- Jan 26, 2007
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But what does this death entail? The death of animals, plants, germs, bacteriae, humans physically, or just humans physically? Were all the animals originally vegetarian? Does it refer to Spiritual Death and separation from God alone?
What does death entail in terms of how reality was transformed? Was the earth composed of a fused terrestrial and celestial matter? Did God's Grace transfigure all of reality in a world that was just composed of terrestial matter before the fall? What exactly happened to the whole world when Eve took that bite of the fruit, as did Adam?
What exactly do we even make of Eden? Was it a physical, geographical location of the Earth? Did it even refer to the Earth itself, or WAS it the Earth? And how does Death close off Eden from us if it isn't part of the Earth, and how did it transform reality?
Were the Church Fathers consistent on all of these details?
I'm not saying your view is incorrect or correct, Father - I'm not even Orthodox, nor am I receiving the Holy Sacraments. But I find - obviously - that it can be a mess to figure out the precise, Patristic interpretation of Genesis, because when you have such massive differences between even how the Eastern Fathers like Saint Basil and Saint John Chrysostom viewed it, along with how Saint Augustine viewed it, and what contemporary Sciences (not just some of the contemporary Darwinist biology, but even Archaeology) tells us about the world.
well, Wisdom of Solomon says God created all things that they might exist, and the NT says all of creation is groaning for redemption.
there was no corruption or separation before the Fall, and man had all of creation subject to him. St Maximos the confessor points out in the Philokalia that the incarnation healed all of the side effects of the Fall.
and St Silouan of Mt Athos said the saints don't contradict each other. if they seem to contradict, it's because we are not illumined as they are yet.
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