Quomodo animam acceperit Adamus

On How Adam Received His Soul and on the Passion of Christ The labors of patience are good, and the fruit that follows the labors is most excellent. For the fruit of good labors is glorious. Labors give birth to virtues; by labors the proclamation of fasting is fitted; by labors the splendid strategy of martyrdom is accomplished. The reward of labors is the kingdom of heaven. We have completed with these sacred labors the all-virtuous week, and the first exercise has run to its end, and the prize of piety shines forth. Today, brothers, is the day on which Adam was formed, on which he came into being according to the image of God. And since yesterday the instrument of the voice did not obey, it is necessary today, on this very day on which Adam was formed, to take up the discourses concerning his formation. God formed him on this day; again he re-forms him on this day. What then? Shall we touch upon the promise before us? When God made the inhabited world and adorned the heaven with the sun and the moon and the stars, and likewise embellished the earth, girded with rivers and springs, crowned with flowers and plants, and fenced off the sea, and placed all seemliness around this cosmos, as I have often said before, he created and formed the appointed master of this world. But he forms him not in the same way as the others. For the quadrupeds and the wild beasts and the cattle, by word alone commanding, he brought forth from the earth: "Let the earth bring forth quadrupeds, reptiles, and wild beasts.

Those things that are subject to reason are so called, while the formation of the divine image is shaped by hand—not that God has a hand or such a limb, but because, wishing to indicate the honor of what is being formed, Scripture introduces God's hand as creating. For we perform the meaner works by giving orders, but we undertake the more desirable ones with our own hands. For this reason Scripture says: "And God took dust from the earth." He took dust, not a clod, not thick earth, but the finest dust. See how from the very beginning the hope of the resurrection is established. For since man was destined to be resolved into dust, according to the saying, "And you have brought me down to the dust of death," so that no one, seeing the dust in the tombs, might abandon hope for humanity, in the very act of creation he fixed the hope of the resurrection. Therefore it says, "God took dust from the earth." There is dust there, and here dust; that dust was transformed by the power of the craftsman, and this dust is transformed by the wisdom of the creator. He took dust and shaped it.

You have learned from where he took and what he formed; but how he transformed it, you have not received the account. He spoke of the formation, but he concealed the manner, so that you might learn not to meddle with God's creation. If you were not permitted to meddle with God's creation, much less ought you to pry into God's generation. Then, when God makes quadrupeds, he brings the souls together with the bodies. But when forming man, he first constructs the instrument of the body, and then, having created the soul, he places it within. Why? So that even in this he might show the superiority of man. For since the other animals and beasts, when dissolved by death, cause the soul to vanish together with the body, he says their origin is from there, where the whole was about to disappear. So God, having formed man from earth, takes the body from the earth, and breathes the soul in. And wait a little, so that I may set forth for you the account of the inbreathing as far as possible. For from the very beginning, he also sketches in this the hope of the resurrection. He forms the body first. And first man received a dead image, and then he received the living energy of the soul. First he was shown dead, then alive. First he formed a dead body, into which man was about to end. Then, when he had completed the dead body, he gave the character. And he does not make the soul first, so that it might not become a spectator of what happens. He does not make the soul present at the creation, so that it might not boast, as if it were a co-worker with God. And not only so that it might not boast, but also so that it might not see the manner of what is happening. This is what God does even now.

For each of us, He also fashions in the womb. And how He fashions, He has permitted no one to see. We are sown and fashioned, and while nature completes the course, no one comprehends the manner of the fashioning. O the wonder! A temple is built within a temple, a house is constructed within a house. And the outer house is not aware. He makes man, then, according to the lifeless image. Then He says: God breathed into the face of Adam a breath of life, and man became a living soul. Many have thought that the breath itself was the soul and that the soul was imparted to the body from the substance of God. For this account is full not only of great folly but also of absurdity. For if the soul is from the substance of God, it should not be that in one it is wise, in another foolish and senseless, nor that in this one the soul is righteous, in another unjust. For the substance of God is not divided, nor is it altered, but it is unchangeable. For He says, I am and I have not been changed. Moreover, brothers, we not only find souls going astray and from this being refuted, as not being from the divine substance, but we also find them subjected to judgment. For the Savior says: Do not fear those who kill the body, for they cannot kill the soul; but rather fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. If, then, the soul is from Him, God judges Himself.

