34

he lost this kingdom, he would not have deprived himself of the glory of God; but since he has done this, he was rightly cast out, exiled, lived and died. And I tell you a thing which, I think, no one has clearly revealed, but this has been said obscurely. Which? Hear the divine Scripture saying: "And God said to Adam—I mean after the transgression—: 'Adam, where are you?'" Why did the Creator of all say this? Certainly wishing 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 are hidden. Do you think you can hide from Me? Say: I have sinned! " But he does not say this—or rather, it is not I who say this, wretched man that I am, 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." What then did 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 immediately confess his sin, but said, "I heard your voice, Lord, and I knew that I was naked and I hid," God was not angry, He did not turn away immediately, but He 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," He says, "do you say, 'I am naked,' but hide your sin? Do you think that I see only your body, and do not see your heart and your thoughts?". For Adam, being deceived, hoped that God did not know his sin and so spoke 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 again receive my first robe. 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 of all, hiding their own evils—God, not wishing to multiply his judgment, says: "And how 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? Will you not say, 'I have sinned'? Say, humble one: 'Yes, truly, Master, I transgressed your commandment, I erred by listening to the counsel of the woman, I stumbled 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 is, wretched that I am. For if he had said this, he would have remained in paradise and he would have gained, from that one utterance then, the whole of that cycle of myriad evils, which he underwent when exiled and lying in Hades for so many ages.

This, therefore, is what I promised to say. And hear what follows and know that the word is true and there is no falsehood whatsoever 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," clearly meaning spiritual death, which happened in that very hour, on account of which he was also stripped of the immortal robe; and God foretold nothing more, and nothing more happened. For God, foreknowing that Adam was going to sin and wishing to forgive him if he repented, did not, as has been said, decree anything more against him beforehand; but since he denied his sin and did not repent even when reproved by God (for he said: "The woman, whom you gave to me, she deceived me." - "Whom

34

βασιλείαν ταύτην ἀπώλεσεν, οὐκ ἄν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξης ἑαυτόν ἀπεστέρησεν· ἐπεί δέ τοῦτο πεποίηκεν, εἰκότως ἐξεβλήθη, ἐξωρίσθη, ἐβίωσε καί ἀπέθανε. Καί λέγω σοι 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