Thursday, March 24, 2005 Lenten Fast
New-Hieromartyr Parthenios of Constantinople
6th Hour: Isaiah 6:1-12 1st Vespers: Genesis 5:1-24 2nd Vespers: Proverbs 6:3-20
Genesis 5:1-24 LXX, especially vss. 1, 2: "...in the day in which God made
man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them, and blessed them; and He called his name Adam
in the day in which He made them." This passage is far more than a list of descendants. Herein God unveils hope: life is
not simply "poor, nasty, brutish and short" as the swaggering Lamech or as Thomas Hobbes have asserted (vs. 4:23,24).
The blessing of God's image remains in mankind, and the gift of life perseveres in the face of death. God continues
seeking and rewarding those who are well-pleasing in His sight.
The opening verses direct us back to the uniqueness of the human race, to our being fashioned "in the image of God." God
does not withdraw His blessing from mankind, despite our expulsion from Paradise, in spite of sin and its consequent
distortion of the likeness of God within us, and notwithstanding the wildest depravities of which we as sinners are capable.
Above all, let those who are united to Christ and have received the seed of the new Adam, cry out in joy: "Christ is born,
raising the image that fell at the beginning."
One of the wonderful morning prayers to the Holy Trinity reveals the truth of God's continuing love for us "while we were
yet sinners" (Rom. 5:8): "because of the abundance of Thy goodness and long suffering, Thou was not wroth with us,
slothful and sinful as we are; neither hast Thou destroyed us in our transgressions, but in Thy compassion raised us up as
we lay in despair, that at dawn we might sing the glories of Thy Majesty." What shall we make of God's image that He
placed within us, revealed fully in Christ Jesus, and illumined by the Holy Spirit?
The repetitive litany of fathers and firstborns in this chapter, as it flows from Adam to Enoch, directs us to hope. Note: in
maturity each Patriarch fathers a firstborn. After the child's birth, the father lives on for many years and sires other sons
and daughters. God's gift of life asserts itself against death which mankind sadly introduced. The human race is not
consigned to develop solely from Cain's lineage of murderous, secular men and women, a branch of humanity devoid of all
relationship with God. The Lord appoints another seed in the stead "of Abel, whom Cain killed" (Gen. 4:25). The world
will not be given over to Satan and his human slaves.
The lineage of Seth reveals that our gracious Creator always is the "fountain of life" (Ps. 35:10 LXX). Yes, we are exiled
from Paradise, but God remains active among us to give salvation and life to those who worship and seek Him. As Elder
Joseph the Hesychast says, "...blessed is he who has traded well during this exile and reached the haven of salvation."
In the seventh generation from Adam, the new lineage through Seth reaches a pinnacle in Enoch, a man "who was well-pleasing to God" (Gen. 5:22, 24). Undoubtedly, like Seth, he "trusted to call on the Name of the Lord God" (Gen. 4:26),
for he did not taste the bitterness of death. Instead, "God translated him" directly to heaven (Gen. 5:24). Enoch, like the
Prophet Elijah, was lifted up to the very presence of God without directly undergoing death. The fact is reiterated in the
Epistle to the Hebrews: "By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death, and was not found because God had
translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Heb. 11:5). By Thy mercy may we
struggle to please Thee!
Enoch foreshadows the hope completed for us in the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Despite death,
let us look forward in hope and live in such a manner that we too may be pleasing to God and worthy always to "be with
the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17). O All-compassionate Word, Who didst translate Enoch from the earth, by his prayers save us
who glorify Thee in faith that we too may be found well-pleasing in Thy sight.