What then does the "inbreathing" mean? It is necessary to see. The inbreathing in the case of God is the activity of the Holy Spirit. For just as the Savior breathed upon the faces of the apostles and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit," so the divine inbreathing, heard in human terms, is the venerable and Holy Spirit. This Spirit, having come forth, did not itself become a soul, but created a soul. It was not itself transformed into a soul, but it fashioned a soul. For the Holy Spirit is a creator. It participates in the creation of the body and in the creation of the soul. For the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit create the creature by divine power. And do not think that the Father contributed one part, the Son another part, and the Holy Spirit another part. But I say this: that even if the Father does the work, it is the work of the Son and the achievement of the Spirit. And if the Son creates, it is the creation of the Father and the creation of the Holy Spirit. But if anyone disbelieves that the Holy Spirit did not participate in our creation, let him be refuted by the mysteries. If we were not created by the Trinity, how is the initiation of the mysteries ascribed to the Holy Spirit? How is the creation renewed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? But when we were created, was there no need of the Spirit, but when we are renewed, is the Spirit taken up? Therefore the Holy Spirit is a creator, whether the enemies wish it or not. And David bears witness to the creative power of the Spirit. For, speaking about the human constitution, he says: "All things look to you, Lord, to give them food at the right time.

When you give, they will gather; when you open your hand, all things will be filled with goodness. These things indicate the ungrudging bounty. Then what follows? When you turn away your face, they will be thrown into confusion. You will take back their breath, and they will fail and return to their dust. You will send forth your breath, and they will be created. Therefore the Holy Spirit is creator and maker. And note the precision of the words. When he speaks about our soul, he says: "You will take back their breath, and they will fail and return to their dust." But when he speaks about the Spirit, he says: "You will send forth your breath, and they will be created." If the heretics dare to look this truth in the face, another testimony will again turn them back, proclaiming the creative power of the Holy Spirit. For the work of the Holy Spirit is found to be greater than all creation, of heaven and earth and sea. For the most holy and venerable body of Christ, through which heaven and earth and the whole world are renewed and the inhabited world is saved, is the work of the Holy Spirit. When the holy virgin was at a loss concerning the strange birth announced to her and said, "How will this be for me, since I know no man?" the angel said to her: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Some have thought that "Holy Spirit" refers to the Spirit itself, and "power of the Most High" to the Son. But one must know that he called the same thing both Holy Spirit and power of the Most High.

For just as the Son is called the power of the Most High—for Christ is the power of God—so also the Holy Spirit is named power. Indeed, the Lord says to the apostles: "Remain in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high." And before this, brothers, the angel speaking to Joseph says: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For that which is begotten in her—not born, lest you think the divine and immaculate nature is created—is from the Holy Spirit." If, then, the Holy Spirit fashioned the body of Christ, show the difference between one creation and another. But see that you are not ashamed, attributing the earthly image to the Father and the heavenly one to the Spirit. For if, according to your argument, when Adam was created the Spirit had no share in the creation, it will be found that the Father and Son created the earthly man, while the Spirit created the heavenly one. He breathed into his face, and the man became a living soul.

And pay close attention. When Adam was formed, when he was created, when he received his own distinctive form, the woman had not yet been formed. But what does God do? Just as he did not wish Adam's soul to be present at the creation of his body, so he allowed no mortal eye to be present at the creation of the woman. For this reason, about to form the woman, he casts sleep upon Adam, so that he might not be present and meddle with God's creation. And he cast an ecstasy upon him, that is, sleep, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs. He who bound also loosed. From what he works, he borrows; from what he makes, he takes. He took one of his ribs, and he filled in flesh in its place. From where he filled it in, reason is at a loss; power is not at a loss. And he built the rib he took into a woman. How, again, did he build it? How was a rib bone transformed into an eye? How was it shaped into hands? How was it stretched into sinews? How was it colored into a liver? How was it transformed into the variety of the intestines? How was a tongue fixed? How were lips turned? How were nostrils carved out? How were the ears spread? How did hair bloom? From where did nails grow? How does blood run? Explain your own creation. But if you are unable to speak, silence your slander against the Only-begotten. God cast an ecstasy upon Adam, and he slept. And he takes a rib and creates a woman.

And observe the all-wise wisdom. From one he fashions two, so that from the two he may again produce the one through union. From Adam he made the woman. From the one he made two. Again, the same one from the two makes the one. For that which is born from woman and man is completed into one body. The expression is human; the thought is divine. Explain how it was built, and you will not find how the rib was built. How he fashioned the one, but built the other. It is not the same to fashion from earth and to build from a rib. God fashioned Adam from earth. He created Eve from a rib. He produces Cain and Abel and the rest of men from union. And some are begotten, while one is fashioned, and one is built. The names are not equal. Was the substance divided? Not at all. Let these things be said by me opportunely, since the heretics say that the begotten and the unbegotten are not alike, but that as great a difference as the names have, so great a distinction the things also have. Therefore, grant a difference of Adam from those descended from him. For Adam is both begotten and unbegotten: begotten, in that he came to be; unbegotten, in that he was not born. And he came to be and was fashioned, but he was not born; but the woman was neither born nor fashioned. Take up the expression again and fix the thought. Adam was fashioned, and was not born; the woman was built, and was neither fashioned from earth nor born from a womb, as Cain was; and the rest were neither fashioned nor built, but were born.

