costache - adam’s holiness: athonite and alexandrine perceptions

173

PHRONEMA VOL 29(2) 2014 173-218

Adamrsquos Holiness Athonite and Alexandrine Perceptions

Doru Costache ThDSenior Lecturer

St Andrewrsquos Greek Orthodox Theological College

Abstract The paper considers a particular interpretive strand within patristic tradition for which the paradise narrative in Genesis constituted a metaphor of the spiritual life with Adam as a hesychast saint ndash virtuous directly connected with God and transformed by this experience The authors and the texts discussed herein from St Silouan the Athonitersquos diary to a Palamite chapter from St Cyril of Alexandriarsquos Against the Anthropomorphites and St Athanasiusrsquo Against the Gentiles to the Sayings of the Fathers represented the experience of Adam both contextually and in various terms such as image and likeness vision union and the breath of life all converging toward the notion of the paradise narrative as signifying the experience of holiness in general This contextual interpretation of Genesis from the vantage point of holiness reveals uncommon aspects of the traditional construal of Adam and likewise says something about the personal character of the interpreters

Within the wide range of patristic interpretations of Adamrsquos experience in paradise one particularly deserves more attention than has been allocated so far Thus contrary to

the widespread notion of the paradisal condition of humankind as unique and extraordinary which supposedly was lost forever on occasion SDWULVWLFWUDGLWLRQGHSLFWV$GDPDVDQDVFHWLFDQGDGHLiquestHGVDLQWDJHQXLQHKHVFKDVWDOEHLWDIDLOHGRQHZKRVHH[SHULHQFHVLJQLiquestHVKROLQHVVDQGQRWthe path of the ungodly This interpretive strand which has never come to

I am grateful to Pauline Allen Carole Cusack and the Phronema reviewers for their competent advices

Phronema 2 2014 insideindd 173 1092014 1126 am

174


prominence within the ecclesial tradition and still remains largely ignored changes in a dramatic fashion our understanding of the patristic approaches to the paradise narrative It is precisely this view of Adam as a holy man that constitutes the object of the current study an undertaking for which I borrow from the methodology outlined by Bishop Alexander Golitzin To be sure in recent years Golitzin has undertaken important work in this area1 by exploring the Second Temple roots of this tradition and its rabbinic and pseudepigraphic offshoots together with certain pre-Nicene WUDGLWLRQVDQGWKHLU6UR0HVRSRWDPLDQDQGampRSWLFUDPLiquestFDWLRQVQZKDWfollows alongside building on Golitzinrsquos presupposition that within various ascetic milieus Adam was construed as a saint I move past those roots and connections to several representatives of the mainstream Alexandrine and Athonite traditions My interest is motivated by the fact that whilst undeniably Semitic in origin within the traditions here considered the notion of Adamrsquos holiness drew on various other sources I agree with Golitzinrsquos conclusion that these other sources were not opposite to the Second Temple roots and their offshoots2HWWKHGHiquestQLWHOOHGWRQHZways of articulating the same understanding

In this order below I look at the spiritual diary of St Silouan the Athonite (d 1938) a passage from On the Divine and Deifying

1 See for instance Alexander Golitzin lsquoHeavenly Mysteries Themes from Apocalyptic Literature in the Macarian Homilies and Selected Other Fourth-Century Ascetical Writersrsquo in ed Robert Daly Apocalyptic Themes in Early Christianity (Grand Rapids Baker Academic 2009) 174-92 idem lsquoRecov-ering the ldquoGlory of Adamrdquo Divine Light Traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Ascetical Literature of Fourth-Century Syro-Mesopotamiarsquo in ed James R Davila The Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 46 (Leiden Brill 2003) 275-308 idem lsquoThe Vision of God and the Form of ORU0RUH5HAgraveHFWLRQVRQWKH$QWKURSRPRUSKLWHampRQWURYHUVRI$parain ed John Behr Andrew Louth Dimitri Conomos Abba The Tradition of Orthodoxy in the West (Crestwood NY St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 2003) 273-97 idem lsquoldquoThe Demons Suggest an Illusion of Godrsquos Glory in a Formrdquo Controversy over the Divine Body and Vision of Glory in Some Late Fourth Early Fifth Century Monastic Literaturersquo Studia Monastica 44 (2002) 13-43

2 See Golitzin lsquoldquoThe Demons Suggest an Illusion of Godrsquos Glory in a Formrdquorsquo 42-43


175

Phronema Volume 29(2) 2014

Participation by St Gregory Palamas (d 1359) a chapter from St Cyril of Alexandriarsquos (d 444) treatise Against the Anthropomorphites and select passages from Against the Gentiles by St Athanasius the Great (d 373) the latter considered in connection with the Life of St Antony and the Sayings of the Fathers One could wonder at this choice of authors and texts Initially it was a matter of circumstance as it happens I accidentally discovered a reference to St Cyrilrsquos work in the Palamite treatise What captured my attention was that both fathers construed the breath of life in Genesis 2 not as signifying the animation of a human being as is commonly thought but as metaphor of the typically hesychast (= the Byzantine way of peace or serenity) experience with God unmediated and supernatural This discovery prompted me on the one hand to dig up the antecedents of this unusual interpretation and so I looked at St Cyrilrsquos most probable sources St Athanasius and the desert ascetics and on the other hand it inspired me to seek more recent reiterations of this approach for which reason I examined the writings of St Silouan the Athonite a modern hesychast At the end of my investigation I gathered that whilst the agendas3 of these fathers their approaches sensitivities themes and immediate goals differed they were agreed on two related matters First they perceived the paradise narrative as an outline of saintly life in general at least as accepted in the ascetic circles within the traditions here considered Second they construed it as a landmark in relation to which saints of different times and places can authenticate their own experiences I realised furthermore that these understandings entailed a contextual approach to the adamic experience which was conditioned by the very circumstances of the interpreters and the intended readership of their writings Beyond the possible antecedents in the Second Temple and pre-Nicene traditions the interpretation of Adam as a holy man was made possible foremost by the holiness of the interpreters themselves

3 There is a renewed interest among recent scholars in identifying the undis-closed agendas behind the early Christian ascetical texts Cf Rebecca Krawiec lsquoAsceticismrsquo in ed Susan Ashbrook Harvey and David G Hunter The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies (New York Oxford University Press 2008) 764-85 esp 773


176


Together with bringing to the fore this neglected tradition of Adamrsquos sanctity my primary purpose is to prove that in addressing either the image of God or the breath of life in Genesis the authors and the texts reviewed herein took holiness as hermeneutical criterion Correlatively ZLOOVKRZWKDWLQWKHOLJKWRIWKLVFULWHULRQ$GDPDSSHDUHGDVWKHiquestUVWexemplar in a saintly series and not an exceptional character Furthermore and related I aim to show that this approach hagiographical in nature had an inbuilt hortatory dimension ndash insofar as it was meant to inspire the readers towards embracing a similar lifestyle namely the life of holiness Here I take on Rapprsquos note that the actual purpose of a hagiographer is to make the readers saints4 Without this constituting a goal of the present study I hope moreover that the above elements will make plain that there is more to the patristic approaches to the paradise narrative than a drawing of symmetries between the primal man and the recommencement of the human race in Christ5

Before turning to the Alexandrine and Athonite witnesses of this tradition I have to clarify several more aspects First when speaking of lsquoAdamrsquo herein I refer both to the mysterious character made in the image of God (Genesis 1) and the one who experienced the divine breath of life (Genesis 2) which following the fathers mentioned above I see as one Second in most of the texts analysed in what follows this complex character is taken both as one human being and as humankind ndash an aspect abundantly illustrated by the cases analysed below and elsewhere

4 Claudia Rapp lsquoThe origins of hagiography and the literature of early monasti-cism purpose and genre between tradition and innovationrsquo in ed Christopher Kelly Richard Flower and Michael Stuart Williams Unclassical Traditions vol 1 Alternatives to the Classical Past in Late Antiquity Cambridge Clas-sical Journal Supplementary Volume 34 (Cambridge University Press 2010) 119-30 esp 130

5 For the customary Adam-Christ rapports see eg Robert L Wilken lsquoExegesis DQGWKH+LVWRURI7KHRORJ5HAgraveHFWLRQVRQWKH$GDPampKULVW7SRORJLQampULOof Alexandriarsquo Church History 352 (1966) 139-56 and Daniel Keating lsquoThe Baptism of Jesus in Cyril of Alexandria The Re-creation of the Human Racersquo Pro Ecclesia 82 (1999) 201-22


177


in tradition6 The main particularity attached here to the concept is that whether taken as a person or a group Adam is construed as shaped by the Maker in order to reach perfection in virtue and above all to commune with God and be divinely transformed within that experience In other words called to a holy life

As already pointed out my presentation shall follow a reverse chronology thus beginning with the more recent witnesses before addressing those that are increasingly remote in time

St Silouan the Athonite

A modern representative of the philokalic tradition and a hesychast St Silouan the Athonite was acknowledged by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1987 as an ldquoapostolic and prophetic teacherrdquo worthy of the company of the ldquoholy and divine menrdquo in other words a Church father7 His fascinating autobiographical writings take the reader by surprise in that they frequently and reverently refer to Adam and the paradisal experience This uncommon form of devotion to my knowledge both unparalleled within the Christian tradition and usually unnoticed by the explorers of St Silouanrsquos writings8 concerns me in what follows

St Silouan construed Adam as a holy man indeed a hesychast saint LQZKRVHVWRUKHLGHQWLiquestHGWSLFDOIHDWXUHVRIWKHVDLQWOSURiquestOHDQGVWDJHV

6 Cf Peter C Bouteneff Beginnings Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives (Grand Rapids Baker Academic 2008) 14-16 25-26 44-46 etc

7 My various attempts to retrieve the Patriarchal act of canonisation in the RULJLQDOIDLOHGFRXOGiquestQGRQOD5RPDQLDQWUDQVODWLRQRIWKHGRFXPHQWLQCuviosul Siluan Athonitul IgraveQWUHLDGXOGH]QăGHMGLLЮLLDGXOVPHUHQLHLIgraveQVHPQăULGXKRYQLFHЮWL revised fourth edition with an introductory study and translation IURPWKH5XVVLDQERDQFăMU6LELXHLVLV

8 The only exception that I know of is the work of Jean-Claude Larchet Saint Silouane de LrsquoAthos (Paris Cerf 2001) which I could consult in its Romanian version XPQH]HXHVWH LXELUH0ăUWXULD6IkQWXOXL6LOXDQ$WKRQLWXO trans 0DULQHODRMLQXFXUHWLΣοφία 2003) esp 174-75


178


of his own spiritual journey He was convinced9 for instance that like many other saints the paradisal ancestor strayed only for a while from the spiritual path to which he returned through the gates of repentance and humility10 As we shall discover within this study this positive appraisal of the paradisal ancestor together with the perception of the adamic experience as common are not entirely new unique about St Silouanrsquos approach however is that alongside the traditional meditation on the ancestorrsquos experience it entailed recurrent conversations with the latter The chapter lsquoAdamrsquos Lamentrsquo which mainly consists in a dialogue between our saint and the forefather11 contains supplications such as these

O Adam sing unto us the song of the Lordthat my soul may rejoice in the Lordand be moved to praise and glorify Himas the Cherubim and Seraphim praise Him in the heavensand all the hosts of heavenly angels sing to Him the thrice-holy hymn12

O Adam our father tell us your children of the LordYour soul knew God on earthKnew paradise too and the sweetness and gladness thereofAnd now you live in heavenAnd behold the glory of the Lord13

9 His convictions were ultimately founded on his personal experience See for this Hilarion Alfeyev St Symeon the New Theologian and Orthodox Tradi-tion2[IRUG8QLYHUVLW3UHVVRDQFăMUmicroampXYLRVXO6LOXDQAthonitul icircntre LDGXOGH]QăGHMGLLLLDGXOVPHUHQLHLLLXELULLOXL+ULVWRVparaLQIcircntre LDGXOGH]QăGHMGLLЮLLDGXOVPHUHQLHL5-49 34-5 Sister Magdalen lsquoSt Silouan A Modern Athonite Saintrsquo in ed Dimitri Conomos and Graham Speake Mount Athos the Sacred Bridge The Spirituality of the Holy Mountain (Bern Peter Lang 2005) 123-40 esp 133

10 See St Silouan the Athonite Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo in Archimandrite Sophrony Saint Silouan the Athonite trans from the Russian by Rosemary Edmonds (Crestwood NY St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 1991) 270 271 All references to the writings of St Silouan are to this edition

11 Writings 18 lsquoAdamrsquos Lamentrsquo 448-56 esp 452-5612 Writings 18 lsquoAdamrsquos Lamentrsquo 451 13 Writings 18 lsquoAdamrsquos Lamentrsquo 452 Slightly altered


179


Such entreaties and prayerful conversations with Adam together with the latterrsquos portrait as a holy person in St Silouanrsquos writings challenge the customary understanding of the ancestor as typifying the path of the ungodly The fact of the matter is that our Athonite father consistently disregarded the standard interpretation of Adam namely as a sinful and unwholesome person whose actions caused cataclysmic aftershocks for humankind and the creation The passages quoted above show the belief of St Silouan that after experiencing the divine glory in this life (ldquoyour soul knew God on earth knew paradise toordquo) the ancestor remains for evermore in the presence of God (ldquonow you live in heaven and behold the glory of the Lordrdquo) It is precisely due to his participation in the divine fellowship that Adamrsquos ldquosong of the Lordrdquo has the power to stir one to doxology in the company of the celestial hosts For this same reason of all the saints our Athonite father seems to have chosen Adam as both criterion and spiritual guide ndash as illustrated by the plea ldquotell us your children of the Lordrdquo Furthermore and interestingly the plural subject of this plea points to the fact that St Silouan took the experience of Adam as paradigmatic for the quest of any seeker of sanctity

Thus for him the fall was the ancestorrsquos temporary lapse from grace and glory completely free of juridical connotations14 ndash a state of existential impoverishment which Adam dramatically resented and which only the saints could fully comprehend given their similar experiences For instance Adam appears as having shed sorrowful tears for the loss of Godrsquos vision a vision which amounted to experiencing eternal joy ldquo[w]eeping Adam cried to God My soul yearns after You O Lord and I VHHNltRXLQWHDUVRRNXSRQPDIAgraveLFWLRQDQGOLJKWHQPGDUNQHVVWKDWmy soul may rejoice againrdquo15 Typically St Silouan accompanied such references to Adam by evoking the saints that happened to lose the holy grace In his words ldquothe soul which has known God through the Holy Spirit but has afterwards lost grace experiences the torment that Adam

