Syriac Additions to Anderson: The Garden of Eden in the Book of Steps and Philoxenus of Mabbug
Robert A.
Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
January 2003
Vol. 6, No. 1
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https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv6n1kitchen
Robert A. Kitchen
Syriac Additions to Anderson: The Garden of Eden in the Book of Steps and Philoxenus of Mabbug
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol6/HV6N1Kitchen.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, 2003
vol 6
issue 1
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study
of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth
Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the
best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies.
Syriac Studies
Garden of Eden
Gary A. Anderson
Genesis 3-4
Liber Graduum
Book of Steps
Philoxenus of Mabbug
asceticism
File created by XSLT transformation of original HTML encoded article.
Adding to the Syriac witness on Genesis 3-4
introduced in Gary A. Anderson’s monograph, The
Genesis of Perfection (reviewed elsewhere in Hugoye)
are two Syriac ascetical works: the Book of Steps (Liber
Graduum), an anonymous 4th century collection of
30 mēmrē directed to a pre-monastic community;
and the 6th century collection of 13
mēmrē or Discourses by Philoxenus, bishop of
Mabbug, directed monks under his episcopal authority.
Both authors utilize the narrative of Genesis 3-4 to model
ascetical practices for their community, and to portray the
goal and reward of the ascetical life – the return to
perfection in the Garden of Eden.
[1] Gary Anderson’s
monograph on the Jewish and Christian traditions of the
narrative in Genesis 3 and 4, The Genesis of
Perfection,
Gary A. Anderson, The Genesis of Perfection:
Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001).
introduces the unsuspecting reader to the wealth
of Syriac exegesis and midrash. Ephrem receives most of
his attention, but Aphrahat, Narsai, Jacob of Serug, Bar
Hebraeus, and Theodore of Mopsuestia are also cited.
Still, Anderson’s book can only reveal the tip of the
iceberg of Syriac interpretation of the events in the Garden of
Eden.
[2] I wish
to offer a brief note regarding two other Syriac
witnesses. Anderson delves deeply into Jewish midrashic
commentaries,
Anderson, Genesis; Genesis Rabbah, Exodus
Rabbah, the Babylonian Talmud are frequent sources for
Anderson. His most important source for the Adam and Eve
story is an Armenian translation of Life of Adam and
Eve. Cf. Gary Anderson & Michael Stone, A
Synopsis of the Books of Adam and Eve, 2nd rev.
ed. (Society of Biblical Literature, Early Judaism and its
Literature, vol.17; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999).
but here the agenda is unabashedly
Christian. First, I will fill out the picture given by
the anonymous Book of Steps (Liber Graduum) in
mēmrē 15 and 21 of that collection.
Michel Kmosko, ed., Liber Graduum
(Patrologia Syriaca 3; Paris, 1926) mēmrā 15,
columns 336-385; mēmrā 21, columns
584-632. All references to the Liber Graduum/Book
of Steps will cite the mēmrā; then the column
and line number in Kmosko's critical edition.
Second, Philoxenus of Mabbug offers a distinct approach in
several of his Ascetical Homilies or Discourses.
Discourses of Philoxenus, Bishop of Mabbogh,
2 vols., edit. E.A.W. Budge (London, 1894). French
translation – Philoxène de Mabboug.
Homélies, transl. Eugène Lemoine (Sources
Chrétiennes 44; Paris, 1956).
[3] Both
authors shape their interpretations around the requirements of
the ascetical and monastic communities under their pastoral
care. As well, there are significant literary connections
between the two works observed by both ancient and modern
scholars.
Reviewing the new French translation of the
Homélies by Lemoine, Irenée Hausherr noted
that the principal codex employed by Kmosko in preparing his
critical edition of the Liber Graduum also contained the
most important text of Philoxenus’
Homélies, and felt compelled to defend the
doctrinal purity of Philoxenus against the purported
Messalianism of the Book of Steps. I. Hausherr,
“Spiritualité Syrienne: Philoxène de
Mabboug,” Orientalia Christiana Periodica 23
(1957) 171-185. The manuscript at issue is Kmosko’s
Ms. a: Codex
Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris Syrus 201
(12th century). Philoxenus, ff. 1-172;
Liber Graduum, ff. 172b-281a.