Since, then, the sense of the meanings has great difference—for to be formed is one thing, to be built is another, and to be born is another—show me a difference of substance between Adam and Eve, and between them and their offspring. But if they are distinguished by names and not distinguished in substance, what is wonderful? If you constantly turn the names around, it changes in expression but agrees with the truth. Whence to you the born versus the unborn? You denied the appellation of father and son. You became wiser than the Holy Spirit in appellation. Was God not more trustworthy than you? Could he not have found this wise thing himself before your invention? Could he not have said, baptize them in the name of the unborn and the born? But let the battle against the heretics and the struggle for piety be reserved for another time, and let us return to the matter at hand: He cast sleep upon Adam and then took the rib. Since, then, from this rib was about to come the origin of the transgression—for woman introduced death to Adam—the Savior, wishing to heal the wound, sets rib against rib; and on the cross he gave his side to the spear, so that from where the wound came, from there salvation might bloom. Blood and water came forth. Understand the mystery and honor the one who arranged it, and see the wonder. For since Adam, after sleep, was deprived of his rib—for Adam's rib was not taken while he was awake—the Savior, not awake in body, had his side pierced, but after the sleep of the body he gave his side to the soldier.

Attend closely. When the Savior was fulfilling the divine economy on the cross, he endured all other things while still being in the flesh and appearing according to the human condition. For passion does not touch God. Passion does not insult God. Passion does not diminish God, unless he is even lower than our own souls. For if he himself promises our souls, saying, "Do not fear those who kill the body, for they cannot kill the soul," how could he himself have shared in the passions of the body? Does the soul not die, and does the creator of souls die? Therefore, having endured everything according to the human economy, at the end of the economy, in order to show the authority of the economy and the power that is authoritative, and not subject to the laws of nature, he says on the cross: "It is finished. Father, I commend my spirit into your hands." With a voice he dissolved nature, with a word he fitted the structure. For he himself is the one who says: "I have authority to place my soul and I have authority to take it." When, therefore, he gave up the spirit according to the human form, he being dead, or rather having killed death through his death, the soldiers, disbelieving because of the swiftness of the departure and perceiving that it surpasses human nature to give up the soul with a mere word, approached to test whether he was alive. And they found him truly dead in body, but living in energy. And the one whom they killed as a man, after the cross they confessed as Son of God. For when the soldier opened his side with a spear, blood and water came out, which is foreign to a dead body.

For never does blood flow from a corpse; but when the mystical blood gushed forth, then the side opened a fountain of salvation because of the side that opened the transgression. Then the centurion standing by the cross says: "Truly this was the Son of God. Did you deny him living and proclaim him dead?" Attend closely, then, to what is said. Just as God cast sleep upon Adam and then drew out his side, so when the Savior underwent the common sleep in the body, then his side was pierced. For then after the sleep and now after the sleep, the soldiers, seeing blood, proclaimed him the Son of God. But the heretics, even seeing the miracle, call him a creature. Why, brothers, did the side meet the spear? It was necessary that in the form of the cross all things concerning Adam be resolved. For when God expelled Adam from paradise, he placed the fiery sword that prevented him from entering paradise, and the sword was revolving. Now everything that revolves does not stop until it strikes something that opposes it. You know from experience, brothers, what is said: that everything revolving, if it does not strike something, does not stop from its own course. Since no one was able to resist the fiery sword, in the economy of the cross he set the side against the form of the sword, so that through the perceptible spear the intelligible sword, striking the side, might cease from its threat and no longer block the entrance of paradise for men. Therefore the Lord received the sword through his side, and immediately the gate of paradise was opened.

From the side came forth the healing for the one wounded through the side. The first side expelled him from paradise, and at the end the same side brought him into the kingdom. It punished, but it also pitied; it cast out, but it did not annihilate; it turned away, but it did not thrust out utterly. But I know that it is time to yield to the liturgy. For all things are possible for God, so that he can both implant in us the thought of what remains and set before the hearers in part the power of every word. For give a wise man a starting point, and he will be wiser. Let us therefore give thanks to God, that we lost one paradise and he planted countless paradises throughout the whole world. Let us give thanks to God, that having lost paradise because of the transgression, we were called into the kingdom of heaven, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.