14 Whilst without referring to juridical connotations still Archimandrite Sophrony reduced the saintrsquos teaching about Adam to the responsibility for sin See his lsquoThe Staretzrsquo Life and Teachingrsquo in Saint Silouan the Athonite 9-259 here 121

15 Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo 278 Slightly altered See also 18 lsquoAdamrsquos Lamentrsquo 448 450


180


sufferedrdquo16 This kind of general statements which relativise the standard view that the adamic experience was exceptional are supplemented by very personal notes ldquoI too have lost grace and call with Adam lsquoBe merciful unto me O Lordrsquordquo17 Looking more closely at the rapports between St Silouan and Adam one discovers that our Athonite father took Adamrsquos journey as anticipating his own experience whilst being convinced that KLVH[SHULHQFHERWKUHSHDWHGDQGFODULiquestHGWKHPHDQLQJRI$GDPparaVMRXUQHThe complementarity if not identity of the two experiences is so perfectly rendered that when reading the notes of the Athonite saint one cannot easily tell of whom they speak Adam or Silouan The story of Adam is that of Silouan as much as the story of Silouan is that of Adam somehow Silouan was Adam redivivus As such the Athonite saint established a hermeneutical bridge between his own experience and that of the ancestor

16 Writings 18 lsquoAdamrsquos Lamentrsquo 448 See also 5 lsquoOn Gracersquo 326 Without men-tioning the torment of the saints St Basil the Great already pointed out that whilst ever present in them the Holy Spirit is not always obvious to them Cf On the Holy Spirit 2616-19 in Basile de Ceacutesareacutee Sur le Saint-Esprit introduction texte traduction et notes par Benoicirct Pruche Sources chreacutetiennes 17 deuxiegraveme eacutedition entiegraverement refondue (Paris Cerf 1968) 460 For a similar yet more detailed account see St Diadochos of Photiki Λόγος ἀσκητικός διῃρημένος εἰς ρ᾽ κεφάλαια πρακτικὰ γνώσεως καὶ διακρίσεως πνευματικῆς in Φιλοκαλία τῶν ἱερῶν νηπτικῶν συνερανισθείσα παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ θεοφόρων πατέρων ἡμών ἐν ἠ διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν πράξιν καὶ θεωρίαν ἠθικής Φιλοσοφίας ὁ νοῦς καθαίρεται φωτίζεται καὶ τελειούται vol 1 second edition (Ἐν Ἀθήναις Ἐκ τοῦ Τυπογραφείου Παρασκευὰ Λεώνη 1893) 140-64 here 159 For a detailed analysis of this topic in St Silouan and other Church fathers see Larchet Dumnezeu este iubireFKDSWHUiquestYH

17 Writings 18 lsquoAdamrsquos Lamentrsquo 449 Cf Larchet Dumnezeu este iubire 35-36 Whilst the conversational approach of St Silouan is as stated above unique Byzantine hymnography (with which our Athonite father was well acquainted like any other Orthodox monk) offers a range of examples of personal iden-WLiquestFDWLRQZLWK$GDP)RULQVWDQFHLQKLVGreat Canon St Andrew of Crete construes himself as reiterating the ancestral experience Cf Doru Costache lsquoByzantine Insights into Genesis 1-3 St Andrew of Cretersquos Great Canonrsquo Phronema 24 (2009) 35-50 esp 38-44 Alexander Schmemann Great Lent revised edition (Crestwood NY St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 1974) 64 Elizabeth Theokritoff lsquoPraying the Scriptures in Orthodox Worshiprsquo in ed S T Kimbrough Jr Orthodox and Wesleyan Scriptural Understanding and Practice (Crestwood St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 2005) 73-87 esp 84


181


This hermeneutical rapport which takes holiness as a common denominator offers important glimpses of the interpretive processes that lead both St Silouan and earlier fathers such as those whose thinking is studied below to interpret the paradisal events as typifying the experiences of the saints In the light of St Silouanrsquos case I propose that these authors were able to read Adamrsquos story as an account on holiness primarily due to their own saintly lives ndash or at least by having had the opportunity of contemplating the lives of certain holy people This hermeneutical rapport seems to draw on the apostolic interpretation of the Scriptures ndash post hoc ndash in the light of the Christ event and the apostolic preaching about Christ according to the Scriptures18 As the apostles construed the messianic dimension of the Old Testament from the vantage point of their experience with Jesus Christ St Silouan and his traditional precursors recognised the sanctity of Adam due to known19 or even their own experiences of holiness

In what follows I attempt a brief reconstruction of the story of Adam as rewritten by St Silouan The latter presented the paradisal ancestor along the lines of Genesis 27 as both created of the earth and linked to God through the Holy Spirit In awe he exclaimed ldquo[w]ondrous are the works of the Lord Out of the dust of the ground He created man and gave this creature of dust to know Him in the Holy Spiritrdquo20 Note in this passage the reference to the Spirit as mediating the knowledge of God and not as indicative of the soulrsquos insertion in a supposedly inanimate human body the import of this reference will become obvious further down within this study Whilst elaborating in the same parameters the saintrsquos

18 For the complexities pertaining to Christ and the Scriptures in the apostolic hermeneutic see eg John Behr The Formation of Christian Theology vol 1 The Way To Nicaea (Crestwood NY St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 2001) 17-48 and John Breck Scripture in Tradition The Bible and Its Interpreta-tion in the Orthodox Church (Crestwood NY St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 2001) 21-31 33-44

19 Interesting from this viewpoint and as a possible antecedent is St Neilos the Asceticrsquos interpretation of Adam and Joseph both important characters in Genesis in monastic or ascetic terms See his Λόγος ἀσκητικός πάνυ ἀναγκαῖος καὶ ὠφελιμώτατος in Φιλοκαλία τῶν ἱερῶν νηπτικῶν vol 1 111-39 esp 135

20 Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo 273


182


earlier enthusiasm for the mystery of the earthling made participant in the divine life was curved by a realistic appraisal of the human condition ldquowithout the Holy Spirit man is but sinful dustrdquo21 and we could recognise here an allusion to Genesis 319 By all accounts alongside paraphrasing the Scriptures St Silouan reiterated in both instances we shall soon discover the traditional perception that the adamic experience entailed WZRGLPHQVLRQVRQHQDWXUDOVLJQLiquestHGEWKHGXVWDQGRQHVXSHUQDWXUDOVLJQLiquestHGE WKH6SLULW5HJDUGLQJ WKH ODWWHUZH IRXQG DERYH WKDW RXU$WKRQLWHIDWKHULGHQWLiquestHGLWDVPVWLFDOYLVLRQRUDQH[SHULHQWLDONQRZOHGJHfacilitated by the gracious activity of the Spirit In turn this activity was beckoned by an ineffable sweetness ldquoIt is sweet for the soul to be with the Lord Adam tasted the sweetness of this bliss in paradise when he saw the Lord with open eyesrdquo22 This sweet and blissful vision constituted however but one aspect of the paradisal experience which ultimately represented an event of unfathomable love

hellipthe love of God is that sweet paradise in which our father Adam dwelt before the fall O Adam our father tell us how your soul loved the Lord in paradise This is past understanding and only the soul that has been touched by the love of God can in part comprehend it23

The above passage is of great importance for the scope of this paper Whilst Adam did experience the love of God in paradise he experienced it as paradise and so the same experience is at hand for all those who are aware of or ldquotouched by the love of Godrdquo namely the saints It is therefore safe to infer that our passage renders paradise as a metaphor of the transcendental experience of Godrsquos love ndash an experience irreducible

21 Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo 28122 Writings 3 lsquoOn Humilityrsquo 307 For other references to this mystical sweetness

see his Writings 5 lsquoOn Gracersquo 321 and 7 lsquoOn Repentancersquo 346 etc The render-ing of Godrsquos presence as sweetness in the hesychast tradition is not new See eg St Diadochos of Photiki Λόγος ἀσκητικός 33 (Φιλοκαλία τῶν ἱερῶν νηπτικῶν vol 1 145) and St Hesychios the Presbyter Λόγος ψυχοφελής καὶ σωτήριος πρὸς Θεόδουλον περὶ νήψεως καὶ ἀρετῆς ἐν κεφαλαίοις διῃρημένος 87-88 in Φιλοκαλία τῶν ἱερῶν νηπτικῶν vol 1 82-101 here 90

23 Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo 289 Slightly altered


183


to a single event in time and space It follows that the story of Adam corresponds to that of any ldquosoulrdquo that has a grasp of Godrsquos compassion In the light of this evidence one can better understand the interplay of St Silouan and Adam addressed above whose stories overlapped More relevant here is that the paradisal events are taken as typical for the life of holiness which primarily consists in the participation of the saints in Godrsquos love St Silouan was profoundly convinced that the experience of divine love mediated by the Holy Spirit was accessible both to Adam and the saints of old and remains so for all who wholeheartedly seek God

O Lord send down to us Your Holy Spirit for knowledge of You [hellip] comes solely through the Holy Spirit Whom in the beginning You gave to Adam and after him to the holy prophets and then to the Christian people24

0RUHVLJQLiquestFDQWWKDQKLVEHLQJWKHiquestUVWH[HPSODURIKXPDQNLQG$GDPZDVWKHiquestUVWDPRQJWKHYHULPSRUWDQWSHRSOHplusmnLQGHHGWKHDULVWRFUDWVRIthe mystical life ndash that knew and continue to know God in the Holy Spirit an appraisal that seems to echo St Maximus the Confessorrsquos notion of a tradition of the saints directly initiated from above in the mysteries of the Kingdom25 There is no room in St Silouan for the popular acceptance of the adamic experience as unique and impossible to replicate More precisely in suggesting the repeatability of this experience our Athonite father did not mean the inordinate number of those that ever emulated the failure of the ancestor he meant the life of holiness that was ardently pursued by the ancestor as is pursued by all the saints after him Whilst WKHiquestUVWRQHUHFRUGHGLQWKH6FULSWXUHVWKHPVWLFDOH[SHULHQFHRI$GDPwas therefore no different from that of any other saint after him And in fact we have seen our Athonite father believed that in the story of Adam any saint could recognise features of his or her own journey It comes as no surprise therefore that at times St Silouan rendered the paradisal

24 Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo 274 Slightly altered25 Cf Ambiguum 4121-5 in Maximos the Confessor 2QLIiquestFXOWLHV LQ WKH

Church Fathers The Ambigua vol 2 edited and translated by Nicholas Constas Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (Cambridge Massachusetts and London England Harvard University Press 2014) 102


184


narrative in standard monastic terms namely of the necessity of proving onersquos spiritual fortitude through watchfulness and ascetic struggle

Adamrsquos soul was perfect in the love of God and he knew the sweetness of paradise but his soul was unpractised and he did not UHVLVWZKHQ(YHWHPSWHGKLPDVWKHVRUHODIAgraveLFWHG-REUHVLVWHGwhen tempted by his wife26

Unlike Job Adam reached virtue and holiness without being able to stay the course in times of temptation the fact that he was weak or inexperienced does not exclude however his acquiring virtues through ascetic efforts as reiterated within philokalic tradition27 That being said relevant is that St Silouanrsquos remark echoes the recurrent exhortations to watchfulness that pervade The Philokalia28 thus pointing to the ascetic dimension of this particular interpretive strand of the ancestral experience a dimension IXUWKHUFRQiquestUPHGEWKHHYLGHQFHSURGXFHGZLWKLQWKHSUHVHQWVWXG7Rbring this section to a close it is noteworthy that St Silouanrsquos rendition of the adamic experience offers important hints as to how the saints read the paradise narrative More precisely St Silouan perceived the paradise narrative from the vantage point of his own state of grace a state that according to his own confessions he could not maintain for too long and ZKLFKKHXQFHDVLQJOHDUQHGQWKLVFRQWH[W$GDPparaVMRXUQHWSLiquestHGthe experience of holiness ndash an experience of Godrsquos love mediated by the Holy Spirit and which can be replicated anywhere and anytime For all these reasons the Writings of St Silouan are an inestimable source for the understanding of the earlier interpretive engagements with the paradise narrative to which I must now turn The object of the next section is a particular passage in perhaps the most celebrated Athonite father St Gregory Palamas which discusses a text from St Cyril of Alexandria In analysing this passage we shall rediscover features already encountered in St Silouan which would suggest a traditional connection yet nothing of the latterrsquos daring devotion to Adam

26 Writings 5 lsquoOn Gracersquo 32727 Cf St Neilos the Ascetic Λόγος ἀσκητικός 13528 See eg St Isaiah the Solitary Περὶ τηρήσεως τοῦ νοός 2 and 3 in Φιλοκαλία τῶν

ἱερῶν νηπτικῶν vol 1 17-21 esp 17-18


185


St Gregory Palamas

Acknowledged as the champion of Byzantine hesychasm St Gregory Palamas was equally in the words of Chrestou ldquothe great synoptic presenter of the views of the fathersrdquo29 His writings indeed abound in explicit patristic citations intended to illustrate the traditional roots of the hesychast theory and practice Of interest is that in his On the Divine and Deifying Participation (= Part)30 which discusses the virtues of the saints and the deifying gift of the Holy Spirit31 Palamas included a passage from St Cyril of Alexandria Just before addressing the Cyrilline text in question St Gregory either referred by name to or quoted from St Athanasius the Great32 St Basil the Great33 St John Chrysostom34 the author known as

29 Cf Panagiotes K Chrestou Greek Orthodox Patrology An Introduction to the Study of the Church Fathers (Rollinsford Orthodox Research Institute 2005) 111 See also John A McGuckin lsquoGregory Palamas (1296-1359) Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychastsrsquo in ed Arthur Holder Christian Spirituality The Classics (London and New York Routledge 2010) 136-47 esp 136 141

30 The original title is Περὶ θείας καὶ θεοποιoῦ μεθέξεως The text utilised herein is that of Γρηγορίου τοῦ Παλαμᾶ ἅπαντα τὰ ἔργα vol 3 ed Panagiotes Chrestou Ἕλληνες Πατέρες τῆς Ἐκκλησίας 61 (Θεσσαλονίκη Πατερικαὶ Ἐκδόσεις Γρηγόριος Ό Παλαμᾶς 1983) 212-60

