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Greek Orthodox Catechism
Constantine Callinicos, London, 1926
Part I. Dogmatical, 4. Man and His Fall
And what do you know of the creation of man?
Man was created by God last of all, after his earthly abiding place had been previously prepared and embellished for him during the period of six scriptural “days.” According to the anthropomorphic expressions of Genesis, when God proposed to create man, He did not merely say the word, as He did with regard to the other things (“Let there be light! Let there be a firmament!” etc.), but He went over the earth, and taking a portion of it, He moulded it into clay, and from the clay He created man in bodily form. He then breathed His spirit into the body thus created, and there was the man with a living soul. Such expressions as these, are intended to emphasise the superiority of man, and show him as the object of God’s special interest. They show, at the same time, the double composition of man, who, made up of a destructible body and an indestructible spirit, stands between the visible and the invisible world. Genesis relates also that God created one Adam, from whom later on He made Eve, and from this first couple came the whole of the human race, which is thus of one common stock and one blood. (Acts xvii. 26.)
With what endowments did God send man into the world?
Genesis contends that God made man “after His own image and likeness” (i. 26). By this expression are indicated the God-given endowments by which man, thus provided, was sent into the world in order to fulfil his destiny. Because, as the picture shadows forth the characteristics of the original, and he who looks at it receives a faint idea of the person painted, so man, by his ability to triumph over nature, by his reason, by his free choice, by his desire for knowledge, by his thirst for happiness and eagerness for immortality, has been endowed with such attributes, as to appear on earth like a miniature of the Almighty, All-wise, All-powerful, Blessed and Eternal God. But these peculiar endowments carried with them analogous responsibilities; and man, left free, should have made good use of them, in order that the picture should grow to resemble even more closely the original—that is, that man should become even more God-like,
Has man succeeded in attaining perfection?
No. Man made an evil use of his endowments, and thus, instead of rising to the heights, he fell into the depths. God, trying man’s faith, hope and love towards Himself, laid a command upon him. But man did not conform himself to the command of God. He preferred rather to listen to the Devil, who, under the guise of a serpent, whispered into the ear of Eve those arrogant words “Ye will be as God.” He was drawn towards the forbidden fruit, sacrificing thus his whole future in a moment of gluttony. At the bottom of his soul he doubted the pure interest of the Creator in him. In other words, our forefather committed sin under its most sinister aspects, namely, Pride, Sensuality and Unfaithfulness; and thus, having estranged himself from God, he declined from his high destiny.
What were the results of that sin committed by our forefather?
Very disastrous! Man, deprived of the divine favour and grace by disobedience, was greatly shaken both in soul and body. His mind became confused, so that it was only with difficulty that he could distinguish the truth. His heart became corrupt, so that he found enjoyment in evil. His will became blunted and incapable of generous deeds. Diseases and pains and hardships attacked his body, a prey henceforth to ignominious death; “for the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. vi. 23.) And, as he was wounded internally and externally, so also the creation around him was wounded, on account of sin that entered and defiled the world. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (viii. 22.) The most woeful thing of all is that these double results of the original transgression of our father, which are generally known under the name of moral evil and physical evil, were not confined to the person of the delinquent only, but were handed down as an hereditary disease to all his descendants, who, being the rotten fruits of a rotten tree, are born children of wrath and damnation. “Therefore,” says St. Paul, “as by one man sin entered into the world and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned.” (v. 12.)
Was then the fall mortal, and was there no hope of restoration?
The fall was heavy, but not mortal. The God-like image in man became blurred, but did not altogether disappear. Man’s fall was not like the Devil’s fall. The Devil sinned without external suggestion and absolutely of his own account; and for that reason he was thrown into the abyss of Hell without any hope of a future restoration. But man disobeyed God’s command at the instigation of the Devil, and succumbed to temptation from outside. Therefore, although he was obliged to suffer the results of his evil-doing, being ejected from the enjoyment of Paradise, and entering upon an existence full of toil and grief, he brought away with him, from the very first moment of his expulsion, the comforting promise of God that, in the fulfilment of time, the woman’s seed would bruise the head of the serpent, and a Saviour from Heaven would once again re-establish his good relations with God.
And was this Saviour sent to man?
Yes. He was sent in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the second Article of the Creed begins to tell us.