To Autolycus 2.24
Summary: Paradise was a real place on earth, in the east; the first human was made neither mortal nor immortal but capable of either, and was placed there to grow toward perfection and even divinity by keeping God's command.
Greek text · Otto 8:120–124
Ἐξανατείλας οὖν ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἔτι πᾶν ξύλον, ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν. Ἐν γὰρ πρώτοις μόνα ἦν τὰ ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ γεγενημένα, φυτὰ καὶ σπέρματα καὶ χλόαι· τὰ δὲ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἐγενήθη διαφόρῳ καλλονῇ καὶ ὡραιότητι, ὅκου γε καὶ φυτεία ὠνόμασται ὑπὸ θεοῦ πεφυτευμένη. Καὶ τὰ μὲν λοιπὰ φυτὰ ὅμοια καὶ ὁ κόσμος ἔσχηκεν· τὰ δὲ δύο ξύλα, τὸ τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τὸ τῆς γνώσεως, οὐκ ἔσχηκεν ἑτέρα γῆ ἀλλʼ ἢ ἐν μόνῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ ὁ παράδεισος γῆ ἐστιν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πεφύτευται, ἡ γραφὴ λέγει· Καὶ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολάς, καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον· καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον, ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν. Τὸ οὖν ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς σαφῶς διδάσκει ἡμᾶς ἡ θεία γραφὴ τὸν παράδεισον ὑπὸ τοῦτον τὸν οὐρανόν, ὑφʼ ὃν καὶ ἀνατολαὶ καὶ γῆ εἰσιν. Ἐδὲμ δὲ ἑβραϊστὶ τὸ εἰρημένον ἑρμηνεύεται τρυφή. Ποταμὸν δὲ σεσήμακεν ἐκπορεύεσθαι ἐξ Ἐδὲμ ποτίζειν τὸν παράδεισον, κἀκεῖθεν διαχωρίζεσθαι εἰς τέσσαρας ἀρχάς· ὧν δύο, οἱ καλούμενοι Φεισὼν καὶ Γεών, ποτίζουσιν τὰ ἀνατολικὰ μέρη, μάλιστα ὁ Γεών, ὁ κυκλῶν πᾶσαν γῆν Αἰθιοπίας, ὅν φασιν ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ ἀναφαίνεσθαι τὸν καλούμενον Νεῖλον. Οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι δύο ποταμοὶ φανερῶς γινώσκονται παρʼ ἡμῖν, οἱ καλούμενοι Τίγρις καὶ Εὐφράτης· οὗτοι γὰρ γειτνιῶσιν ἕως τῶν ἡμετέρων κλιμάτων. Θεὶς δὲ ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καθὼς προειρήκαμεν, ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ εἰς τὸ ἐργάζεσθαι καὶ φυλάσσειν αὐτόν, ἐνετείλατο αὐτῷ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν καρπῶν ἐσθίειν, δηλονότι καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς ζωῆς, μόνου δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ τῆς γνώσεως ἐνετείλατο αὐτῷ μὴ γεύσασθαι. Μετέθηκεν δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῆς γῆς, ἐξ ἧς ἐγεγόνει, εἰς τὸν παράδεισον, διδοὺς αὐτῷ ἀφορμὴν προκοπῆς, ὅπως αὐξάνων καὶ τέλειος γενόμενος, ἔτι δὲ καὶ θεὸς ἀναδειχθείς, οὕτως καὶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβῇ (μέσος γὰρ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐγεγόνει, οὔτε θνητὸς ὁλοσχερῶς οὔτε ἀθάνατος τὸ καθόλου, δεκτικὸς δὲ ἑκατέρων· οὕτως καὶ τὸ χωρίον ὁ παράδεισος, ὡς πρὸς καλλονήν, μέσος τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ γεγένηται), ἔχων ἀϊδιότητα. Τὸ δὲ εἰπεῖν ἐργάζεσθαι οὐκ ἄλλην τινὰ ἐργασίαν δηλοῖ ἀλλʼ ἢ τὸ φυλάσσειν τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅκως μὴ παρακούσας ἀπολέσῃ ἑαυτόν, καθὼς καὶ ἀπώλεσεν διὰ ἁμαρτίας.
English · Claude translation
God, then, made every tree spring up out of the ground besides, beautiful to look at and good for food. For at first there were only the things made on the third day, plants, seeds, and herbs; but those in the garden were made with a distinct beauty and loveliness, since they are even called a planting planted by God. The other plants the world also has, like them; but the two trees, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge, no other land has had, but only the garden. That the garden too is earth and was planted on the earth, Scripture says: “And God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and put the man there; and God made every tree spring up out of the ground besides, beautiful to look at and good for food.” The words “out of the ground” and “toward the east” clearly teach us, then, that the garden is under this heaven, under which the east and the earth also lie. Eden in Hebrew is interpreted “delight.” Scripture has indicated that a river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there divides into four heads. Two of them, called Pheison and Geon, water the eastern regions, especially the Geon, which flows around the whole land of Ethiopia, and which, they say, appears in Egypt as the river called the Nile. The other two rivers are plainly known among us, the Tigris and the Euphrates, for they border on our own regions. When God had put the man, as we said, in the garden to work it and to keep it, he commanded him to eat of all the fruits, clearly including the fruit of the tree of life, and commanded him not to taste of the tree of knowledge alone. God moved him from the earth, from which he had been made, into the garden, giving him an opportunity for progress, so that by growing and becoming perfect, and even being declared a god, he might in this way also ascend into heaven, possessing everlasting life. For the human being had been made in between, neither wholly mortal nor altogether immortal, but capable of either; and so too the place, the garden, was made in between the world and heaven as regards its beauty. The command “to work it” means no other work than keeping the command of God, so that he might not disobey and destroy himself, as in fact he did destroy himself through sin.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Even being declared a god” expresses an early form of the idea of deification (becoming like God by grace), later developed by Irenaeus and Athanasius.
- Theophilus identifies the Geon (Gihon) with the Nile, a common ancient view.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misprint: ἀντολάς for ἀνατολάς; stray raised point in the digital text; wrong accent: ᾖν for ἦν): Ἐν γὰρ πρώτοις μόνα ᾖν → Ἐν γὰρ πρώτοις μόνα ἦν; ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀντολάς → ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολάς; ἀνατολαὶ καὶ· γῆ → ἀνατολαὶ καὶ γῆ.
Cite this passage
Theophilus, Autol. 2.24 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/24/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 2.24 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/24/).
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