31 For descriptions and analyses of this treatise see Chrestou lsquoΕἰσαγωγήrsquo to Γρηγορίου τοῦ Παλαμᾶ ἅπαντα τὰ ἔργα vol 3 49-73 esp 60-61 Doru Costache lsquoExperiencing the Divine Life Levels of Participation in St Gregory Pala-masrsquo On the Divine and Deifying Participationrsquo Phronema 261 (2011) 9-25 Norman Russell 7KHRFWULQHRIHLiquestFDWLRQLQWKHUHHN3DWULVWLF7UDGLWLRQ2[IRUG2[IRUG8QLYHUVLW3UHVVXPLWUX6WăQLORDHRIIHUHGWKHiquestUVWPRGHUQDQDOVLVRIWKHKLVWRULFDOFLUFXPVWDQFHVZLWKLQZKLFKWKHZRUNwas written ie the controversy with Akindynos together with a synopsis of St Gregoryrsquos ideas at the time See his 1938 book 9LDаDЮLvQYăаăWXUD6IkQWXOXLGrigorie Palama cu patru tratate traduseVHFRQGHGLWLRQXFXUHWL6FULSWD1993) esp chapters 7 and 8 For an historical reconstruction of the events but without reference to the treatise under consideration see also John Meyendorff A Study of Gregory Palamas trans by George Lawrence (Crestwood NY St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 1998) 56-85

32 Part 8 9 12 (Chrestou 224 228 230-32)33 Part 3 8 12 (Chrestou 214-16 226 232)34 Part 12 (Chrestou 234)


186


St Dionysius the Areopagite35 and St Maximus the Confessor36 Turning to St Cyrilrsquos wisdom at this particular instance Palamas produced excerpts from the second chapter of Against the Anthropomorphites (= Anthrop)37 which commenting upon the paradise narrative in Genesis speak about God breathing the breath of life upon the human person ndash the latter being designated as ldquoanimalrdquo or ldquoliving beingrdquo (ζῷον)38 We shall see immediately that together with the Alexandrine theologian St Gregory rejected the interpretation of Genesis 27 as being about the making of the human soul and that both fathers took the scriptural narrative as referring to the experience of holiness Continuing the argument of the previous sections the relevant passage from Part reads as follows

Whilst refuting those who say that the divine breath (θεῖον ἐμφύσημα) became a soul for the human being the divine Cyril expounds in greater detail the same [perception noticed in other fathers] For in concluding forthwith his words he said ldquoone understands that what was breathed upon (ἐμφυσηθέν) from him [ie God] undoubtedly belongs wholly to him or to his essence Therefore how could the Spirit from God be transformed into the nature of the soul39 At any rate he [ie St Cyril] said the living being received a soul by the ineffable power of God and inasmuch as it kept growing good and righteous and in all virtue (ἀγαθὸν καὶ δίκαιον καὶ ἀρετῆς ἁπάσης) it

35 Part 5 7 9 (Chrestou 220 222 226)36 Part 2 11 (Chrestou 214 230)37 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1081AB) The Cyrilline text available to Palamas was

virtually identical to the one of PG 76 The writing in its entirety is found in PG 76 1065-1132

38 This designation is common in St Cyrilrsquos writings See for instance his Gla-phyra or Polished Comments on Genesis (= Glaph) 12 (PG 69 20A) where the human being appears as a rational or thinking animal (ζῶον λογικόν) For a similar designation see Commentary on John (= On John) 21 (on John 132-33) in P E Pusey Sancti patris nostri Cyrilli archiepiscopi Alexandrini in D Joannis evangelium accedunt fragmenta varia necnon tractatus ad Tiberium diaconum duo 3 vols (Oxford Clarendon Press 1872) vol 1 18231-1831

39 The version of Anthrop given in PG 76 1081A includes here before the question mark the phrase ἢ καἰ νοῦς ἐγένετο (ldquoor become the [human] mindrdquo) Moreover between the question mark and the new sentence which begins with οὐκοῦν (translated above as ldquoat any raterdquo) there are a few sentences in PG 76 1081AB covering almost ten lines which St Gregory ignores


187


became like him [ie like God] (τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμοιώσει)40 to the best of its ability Furthermore in being proven a partaker (μέτοχον) of WKHGLYLQH6SLULWLWZDVVDQFWLiquestHGἡγιάσθη) This [latter aspect] is what it lost through sinrdquo41 Where are then those who consider the deifying gift of the Spirit (θεοποιὸν δωρεὰν τοῦ Πνεύματος) a created and natural imitation (μίμησιν κτιστὴν καὶ φυσικήν) ndash instead of a divine and ineffable or an ineffably essential energy [of God]42

Neither this chapter nor in fact the whole writing provides a further reference to St Cyril thus the original context of the excerpts included in the above passage remains elusive What matters is that St Gregory read the Cyrilline text as signifying the hesychast experience Several elements within the above passage are of particular interest from this viewpoint

Before anything else the excerpts from Anthrop outline a tripartite DQWKURSRORJWKDWGLVWLQJXLVKHViquestUVW WKHKXPDQQDWXUHUHSUHVHQWHGEthe living being that received a soul second the ethical achievements pertaining to the likeness of God (cf ἀγαθὸν καὶ δίκαιον καὶ ἀρετῆς ἁπάσης) DQGWKLUGWKHVXSHUQDWXUDOOLIHLOOXVWUDWHGEVDQFWLiquestFDWLRQFIἡγιάσθη) and the participation (cf μέτοχον) in the Holy Spirit The fact that Palamas was fascinated by this passage should not come as a surprise St Cyril presented therein a tripartite schema (although within the broader context of the relevant chapter this schema was further nuanced) that corresponded to the hesychast anthropology delineated by Palamas himself For instance both in the treatise of interest43 and elsewhere44 St Gregory advocated a triple schema referring to the sensorial the rational and the noetic levels RISHUFHSWLRQZLWKLQWKHKXPDQEHLQJZKHUHWKHiquestUVWOHYHOUHODWHGWRWKH40 In PG 76 1081B the phrase is preceded by ἐν (ldquoinrdquo) which is missing in the

version available to Palamas41 For the variant offered by Wickham see Doctrinal Questions and Answers

(= Doctr) 27-918-22 at 190 See Cyril of Alexandria Select Letters ed and trans by Lionel R Wickham (Oxford Clarendon Press 1983) 190

42 Part 138-22 (Chrestou 234)43 Cf Part 145 (Chrestou 236)44 Cf One Hundred and Fifty Chapters 634-6 Robert E Sinkewicz Saint

Gregory Palamas The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters ndash A Critical Edition Translation and Study6WXGLHVDQG7H[WV7RURQWR3RQWLiquestFDOQVWLWXWHRIMediaeval Studies 1988) 156


188


parameters of nature the second to existential achievements in terms of virtue and knowledge and the last one to the mystical experience45 The similarity of the two patristic views apart from their terminological variance is unquestionable and it is doubtful that Palamas encountered GLIiquestFXOWLHVLQUHFRJQLVLQJWKLVFRUUHVSRQGHQFH$IWHUDOOLWLVKHWKDWTXRWHGWKHSDVVDJHIURP6WampULOLQWKHiquestUVWSODFH

Another common element to both patristic interpreters is their understanding of the breath of life as experienced by a human being who reached a state of existential compatibility with God (cf τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμοιώσει) in the Cyrilline text or a ldquocreated and natural imitationrdquo (cf μίμησιν κτιστὴν καὶ φυσικήν) of Godrsquos way in the Palamite comment a state which refers to virtue It is apparent that for both St Cyril and St Gregory the adamic experience of the breath of life was facilitated by the virtuous compatibility established between the human being and God This understanding entails a distinction between naturevirtue and grace or what was naturally achieved and what was supernaturally given within the paradisal condition46

QWXUQDQGPRUHUHOHYDQWWRWKLVVWXGWKHWZRIDWKHUVLGHQWLiquestHGin the metaphor of the breath of life the culminating experience of GHLiquestFDWLRQ WKURXJKSDUWLFLSDWLRQ LQ WKH+RO6SLULW7KLV SHUFHSWLRQ LVobvious in the last line of the Cyrilline passage which refers to the Spirit

45 )RUPRUHRQWKLVWULSOHGLVWLQFWLRQVHH6WăQLORDH9LDаDЮLvQYăаăWXUD6IkQWXOXLGrigorie Palama 138 See also Costache lsquoExperiencing the Divine Lifersquo 15-17 and idem lsquoQueen of the Sciences Theology and Natural Knowledge in St Gregory Palamasrsquo One Hundred and Fifty Chaptersrsquo Transdisciplinarity in Science and Religion 3 (2008) 27-46 esp 40-44

46 WLVVLJQLiquestFDQWWKDW6WUHJRULQFOXGHGWKHSDVVDJHIURP6WampULOQRWORQJDIWHUKLVFUXFLDOVWDWHPHQWsup3WKRVHZKRDUHGHLiquestHGοἱ θεωθέντες) do not simply improve (ἁπλῶς βελτιοῦνται) their nature (τὴν φύσιν) they actually receive the divine energy (τὴν θείαν ἐνέργειαν) or indeed the Holy Spiritrdquo Part 328-30 (Chrestou 214) Improvement refers to the virtues which are achieved within WKHOLPLWVRIQDWXUH2QWKHVLJQLiquestFDQFHRIWKLVGLVWLQFWLRQVHHDYLGUDG-shaw Aristotle East and West Metaphysics and the Division of Christendom ampDPEULGJHampDPEULGJH8QLYHUVLW3UHVVULHAgraveRQ WKH LU-UHGXFLELOLWRIGHLiquestFDWLRQWRWKHYLUWXHVVHH0HHQGRUIIA Study of Gregory Palamas 175-76


189


DQGWKHVDQFWLiquestFDWLRQWKDWZHUHORVWEWKHsup3OLYLQJEHLQJacuteplusmnDORVVZKLFKSt Silouan dramatically depicted we have seen above as an existential impoverishment or verbatim the human beingrsquos reduction to the state of ldquosinful dustrdquo47 Palamas described the same loss as removal of the divine inbreathing (θεῖον ἐμφύσημα) from Adam because of his disobedience48 Elsewhere St Gregory referred to the same happening as the ancestorsrsquo (προπάτορες) deprivation of ldquothe luminous and living raiment of the supernal radiancerdquo (τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἄνωθεν αἴγλης φωτεινῶν καὶ ζωτικῶν ἐνδυμάτων)49 This patristic consensus on the deifying activity of the Spirit as the content of the breath of life complements the Cyrilline ruminations in On John about the Spirit as gained and lost which made the object of Keatingrsquos analysis50 The pneumatological take on the breath of life shows moreover that the two fathers and St Silouan construed the paradise narrative as addressing the spiritual remaking of a human being and not its natural making ndash a view that corresponds furthermore to St Gregory of Nyssarsquos perception of the same scriptural account as sketching a ldquomystical anthropogonyrdquo (μυστικὴν hellip ἀνθρωπογονίαν)51 Irrespective of the immediate meaning of Genesis therefore it was not the making of man that primarily interested the fathers It was the fact that by becoming existentially compatible with RGWKURXJKYLUWXHDKXPDQSHUVRQKDGEHFRPHZRUWKRIEHLQJGHLiquestHGthrough participation

The fact that this experience was variously expressed namely by the metaphor of the breath of life in Genesis the pneumatological notes of St Cyril on the same metaphor as well as the tradition of the saints that formed the object of Palamasrsquo own investigation52 opens up interesting

47 St Silouan Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo 28148 Part 1431-33 (Chrestou 234)49 One Hundred and Fifty Chapters 4615-6 (Sinkewicz 136) We shall see below

that this vocabulary of lsquolightrsquo in relation to the glory of the saints features in far earlier sources than the witnesses of the fourteenth century hesychasm

50 Cf Keating lsquoThe Baptism of Jesus in Cyril of Alexandriarsquo 20651 On the Making of Man 3033 (PG 44 256B)52 6WăQLORDH9LDаDЮLvQYăаăWXUD6IkQWXOXLULJRULH3DODPD 137-38 noted that

precisely the experiences of the saints ultimately represented the object and source of Palamasrsquo teaching


190


avenues Like with St Silouan53 Palamas possibly perceived Adam as having experienced the same holiness ndash or rather the same Holy Spirit ndash that was and is attained by many others This commonality was obvious to St Gregory to such an extent that he construed these illustrations as mutually clarifying Indeed the passage quoted above shows that he read the Cyrilline comments on the breath of life simply as endorsing the hesychast experience and likewise that his own articulation of hesychasm merely reiterated St Cyrilrsquos understanding of the paradise narrative It is not unsafe therefore to infer that St Gregory believed in the possibility of the same experience as being at hand in other times and places Corresponding to the Athonite saying ldquowhat matters is the manner not the placerdquo this interpretation of the adamic experience as replicated through the centuries in the lives of the saints is by no means an isolated case Indeed whilst this interpretation draws explicitly on St Cyril of Alexandria it actually reiterates a widespread early Christian perception of the paradise as regained within the ecclesial environment54 That being said in order to test the accuracy of the Palamite reading of St Cyrilrsquos thoughts I shall soon turn to the relevant context from Anthrop Before doing so however it should be pointed out that except for St Silouanrsquos very personal notes there seems to be complete agreement between the two Athonite fathers in relation to Adam as typifying the experience of holiness in general ndash an experience that can be replicated irrespective of onersquos time and place Could this agreement be taken as a clue that only the saintly theologians can read the paradise narrative in this fashion and that if they so read it they are saints too The answer to this question may cast a surprising light upon the slandered personality of St Cyril to whose perception of Adam I must now turn

53 See St Silouan Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo 27454 Cf H S Benjamins lsquoParadisiacal Life The Story of Paradise in the Early

Churchrsquo in ed Gerald P Luttikhuizen Paradise Interpreted Representations of Biblical Paradise in Judaism and Christianity Themes in Biblical Narrative (Leiden and Boston Brill 1999) 153-67


191


St Cyril of Alexandria

In his pastoral letter to a suffragan bishop Calosirius55 St Cyril addressed the matter of a group of monks from Mount Calamon who were preaching that since human beings are created in Godrsquos image it follows that God himself has to share somehow in the shape of our bodies56 The letter which prefaces Anthrop in Mignersquos Patrologia Graeca 67 contains a summary of the orthodox refutation of this ldquolatest irreverencerdquo57 In brief the letter dismisses any corporeality of the divine image and likeness58 on the grounds of God having no share in the biological features common to both humans and the animal kingdom59 furthermore being spirit and having no shape God cannot be circumscribed or measured60 It appears that in making these points St Cyril tacitly reiterated the opinions of the Origenist monks whom Theophilus ndash who ended up at least for the eyes of the public a supporter of the anthropomorphites ndash had previously exiled

