Friday, March 18, 2005 Lenten Fast
Nikolai Velimirovich, Bishop of Zica in Serbia
6th Hour: Isaiah 3:1-14 1st Vespers: Genesis 2:20-3:29 2nd Vespers: Proverbs 3:19-34
Genesis 2:20-3:20 LXX, especially vss. 3:15 and 20: "And the Lord God said....In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread until thou return to the earth out of which thou was taken, for earth thou art
and to earth thou shalt return." Beloved of the Lord, as we read today, let us behold how well we know Adam and Eve.
If their portraits had been retained in some archive of history, we would see readily that they should be placed neatly
alongside pictures of our parents and grandparents, of our children and grandchildren.
Indeed, let us look into our hearts as we read, for there we shall also see Christ our God, for He, too, is present in the events
of Paradise given and lost even as He is with us now. Christ our God causes Adam to fall asleep. He forms the woman and
brings her to the man. He commands them not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. It is He Who comes, walking in the
garden, looking for His errant loved ones. He fashions us still and lays His hand upon us: "And from Thy presence
whither shall I flee? If I go up into heaven, Thou art there; if I go down into hades, Thou art present there" (Ps. 138:6,7
LXX). Yes, as He was with our first parents, so also we may "...grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from
each one of us" (Acts 17:27).
"And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he slept" (Gen. 2:21), and He made a woman. St. Augustine of Hippo says,
"Adam sleeps, so Eve may be formed; Christ dies, so the Church will be formed." Mystically, we are one with Him, of His
own Body, having His precious life and blood coursing through us to eternal life. As Nicholas Cabasilas teaches: "For in
this Sacrament we attain God Himself, and God Himself is made one with us"
The pre-incarnate Christ, having formed the woman, brought her to Adam in a primal procession of innocence and
marriage. Later, having taken our flesh upon Himself, He repeats what He had said at creation: "Therefore a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24; Mt. 19:5). Further, by
His presence at this first marriage feast, He declares wedlock to be an holy and honorable estate. "And the two were naked,
both Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Gen. 2:25).
The cunning serpent approaches the innocent ones who bear the image of God. He comes with questions, insinuations, and
suggestions. Centuries later he will come again with similar questions, probing and enticing the Only Sinless One. At that
time, the Son of Man, the second Adam, will spurn His tempting, for the Pure One comes to save mankind. In the
beginning, the innocents turned from Truth and Life to delusion and corruption. Then, "they heard the voice of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the afternoon; and both Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God"
(vs. 3:8). Who can stand in the presence of pure, hallowed, uncreated light Himself? Our God is a "Fire, consuming the
unworthy," yet to us, fallen with Adam, He comes to restore to life. He bids us, sinful as we are: "Go and sin no more" (Jn.
8:11).
God, Who one day would send His Only Begotten to restore mankind, tells the serpent, "He shall bruise your head, and you
shall bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:15). Beloved, we have lived to see His true promise fulfilled. Christ has trampled down
death by death. He has harrowed the gates of Hades, raising Adam and Eve from their tombs and bestowing life upon
mankind.
"Thou wast verily nailed upon the Cross, O Life of all; and was numbered among the dead, O deathless Lord. Thou didst
rise after three days, O Savior, and didst raise Adam from corruption. Wherefore, the heavenly Powers shouted to Thee, O
Giver of Life, Glory to Thy Passion, O Christ, glory to Thy Resurrection, glory to Thy condescension, O Thou Who alone
art the Lover of mankind." (Glory, Second Kathisma of Orthros for Tone One)
