Thursday, March 17, 2005 Lenten Fast
Venerable Alexios, 'the Man of God'
6th Hour: Isaiah 2:11-22 1st Vespers: Genesis 2:4-19 2nd Vespers: Proverbs 3:1-18
Genesis 2:4-19, especially 16, 17: "And the Lord God gave a charge to Adam,
saying, Of every tree which is in the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - of it
ye shall not eat, but in whatsoever day ye eat of it, ye shall surely die." St. Symeon the New Theologian records that "the
Holy Fathers tell us that God became man in order that through His becoming man He might again raise up human nature
into the blessed state" of that divine condition which was ours before the transgression of Adam. Then St. Symeon draws
this conclusion: "Therefore, we must know in what way it is that man, through the Economy of Christ's Incarnation, may
again come into that blessed state."
The common starting point of the Fathers from which they understand the original state of mankind is the sixth day of
creation (Gen. 1:24-31). Today's reading expands our information about that special, final day of creation. We learn that
man, as well as every "living creature according to its kind" (Gen. 1:24), was brought forth from the "dust of the earth"
(Gen. 2:7,19). St. John of Damascus teaches that "all that is produced," man and animals alike, is "subject to change....For
those things must be subject to change whose production has its origin in change," that is, "in being brought into being out
of nothing, and in transforming a substratum of matter into something different." How, then, did God intend for man to
change?
Man differs from the other living creatures in that "God...breathed upon his face the breath of life, and man became a living
soul" (vs. 7); and, as we learned yesterday, man was thereby made according to the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26).
Thus, God furnished man's nature with free will, simultaneously imposing "a law on him, not to taste of the tree of
knowledge." St. John of Damascus elaborates: if man "should preserve the dignity of the soul by giving the victory to
reason, and acknowledging his Creator, and observing His command, he should share eternal blessedness and live to all
eternity, proving mightier than death. But if he should subject the soul to the body, comparing himself in ignorance of his
true dignity to the senseless beasts, and shaking off his Creator's yoke, and neglecting His divine injunction, he will be
liable to death and corruption, and will be compelled to labor throughout a miserable life." God placed man in the garden
of Delight, or Paradise, "to cultivate and keep it" (Gen. 2:15). Whatever Paradise may be, God honored man with the gift
of free will; for, as St. Gregory the Theologian says, "He desired that man might belong to Him as the result of his choice."
Do you see the truth of this gift of freedom? Where there is no choice, there can be no love. Love and freedom of choice
partake of the same interpersonal reality. St. Gregory elaborates: "Also He gave him a law, as a material for his free will to
act upon. This law was a commandment as to what plants he might partake of, and which one he might not touch. This
latter was the Tree of Knowledge; not however, because it was evil...But it would have been good if partaken of at the
proper time, for the tree was...Contemplation, upon which it is only safe for those who have reached maturity of habit to
enter, but which is not good for those who are still somewhat simple and greedy in their habit."
Now that our Lord Jesus Christ has become Incarnate, the image of God has once again been clearly manifested to mankind
that we might turn back to God. However, returning to our Creator can only happen, as St. Athanasios teaches, if we "have
got rid of all foreign matter that has affected our soul, and can show it in the simplicity as it was made." Seeing Christ, the
soul is brightened as it "beholds in a mirror the image of the Father, Whose image the Savior is." Illumine our hearts, O
Master, with the pure light of Thy Divine knowledge.