55 Letter to Calosirius (= Calos) (PG 76 1065A-1077B) The critically edited text can be found with a rendition into English in Cyril of Alexandria Select Letters ed and trans by Lionel R Wickham (cited above n41) 214-221 See also the notes of Wickham on the letter lsquoIntroductionrsquo xxx-xxxi

56 Calos (PG 76 1068A Wickham 21412-14) The monks believed ldquothe divine to be in a human shape or formrdquo (ὅτι ἢ ἀνθρωποειδὲς ἤγουν ἀνθρωπόμορφόν ἐστι τὸ θεῖον)

57 Ibidem (Wickham 21415) Wickham (215) translates ἐσχάτη δυσσεβεία as ldquoextreme blasphemyrdquo

58 Calos (PG 76 1068A Wickham 21417-18) Lit ldquothe likeness is not bodily for God is incorporealrdquo (ἡ δὲ ὁμοιότης οὐ σωματικήmiddot ὁ γὰρ Θεός ἐστιν ἀσώματος) On the nuanced approach of St Cyril to the theme of the image of God see John J OrsquoKeefe lsquoIncorruption Anti-Origenism and Incarnation Eschatology in the Thought of Cyril of Alexandriarsquo in ed Thomas G Weinandy and Daniel A Keating The Theology of St Cyril of Alexandria A Critical Appreciation (London and New York T amp T Clark 2003) 187-204 esp 199-200 We shall see below that by image and likeness St Cyril understood an existential state of compatibility with God namely the virtuous life

59 Calos (PG 76 1068C Wickham 21422-2162)60 Calos3$LFNKDPLWsup3WKHGLYLQHLVLQGHiquestQLWHDQG

unshapedrdquo (ἄποσον γὰρ καὶ ἀσχημάτιστόν ἐστι τὸ θεῖον)


192


from Egypt61 Relevant here is that the views outlined in Calos reappear identically within the treatise which in addition addresses topical aspects of the anthropomorphite teaching such as the difference between image and likeness62 and the idea that human beings are created in the image of the image63 This is not the place to discuss the whole content of the treatise Before turning to the aspects of interest it is noteworthy that following Pusey64 Wickham literarily dissociated the letter from the treatise and showed that Anthrop is a later compilation of St Cyrilrsquos two collections of answers to a deacon Tiberius65 (of which the most important here is the second one Doctr)66LFNKDPQHYHUWKHOHVVFRQiquestUPHGWKHFRQVLVWHQFof Calos and the two series of answers to Tiberius and thus implicitly the compilation known as Anthrop in relation to their approaches to the matters at hand67 That being said given that St Gregory Palamas cited from Anthrop I shall utilise herein the text found in Patrologia Graeca which

61 For an introduction to the circumstances of this affair and the relevant texts in Theophilus see Norman Russel Theophilus of Alexandria (London and New York Routledge 2007) 89-174 For more on the complexities of the anthropomorphite controversy under Theophilus see Georges Florovsky lsquoTheophilus of Alexandria and Apa Aphou of Pemdjersquo in Aspects of Church History (Belmont Mass Nordland Publishing Co 1975) 97-129 For analyses of Cassianrsquos account of the same matters see Florovsky lsquoThe Anthropomor-phites in the Egyptian Desertrsquo in Aspects of Church History (quoted above) 89-96 and Mark DelCogliano lsquoSituating Sarapionrsquos Sorrow The Anthropo-morphite Controversy as the Historical and Theological Context of Cassianrsquos Tenth Conference on Pure Prayerrsquo Cistercian Studies Quarterly 384 (2003) 377-421 For the reasons behind Theophilusrsquo apparent change of heart with a reconstruction of the anthropomorphite position see Golitzin lsquoThe Vision of God and the Form of Gloryrsquo 286-94 and idem lsquoldquoThe Demons Suggest an Illusion of Godrsquos Glory in a Formrdquorsquo 23-28 29-30

62 Anthrop 5 (PG 76 1086B-88C)63 Anthrop 6 (PG 76 1088C-89B) Meijering noted that in fact this idea could

QRWiquestWLQWKHDQWKURSRPRUSKLWHVFKHPD6HH(30HLMHULQJmicro6RPH5HAgraveHF-tions on Cyril of Alexandriarsquos Rejection of Anthropomorphismrsquo Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 28 (1974) 297-301 esp 297

64 Cf Pusey vol 3 viii and 545-4765 Wickham lsquoIntroductionrsquo xlviii-xlix66 The treatise can be found in Wickham 180-213 (text and translation)67 Wickham lsquoIntroductionrsquo xxviii-xxxi


193


as pointed out earlier is almost identical to the one that was available to the Athonite theologian

Turning to the second chapter of Anthrop68 from which Palamas excerpted the lines analysed above we discover that among other matters it examines the divine breath in Genesis 27 which the suspected PRQNVLWVHHPVLGHQWLiquestHGZLWKWKH+RO6SLULWZKRVXSSRVHGOFKDQJHGinto a human soul or the vital factor within the human organism69 Before considering this topic in detail however the chapter addresses hermeneutical aspects pertaining to a respectful approach to Genesis QVKRUWWKHSDVVDJHSRLQWVRXWWKDWLQ6FULSWXUHRQHFDQiquestQGERWKSODLQstatements like the fact that God made all things which do not pose VHULRXVGLIiquestFXOWLHVDQGPRUHPVWHULRXVPDWWHUVZKLFK6FULSWXUHUXQVover in silence70 and the readers receive through faith71 Such hermeneutical precautions being taken St Cyril proposed the following as a safe approach to the making of the human being

If we are to set a rule by considering [the matter] with the aid of FRUUHFWUHDVRQLQJZHDIiquestUPWKDW WKH0DNHURIDOOPRXOGHGWKHhuman being more precisely the body from the earth and that he animated it with a living and intelligent soul the way only he knew Furthermore he naturally (φυσικῶς) set into it the thrust toward every good deed and knowledge This was clearly proclaimed by the blessed evangelist John ldquoHe was the true light that illumines every human being that comes into the worldrdquo72 The living being is born therefore with a natural penchant (φυσικὴν ἐπιτηδειότητα) toward the good This is what the most-wise Paul will simply teach when writing ldquoWe are his creation made for good deeds which God prepared for us beforehand to walk in themrdquo73 Nevertheless the human being entrusts the controlling reins of its own conscience to the free choice so that it runs as it wishes either toward the

68 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080B-81C) Cf Doctr 2 (Wickham 18616-1922)69 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080AB) Cf Doctr 2 (Wickham 18616-25)70 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080C) Cf Doctr 2 (Wickham 18811-12)71 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080B) Cf Doctr 2 (Wickham 1887)72 John 1973 Ephesians 210


194


good or toward the opposite On the other hand implanted within nature there is an inclination toward all forms of goodness and kindness whatsoever together with a desire to pursue goodness DQG ULJKWHRXVQHVVH DIiquestUP WKDW LQ WKLVZD gtLH E IUHHOchoosing the good] the human being arrives to be in the image and likeness of God74 for the living being is made to become good and righteous Moreover [God] breathed (ἐνεφύσησεν) the breath of life into [the human being] for it to be a partaker (μέτοχον) of the Holy Spirit which thus possesses the radiant marks of divine nature (λαμπροτέρους τοὺς χαρακτῆρας τῆς θείας φύσεως) within itself and not just a reasoning being75 This [breath] is the Spirit who is given by the Son to the reasoning creature and who shapes (διαμορφοῦν) the latter into the highest form (εἰς εἶδος τὸ ἀνωτάτω) namely the divine one (τὸ θεῖον) Hence it is obvious that the Spirit was breathed neither in order to become [the human beingrsquos] soul nor its mind as some suppose76

The passage continues with the lines cited by St Gregory Palamas within his discourse on the supernatural and uncreated character of the grace bestowed upon the saints including Adam Looking at the text and bearing in mind its interpretation by Palamas we notice that the latter offered a very accurate summary of the Cyrilline teaching on the paradisal experience which distinguishes the natural and supernatural elements pertaining to the edenic morphology of the human being to which I must now turn

The text under consideration reveals the complexity of St Cyrilrsquos anthropology which unfolds by way of four aspects namely the natural

74 That the human being is created to be in the image and likeness of God without the distinction of the two aspects was apparently a common Cyrilline under-standing For instance the two terms feature again without discrimination in his On John 21 (Pusey vol 1 18321-23) In making no distinction between image and likeness St Cyril followed St Athanasius Cf Norman Russell Cyril of Alexandria (London and New York Routledge 2000) 211 n35

75 Wickhamrsquos text includes here the phrase ldquowith an aptitude for doing good and rightrdquo (καὶ ἐπιτηδείως ἔχον εἰς ἀγαθούργιαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην) Cf Doctr 2 (Wickham 18831-32 189)

76 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080C-81A) Cf Doctr 2 (Wickham 18813-1906) The SKUDVHRORJLHVRIWKHWZRYHUVLRQVGLIIHUVLJQLiquestFDQWOHWWKHLGHDVSUHVHQWHGDUHidentical This passage is passed over in silence within Russellrsquos overview of WKHampULOOLQHWHDFKLQJRQGHLiquestFDWLRQFI7KHRFWULQHRIHLiquestFDWLRQ 191-204


195


constitution of the human being the latterrsquos natural disposition toward the good its capability of choosing freely and its virtuous exercise sup3LQWKHLPDJHDQGOLNHQHVVRIRGacuteDQGiquestQDOO WKHJLIWRIGLYLQHOLIHand a superior reshaping Interesting from the viewpoint of theological anthropology the passage is unequivocal in maintaining that all four aspects presuppose the divine activity ldquothe Maker of all moulded (ἔπλασε) the human beingrdquo ldquoanimating (ψυχώσας) it with a living and intelligent soulrdquo77 ldquohe naturally set into it (ἐγκατεβάλετο) the thrust toward every good deed and knowledgerdquo78 ldquohe has produced it (πέφυκεν) in order to be good and righteousrdquo79 ldquohe inbreathed (ἐνεφύσησεν) the breath of life for it to be a partaker of the Holy Spiritrdquo80 These theological nuances correspond to the overall and richly soteriological vocabulary of St Cyril in relation to creation and re-creation as discussed by Wilken81 More importantly WKLVFRQVLVWHQW UHIHUHQFH WR WKHGLYLQHDFWLYLWFRQiquestUPV3DSDGRSRXORVparaassessment regarding On John 21 that the Cyrilline teaching construed WKHsup3iquestUVWPRXOGHGKXPDQEHLQJVacuteDVFKDULVPDWLFDOOFRQVWLWXWHGFIτὴν χαρισματικὴ κατάσταση τῶν πρωτοπλάστων)82 I shall return later to the VLJQLiquestFDQFHRIWKLVWKHRORJLFDOHPSKDVLV

What matters for now is that the broader context of the Cyrilline passage cited by Palamas displays a more detailed and nuanced view of the human existence than the ternary schema which we studied above Having said this when comparing the two outlines namely the threefold schema DQGWKHIRXUIROGRQHLWEHFRPHVREYLRXVWKDWWKHiquestUVWWZRDVSHFWVplusmnLHWKHQDWXUDOFRQVWLWXWLRQDQGGLVSRVLWLRQplusmnRIWKHODWWHUFRUUHVSRQGWRWKHiquestUVWelement ndash ie nature ndash of the former It can be safely surmised therefore that whilst the triadic outline summarises the quaternary schema the latter

77 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080C)78 Ibidem79 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)80 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D-1081A)81 For a list of relevant terms in Glaph and On John see Wilken lsquoExegesis and

the History of Theologyrsquo 14382 Στυλιανοῦ Γ Παπαδοπούλου Πατρολογία Τόμος Γ᾽ Ὁ Πέμπτος Αἰῶνας Ἀνατολή καί

Δύση (Ἀθήνα Ἔκδοσεις Γρηγόρη 2010) 474 Lit ldquothe charismatic constitution RIWKHiquestUVWPDGHPRXOGHGKXPDQVacute


196


displays the content of the former in a developed manner As such the structure of Cyrilline anthropology appears analogous to if not building upon other and far better known triadic patterns sketched in previous ages typical for what Hadot designated as pyramide conceptuelle and systegraveme hieacuterarchique83 Such patterns are for instance the Platonic pedagogical schema consisting in ethics natural knowledge and the contemplation of the loftier aspects of reality Clementrsquos and Origenrsquos curriculum of ethics physics and epoptics the Evagrian map (which builds on Origenrsquos perception) of the spiritual pursuit that refers to practical philosophy natural contemplation and theological vision etc Even more closely the Cyrilline approach echoes the epistemology of Aristotle which proceeds at least according to the ancient editors of the Stagiritersquos catalogue of writings from the exploration of nature to ethics and then theology84 For instance to take on the last example the Aristotelian natural knowledge corresponds in Cyrillian anthropology to what human beings are made of and their natural inclination toward the good ethics to the appropriate exercise of free will in choosing the good (virtue kindness righteousness) DQGiquestQDOOWKHRORJWRWKHGLYLQHSDUWLFLSDWLRQDQGVXSHUQDWXUDOUHVKDSLQJof the virtuous human being Similar to the views of St Gregory Palamas on the three levels of perception addressed above it is therefore very likely that Cyrilline anthropology followed the epistemology of the Stagirite One way or the other apart from the variations in ordering the items within the above frameworks it appears that for both St Cyril and his cultural antecedents the human being appears as impossible to construe outside the complex ternary pattern of nature ethics andor axiology and the relationship with the divine

83 Cf Pierre Hadot lsquoLes divisions des parties de la philosophie dans lrsquoAntiquiteacutersquo Museum Helveticum 364 (1979) 201-23 at 201 206 etc

84 For these and other ternary philosophical approaches yet without reference to St Cyril see Hadot lsquoLes divisions des parties de la philosophiersquo 203 206-207 210-11 212 218-20 222 Andrew Louth The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition From Plato to Denys second edition (New York Oxford University Press 2007) 56-60 Bogdan Gabriel Bucur Angelomorphic Pneu-matology Clement of Alexandria and Other Early Christian Witnesses (Leiden and Boston Brill 2009) 18-24