[4] The Book
of Steps is an anonymous collection of 30
mēmrē on various aspects of the spiritual
life. Written in a pre-monastic setting of the
mid-late-fourth century, probably well inside the Persian
Empire, the Book revolves around the two levels of committed
Christians, the Upright (kēnē) and the Perfect
(gmīrē). The Upright perform acts of
charity and ministry for the poor while often being married and
receiving income from occupations. The Perfect are
celibate, do not work or perform acts of charity, practice
unceasing prayer, and wander throughout the region teaching and
resolving conflicts.
For a brief summary of the levels of Christian life
in the Book of Steps, cf. R.A. Kitchen, “Conflict on the
Stairway to Heaven: The Anonymity of Perfection in the Syriac
Liber Graduum,” (Symposium Syriacum VII, Uppsala
1996; Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256 (1998),
211-220. A full English translation and introduction to
the Book of Steps by R.A. Kitchen and M.F.G. Parmentier will be
published by Cistercian Publications.
[5]
Philoxenus’ 13 long mēmrē also address
the spiritual life, but out of a changed situation. His
mēmrē are directed to monks under his care in
the early sixth century east of Antioch.
André de Halleux speculated that Philoxenus
directed his Discourses to the monks at the monastery of
Senun to whom he had written an important letter urging them to
stand fast by their henophysite faith. Philoxène de
Mabboug: Sa Vie, ses Écrits, sa Théologie
(Universitas Catholica Louvaniensis Dissertationes ad gradum
magistri, Series III, 8; Louvain, 1963), 45. Also cf.
Philoxène de Mabboug. Lettre aux moines de
Senoun, ed. A. de Halleux (CSCO 231-232/Syr 98-99;
Louvain, 1963).
He is the only
other Syriac writer to utilize the terms and institutions of
the Upright and Perfect, albeit with a different configuration
of boundaries and duties. In both works, Genesis 3-4
provides the paradigm of the ultimate goal for the ascetical
life—the return to the Garden of Eden—as well as
the model of how not to get there.
Perfect Eden
[6] The
author of the Book of Steps assumes the Garden of Eden embodied
God’s intended existence for human beings, i.e. the
status of Perfection (gmīrūtā), which is
also described as the status of the angels. The goal of
the Perfect ones in the faith community of the Book of Steps is
to regain this status and condition that Adam had lost.
The purpose of Jesus' advent and humbling is to show us that
original truth God gave to Adam before he sinned
“The whole [reason] why Christ came and
lowered himself was in order to teach us how we might lower
ourselves in imitation of him and to show [us] that original
truth,” (21: 593:7-9).
(21;
593:17-19). "Adam lived at first according to the perfect
will of God. This one who came, Jesus, showed to whomever
wishes how to imitate him and be perfected" (21;
600:20-23).
[7] The Book
of Steps author apparently knows of the legends of the fall of
Satan from grace in heaven as described by Anderson.
Anderson, Genesis, Chapter 1: “The
Fall of Satan and the Elevation of Adam,” 21-41.
“Adam fell from heaven with that [same] fall by which the
Rebel slipped and fell. For the idea came upon the Rebel
to become God. When he was ruined he came to allure Adam
so that he might slip and fall to become his son and
disciple” (21; 628:18-23). The title of Rebel for
Satan reflects the Jewish and Christian tale of the arrogance
of Satan the angel who rebelled against the Lord God, wanting
power more than perfection.
[8]
Noteworthy is the relatively little attention Eve receives
throughout all the comments and exegeses of Genesis 3-4 in the
Book of Steps. Adam is saddled with the brunt of the
blame for the fall from grace and perfection on behalf of all
of humanity, as Anderson found in several other
traditions.
ibid., Chapter 5: “Is Eve the
Problem?” 99-116.
The Tree of Passion
[9] The 21st
mēmrā of the Book of Steps, “On the Tree
of Adam,” witnesses to the kind of Christian exegesis
that perceives the story in the Garden of Eden as the anti-type
to the Gospel Passion narrative, a kind of anti-Passion
narrative. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is
identified by the author as equivalent to the Evil One;
“Now I will begin to explain about the
good tree, how it exists and how it stands, and concerning the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil which is the Evil One,
toil, anxiety, and the thought of transitory things by which
Adam and Eve tasted death. For through it they came to
know evil that they had not known. After they ate from it
they knew evil, which is death, [which] they had not
known” (584:1-7).
in
fact, the author dubs Satan as “the Tree”
(585:5). Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is given the
title of the Good Tree, the tree of life.
