Reading from the Old Testament, Holy Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Revelation, our priests' and bishops' sermons, and commentary by the Church Fathers. All Forum Rules apply.
During Great Lenten weekdays, the Orthodox Church directs us to read from the Book of Genesis.
Please feel free to share your fruitful meditations on these readings as we strive toward repentance and theosis.
This week, the readings are from Genesis 1 - Genesis 3:20, which covers the creation account, the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and their dismissal from the Garden of Eden.
In the Creation account, everything that the Lord God has created is good.
And man is set in the center to tend this paradise that the Lord has made.
Monasteries also have gardens which the monks tend to produce fruit from the earth:
flowers to delight and provide essences for incense; olive trees for olives, olive oil, and wood;
root vegetables (potatoes, onions, carrots, beets) to sustain the monks in their labors;
tender lettuce and green vegetables for salads and soups;
tomatoes, eggplants, and bell peppers that flavor our dishes;
fruits of our fields: melons, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, and watermelon,
and fruit bearing trees that delight the hearts of men.
Praise the Lord for all of His creation.
Praise and bless Him forever.
Reference: NKJV, Orthodox Study Bible, Thomas Nelson: 2008, p. 5.
26. Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven, over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth."
So God made man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them.
Then God blessed them; and God said to them,
"Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it,
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven,
and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
The footnotes in the Orthodox Study Bible as well as the Church Fathers indicate that we are created in the image of the Holy Trinity, One God. The use of the first person plural (Us) indicates that our God is a Triune God.
O Holy Trinity, glory to Thee.
In this passage, man is given dominion over the earth and its creatures.
Yet, man is also to be a faithful steward.
21 And Adam called the name of his wife Life, because she was the mother of all living. 22 And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin, and clothed them.
23 And God said, Behold, Adam is become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now lest at any time he stretch forth his hand, and take of the tree of life and eat, and so he shall live forever— 24 So the Lord God sent him forth out of the garden of Delight to cultivate the ground out of which he was taken. 25 And he cast out Adam and caused him to dwell over against the garden of Delight, and stationed the cherubs and the fiery sword that turns about to keep the way of the tree of life.
Chapter 4
4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Cain and said, I have gained a man through God. 2 And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And it was so after some time that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought of the first born of his sheep and of his fatlings, and God looked upon Abel and his gifts, 5 but Cain and his sacrifices he regarded not, and Cain was exceedingly sorrowful and his countenance fell. 6 And the Lord God said to Cain, Why art thou become very sorrowful and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 Hast thou not sinned if thou hast brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it? be still, to thee shall be his submission, and thou shalt rule over him.
This is the account of what happened after the expulsion from the Garden.
I suppose as Orthodox Christians we should interpret the text in the light of Christ and the Divine Economy. Whereas Adam and Eve were clothed in garments of skin, we are clothed in the spotless garment of Holy Baptism. Whereas Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise and prevented from eating of the tree of life, we have been brought back into Paradise and given eternal life through Holy Communion.
At the same time, the sins that we have committed since Baptism have cast us out of Paradise yet again. To be brought back again into the Garden, we must offer fruits of repentance. But these fruits must be offered in true faith and humility for God to accept them. Otherwise, He will see that they are not "rightly divided" and reject them.