197


To be more truthful to the spirit of the above text the same fourfold anthropological schema can be likewise rendered as a double structure which refers on the one hand to nature free will and the virtuous or HWKLFDODFFRPSOLVKPHQWVZLWKLQWKHFRQiquestQHVRIQDWXUHDQGRQWKHRWKHUKDQGWRZKDWWUDGLWLRQXVXDOOGHVLJQDWHVDVGHLiquestFDWLRQGLYLQHSDUWLFLSDWLRQor holiness When he referred to the human capacity to ldquoexercise virtues (especially goodness righteousness and holiness)rdquo Meijering has not noticed this nuance85 Nevertheless we have encountered this double structure both in St Silouanrsquos reference to the moulding of the human being of earth followed by the bestowal of the Spirit86 and in St Gregoryrsquos GLVFULPLQDWLRQEHWZHHQQDWXUDOYLUWXHVDQGVXSHUQDWXUDOGHLiquestFDWLRQ87 I propose that just like for the Athonite fathers in St Cyril virtue achieved within nature and holiness as a supernatural dimension belonged to GLIIHUHQWOHYHOVRIH[SHULHQFH7KHWZRIROGUHSUHVHQWDWLRQiquestQGVVXSSRUWiquestUVWOLQWKHampULOOLQHDIiquestUPDWLRQWKDWRGLPSODQWHGQDWXUDOOφυσικῶς) within the human makeup the drive toward a virtuous life so that the human being displays a natural propensity (φυσικὴν ἐπιτηδειότητα) toward the good or virtue When consistently pursuing this inclination the human being reaches the state of being ldquoin the image and likeness of Godrdquo a state which for St Cyril within this context and elsewhere88 appeared as a task

85 0HLMHULQJmicro6RPH5HAgraveHFWLRQVpara86 Cf Writings 1 lsquoYearning for Godrsquo 27387 Cf Part 328-30 (Chrestou 214)88 For a similar yet not identical reference to image and likeness as connected

with the paradisal commandment and its upholding by the human beings see St Cyrilrsquos On John 21 Here whilst the marks or ldquocharactersrdquo (χαρακτῆρας) of the Spirit are ldquoput intordquo (ἐνετίθει) the human being from above (Pusey vol 1 18229-31) the sense of these marks being in need of the human virtuous maintenance is inescapable (Pusey vol 1 18231-1831-4) Cf also the notes on this passage by Keating lsquoThe Baptism of Jesus in Cyril of Alexandriarsquo 205-206 repeated in idem lsquoDivinization in Cyril The Appropriation of Divine Lifersquo in ed Weinandy and Keating The Theology of St Cyril of Alexandria (quoted above n58) 149-85 esp 154 likewise Papadopoulos Πατρολογία vol 1HLWKHUDXWKRULGHQWLiquestHVKRZHYHUWKHYLUWXRXVOLIHZLWKWKHIDFWRIEHLQJin the image of God For a different approach in St Cyril see Glaph 12 (PG 69 20B) where the human being features as ldquotruly an animal of good natural disposition and very much Godlikerdquo (ζῶον ἀληθῶς εὐφυὲς καὶ θεοειδέστατον)


198


to perform rather than a given Of course neither nature nor the virtuous achievements within its parameters are deprived of the gracious activity of God89 as stated in the beginning of the passage under consideration and as pointed out above in terms of a theological and charismatic conditioning of KXPDQH[LVWHQFH6HFRQGOWKLVWZRIROGUHDGLQJiquestQGVVXSSRUWLQ6WampULOparaVinterpretation of the breath of life as a metaphor of the supernal activity of the Holy Spirit As signalled by the superlatives which accompany its description the breath of life refers to an experience above nature that VLJQLiquestHVERWKWKHKXPDQEHLQJDVSDUWLFLSDQWμέτοχον) in the divine life and its lofty Godlike reshaping (cf εἰς εἶδος τὸ ἀνωτάτω τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι τὸ θεῖον) through which it receives the radiant features of God (cf λαμπροτέρους τοὺς χαρακτῆρας τῆς θείας φύσεως)90 For St Cyril therefore the breath of life in Genesis 27 represented the metaphor of an experience not of this ZRUOG+HFRQiquestUPHGWKLVXQGHUVWDQGLQJVRPHZKHUHHOVHLQDUHIHUHQFHto the breath of the Spirit as engraving an immortal character within the human being a mark which provides the latter with the possibility of transcending naturersquos limitations917KXVZKLOVWQRWH[SOLFLWODIiquestUPHGWKHdistinction of the two layers emerges with clarity within our text It does so likewise within another setting where however St Cyril maintained somehow differently that the two aspects namely the biological life and the

here being like God appears as a given and not a task to perform or a goal to pursue

89 Whilst the passage under consideration does not use the word lsquogracersquo the latter features in the related section from On John 21 (Pusey vol 1 1837)

90 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D-1081A) Cf Doctr 2 (Wickham 18830-1904) See also On John 21 (Pusey vol 1 18227-28 1833-4) where the divine breath or the indwelling of the Spirit (cf διὰ τοῦ ἐνοικισθέντος ἁγίου Πνεύματος) is again associated with the human being ldquohaving been sealed toward the divine imagerdquo (εἰς εἰκόνα τὴν θείαν κατεσφραγίζετο) and endowed with ldquoresplendent featuresrdquo (οἱ χαρακτῆρες λαμπροί)

91 See Glaph 12 (PG 69 20BC) Ἄγαλμα δὲ διαπλάσας ἐκ γῆς ζῶον αὐτὸ λογικὸν ἀποτελεῖ καὶ ἵνα τοὺς τῆς ἰδίας φύσεως ἀνατρέχοι λόγους ἄφθαρτον ζωοποιὸν εὐθὺς ἐνεχάραττε πνεῦμαmiddot γέγραπται γάρmiddot Καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἅνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν (ldquoHe made a statue out of earth completed it as a rational animal and engraved within it directly an incorruptible and life-giving spirit so that it can exceed the principles of its own nature For it is written lsquoand he breathed in his face the breath of life and the human being was made into a living soulrsquordquo)


199


ldquofeaturesrdquo of the Spirit have their origin in the divine breath92 Although granted this assertion introduces a tension within the perspective discussed above ndash which refers the divine breath to the supernatural life ndash no absolute chasm of contradiction separates the two passages There is indeed a common ground shared by the two texts namely the theological vantage point of Cyrilline anthropology from the angle of which the distinction between natural and supernatural together with all the layers within the human being and experience ultimately refer to God

Before moving any further with this analysis another point on the above is noteworthy In operating with the distinction between what is natural namely the virtuous accomplishments and what is above nature or irreducible to it namely the deifying grace St Cyril proved to EHDVLJQLiquestFDQWFRQWULEXWRUWRWKHDUWLFXODWLRQRISHUIHFWLRQLQWHUPVRIDdivinehuman experience which entails precisely the aspects of virtuous likeness and divine participation or union through grace This concept of perfection was further considered well into the Byzantine era by such teachers of the mystical theology as the author known as St Dionysius the Areopagite93 followed by St Maximus the Confessor94 and St Gregory Palamas95 No wonder therefore the interest of the latter in the Cyrilline passage

92 On John 21 (Pusey vol 1 18228-31) Here he was possibly following St Gregory the Theologian who in one of his most celebrated festal orations DIiquestUPHGVRPHWKLQJVLPLODUQDPHOWKDWZKLOVWWDNLQJWKHERGIURPDsup3SUH-formed matterrdquo (ὕλης hellip προυποστάσης) the Logos put into it from himself (παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ hellip ἐνθείς) the ldquobreathrdquo (πνοήνZKLFK VLJQLiquestHVERWK WKH sup3QRHWLF VRXOand the image of Godrdquo (νοερὰν ψυχὴν καὶ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ) See Oration 38 On the Theophany 1110-13 in Greacutegorie de Nazianze Discours 38-41 introduction texte critique et notes par Claudio Moreschini trad par Paul Gallay Sources chreacutetiennes 358 (Paris Cerf 1990) 124

93 See eg Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 13 (PG 3 376A)94 See eg To Thalassius 5912-54 in Maximi Confessoris Quaestiones ad

Thalassium II Quaestiones LVI-LXV una cum latina interpretatione Ioannis Scotti Eriugenae iuxta posita ediderunt Carl Laga et Carlos Steel Corpus Christianorum Series Graeca 22 (Turnhout and Leuven Brepols and Leuven University Press 1990) 45-47

95 See eg Part 3 (Chrestou 21428-30)


200


Returning to St Cyril in the light of the above it emerges that our Alexandrine father considered the paradisal experience a deifying event and that he construed Adam as a saint who reached the level of lsquotheologyrsquo or the divine participation ndash in which Palamas could discern typical features pertaining to the hesychast experience such as the supernatural character of the union with God Indeed and apart from the variation introduced by the passage from his On John 21 discussed above we have found that in interpreting Genesis 27 in Anthrop 2 St Cyril refused to identify the divine breath with the source of either a biological existence or the virtuous life Certainly we have seen St Cyril questioned neither the making of the human being by God nor that the Creator brought humanity to life and reason Our text is clear on these matters as proven by the statement that although in a fashion beyond comprehension ldquothe Maker of all moulded (ἔπλασε) the human being more precisely the body from the earth and animated (ψυχώσας) it with a living and intelligent soulrdquo96 Likewise as noted above our holy father was convinced that whilst providing it with the capacity to freely choose its path in life God conditioned humankind to seek the good97 What mattered more for St Cyril however is that WKHZRUWKRIKXPDQNLQGFRXOGQRWEHUHGXFHGWRWKHGHiquestQLWLRQRIEHLQJldquoreasoningrdquo (λογικόν)98 HLWKHUEQDWXUHRUGXH WRYLUWXRXVSURiquestFLHQFWhat crowned humankind with glory were neither its intellectual prowess nor its ethical achievements ndash it was the bestowal by the Spirit of a gift above nature and irreducible to nature theological par excellence which consisted in both a share in the life of God and a divine refashioning of the

96 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080C) Cf Doctr 2 (Wickham 18814-17)97 The passage under consideration contains recurrent references to this natural

conditioning of the human being on the part of God toward the good andor righteousness παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ πράγματος (PG 76 1080C Wickham 18816) πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν φυσικὴν ἐπιτηδειότητα (PG 76 1080C Wickham 18820-21) τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔφεσίν τε καὶ προθυμίαν καὶ τὸ θέλειν ἐπιμελεῖσθαι ἀγαθότητος καὶ δικαιοσύνης (PG 76 1080D Wickham 18827-28) ἀγαθὸν καὶ δίκαιον πέφυκεν (PG 76 1080D Wickham 18830) There is also of course the reference to the need for the human being to choose between the good (τὸ ἀγαθόν) and its opposite (τὸ ἐναντίον) (PG 76 1080D Wickham 18825-26) For further notes on God as source of the virtuous life in AnthropVHH0HLMHULQJmicro6RPH5HAgraveHFWLRQVpara299

98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201


human being Illustrating this very understanding in the Cyrilline reading of the paradise narrative Adam after committing himself to the good or the virtuous path experienced a divine remaking through a culminating participation in the life of God Becoming a saint a hesychast Adam was JORULiquestHGHKDYH IRXQGRXWHDUOLHU WKDWERWK3DODPDVDQG6W6LORXDQshared this understanding of human dignity as irreducible to any natural condition and accomplishment

Another important aspect refers to the possibility that here St Cyril did not solely envisage the hesychastic experience of the characters in Genesis 2 Looking again at the passage99 one notices that it knits together the past and the present tenses alongside speaking alternately on the one hand of the paradisal human being (τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸ ζῶον) that God made produced and ensouled (ἔπλασε πέφυκεν ψυχώσας) within which God set (ἐγκατεβάλετο) ldquothe thrust toward every good deed and knowledgerdquo and upon which God breathed (ἐνεφύσησεν) the breath of life ndash and on the other hand of the human being in general (πάντα ἄνθρωπον ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸ ζῶον) which is born (τίκτεται) to do good or being made to be (εἶναι) ldquogood and righteousrdquo yet who ldquoentrusts (διοικεῖσθαι) the controlling reins of its own conscience to the free choice so that it runs (τρέχειν) as it wishesrdquo having to choose rightly so that it becomes (γενέσθαι) what it is meant to be namely ldquoin the image and likeness of Godrdquo Obviously St Cyril took the experience of the ancestors as typical for that of the entire UDFHDQGPRUHVSHFLiquestFDOOWKDWRIDQRWKHUVDLQWplusmnWKHZDKHSUHVHQWHGHYHQWVRIampKULVWparaVHDUWKOOLIHVXFKDVKLVEDSWLVPDQGFUXFLiquest[LRQDVWSLFDOfor the whole of humankind and as recapitulating all human beings100 7KHVHQXDQFHVDUHHQIRUFHGiquestUVWRIDOOEWKHFKRLFHRIVFULSWXUDOWH[WVthat accompany the Cyrilline analysis of the paradise narrative namely John 19 and Ephesians 210 of which the former refers to the experience

99 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080C-1081A)100 For Christ as typifying and recapitulating humankind in St Cyril see Wilken

lsquoExegesis and the History of Theologyrsquo 143-44 151 and Keating lsquoThe Baptism of Jesus in Cyril of Alexandriarsquo 207 210-11 212 See also Keating The Appropriation of Divine Life in Cyril of Alexandria Oxford Theological Monographs (Oxford University Press 2004) 33-35 where the author reiter-ates the same line of argument


202


of humankind as a whole whereas the latter to the experience of Godrsquos people one way or the other both scriptural texts consider humanity in the plural corresponding to the reference to humankind in general within the Cyrilline passage Second the possibility that the passage takes Adam as typifying the experience of holiness occurs through the ascetical component suggested by the text with the human being having to grapple with the choice between the good and its opposite and having to sustain its commitment to the path of virtue and righteousness ndash a struggle in which we recognise the features of both Adam and all the saints after him Third WKLVLQWHUSUHWDWLRQiquestQGVHQGRUVHPHQWLQ6WampULOparaVXVHZLWKUHIHUHQFHWRthe adamic experience of the established terminology and imagery for the glory bestowed upon the saints an aspect already pointed out in relation to St Silouan the Athonite and St Gregory Palamas and to which I shall return in the next section

Taking in consideration the aspects discussed above one can FRQiquestGHQWOFRQFOXGHWKDW6WampULOFRQVWUXHGWKHDQFHVWUDOH[SHULHQFHDVepitomising holy life in general and that he arrived at this interpretation by looking at Genesis through the lens of what was later called hesychasm whence the interest of St Gregory Palamas in the passage from Anthrop 2 An unexpected outcome of my investigation to be further ruminated is the impact of these discoveries on the current understanding of the Adam-Christ typology in St Cyril to which I referred only tangentially it seems that a revisiting of this typological rapport within the framework of St Cyrilrsquos broader interest in the experience of holiness is in order What matters for the time being is that similar features such as the criterion of holiness in the interpretation of the paradise narrative appeared wholly unsurprisingly in the Alexandrinersquos revered predecessor St Athanasius the Great and in the monastic tradition on which both theologians certainly drew To these sources I must now turn