[10]
Eating from the tree of Good and Evil is a metaphor for being
bound to the earth and transitory things. The action of
eating itself is not dwelt upon, though in the 15th
mēmrā the author echoes Paul (1 Corinthians
8:8) that “food does not commend us before God,”
for those who follow this way “have forgotten God after
they have eaten and reveled” (15; 348:6-11).
[11]
Conscious that the most prevalent theory regarding the cause of
the Fall is the initiation of sexual intercourse, the author
reduces the desire for intercourse or lust to a secondary
impulse subordinate to the desire for earthly and transitory
things. Underlying all these urges and drives is the
desire to become equal to God. “They did not really
desire it (intercourse - shawtpūtā), but [they
did so] in that hope that they would become great like
God” (Romans 8:20) (15; 340:8-9). The Gospel
Passion lays bare the weakness of such grasping after
greatness. “Adam despised [God’s] words and
broke his commandments and sought to usurp, to become the equal
of God in majesty, but not in lowliness” (21;
616:6-10).
[12] The
author turns directly to his spiritual charges and draws the
implication for how they are to live today.
“Nothing brought down Adam but pride. My brothers,
let us free ourselves from pride, lest we become like salt
whose flavor is lost” (21; 616:24-617:10). Pride is
thus the insidious emotion that not only thinks one is better
and more skilled than another, but ultimately ends up believing
one can replicate God’s actions and being. One of
the author’s persistent citations throughout the Book of
Steps is Philippians 2:3: “This is the perfect and
straight road, ‘Consider every person better than
yourself’” (19; 469:6). Lowliness or humility
(makīkūtā), not majesty or divinization,
is the foundation for the life of the aspiring Perfect or
Upright one.
[13] In a
way, the so-called Fall was God’s fault.
Acknowledging the omnipotence and omniscience of God, the
author understands that in allowing free choice to human
beings, God has opened the door to certain wrong choices.
Yet our fall was far from inevitable or necessary, the author
declares, for if Adam had obeyed and said no to Satan, God
would have provided children for Adam and Eve without lust, and
food would have appeared (à la manna) without labor (21;
601:14-26).
Talking Temptation
[14] The
author of the Book of Steps introduces an intriguing variation
on the conversation around the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil between the Evil One, Adam, and Eve.
cf. Anderson, Genesis, 101-111
reviews interpretations of this conversation from the
perspectives of Origen, Ephrem, Augustine, and John
Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Eve’s role is significant as the intermediary between
Adam and the Evil One, especially in light of her being largely
ignored in the rest of the Book. It is not made clear
whether the Evil One here is the serpent, although the
conversations apparently occur in the canonical context around
the tree.
[15]
“In this way also [the Evil One] seduced Adam with deceit
and approached him as someone concerned [for him] and a bearer
of [his] burden. He counseled Eve to advise Adam and
commanded her to speak to Adam so that he might acquire wealth
and become a king. ‘Look, gold and silver are on
the earth and all sorts of pleasures. Possess and enjoy
yourself; rule, increase, and multiply,’ the Evil One
counseled. ‘Cast off from yourself asceticism and
renunciation and holiness (celibacy), also lowliness, and know
evil as well as good things and grow and become like God who
created you.’
[16]
“Eve advised Adam, ‘That rebel advised us well, if
as much because he preceded us and is older than us, he
knows.’ Adam said to Eve, ‘Go back and say to
him, ‘Our Creator commanded us not to obey you, nor eat
from [the tree], nor be united with earthly things;’ that
is, we should not labor or possess anything on the
earth.’
[17]
“The tongue [of the Evil One] again persuaded [Eve],
‘Because [God] did not wish and was not content that you
become like him.’ Adam said, ‘If he does not
desire that we become like this, will he not punish us because
we have dared [to do this]?’ The Evil One said,
‘When you become like him, what can he do to
you?’” (21; 609:2-25).
