Ornament - Fruit (apple) and Serpent
Materials - Inexpensive wooden shape from Hobby Lobby, paint and red glitter, hot glue, green pipe cleaner, drill to make hole, twine.
Reading Genesis 3:1-24
(29th Sunday After Pentecost, Third Antiphon)
By the tree of knowledge was Adam forced to depart from paradise; and by the tree of the Cross was
the thief made to dwell in paradise. For the one by tasting broke the commandment of the Creator;
while the other, crucified with Him, confessed the hidden God, crying out: Remember me in Thy
kingdom!
(2nd Sunday After Pentecost., Third Antiphon)
Through food did the enemy lead Adam forth from paradise; but by the Cross hath Christ led back to it
the thief who cried: Remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom!
The fruit which slew me was beautiful and good to eat; but Christ is the Tree of life, and eating of Him
I do not die, but cry out with the thief: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom!
O Compassionate One, Who wast lifted up upon the Cross, Thou hast erased the record of Adam’s
ancient sin, and hast saved the whole human race from deception. Wherefore, we hymn Thee, O Lord
and Benefactor.
Thou didst nail our sins to the Cross, O compassionate Christ, and by Thy death Thou didst slay death,
O Thou Who didst raise up the dead from among the dead. Wherefore, we worship Thy holy
resurrection.
(Sunday of the Last Judgement, Third Antiphon)
The serpent once poured its venom into the ears of Eve; but on the tree of the Cross Christ poured forth
the sweetness of life upon the world. Wherefore we cry out: Remember us, O Lord, in Thy kingdom!
(Beatitude Verse 8 from the Octoechos)
From paradise didst Thou drive our forefather Adam, who had broken thy commandment, O Christ;
but, O Compassionate One, Thou didst cause to dwell therein the thief who confessed Thee on the
cross, crying out: “Remember me, O Saviour, in Thy Kingdom!”
(Third Antiphon, 17th Sunday after Pentecost)
Hearken, O Adam, and rejoice with Eve; for he who of old stripped you both naked, and by deception
hath taken all of us captive, hath been set at naught by the Cross of Christ.
(Vespers, Exaltation of the Cross)
Come, all ye nations, let us worship the blessed Tree whereby everlasting righteousness hath come to be; for he who by the tree deceived our forefather Adam is himself deceived by the Cross, and he who
by tyranny didst hold fast the royal house doth fall, cast down by a strange fall. By the Blood of God
the venom of the serpent is washed away, and the curse of the just condemnation was lifted by the
Righteous One when He was condemned by an unjust sentence; for it was fitting that the tree be healed
by a Tree, and that, by the sufferings of the Dispassionate One on the Tree, the sufferings of the
condemned be loosed. Glory, O Christ our King, to Thy wise dispensation toward us, whereby Thou
hast saved all, in that Thou art good, and lovest mankind.
(Entry of the Most Holy Lady Theotokos into the Temple)
From her, (Eve) from whom transgressions went forth among the human race, hath her correction and
incorruption blossomed forth, the Theotokos, who is led today into the house of God.
-St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures: Lecture 2 no. 7)
Adam, God's first-formed man, transgressed: could He [God] not at once have brought death upon
him? But see what the Lord does, in His great love towards man. He casts him out from Paradise, for
because of sin he was unworthy to live there; but He puts him to dwell over against Paradise: that
seeing whence he had fallen, and from what and into what a state he was brought down, he might
afterwards be saved by repentance.
From the Prologue from Ohrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, December 8
Cursed is the ground in thy works (Genesis 3:17).
After Adam and Eve's sin, God pronounced a punishment. He did not pronounce the punishment
immediately but after waiting a period of time for their repentance. This is shown in the conversation
into which God entered with Adam after his sin. Where art thou? (Genesis 3:9), God asked Adam. And
when Adam said that he hid because of his nakedness, God asked him again: Who told thee that thou
wast naked? (Genesis 3:11). Instead of repenting, Adam then began to accuse his wife. After that, God
pronounced the punishment. Upon the serpent, which served as the weapon of the devil, fell the infinite
curse. The woman was condemned to bear children in pain and to have her will subject to the authority
of her husband. This is not a curse but rather a punishment with hope. Man was condemned to work the
land. But what do the words, Cursed is the ground in thy works, mean? Did God curse the ground as He
cursed the serpent with an infinite curse? By no means! The ground is cursed only in the sinful works
of man. Because of man's sin, the earth produces thorns; because of sin, there is infertility; because of
sin, there are droughts, floods, earthquakes, plagues, and destructive insects such as grasshoppers and
caterpillars. That the ground is not cursed in its entirety is clear from this: that the earth also produces
good fruits. God, through the prayers of the righteous, has always blessed the fruits of the earth
necessary for human life, and even the angels of God, as the guests of Abraham, tasted the earth's
harvest (Genesis 18:1-8). For in what way is the earth and all the rest of God's creation (except the
serpent) culpable for Adam's sin? Nevertheless, the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now (Romans 8:22). All creation does not groan or travail because of a curse upon itself
but rather because of man's sinful works, which are cursed. O my brethren, let us be ashamed of our
sin, for which even God's innocent creation suffers.
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