St Athanasius the Great and the Desert Tradition

Earlier on I proposed that in alternating the past and the present tenses when it discusses paradise the second chapter of Anthrop portrays the experience of Adam in terms that are applicable to the general typology of holiness


203


Furthermore I inferred that St Cyril understood Adamrsquos experience as one among many such occurrences which later tradition as represented by the Athonite saints associated with hesychasm In what follows I turn to one of the most probable literary sources of this understanding St Athanasiusrsquo Against the Gentiles (= Gent) which I shall consider together with the Life of St Antony (= Ant) and the Apophthegmata or Sayings of the Fathers (= Apoph) Any attempt to prove here the devotion of St Cyril for St Athanasius which is extensively documented101 would be futile Since the latter represented for the former the very embodiment of tradition it is very likely that St Cyril looked toward the great Athanasius for guidance even in matters regarding the adamic experience In turn the insight of St Athanasius in such matters largely drew on the wisdom of the desert102 (which had its roots deeply planted in older traditions as repeatedly pointed out by Golitzin)103

101 See eg John A McGuckin St Cyril of Alexandria The Christological Con-troversy Its History Theology and Texts (Crestwood St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 2004) 3 Russell 7KHRFWULQHRIHLiquestFDWLRQ 191 idem Cyril of Alex-andria 5-6 21 41 219 n89 235 n44

102 Cf William Harmless SJ Desert Christians An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism (New York Oxford University Press 2004) 33-36 Ref-erences to St Athanasius and his rapports with the desert ascetics in Harmlessrsquo book are in fact ubiquitous For earlier discussions of the same connection with an emphasis on ecclesiastical politics see David Brakke Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism Oxford Early Christian Studies (Oxford Claren-don Press 1995) 80-141 201-65 and Uwe Kuumlhneweg lsquoAthanasius und das Moumlnchtumrsquo Studia Patristica 32 (Leuven Peeters 1997) 25-32 Recently Brakke expressed doubts in relation to the desert awareness of St Athanasius DQGVSHFLiquestFDOOLQPDWWHUVFRQFHUQLQJWKHELRJUDSKRI6W$QWRQ6HHDYLGBrakke lsquoMacariusrsquos Quest and Ours Literary Sources for Early Egyptian Monasticismrsquo Cistercian Studies Quarterly 482 (2013) 239-51 esp 240

103 Cf Golitzin lsquoldquoThe Demons Suggest an Illusion of Godrsquos Glory in a Formrdquorsquo 20-28 33-37 idem lsquoHeavenly Mysteries Themes from Apocalyptic Literaturersquo 176-80


204


Immediately after its prologue Gent104 a complex writing of both DSRORJHWLF DQG FDWHFKHWLFDO VLJQLiquestFDQFH105 offers a series of stunning propositions which may have inspired the Cyrilline approach to the SDUDGLVH QDUUDWLYHPRUH VSHFLiquestFDOO WKH LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ RI WKH DGDPLFexperience as signifying holiness in general For instance the second chapter of the treatise106DIiquestUPVDWWKHRXWVHWDQLGHQWLWEHWZHHQZKDWZDVldquofrom the beginningrdquo (ἐξ ἀρχῆς) or in the paradisal experience of Adam as FODULiquestHGODWHURQ107 and what someone contemplates ldquonowadaysrdquo (νῦν) in the lives of the saints (ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις) namely their complete strangeness to evil108 This initial sentence of the chapter presupposes a kinship of Adam DQGWKHVDLQWVLQWHUPVRIKROLQHVVDQXQGHUVWDQGLQJIXUWKHUVLJQLiquestHGEthe reference to their commitment to the ldquogood and most beautifulrdquo God109 We shall see below that alongside interpreting the scriptural narrative as signifying holiness this presupposition reveals sainthood particularly in

104 The edition utilised herein is that of Robert W Thomson Athanasius Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione (Oxford Clarendon Press 1971)

105 Cf E P Meijering Orthodoxy and Platonism in Athanasius Synthesis or Antithesis Reprint with corrections (Leiden E J Brill 1974) 107-108 idem Athanasius Contra Gentes ndash Introduction Translation and Commentary (Leiden Brill 1984) 154-55 John Behr The Formation of Christian Theol-ogy vol 2 The Nicene Faith part 1 True God of True God (Crestwood NY St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 2004) 168

106 For comprehensive analyses of Gent 2 with rich parallels to the Christian and classical literature see Meijering Orthodoxy and Platonism in Athanasius 5-9 and idem Athanasius Contra Gentes 15-20 For a detailed analysis of $GDPparaVSXULiquestHG DQG FRQWHPSODWLYH VRXO VHH$OYQ3HWWHUVHQAthanasius Outstanding Christian Thinkers (London Geoffrey Chapman 1995) 40-44 For a summary of the adamic experience as sketched in Gent 2 and parallels in On the Incarnation see Russell 7KHRFWULQHRIHLiquestFDWLRQ 179-80 and Behr True God of True God 172-73 For a very brief consideration of the chapter alongside related Athanasian passages see Bouteneff Beginnings 122-23

107 Gent 227-29 314-15 (Thomson 6 8)108 Gent 21-2 (Thomson 4) See also the end of 523-26 (Thomson 14) which

refers to evil as foreign to ldquothe blessed Paul the Christ-bearer manrdquo Neither place refers to evil in an ontological sense as believed by Weinandy very likely by assimilation with Gent 714-16 (Thomson 18) Cf Thomas G Weinandy Athanasius A Theological Introduction Great Theologians Series (Aldershot Ashgate Publishing 2007) 13

109 Gent 27 (Thomson 6)


205


its ascetic or monastic form as the vantage point for the whole Athanasian construct

7KHQRWLRQRIDQDIiquestQLWEHWZHHQ$GDPDQGWKHVDLQWVLVLPSOLFLWin a series of assertions which refer to both of them namely that God made (πεποίηκε) the human race through ldquohis own Logos our Saviour Jesus Christrdquo in the very image (κατ᾽ ἰδίαν εἰκόνα) of God for it to know its maker that God structured (κατεσκεύασε) the human being toward (cf πρός) Godrsquos likeness (ὁμοίωσις) so that it can make sense of the world110 that the above are graciously (cf τὴν τοῦ δεδωκότος χάριν) and perhaps simultaneously bestowed111 upon the human being that the grace of being in the image and likeness makes it possible for the human being to be JORULiquestHGLQWKHSUHVHQFHRIRGDQGDEOHWRVSHDNWRRG112 and that the human mind properly exercises its contemplative capability only when unhindered by the passions113 Adam and the saints shared these marks of holiness as suggested by the interplay of the past and present tenses or what was ldquofrom the beginningrdquo and what is experienced ldquonowadaysrdquo Interestingly and furthermore this complex narrative that combines the Genesis account of paradise and elements of hagiography employs a rich scriptural and philosophical vocabulary of knowledge representation and vision114 terms that signify a gradual familiarisation with the divine Three main stages are prominent namely the contemplation of things created Godrsquos providence in the universe and Godrsquos eternity115 These levels of

110 Gent 27-10 (Thomson 6)111 Gent7KRPVRQ7KLVLVWKHiquestUVWUHIHUHQFHWRJUDFHZLWKLQWKHFKDSWHU

which may suggest its employment as an alternative expression for the state of being in the image and likeness It is possible that this utilisation of grace as an alternative expression determined Meijering Athanasius Contra Gentes 17 to speak of the simultaneity of image and likeness in the paradisal condition

112 Gent 214-15 (Thomson 6)113 Gent 215-27 (Thomson 6)114 Cf Gent 2691112161821263133 (Thomson 6) ἐπίνοια θεωρητὴν καὶ

ἐπιστήμονα ἔννοιαν καὶ γνῶσιν φαντασία Θείου γνῶσιν θεωρεῖ κατανοῶν δυνάμει τοῦ νοῦ ἡδόμενος θεωρία and κατοπτρίζεσθαι The display of this complex vocabulary on a single page is impressive

115 Gent 29-1115-19 (Thomson 6) For some reason in commenting upon this passage Meijering Athanasius Contra Gentes 17 refers only to the knowl-


206


contemplation correspond to the portfolio of any saint or paraphrasing Meijering any ldquoPlatonic mysticrdquo and ldquoChristian asceticrdquo116 It appears therefore that St Athanasius deliberately presented the paradisal experience through the lens of the ideal Christian philosopher the saint a topic in which he was deeply interested as likewise proven by Ant117 in line with his agenda of providing a Christian counterweight for the paradigm of the classical philosopher

St Athanasius did not bother to explain the distinctions apparent in the text between being created lsquoinrsquo the image of God and being VWUXFWXUHGmicroWRZDUGparaRUmicroZLWKUHIHUHQFHWRparaWKHOLNHQHVVRIRG6XIiquestFHLWto remember that he must have considered these aspects as simultaneously and graciously constituted ndash an understanding later appropriated to some extent by St Cyril The major variance between the two Alexandrine approaches consists in the different functions associated with the fact of being in Godrsquos image and likeness More precisely where St Athanasius refers to knowing God his providence in creation and the nature of things created St Cyril we have seen above whilst not discarding the contemplative aspect118 gives priority to righteousness gentleness and virtue All things considered the Athanasian rendition of the paradise narrative as signifying the experience of holiness finds an explicit

edge of the created beings On a different note it is very likely that whereas he quoted St Athanasius on another matter Evagrius borrowed from Gent 2 his notion of the three stages of contemplation which appear as such in his The Gnostic 48-49 Cf Eacutevagre le Pontique Le Gnostique ou Agrave celui qui est devenu digne de la science eacutedition critique des fragments grecs traduction inteacutegrale eacutetablie au moyen des versions syriaques et armeacutenienne commentaire et tables par Antoine Guillaumont et Claire Guillaumont Sources chreacutetiennes 356 (Paris Cerf 1989) 186-91

116 Meijering Athanasius Contra Gentes 17 idem Orthodoxy and Platonism in Athanasius 5 8-9 (here he uses the phrase ldquoPlatonic philosopherrdquo) See also Brakke Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism 146-47

117 Cf Arthur Urbano Jr lsquoldquoRead It Also to the Gentilesrdquo The Displacement and Recasting of the Philosopher in the Vita Antoniirsquo Church History 774 (2008) 877-914 Without referring to philosophy see Brakke Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism 239-40 for a connection between the portrayal of Adam and that of St Antony

118 See Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080C)


207


FRQiquestUPDWLRQplusmnDQGGUDPDWLFDOOLQFUHDVHVLQLQWHQVLWplusmnZKHQLWDVVHUWVthat to be in the image and likeness of God entails the perseverance of human beings in fellowship with the saints Two sentences within Gent DGGUHVVWKLVPDWWHU7KHWRSLFRFFXUViquestUVWRIDOOZLWKLQWKHVWDWHPHQWRQRXUGLYLQHFRQiquestJXUDWLRQDVIDFLOLWDWLQJWKHNQRZOHGJHRIRGIRUKXPDQLW

God the demiurge of the universe and king of all the one who exists beyond all nature and the human perception for being good and most beautiful created the human race in conformity with his own image (τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος κατ᾽ ἰδίαν εἰκόνα πεποίηκε) through his own Logos our Saviour Jesus Christ Furthermore he structured (κατεσκεύασε) it (αὐτόν) [ie the human being] with reference to the likeness to him (διὰ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμοιώσεως) so that it can contemplate and know the [created] beings and gave it also the concept and knowledge of his own eternity These have been done so that by preserving its integrity it neither leaves the [true] representation of God one day nor abandons the company of the saints (ἵνα μήτε τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ φαντασίας ποτὲ ἀποστῇ μήτε τῆς τῶν ἁγίων συζήσεως ἀποπηδήσῃ)119

For both humankind (cf ἀνθρώπινον γένος) and a given human person (cf αὐτόν)120 to respect the grammatical layout of the passage the ultimate outcome of this association with God and the saints referred to in the last line is the fact of being granted ldquoto live an immortal life full and truly blessedrdquo (ζῶν τὸν ἀπήμονα καὶ μακάριον ὄντως ἀθάνατον βίον)121 Whilst the chapter as a whole and this particular passage are very rich in meaning only a couple of aspects are immediately relevant here Noteworthy is before all else the alternating reference to the human race and an individual being a play of plurals and singulars or general and particular categories that we have already encountered in St Cyril The passage is so crafted indeed that its message can be applied not only to the character in the paradise narrative but likewise to all human beings that maintain their wholeness (cf ταυτότητα)122 intact throughout history Second our text

119 Gent 25-13 (Thomson 6)120 Gent 28-9 (Thomson 6)121 Gent 215 (Thomson 6)122 Gent 211 (Thomson 6) Lit lsquoidentityrsquo or lsquointegrityrsquo


208


points out that in remaining wholly in the image and likeness of God the human being can both maintain a proper representation of God (cf τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ φαντασίας) and abide in the company of the saints (cf τῆς τῶν ἁγίων συζήσεως)123 St Athanasius made no further comments on this mysterious fellowship of the saints other than mentioning it once more within the same chapter he must have taken it therefore as commonplace perhaps for the reasons that shall soon become apparent

The second occurrence of the topic further down in the same chapter includes a reference to Adam by name whilst alluding to his experience as matched by those pure in heart Let us look more closely at this passage

The Holy Scriptures refer to the one called Adam in the language RIWKH+HEUHZVWKHiquestUVWKXPDQSHUVRQWKDWZDVEURXJKWLQWREHLQJas having from the beginning (κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν) his mind focused upon God (πρὸς τὸν Θεόν) with an unembarrassed124 boldness and as being set together with the saints (συνδιαιτᾶσθαι τοῖς ἁγίοις) in perceiving the intelligible things He experienced these in that place WKDW0RVHViquestJXUDWLYHOτροπικῶς) designated as paradise Thus the purity of the soul (ψυχῆς καθαρότης) is in itself able to mirror (κατοπτρίζεσθαι) God as the Lord says ldquoBlessed are the pure in heart for they shall see Godrdquo125

As much as the previous one this passage is puzzling on a number of levels For instance it takes for granted that Adam lived from the outset a God-centred life126 and that he gazed upon the invisible entirely like the saints and together with them ndash both these latter nuances being entailed