[18] Eve
identifies the Evil One not as evil, but again as the Rebel to
whom she grants the honor and wisdom of precedence and age.
The narrative implies that the Evil One never speaks
directly to Adam, always through Eve, yet the Evil One’s
purpose is to seduce Adam. Eve’s seduction is
secondary, a mere by-product.
Knowing Nakedness
[19]
After the Fall comes not darkness, but nakedness, or rather the
awareness of nakedness.
Anderson, Genesis, 67-69.
Anderson offers an intriguing hypothesis in his section
“Sexual Organs Run Amok,” taking cues from C. S.
Lewis and Augustine.
The author deals with this
revelation from several angles. Is sexual lust natural,
innate in the makeup of human beings?
Mēmrā 15, “On Adam’s Marital
Desire,” works to solve the enigma and concludes No, that
it is not the way we originally were, for the sexual instinct
was introduced into humanity by the Evil One. Adam and
Eve, after all, were naked and did not recognize their
situation, similar to infants and very young children who
simply do not know what nakedness is and certainly do not know
what lust is. “In this they [Adam and Eve] did not
have a despicable thought, but if they had known [that they
were naked], they would have put on clothes” (15;
340:15-17).
[20] The
conclusive proof that Adam and Eve originally did not possess
lust is a humorous observation of a natural phenomenon.
“Therefore, what man or woman is able to stand before one
another naked and not have the lust in their heart aroused,
seeing one another naked, apart from those whose heart is pure
from lust and who are holy in their heart and bodies, just as
Adam and Eve were before they had sinned? On account of
this our Lord said, ‘If you do not turn back and become
like these children, you will not become like that first
creation of Adam,’ who had not yet transgressed against
the commandment of his Maker. Before Adam and Eve had
sinned, they were naked like infants, but since the lust in
their heart was not aroused they were not ashamed, just as
infants are not ashamed” (15; 340:17-341:5).
[21] This
discussion of the original Garden leads to the practical
contemporary situation in the author’s community.
“So today when the descendants of Adam who love holiness
(celibacy) have striven against and killed the sin from the
heart with lowliness and love, then they will abandon physical
lust and turn away from it, ascending to the desire for
God. Then God will command that lust be removed from the
heart and the instinct [for sexual intercourse] from the body
completely. Then they will become ‘holy’ like
children” (15; 341:12-21). Only those who are able
to be holy, celibate, and rid themselves of any feelings of
lust can be Perfect.
Earthly and Heavenly Minds
[22]
Sexuality and lust always seem to occupy first place in the
minds of interpreters, but the author of the Book of Steps
understands the true conflict to be between the primacy of the
disciple’s orientation toward the spiritual and heavenly,
or toward the physical and earthly. “But after they
ate from the tree, that is, after they had abandoned heaven and
loved the earth, their mind came from heaven to their bodies,
[and] then they saw that they were naked. For they had
been in heaven while they were walking on the earth” (21;
605:8-13). “Because he had desired to become
physical and not spiritual, that is, earthly and not heavenly,
it was then that carnal desire came to exist in him, for Adam
desired intercourse as a result of the teaching of the Evil One
who had plotted to make him fall from the sanctity (celibacy)
of the angels and imitate wild beasts” (15;
336:7-13).
[23]
Imitating wild beasts, rather than the angels, demonstrates the
wrong model for the fledgling ascetics. The Book of Steps
author works diligently to direct the Upright ones’
orientation heavenward, steering them away from making the
earthly realm the sole locus of good.
ibid., 45. Anderson draws from
Rabbinic sources the scene of Adam watching the animals in
copulation and recognizing not only his own singleness, but
envying also the pleasure the animals are enjoying.
Developing
this heavenly weltanschauung and rendering it impervious
to earthly intrusions becomes the dynamic for the Perfect, and
the Upright as well, throughout the Book of Steps.
[24]
“After they saw that they were naked, after their mind
stripped off that higher glory, they went on to worry about
clothing because they knew the shame which had been invisible
to them while they were looking at heaven” (21;
613:6-10). The procurement of clothing is evidence of
anxiety for earthly possessions in the individual (Matthew
6:25-33). The author never implies
“permanent” nudity for his disciples, but presses
the Perfect to rid themselves of concerns for physical
appearance.
