς ἀνήγγειλέ σοι ὅτι γυμνός εἶ, εἰ μή ἀπό τοῦ ξύλου, οὗ ἐνετειλάμην σοι τούτου μόνου μή φαγεῖν, ἀπ᾿αὐτοῦ ἔφαγες;" Νόει μοι βάθος λόγων σοφίας Θεοῦ. "Τί λέγεις, φησίν, ὅτι ῾Γυμνός εἰμι᾿, τήν δέ ἁμαρτίαν σου κρύβεις; Μή νομίζεις με τό σῶμά σου μόνο ὁρᾶν, τήν δέ καρδίαν καί τάς ἐνθυμήσεις σου μή ὁρᾷν;". Ἤλπιζε γάρ ἀπατηθείς ὁ Ἀδάμ ὅτι οὐκ ᾔδει ὁ Θεός τήν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ καί ἔλεγεν οὕτω καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν, οἱονεί ὅτι· "Ἐάν εἴπω ὅτι γυμνός εἰμι, φησίν, ἀγνοῶν ὁ Θεός εἰπεῖν ἔχει· ῾ Καί διατί εἶ γυμνός;᾿. Εἶτα ἀπαρνήσασθαι ἔχω ἐγώ καί εἰπεῖν· ῾Οὐκ οἶδα᾿, καί λαθεῖν ἔχω αὐτόν καί πάλιν ἀπολαβεῖν τήν πρώτην μου στολήν. Εἰ δέ μή, τέως οὐ μή ἐκβάλῃ με, τέως οὐ μή ἐξορίσῃ με! ". Ταῦτα ἐνθυμουμένου αὐτοῦ ὡς καί νῦν ποιοῦσι πολλοί καί αὐτός ἐγώ πρῶτος, τά ἑαυτῶν κακά κρύπτοντες , ὁ Θεός μή θέλων πολυπλασιάσαι αὐτῷ τό κρίμα λέγει· "Καί πόθεν ἔγνως ὅτι γυμνός εἶ, εἰ μή ἀπό τοῦ ξύλου, οὗ ἐνετειλάμην σοι μή φαγεῖν, ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔφαγες;", οἱονεί λέγων· "Καί (94) ὅλως ἐμέ κρύπτειν οἴεσαι; Οὐ γινώσκω ἐγώ τί πέπραχας; Οὐ λέγεις τό ῾ Ἥμαρτον᾿; Εἰπέ, ταπεινέ· ῾Ναί, ἀλήθεια, ∆έσποτα, παρέβην τήν ἐντολήν σου, ἔπταισα ἀκούσας τῆς συμβουλῆς τῆς γυναικός, ἐσφάλην μεγάλως ποιήσας τόν ἐκείνης λόγον καί παρακούσας τόν σόν, ἐλέησόν με!᾿ " Ἀλλ᾿ οὐ λέγει τοῦτο, οὐ ταπεινοῦται, οὐ κάμπτεται, νεῦρον σιδηροῦν ὁ τῆς καρδίας τράχηλος - οἷος δή καί ὁ ἐμός, τοῦ ἀθλίου, ἐστίν . Εἰ γάρ εἶπε τοῦτο, ἔμεινε ἄν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ καί τόν κύκλον ὅλον ἐκεῖνον τῶν μυρίων κακῶν, ὅν ὑπέστη ἐξορισθείς καί εἰς τόν ᾅδην τοσούτους αἰῶνας ποιήσας κείμενος, κερδᾶναι ἄν εἶχε ἀπό μιᾶς τῆς τότε φωνῆς.

Τοῦτο οὖν ἐστιν ὅ ὑπεσχόμην εἰπεῖν. Καί ἄκουσον τῶν ἑξῆς καί γνῶθι ὅτι ἀληθής ἐστιν ὁ λόγος καί οὐκ ἔστι ψεῦδος τό οἱονοῦν ἐν αὐτῷ. Εἶπεν ὁ Θεός τῷ Ἀδάμ· "Ἥν ὥραν φάγεσθε ἀπό τοῦ ξύλου, οὗ ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν τούτου μόνου μή φαγεῖν, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε", δηλονότι τῷ ψυχικῷ, ὅ καί αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐγένετο, δι᾿ ὅ καί τῆς ἀθανάτου στολῆς ἐγυμνώθη· οὐδέν δέ πλέον προεῖπεν ὁ Θεός καί οὐδέν πλέον ἐγένετο. Προγινώσκων γάρ ὁ Θεός ὅτι ἁμαρτῆσαι ἔχει ὁ Ἀδάμ καί βουλόμενος μετανοοῦντα συγχωρῆσαι αὐτόν, οὐδέν, ὡς εἴρηται, πλέον προαπεφήνατο κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ· ἐπεί δέ ἠρνήσατο τήν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ καί οὐδέ ἐλεγχόμενος ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ μετενόησεν, (ἔφη γάρ· "Ἡ γυνή, ἥν δέδωκάς μοι, αὕτη με ἠπάτησεν". - "Ἥν δέδωκάς μοι! " ὤ ψυχῆς ἀπροσέκτου, οἱονεί τῷ Θεῷ λεγούσης· "Σύ, φησίν, ἔπταισας· ἡ γυνή, ἥν δέδωκάς μοι, αὕτη με ἠπάτησεν"οἷα καί νῦν ἐγώ πάσχω, ὁ ταπεινός καί ταλαίπωρος, καί οὐ θέλω ταπεινωθῆναί ποτε καί εἰπεῖν ἀπό ψυχῆς (95) ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι αἴτιος τῆς ἐμῆς ἀπωλείας, ἀλλ᾿ "Ὁ δεῖνά με, λέγω, παρώτρυνε ποιῆσαι καί εἰπεῖν τά