123 Gent 212-13 (Thomson 6) Pettersen Athanasius 37 refers to the company of the saints as a future reward for consistency in communion with God In turn Weinandy Athanasius 14 altogether ignores this reference to the saints

124 I borrowed here Thomsonrsquos excellent rendition of ἀνεπαίσχυντος (Thomson 7) It is of course about a profound familiarity between the human being and God

125 Gent 227-35 (Thomson 6-8)126 This assertion corresponds to the indirect portrayal of Adam as virtuous in

Gent 49-12 (Thomson 9-12)


209


by the verb συνδιαιτᾶσθαι127 translated above as ldquoset together withrdquo which IXUWKHUTXDOLiquestHVWKHVWDWHPHQWFRQFHUQLQJWKHKXPDQEHLQJparaVDELGLQJLQthe company of the saints (cf τῆς τῶν ἁγίων συζήσεως)128 This reiteration of the topic strengthens the suggestion discussed above that Adam and the saints display the same features of holiness That said there is something FKDOOHQJLQJDERXWWKHSDVVDJHRILQWHUHVW7UXHHQHVLVDIiquestUPVDVSHFLDOrelationship between God and Adam albeit more on the part of the former than the latter but it nonetheless makes no mention of other human beings in paradise let alone saints other than Adamrsquos wife One could legitimately ZRQGHUDVWRWKHVLJQLiquestFDQFHRIWKHVHWZRUHIHUHQFHVWRWKHFRPSDQRIWKHsaints Was St Athanasius of the opinion that the story of the garden which KHTXDOLiquestHGDVDiquestJXUDWLYHDFFRXQWFIτροπικῶς)129 represents a metaphor that generally refers to the life of holiness or in a more restrictive sense a group of ascetics that reached a measure of perfection The phrasing of the passage does not leave room for doubt expressing the authorrsquos views in factual terms which give further substance to Brakkersquos observation that the imitation of the saints and their company represent recurrent themes in St Athanasius130 For the great Alexandrine Adam was a saint who experienced the paradise of the spiritual life in fellowship with other saints and like them with whom he shared the purity of the soulheart WKHUHLVQRWKLQJLQWKHDERYHSDVVDJHWRVXSSRUWWKHLQWHUSUHWDWLRQRIਚȖȚȠȚ(saints) as angels proposed by Meijering and Brakke131 Incidentally this evidence would require a reconsideration of the Athanasian sketch of the paradisal experience in the context of the established portrayals of Adam in early Christian literature132 Returning to the association of Adam and

127 Gent 230-31 (Thomson 6)128 Cf Gent 212 (Thomson 6) 129 Gent 231-32 (Thomson 6)130 See Brakke Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism 163131 Cf Meijering Athanasius Contra Gentes 15 Brakke Athanasius and the

Politics of Asceticism 161 But see Brakke Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism 198 where no reference to angels is made

132 For the representation of Adam as typifying the spiritual path in early Christian HQFUDWLWHVRXUFHVEXWZLWKRXWPRUHWKDQDAgraveHHWLQJUHIHUHQFHWR6W$WKDQDVLXVsee Giulia Sfameni Gasparro lsquoAsceticism and Anthropology Enkrateia and ldquoDouble Creationrdquo in Early Christianityrsquo in ed Vincent L Wimbush Richard


210


the saints would it be far fetched therefore to surmise that the purity of the forefatherrsquos heart as implied by the conclusion of the passage was construed from the vantage point of the wholesomeness reached by the desert ascetics known to St Athanasius In what follows we shall discover that this appears as the most plausible explanation for the depiction of the adamic experience in Gent 2 even though as Golitzin has proven133 literary antecedents of this depiction can be found in earlier rabbinic and pre-Nicene traditions Whilst I do not discard the possibility for such antecedents to have been known to St Athanasius for now I would say that ndash albeit very obvious in the desert representations of Adam ndash their LQAgraveXHQFHLQKLVZULWLQJVGRHVQRWLPPHGLDWHOVKRZ

When it refers to the contemplation of God and the fellowship of the saints as pertaining to the paradisal circumstances of Adam134 the Athanasian narrative echoes the classical quest for perfection as both emulation of the divine life by the philosopher and an experience that takes place in the company of other seekers of holiness135 The relevance of this cultural parallel consists in that the philosophical quest undoubtedly shaped the Christian lifestyle of the monks in Egypt and Sinai136 through

Valantasis et al Asceticism (New York Oxford University Press 1998) 127-46 esp 136-38 For a positive appraisal of the Athanasian Adam see Brakke Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism 146-47

133 See Golitzin lsquoRecovering the ldquoGlory of Adamrdquorsquo 275-308134 This double aspect is referred to within both passages considered here Cf

Gent 211-1329-31 (Thomson 6)135 See Dominic J OrsquoMeara Platonopolis Platonic Political Philosophy in Late

Antiquity (Oxford Clarendon Press 2005) 32-34 I am grateful to Mario Bag-hos for this reference Regarding the philosophical quest for a noble life see Pierre Hadot lsquoForms of Life and Forms of Discourse in Ancient Philosophyrsquo (trans by A I Davidson and P Wissing) Critical Enquiry 163 (1990) 483-505 esp 493-96

136 See eg Les Apophtegmes des Pegraveres Collection systeacutematique chapitres I-IX texte critique traduction et notes par Jean-Claude Guy SJ Sources chreacute-tiennes 387 (Paris Cerf 2005) 762 at 338 See also from the same timeframe St Neilos the Ascetic Λόγος ἀσκητικός 111-12 For the usefulness of ldquoabiding and exercising in the company of the virtuous onesrdquo (ἐν τῇ μετὰ τῶν ἐναρέτων διαγωγῇ καὶ γυμνασίᾳ) see St John Cassian Περὶ τῶν ὀκτὼ τῆς κακίας λογισμῶν in Φιλοκαλία τῶν ἱερῶν νηπτικῶν vol 1 35-47 here περὶ λύπης (on grief) at 43


211


the medium of which in turn it must have conditioned the understanding of our Alexandrine father It should not come as a surprise therefore that typical features of the philosophical life could be traced within the portrayal of Adam in Gent 2 very likely in the guise of monastic asceticism an approach which we have discovered likewise in St Silouan In fact the chapter of interest is not the only text that shows St Athanasius borrowing from the lsquophilosophicalrsquo tradition of monasticism

For instance and as pointed out earlier his depiction of Adam in GentDQWLFLSDWHGWKHiquestJXUHRIWKHWUXHampKULVWLDQSKLORVRSKHULHWKHsaintly ascetic137 which he sketched in the vita of St Antony the Great138

On monasticism as Christian exemplar of the philosophical life see Samuel Rubenson lsquoChristian Asceticism and the Emergence of the Monastic Traditionrsquo and Bernard McGinn lsquoAsceticism and Mysticism in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Agesrsquo in ed Wimbush Valantasis et al Asceticism 49-57 58-74 See also Henrik Rydell Johnseacuten lsquoRenunciation Reorientation and Guidance Patterns in Early Monasticism and Ancient Philosophyrsquo Studia Patristica 553 (Leuven ndash Paris ndash Walpole MA Peeters 2013) 79-94

137 Athanase drsquoAlexandrie Vie drsquoAntoine introduction texte critique traduction notes et index par G J M Bartelink Sources chreacutetiennes 400 (Paris Cerf 1994) 801-7 at 338-40 Cf Brakke Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism 253-65 Russell 7KHRFWULQHRIHLiquestFDWLRQ 184 Urbano lsquoldquoRead It Also to the Gentilesrdquorsquo 910-12

138 For overviews of the vita see Brakke Athanasius and the Politics of Asceti-cism 201-65 with emphasis on the lsquopoliticalrsquo Athanasian reconstruction of the hermitrsquos legacy Weinandy Athanasius 129-32 where the hermitrsquos portrait is interpreted in the light of the New Adam Christ Behr True God of True God 253-59 with emphasis on the lsquoincarnationalrsquo construction of the Athanasian spirituality of the body William A Clebsch lsquoPrefacersquo to Athanasius The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus trans and intro by Robert C Gregg The Classics of Western Spirituality (Mahwah NJ Paulist Press 1980) xiii-xxi esp xiv-xviii which takes the vita as mapping the trajectory of holiness within the context of St Athanasiusrsquo Nicene theology Robert C Gregg lsquoIntroductionrsquo to Athanasius The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus 1-26 esp 2-17 emphasising the spirituality of the Athanasian Antony his rapports with Nicene orthodoxy and the enduring legacy of the vita See Krawiec lsquoAsceticismrsquo 772 for St Athanasiusrsquo interest in articulating a ldquocoherent ascetic ideologyrdquo For the status quaestionis in Antonian scholarship see J William Harmless SJ lsquoMonasticismrsquo in ed S A Harvey and D G Hunter The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies (Oxford University Press 2008) 493-517 esp 498-501


212


Albeit the term lsquophilosopherrsquo occurs only twice in the biography of the saintly hermit139 both times associated with paganism the journey of St Antony follows the pattern of a classic philosophical hagiography140 To begin with Abba Antony learnt from other ascetics the ways of the virtuous life141 and then through a sustained practice of prayer and asceticism142 progressed to the point that he was able to keep his mind ldquounshaken and calmrdquo undisturbed in its prayerful focus upon God (cf προσευχόμενος τῷ θεῷ)1437KXVKHUHDFKHGDWUDQViquestJXUHGGHLiquestHGVWDWHDQGEHFDPHDJXLGHIRUmany disciples in the ways of the desert144 When the saint emerged from his fortress after twenty years of seclusion he appeared to the witnesses as an accomplished philosopher or rather like one that bears the marks of full initiation whose depiction required the suggestive means of the mysteric vocabulary145 These features of the philosophical quest for holiness have become commonplace in later monastic literature beginning with St Gregory of Nyssarsquos portrayal of St Macrina as philosopher146 Of relevance is that the portrait of Adam in Gent 2 proposes very similar traits such as the forefatherrsquos purity (καθαρότης) and his ldquobecoming free of things sensible and all bodily representationrdquo together with his capacity to join his mind

139 Ant 722 805 (Bartelink 320 338)140 Cf Harmless lsquoMonasticismrsquo 498-99 Rapp lsquoThe origins of hagiographyrsquo

119-20 Urbano lsquoldquoRead It Also to the Gentilesrdquorsquo 894-902141 Ant 33-412-20 (Bartelink 136)142 Ant 316-8520-24 5111-2 (Bartelink 136 272)143 Ant 51413-14 51518-20 (Bartelink 274) Cf Harmless Desert Christians

90-93 Douglas Burton-Christie The World in the Desert Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism (New York and Oxford Oxford University Press 1993) 214-15

144 Ant 145-719-33 (Bartelink 174)145 Cf μεμυσταγωγημένος καὶ θεοφορούμενος ldquobeing mystically initiated and divinely-

inhabitedrdquo Ant 1426-7 (Bartelink 172)146 Cf Urbano lsquoldquoRead It Also to the Gentilesrdquorsquo 894 See also Stavroula Con-

stantinou lsquoMale Constructions of Female Identities Authority and Power in the Byzantine Greek Lives of Monastic Foundressesrsquo in ed Lioba Theis Margaret Mullett and Michael Gruumlnbart et al Female Founders in Byzantium and Beyond (Vienna Boumlhlau 2013) 43-62 esp 43-44 46 48 and Morwenna Ludlow lsquoMacrina ndash in Life and in Lettersrsquo in Gregory of Nyssa Ancient and (Post)modern (New York Oxford University Press 2007) 202-19


213


with ldquothings in heaven divine and intelligiblerdquo147 In all likelihood the ascetic and prayerful Antony is the paradigm that inspired the account on the lsquophilosophicalrsquo Adam called to converse with God148 Interestingly in referring to the same event of St Antonyrsquos exit from the fortress the Syriac version of the vita depicts the hermit as possessed of a countenance like that of an angel of light149 In this regard the Syriac rendition is even PRUHVLJQLiquestFDQWWKDQWKHUHHNDFFRXQWJLYHQWKDWLWHVWDEOLVKHVDGLUHFWrapport between the glorious portrayal of St Antony and that of Adam in Gent 2 It follows that Adamrsquos experience was construed ndash one way or the other ndash in the light of the desert life But let us consider more closely the implication of St Athanasius that the paradisal experience far from unique was reiterated in the lives of the desert saints

Meijering already proposed that the last sentence of Gent 2 represents a ldquogeneral statementrdquo that applies to any human being that lives in the image of God not only Adam150 More precisely in his words ldquoAdamrsquos life and fall in Paradise are treated as both historical and timeless events the Christian who realizes that his soul has been created in Godrsquos image can live in the same way as Adam before the fallrdquo151 Thus and to frame this idea within the passage under consideration all human beings who reach the purity of the heart ndash anytime and anywhere ndash can see God as Adam did even as they make sense of the adamic experience In making

147 Gent 21719-21 (Thomson 6) See also Gent 215-27 (Thomson 6) for the broader lsquoAntonianrsquo portrait of Adam

148 Cf Gent 214-15 (Thomson 6)149 Cf Tim Vivian lsquoIntroductionrsquo to Athanasius of Alexandria The Life of Antony

ndash The Greek Life of Antony The Coptic Life of Antony and An Encomium on Saint Antony E-RKQRI6KPǌQ and A Letter to the Disciples of Antony by Serapion of Thmuis trans by Tim Vivian and Apostolos N Athanassakis with Rowan A Greer intro by T Vivian pref by Benedicta Ward SLG and foreword by Rowan Williams Cistercian Studies 202 (Kalamazoo Michigan Cistercian Publications 2003) xxii-lxvi here xxxix

150 Meijering Athanasius Contra Gentes 20151 Meijering Athanasius Contra Gentes 19 Rubenson indirectly endorsed this

assessment in a recent essay on the formative purpose of Apoph See Samuel Rubenson lsquoThe Formation and Re-formations of the Sayings of the Desert Fathersrsquo Studia Patristica 553 (cited above n133) 5-22 esp 19-22