Hiding from God
[25] The
author of the Book of Steps continues with the familiar
narrative in the Garden through an extended section in
mēmrā 21 in which the author perceives some
comic elements in Adam’s attempt to “cover
up” the Fall.
[26]
“From then on Adam lived on the earth, the heavenly
became what is lowly, the spiritual became physical, [and] the
breath of life became the taste of death. Majesty bent
down and spoke with Adam, but Adam and Eve fled and hid
themselves among the trees standing on the earth. The
Lord said to Adam, ‘Where are you, Adam, are you not
among the heavenly angels?’ [Adam] said, “I heard
your voice and I hid myself from your presence because I am
ashamed to see you on the earth, before whose face I
continually stood in heaven. Now you see my
shame.’ That is, I am ashamed of what I have
thought, despising your word; and I did not know that the dust
is not like its maker. That which is made is not able to
dwell with its maker except with love while lowering
itself.
[27]
“The Lord said to Adam, ‘Look, you have used the
thing of which I warned you.’ That is, you have
cast aside heaven and chosen earth. You have left the
good tree, that one by which you did not know evil, and you
descended to that one by which you have come to know evil and
good. In other words, you fell from heaven to
earth. ‘Why, Adam?’ [Adam] said to him,
‘Eve advised me!’ Eve said, ‘The
serpent advised me!’ And the serpent said,
‘The Rebel allured and sent me!’ Because God
commanded Adam not to listen, neither he nor Eve, to the one
who rebelled against the word of his Lord - as we have
explained above how he rebelled - on account of this [the
Rebel] sent the serpent because he had allured and subjugated
him” (625:8-628:8).
[28]
Anderson notes the distinction made between Satan and
Hades/Death,
ibid., 172-175.
but there is no apparent distinction made
between Satan and the serpent. However, Anderson observes
that the serpent was never cross-examined by God.
ibid., “Did God Forget the
Snake?”, 137-138.
The Book of Steps preserves a voice for the serpent.
[29] The
pretensions towards and the usurping of divine being and power
are still the root sin for the author. This could also be
a problem for the Perfect, some of whom may believe that they
have arrived at the top and become the equal of God.
The Second Law
[30]
Nevertheless, God had compassion on Adam and Eve, making coats
of skin for them and clothing them with his compassion (21;
632:1-5). The author does not dwell upon these coats,
perhaps because of his aversion to anxiety over clothing
previously noted above.
Clothing will become an important metaphor
for spiritual development in the Syriac tradition. Cf.
Sebastian P. Brock, “Clothing Metaphors as a Means of
Theological Expression in Syriac Tradition,” in Typus,
Symbol, Allegorie bei den östlichen Vätern und ihren
Parallelen im Mittelalter; edit. M. Schmidt and C. Geyer
(Regensburg: Friedrich Puster, 1982).
More significantly, God
made for them a second law, an inferior one to the original
“first” law of Eden, but still providing a measure
of salvation. This law is the lower status of Uprightness
(kēnūtā) in the system of the Book of
Steps, which allows for the institution of marriage and the
proper channeling of sexual behavior (15; 353:9-17).
[31] The
author of the Book of Steps has now shaped his pre-monastic
community in terms of the Genesis 3-4 narrative. The
higher level, the Perfect, attempt to recreate the ontology and
conditions of the Garden “while Adam had not yet
sinned.” “The Perfect do not take wives, nor
do they work in the field, nor acquire possessions, nor have a
place to lay their heads on earth like their teacher”
(15; 365:26-368:2). Note that the Perfect do not refer to
an original Adam, but live in the model of their teacher,
Jesus, who also regained and fulfilled these Edenic
standards. The ideal of wandering, to have no place to
lay down one’s head, follows Jesus’ directive
(Matthew 8:20) to which there is no parallel in Eden.
cf. Daniel Caner, Wandering, Begging
Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in
Late Antiquity (The Transformation of the Classical
Heritage 33; Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002),
esp. 106-112. Caner treats the contribution of the Book
of Steps as one of the “major players” in the
wandering ascetic movements that set the stage for
monasticism. The Acts of Thomas and the
Pseudo-Macarian letters, as well as other documents relating to
the Messalian phenomena are the other primary sources.
