Synaxarion for Cheesefare Sunday, the Commemoration of Adam’s Expulsion

Verses: Let the world weep bitterly with our first parents, As fallen with them, fallen because of sweet food.

On this day we commemorate the expulsion of the first-formed Adam from the paradise of delight, which our divine fathers established before the start of the holy Forty Days (Great Lent), thereby demonstrating how beneficial the medicine of fasting is to human nature, and, on the contrary, how loathsome are the consequences of self-indulgence and disobedience.

Thus, the fathers, leaving aside the countless narratives of what happened in the world because of these passions, present to us the first-formed Adam, clearly showing how terribly he suffered for not fasting, thereby bringing death into our nature; and how he failed to keep the first holy commandment of God to mankind—regarding fasting—and, obeying his belly (or rather, the cunning serpent through Eve), not only did not become a god, but brought death upon himself and destruction upon the entire human race.

It was because of the first Adam’s eating of food that the Lord fasted for forty days and was obedient (see Phil. 2:8); and because of Adam that the holy apostles devised this Great Forty Days, so that we, by keeping what he failed to keep (and thereby suffered the loss of immortality), might regain it again through fasting.

Moreover, as we have said before, the intention of the holy (fathers) is to briefly recount the works accomplished by God from the beginning even to the end. And since the cause of all our misfortunes was the transgression (of the commandment) and Adam’s fall through eating, for this reason they propose today to commemorate this event, so that we might avoid it, and especially so that we do not imitate intemperance in all things.

In the sixth day Adam was created by the hand of God, honored with His image through the inbreathing (of the Spirit); and having received the commandment, he lived in paradise from that time until the sixth hour, and then, having transgressed it, was expelled from there. However, the Jew Philo (Philo of Alexandria, a Jew born around 20 BC, who attempted to reconcile the Bible with the teachings of Greek and Eastern sages and interpreted the Mosaic law allegorically) considered that Adam lived in paradise for a hundred years; others say seven years or days, because of the significance of the number seven. And that in the sixth hour (Adam), stretching out his hands, touched the (forbidden) fruit—this was shown by the New Adam, Christ, who in the sixth hour and on the sixth day stretched out His hands on the Cross, healing him from destruction.

(Adam) was created between death and immortality, so that he might receive whichever he himself chose. Although it was possible for God to create him sinless, yet, so that his own free will might be tested, the commandment was given to eat from all the trees except one—this means it was permitted to contemplate the knowledge of Divine power through all God’s creatures, but not the Divine nature itself. Thus Gregory the Theologian philosophizes that the (other) trees of paradise are divine thoughts, while the forbidden tree is contemplation. That is, he says, God commanded Adam to be interested in all the other elements and qualities and to reflect on them with the mind, as well as on his own nature, glorifying God for this, for this is true food; but as for God—Who He is by nature, and where He is, and how He brought all things from non-existence—he was by no means to inquire. Yet Adam, leaving aside everything else, began more and more to investigate God and to carefully examine His essence. Since he was still imperfect and irrational, like an infant, he fell into this when Satan through Eve instilled in him the dream of deification.

And the great and divine Chrysostom, although following Scripture, yet not according to the letter, attributes to this tree (of knowledge) a certain double power and says that paradise was on earth, considering it both spiritual and material at the same time—as Adam himself was between death and immortality.

Some also think that the tree of disobedience was a fig tree, since (Adam and Eve), suddenly realizing their nakedness, covered themselves by using its leaves. Therefore Christ also cursed the fig tree, because it was the cause of disobedience; it even bears a certain resemblance to sin. First of all, there is its sweetness (of the fruit), then the roughness of its leaves and the stickiness of its sap. But there are also those who wrongly think that (the forbidden) tree was Eve’s seduction of Adam and carnal knowledge (of her).

Thus, having transgressed God’s commandment, Adam was clothed in mortal flesh, was cursed, and expelled from paradise; and a flaming sword was commanded to guard its entrance. Adam, sitting opposite (paradise), wept (for) how many blessings he had lost because he did not fast in his time. And in his person the entire human race came under the curse, until our Creator, taking pity on our nature destroyed by Satan, raised us up again to our original dignity: born of the Holy Virgin, living without sin, showing us the way through the opposite of what Adam did—that is, through fasting and humility—and overcoming the one who deceived us by cunning.

Therefore, the God-bearing fathers, desiring to present all this in the entire Triodion, begin with Old Testament (events); the first of them is the creation of Adam and his expulsion from paradise, the memory of which we celebrate today, along with readings from other (books of Scripture): those of Moses, the prophets, and especially David, adding something also by grace. Then, in order, follow the (events) of the New Testament, the first of which is the Annunciation, which by God’s ineffable providence always falls during the Forty Days; the raising of Lazarus and the Flowery (Palm) Sunday, the holy Great Week, when the sacred Gospels are read and the holy and saving Passion of Christ is sung with compunction. Afterward, from the Resurrection until the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Acts (of the Apostles) are read: how their preaching took place and called all the believers—for the Acts bear witness to the Resurrection through miracles.

Since we have suffered so greatly because Adam once failed to keep the fast, this commemoration is now proposed on the threshold of the holy Forty Days, so that, remembering what evil intemperance brought, we may strive with joy to begin the fast and keep it. For through fasting we shall receive what Adam did not attain [that is, deification], weeping, fasting, and humbling ourselves until God visits us—for without this it is difficult to regain what was lost.

Let it be known that this holy and Great Forty Days is a tithe of the whole year. Since by our laziness we do not wish to fast continually and avoid evil, the apostles and divine fathers gave it to us as a certain fruitful time for the soul, so that whatever foolish things we have done throughout the whole year we may now cleanse with contrition and humility in fasting. And we must carefully observe this (Forty Days), as well as the other three (fasts): those of the holy apostles, of the Theotokos (Dormition), and of Christ’s Nativity—corresponding to the four seasons. The Forty Days was handed down to us by the holy apostles, who honored it especially because of the holy Passion and because Christ fasted (forty days) and was glorified; Moses also fasted forty days to receive the law; likewise Elijah, Daniel, and all those glorified by God. And Adam proves the contrary—that fasting is a good thing. For this reason the fathers placed Adam’s expulsion here.

O Christ our God, by Thine ineffable mercy make us worthy of the sweetness of paradise and have mercy on us, for Thou alone art the Lover of Mankind. Amen.