214


explicit reference to Meijeringrsquos point152 Behr rehearsed more recently this very understanding Nevertheless he shifted the interpretive scope by developing the idea from the angle of another work by our Alexandrine On the Incarnation Thus he asserted that the actual theme of St Athanasius was Christ as an illustration of what the proper human life is and not Adam as a type of the original life153 Whilst this proposition which operates along the lines of the standard Adam-Christ typology is certainly valid when the chapter of interest is considered in the light of On the Incarnation in its immediate setting the text conveys a different message We have seen above that the point of reference for the paradisal events or what was ldquofrom the beginningrdquo is the experience of (desert) saints like Antony ldquonowadaysrdquo or in the here and now154 Of course the saints are such through the grace of the Lord and it is very likely that within the economy RIWKHFKDSWHUWKHLGHQWLiquestFDWLRQRIWKHRJRVRIRGZLWKWKH6DYLRXU-HVXVChrist155 points to both aspects namely that the saints reach perfection in Christ and that the same Lord is the source of the paradisal grace That being said it is inescapable that from the outset St Athanasius placed the entire discussion about Adam within a hagiographical not christological context and that he perceived the paradisal experience through the lens of the saints of his own day

This approach was shared by the monastic sources of the time Indeed apart from the variance in vocabulary the message of Gent 2 does not essentially differ from that of the Apoph which take the exploit RIRQHparaVSXULiquestFDWLRQRIWKHKHDUWDVPDWFKLQJWKHDGDPLFH[SHULHQFH)RUinstance the systematic collection of the desert sayings contains the story of a certain Abba Paul who was able to handle asps and scorpions When asked by some monks how did that grace come to him he answered ldquoForgive me fathers If one would acquire purity (καθαρότητα) all things would be submitted to him as they were to Adam in paradise (ὡς τῷ Ἀδὰμ

152 Cf Behr True God of True God 174153 Cf ibidem154 Gent 21 (Thomson 4)155 Gent 27-8 (Thomson 6)


215


ὅτε ἧν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ) before he disobeyed the commandmentrdquo156 The explanation offered by Abba Paul corresponds to the reference in our text to the ldquopurity of the soulrdquo that leads to the vision of God157 This is but one example that might have determined the great Alexandrine to read the paradise narrative ndash post hoc ndash through the lens of the desert experience Furthermore it is very likely due to such references to Adam in the desert tradition and possibly its older sources that St Athanasius felt no need WRSURYLGHFODULiquestFDWLRQVUHJDUGLQJKLVLQWHUSUHWDWLRQRIWKHIRUHIDWKHUDVDsaint and as living in fellowship with the saints He believed his reader to have been fully acquainted with this interpretation As a matter of fact the tradition of considering Adam a saint whose life epitomised the experience of holiness was very strong within the monastic milieus of Egypt some of the desert ascetics like Abba Pambo being likened by the alphabetic collection of the Apoph to both Adam and Moses

7KHVDLGRIWKHIDFHRI$EED3DPERWKDWLWZDVJORULiquestHGἐδοξάσθη) as much as Mosesrsquo when he [the latter] received the image of Adamrsquos glory (εἰκόνα τῆς δόξις Ἀδάμ) In the same way the face of Abba Pambo radiated like a lightening (ὡς ἀστραπὴ ἔλαμπε) and he was like an emperor sitting on his throne Abba Silvanus and Abba Sisoes experienced a similar [divine] working158 (ἐργασίας)159

The passage displays the same lsquolightrsquo imagery pertaining to the glorious portrayal of Adam in St Athanasius which we already noticed in the articulation of holiness by St Cyril St Gregory and St Silouan Golitzin dealt with this very passage within his analysis of a range of apocalyptic

156 Les Apophtegmes des Pegraveres Collection systeacutematique chapitres XVII-XXI texte critique traduction et notes par Jean-Claude Guy SJ Sources chreacutetiennes 498 (Paris Cerf 2005) 19157-10 at 150 This story about Abba Paul features identically in the alphabetic collection Cf Apoph Paul 1 (PG 65 381A)

157 Gent 232-33 (Thomson 6)158 Lit ldquowere of the same workingrdquo159 Apoph Pambo 12 (PG 65 372A) Cf Pambo 1 (PG 65 368BC) For relevant

passages on the other two ascetics mentioned in the text see Sisoes 14 (PG 65 396BC) and Silvanus 12 (PG 65 412C) See also Joseph of Panephysis 6 and 7 (PG 65 229CD)


216


texts in the spiritual tradition of the fourth century160 of which I retain the reference to the glory of Adam that was retrieved not only in Christ but also by his saints161 I shall not venture into commenting on the content of the experience articulated by the above passage and its parallels in the Apoph other than by pointing to the angelic face of St Antony in the Syriac vita referred to above as a possible correspondent162 What matters here is that the adamic portrayal of Abba Pambo complements the interpretation of the paradise narrative in St Athanasius In establishing the deifying experiences of Adam Moses Pambo Silvanus and Sisoes as identical the passage in the Apoph makes plain as much as Ant the extent to which St Athanasius drew on the desert tradition to interpret the paradise narrative as signifying the experience of holiness in Gent 2

To conclude this section the similarities discussed above in terms of Adamrsquos appraisal as a saint together with the grammatical plays of singulars and plurals allow one to safely infer that in his interpretation of the paradise narrative St Cyril drew from St Athanasius who borrowed in WXUQIURPWKHGHVHUWWUDGLWLRQ7KLVOLWHUDUDIiquestOLDWLRQFDQQRWEHLJQRUHGalthough none of the passages discussed within this section deals with the breath of life instead focusing on the theme of image and likeness For both St Cyril and his sources Adam achieved perfection at least up until some point like any other saintly philosopher or ascetic of the desert Furthermore through the intermediary of St Cyril this fourth century Athanasian and monastic perception of Adam as a holy man reached the Athonite tradition thus contributing to the Palamite articulation of the

160 Golitzin lsquoHeavenly Mysteriesrsquo 179-80 See also idem lsquoldquoThe Demons Suggest an Illusion of Godrsquos Glory in a Formrdquorsquo 34-35 For a similar occurrence in the Macarian Homilies see idem lsquoRecovering the ldquoGlory of Adamrdquo Divine Light Traditionsrsquo 280 and idem lsquoldquoThe Demons Suggest an Illusion of Godrsquos Glory in a Formrdquorsquo 38-42

161 Cf Golitzin lsquoHeavenly Mysteriesrsquo 179 idem lsquoRecovering the ldquoGlory of Adamrdquorsquo 301

162 A possible indication as to what the angelic face of St Antony could have looked like appears to be given indirectly by Abba Sisoes Cf Les Apophtegmes des Pegraveres Collection systeacutematique chapitres X-XVI texte critique traduction et notes par Jean-Claude Guy SJ Sources chreacutetiennes 474 (Paris Cerf 2003) 1562 at 326-28


217


adamic experience as typically hesychastic and through the latter possibly LQAgraveXHQFHG6W6LORXDQparaVDSSUDLVDORI$GDPDVVDLQWQIDFWDQ$WKRQLWHmonk could have taken St Athanasiusrsquo reference to Adam as ldquobrought into being in order to see God and be enlightened by himrdquo (γέγονε μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸ ὁρᾷν τὸν Θεὸν καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ φωτίζεσθαι)163 as integral to the hesychast or philokalic patrimony I conclude this section by singling out once again WKHYHU VLJQLiquestFDQW FRQWULEXWLRQRI6W$WKDQDVLXVZKR LQWHUSUHWHG WKHadamic experience as having unfolded in the company of the saints ndash an interpretation which seems to have taken the paradise narrative primarily as a parable of the spiritual life in the desert

Concluding Remarks

The patristic texts reviewed above show the existence of an interpretive strand within the ecclesial tradition according to which whilst indeed supernatural the paradisal experience of Adam was by no means unique and exceptional We have seen that St Athanasius and the Sayings of the Fathers6WampULO DQG6WUHJRU3DODPDVDQGiquestQDOO WKHPRGHUQhesychast St Silouan the Athonite perceived the paradise narrative primarily as reporting on the maximal achievement of humanity in the VSLULWXDOMRXUQHQDPHOWKHH[SHULHQFHRIKROLQHVVRUGHLiquestFDWLRQWKURXJKvirtuous perfection and divine participation ndash an experience available to each and everyone who takes this path Of course none of the texts examined above advances the hypothesis that what we read in Genesis is QRWWKHKLVWRURIWKHiquestUVWKXPDQEHLQJQHYHUWKHOHVVWKHDOODSSURDFKGenesis primarily as a hagiographic piece or a metaphorical account of the hesychast experience which so rendered stimulates in the readers the yearning for this same experience True one of these texts displays the bewildering perspective of Adam as having achieved holiness in the company of other saints and that only by cultivating their fellowship could have the ancestor progressed on the path of godly life The Athanasian passage in question is the only one that I know of within mainstream

163 Gent 727-28 (Thomson 18) For a brief synopsis of this feature in Athanasian anthropology see Στυλιανοῦ Γ Παπαδοπούλου Πατρολογία Τόμος Β᾽ Ὁ Τέταρτος Αἰῶνας Ἀνατολή καί Δύση (Ἀθήνα Παρουσία 1990) 266


218


tradition to address the paradisal experience in this sense What matters here however is that this interpretive strand allows one to read Genesis in particular and the Scriptures in general as constituting a narrative about Godrsquos people and not the origins and the historical trajectory of humankind ndash a narrative to echo the argument of Rapp that aims less at providing the readers with accurate data about the past and more at enticing them to reiterate the same experience

We have discovered furthermore that none of the fathers reviewed above felt the need to justify their respective constructs of Adam as a holy person This tacit consensus of the Alexandrian and the Athonite saints SRLQWVWRWKHH[LVWHQFHRIDQHVWDEOLVKHGWUDGLWLRQRIZKLFKRQHiquestQGVPRUHin the contributions of Golitzin Brakke and Gasparro to which I referred in this study) even though as noted from the outset this tradition never reached prominence within the Church In fact one might wonder as to the reasons for which this approach remained as it does today marginal within the ecclesial milieus I propose that this interpretation must have been subject to the disciplina arcani being prevented from becoming widespread given the possibility of its misreading outside the tradition of the saints Another way of addressing this matter is by considering both the authors and the targeted readership of the analysed passages More precisely these texts have been written within various monastic circles (eg the Sayings of the Fathers St Gregory St Silouan) or by authors under WKHLULQAgraveXHQFHHJ6W$WKDQDVLXV6WampULOEHLQJGHVWLQHGDVUHDGLQJVmainly if not exclusively for such environments One thing is clear though namely all these passages are pervaded by a common thread ndash that of holiness as the theme of both authors and readers Holiness precisely was the ultimate criterion in the exegesis of the paradise narrative in the Alexandrian and the Athonite traditions which makes unavoidable the conclusion that whilst unveiling a different portrait of Adam namely as a holy man instead of a wretched sinner the analysed texts reveal something fundamental about the character of their authors Only saintly persons can ultimately read the story of Adam as a report on holiness


174


prominence within the ecclesial tradition and still remains largely ignored changes in a dramatic fashion our understanding of the patristic approaches to the paradise narrative It is precisely this view of Adam as a holy man that constitutes the object of the current study an undertaking for which I borrow from the methodology outlined by Bishop Alexander Golitzin To be sure in recent years Golitzin has undertaken important work in this area1 by exploring the Second Temple roots of this tradition and its rabbinic and pseudepigraphic offshoots together with certain pre-Nicene WUDGLWLRQVDQGWKHLU6UR0HVRSRWDPLDQDQGampRSWLFUDPLiquestFDWLRQVQZKDWfollows alongside building on Golitzinrsquos presupposition that within various ascetic milieus Adam was construed as a saint I move past those roots and connections to several representatives of the mainstream Alexandrine and Athonite traditions My interest is motivated by the fact that whilst undeniably Semitic in origin within the traditions here considered the notion of Adamrsquos holiness drew on various other sources I agree with Golitzinrsquos conclusion that these other sources were not opposite to the Second Temple roots and their offshoots2HWWKHGHiquestQLWHOOHGWRQHZways of articulating the same understanding

In this order below I look at the spiritual diary of St Silouan the Athonite (d 1938) a passage from On the Divine and Deifying

1 See for instance Alexander Golitzin lsquoHeavenly Mysteries Themes from Apocalyptic Literature in the Macarian Homilies and Selected Other Fourth-Century Ascetical Writersrsquo in ed Robert Daly Apocalyptic Themes in Early Christianity (Grand Rapids Baker Academic 2009) 174-92 idem lsquoRecov-ering the ldquoGlory of Adamrdquo Divine Light Traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Ascetical Literature of Fourth-Century Syro-Mesopotamiarsquo in ed James R Davila The Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 46 (Leiden Brill 2003) 275-308 idem lsquoThe Vision of God and the Form of ORU0RUH5HAgraveHFWLRQVRQWKH$QWKURSRPRUSKLWHampRQWURYHUVRI$parain ed John Behr Andrew Louth Dimitri Conomos Abba The Tradition of Orthodoxy in the West (Crestwood NY St Vladimirrsquos Seminary Press 2003) 273-97 idem lsquoldquoThe Demons Suggest an Illusion of Godrsquos Glory in a Formrdquo Controversy over the Divine Body and Vision of Glory in Some Late Fourth Early Fifth Century Monastic Literaturersquo Studia Monastica 44 (2002) 13-43

2 See Golitzin lsquoldquoThe Demons Suggest an Illusion of Godrsquos Glory in a Formrdquorsquo 42-43


175





176







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178









179







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182









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St Gregory Palamas







186









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188








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98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







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217



Concluding Remarks




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St Gregory Palamas







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98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


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Concluding Remarks




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176







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St Gregory Palamas







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98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


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Concluding Remarks




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St Gregory Palamas







186









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98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


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214






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Concluding Remarks




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St Gregory Palamas







186









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98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


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Concluding Remarks




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St Gregory Palamas







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98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


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212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





180






181








182









183








184








185


St Gregory Palamas







186









187










188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





181








182









183








184








185


St Gregory Palamas







186









187










188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





182









183








184








185


St Gregory Palamas







186









187










188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





183








184








185


St Gregory Palamas







186









187










188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





184








185


St Gregory Palamas







186









187










188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





185


St Gregory Palamas







186









187










188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





186









187










188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





187










188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





188








189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





189









190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





190






191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





191











192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





192








193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





193







194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





194









195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





195








196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





196






197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





197






198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





198








199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





199









200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





200





98 Anthrop 2 (PG 76 1080D)


201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





201







202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





202







203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





203







204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





204










205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





205










206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





206









207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





207







208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





208











209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





209







210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





210










211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





211








212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





212










213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





213










214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





214






215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





215









216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





216








217



Concluding Remarks




218





217



Concluding Remarks




218





218





costache - adam’s holiness: athonite and alexandrine perceptions

Documents