Time and sleep are never mentioned in the Genesis
narrative. It is only on earth that human beings have
created time, space, and property.
[32] The
lower level of the Upright lives outside of Eden with the
standard of religious commitment initially established for Adam
and Eve and their descendants. Marriage, sexuality,
labor, wealth and possessions, and permanent residences are
permitted as a sanctified earthliness. Poised on the
boundary of Perfection, the individual Upright one can still
decide to renounce his or her earthly bonds and enter
Perfection, but practical experience demonstrates that this is
difficult for most people.
Philoxenus of Mabbug: Eden for Monks
[33]
Philoxenus, bishop of Mabbug, wrote a number of letters and
mēmrē to monks under his episcopal
guidance. In most cases, the great theological and
Christological issues of the day were his subject matter,
particularly in his role as one of the chief advocates for the
henophysite perspective on the nature of Christ. In his
13 Discourses or Ascetical Homilies, however, Christology
barely makes an appearance. His intent is to instruct his
charges, and particularly novices, in the spiritual
disciplines. While Philoxenus does utilize a modified
Upright/Perfect dichotomy, his references to the Genesis
narrative are of a different character. The monks are
called upon to reenter the purity of Eden, but to do so more
via interior spiritual transformation than through external
roles and actions.
[34] All
the monks, one assumes, are celibate, so the boundary issues of
sexuality and marriage for the denizens of the Book of Steps
are beyond the pale. Wealth and possessions are generally
a much smaller concern than for the Book of Step’s
Upright ones who are business people and have disposable
incomes. The monks all do have a place to lay down their
heads; and labor in such a community cannot be avoided or
passed off onto others.
[35] In
the fourth mēmrā on simplicity
(pšīţūtā), Philoxenus wants
to demonstrate that the basic aspect of simplicity is that one
never questions the commands of God – a useful principle
to underline for monks under the authority of an abbot and
bishop. Adam and Eve possessed simplicity until they
encountered the Enemy who manipulated Adam into exercising
judgement on God’s command to him, i.e. that he should
not eat from the fruit of the tree (4; 80:5-81:20).
References are to the Syriac text of
Philoxenus’ Discourses by Budge, op. cit. –
(mēmrā; page:line).
“The advice which [the Enemy] brought to that childlike
and simple person made him a judge of the commandment of God to
him. Because it had destroyed his simplicity, [Adam] did
not prosper in his judgment, for he deemed foolishly that it is
appropriate to listen to an enemy rather than to a
friend” (4; 81:1-4). Philoxenus sees Adam bearing
the weight of culpability as the latter has sunk to become a
judge, the reverse of the status earthly society would grant to
a judge.
[36]
Philoxenus characterizes the simplicity of Adam and Eve as that
which allows them to talk directly with God just as they would
with a close acquaintance. During this time their
simplicity never thought to ask questions about God’s
nature or being (4; 83:17-84:5). The various forms of
contemplative prayer are aided by a less intellectual
approach. Perhaps this is a sly jab at himself and all
who participate in Christological controversies.
[37] In
the sixth mēmrā on the fear of God, Philoxenus
enlists the example of Adam to show his deficiency in this
area. Adam believed in God, but once he cast out the fear
of God from his mind he abandoned the faith (6;
185:21-186:4). Faith is not a simple profession, but the
confession of one’s lowliness, simplicity in deference to
God.
[38] The
most interesting detail about Adam comes from a backhanded
reference in the discussion of John the Baptist as the greatest
of the prophets. Philoxenus observes that John received
the Holy Spirit while still in the womb in order that he might
attain the innocence (shapyūtā) of Adam before
he had sinned against the commandment (9; 300:10-302:19).
Philoxenus shares roughly the same tradition as the author of
the Book of Steps regarding the pristine nature of Adam before
his transgression.
