Status of Adam?

[Isaac the Recluse]

The status of Adam came up in discussion, and I realised I hadn't given this much thought.

Is Adam a saint?

I don't remember ever seeing an icon of him, though his skull is depicted on many crucifixes. Can we venerate Adam? How would venerating him be considered - favourable, disliked, anathema?

 

[gzt]

Yes, we see him being resurrected on the icon for Pascha and of course frequently talk about his salvation in hymnography.

 

[ArmyMatt]

yes, he is one of the holy forefathers of Christ

 

[rusmeister]

I have an icon, but CF is still “running into some problems”.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I think I have seen an icon of Sts Adam, Abel, and Seth.

 

[Isaac the Recluse]

Thanks for responses. I'm encountering "running into some problems" also.

I have now seen a contemporary icon of Holy Forefather Adam. Still don’t see any reference to him as Saint Adam, but I'm getting that it's not an error to refer to him as such.

All this was an idle thought really. Just thinking aloud about something I hadn't given much consideration to.

Continued blessed Feast!

 

[ArmyMatt]

have now seen a contemporary icon of Holy Forefather Adam. Still don’t see any reference to him as Saint Adam, but I'm getting that it's not an error to refer to him as such.

calling him a Holy Forefather is calling him a saint. it’s like certain saints are commonly called Blessed or Venerable.

 

[rusmeister]

I have been trying to post and getting bounced.

He is my patron saint. I don’t have a wooden icon, only electronic ones.
I am amused and irritated at believers who fervently believe in human evolution and insist that “Adam” was only an idea or abstraction of mankind (the whole narrative of macroevolution being contradictory to the account in Genesis). When I hear it, I wonder “Who the heck am I praying to for intercession?”

As a baby, I was baptized Catholic, and my mother said that the priest objected to the name, as he didn’t consider him a saint.

 

[Isaac the Recluse]

Seems I can post text, but can't attach images.

How I reconcile being a believer with worldly ideas of macroevolution is subtle but not complex. Perhaps understandably I don't want to open that up though, particularly during a feast.

... the priest objected to the name, as he didn’t consider him a saint.

This may well be how I got to discussing the status of Adam in the first place. I think I must have heard something along these lines in the past. For me, coming into Orthodoxy has been a long process of correcting misperceptions.

Continued Blessed Feast!

 

[gzt]

Thanks for responses. I'm encountering "running into some problems" also.

I have now seen a contemporary icon of Holy Forefather Adam. Still don’t see any reference to him as Saint Adam, but I'm getting that it's not an error to refer to him as such.

All this was an idle thought really. Just thinking aloud about something I hadn't given much consideration to.

Continued blessed Feast!

If somebody is addressed as "Holy", they're by definition a saint. "Saint" is just "holy".

 

[RileyG]

I think I have seen an icon of Sts Adam, Abel, and Seth.

They ARE REAL historical people, correct? and NOT "myths"?

(positing in fellowship)

 

[ArmyMatt]

They ARE REAL historical people, correct? and NOT "myths"?

(positing in fellowship)

they are both

 

[RileyG]

they are both

Yes. Yes. That’s my understanding. Even in my own tradition.

Thanks, Father!

 

[RileyG]

they are both

Both? Can you elaborate so I understand correctly?

Peace!

 

[ArmyMatt]

Yes. Yes. That’s my understanding. Even in my own tradition.

Thanks, Father!

no problem!

 

[ArmyMatt]

Both? Can you elaborate so I understand correctly?

Peace!

both actual people and important cultural teaching stories

 

[RileyG]

both actual people and important cultural teaching stories

Thanks!

 

[ArmyMatt]

Thanks!

yeppers!

 

[The Liturgist]

yes, he is one of the holy forefathers of Christ

Who on the Julian calendar was celebrated last Sunday the 28th.

 

[The Liturgist]

Thanks!

If you read upon Alexandrian hermeneutics and Antiochene hermeneutics, avoiding the trap of leaning too far in one direction or the other, the mistake of Origen in favor of an excess of allegory and Theodore of Mopsuestia in favor of hyper-literalism, you will do well. Note even Origen and Theodore did not exclusively rely on one approach or the other.