[39] The
root of Adam’s sin, according to Philoxenus, occupies a
predictable category. Since our author is keen to
demonstrate that the lust of the belly is the root of all
sin,
“If a person should say that there are
other causes of the passions serving all these things in the
world, let him who said this know that gluttony
(rahmat karsā) is the
beginning of the cause of these others evils,”
460:20-461:2.
as well as the most powerful, he identifies
this lust as the real source of the transgression – when
he ate the fruit
Scripture does not give us much detail,
Philoxenus says, but oral tradition indicates that the fruit
Eve ate was from the fig tree (tētā) (11;
446:17-23).
of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil – and thus sparked shame at his nakedness and lust
(10; 412:4-414:5). Too much food and water is perceived
as the ground of sexual lust in Syriac monastic practical
theology. Gluttony itself leads to indolence, health
problems, and impatience with ascetical discipline, all of
which hinder the morale of a diverse community living closely
together. Most people tend to like food, so given the
principles of Syriac nutrition, the potential danger of too
much food and enjoying it too much is depicted for the monks in
starkest detail in Eden.
The Interpretation of Eden
[40]
Biblical interpretation is rarely objective. The context
in which the interpreter lives governs the lenses with which
one reads Scripture, as well as which Scripture one
reads. For these two Syriac authors their lenses are
similar, yet distinct. The tales of the Garden of Eden
and its characters are important not only as the goal of
asceticism, but as the methods of their school of
asceticism.
[41] The
Book of Steps reflects the life of a diverse community of faith
– indeed a church as the author firmly declares
Cf. Mēmrā 12: “On the
Hidden and Public Ministry of the Church,” 285-304.
The author describes the three levels of the Church –
visible, of the heart, and hidden – and emphatically
declares that the visible church is the true church through
which one must travel to the church in the heart, as well as to
the hidden or higher church.
– prior to the appearance of traditional
monasticism. Under the author’s pastoral care were
Christians who had made varying degrees of commitment to life
in the church. The Upright and Perfect do not fit easily
our current stereotypes: there were probably clergy among the
Upright, and few of the Perfect can be seen performing
traditional pastoral functions.
[42] In
this particular church, celibacy, marital desire, and sexual
instinct are competing directions that inevitably lead one back
to the events in Eden. The author sees that human beings
were originally angelic in nature, and that sexual instincts
were implanted in humanity by the wiles of Satan.
Sexuality, therefore, is not natural. Nevertheless, the
author grants legitimacy to the marital instinct as a God-given
arrangement initiated during Adam and Eve’s last moments
in Eden.
[43] The
author of the Book of Steps perceives a deeper conflict
underlying the tension between celibacy and marriage: the
division between the lower level of the Upright who bind
themselves to the earth’s agenda; and the Perfect who
aspire to and dwell in the angelic, heavenly status.
Prior to the Fall, prior to “realized nakedness”
(apologies to C. H. Dodd), life in Eden was indistinguishable
from heaven. What beset Adam and Eve was their desire for
earthly things – food, sexuality, clothing, possessions
– suggested seductively and convincingly by Satan and his
colleagues. Once clothing became a concern, other earthly
burdens accumulated. The author wants to reestablish the
angelic existence of Eden in which nakedness and lust and
earthly matters are not even categories by which one
thinks.
[44]
Still again, on an even deeper level, the author interprets the
disaster in Eden as the consequence of a creature attempting to
usurp the position and power of the Creator and become
God. One doesn’t have to live in Eden for this to
be a temptation, especially if one believes that he or she has
attained the status of the angels.
[45]
Philoxenus does not have to work so hard with his community of
the Upright and the Perfect. The tensions over celibacy
and sexuality do not disappear, but are not of the same caliber
as in the Book of Steps. Whether these were monks at
Senun or some other monastery, the question of marriage would
be analogous to nakedness for Adam and Eve while Adam had not
yet sinned – the thought would never have occurred to
them.
[46]
Philoxenus does not seem to need to recite the entire narrative
of Genesis 3-4 as the author of the Book of Steps does.
Genesis is utilized by Philoxenus to model the interior
spiritual state of Perfection towards which all his monks were
laboring. Simplicity, prayer, fear of God, and innocence
all function more efficiently in an enclosed monastic community
attempting to draw the boundaries of the Garden of Eden around
them.
[47] For
both the author of the Book of Steps and for Philoxenus, Eden
still exists and can be reentered. Wherever human beings have
attained the status of Perfection, there the Garden exists and
the regrettable events recorded in Genesis 3-4 have been
reversed._______
Notes
_______
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