In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
My beloved, welcome now to the fifth part of our lectures on the series of the Holy Eucharist in the mind of St. Cyril of Alexandria. We have been attempting to do a deep dive now into the understanding and the mystery, the beauty and the wealth of the Holy Eucharist through the lens and the understanding and the teachings of our holy father among the saints, St. Cyril of Alexandria.
Now if you have been following with us so far, you are fully aware of what we're trying to do. The lecture breakdown, so far, has been for us to be able to study the human condition, understanding what the human being was supposed to be before the fall and what happened to the human being after the fall, which we call the human condition. We have taken a look at what it means to consider the Eucharist through the mindset of St. Cyril of Alexandria and how it's tied to his Christological understanding. Who he believes Christ to be is a direct reflection of what he believes the Eucharist to be.
We have taken a look, just in the last series, the understanding of the Eucharist as a source of rendering us or bringing us back to a state of incorruption. And so, in the last talk, we took a look at what it means for us to speak of corruption and incorruption and we tried to understand that in greater detail. And so, we also took a look at how the Eucharist brings us back to a state of incorruptibility, that state where we are no longer decaying and we are no longer participating in that process of moving towards death and how the Eucharist itself becomes the source of healing to bring us back to being incorruptible in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Today, my beloved, God willing, in the conversation that we're going to have, and it's a very important conversation, we're going to be taking a look at the Eucharist as life-giving. So today, hopefully, we're going to try to tackle some issues in trying to understand the true meaning of what it means to be alive. We're also going to talk about this whole idea of the consequence or the penalty of death and what it did to us. And then finally, we're going to talk about restoration to life, becoming fully alive again through the Holy Eucharist and hopefully, we'll do all of this by studying the teachings of St. Cyril of Alexandria and also some other fathers who, during the time of St. Cyril, a little bit before him, were also teaching the very same things. So, let's take a look at all of that together, my beloved.
So, let's begin by discussing how it is that the Lord God places options, from the very beginning, in front of humanity. So, what does this mean? Let's take a look at the book of Genesis. In Genesis, chapter 2, verse 9, it says:
'' 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.'' (Genesis 2:9) - [New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised]
So, in the very beginning, the author of the book of Genesis tells us that the Lord God, when He planted all of the trees of the garden, that He made them all good and tasty for food. And then he names two of these trees specifically. He doesn't name any of the other trees, but these two, he names. He makes us... He brings our focus to realize that there are two specific trees in the garden that require our attention. The first one is the tree of life, which he says He placed in the midst of the garden. And the second tree that he names is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And now, when it comes to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the same chapter, Genesis, chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, the Lord gives a very direct commandment to the human being. He says the following:
'' 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.' ''(Genesis 2:16-17) - [New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised]
Now, by beloved, it's extremely important for us to understand this. The Lord God has planted a garden and in that garden, we have many, many good options. And among the good options is the tree of life. We have to remember that. But then, the Lord tells us: I have also given you an option where you can choose to go against me, where you can choose to disobey. And of all the choices you have, there is one of them that I'm asking you not to make; there is one tree that I want you to stay off. Not because the tree is evil; not because the tree itself is bad... Because God forbid that we should think that God is the author of evil; He is not. He does not create anything that is in and of itself evil. But He creates the option for us to turn around and say: I don't want you, God. Because if He removes this option, then we are not truly free and if we are not truly free, we are not truly alive.
To create us in His image means for us to be free just as He is free. Now we will never be fully free in the way that God is: the Lord God, in His almighty and infiniteness, He is free par excellence. What that means is that He is capable of doing all things. We are not... I am not free to choose to not exist. I can maybe choose to kill myself, but I will continue to be in existence eternally, whereas God is free in a very different way than I am. But I have the chance to express that freedom by telling God what? I don't want you. And so, He gives that option through the free of the knowledge of good and evil.
So, what does He say? Is the Lord saying here: If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I will kill you? No! There's a very big difference between if you eat of it, I will kill you and if you eat of it, you will die. Those are two very different things, my beloved.
Imagine if I go and I am admitted to a hospital. And when I go to the hospital, the doctors plug me into the machines and the technology is helping me stay alive. It's helping me breathe. It's helping me make sure that I'm getting the nutrients that I need. And the doctor tells me: Very well, Father Anthony, if you disconnect yourself from these machines, you will most probably die. So, I urge you, don't get up, don't leave the hospital, stay in your bed and let us help you the best way we know how.
If I choose to say I don't want to believe you: I think I can live without these machines; I think I don't need your help; I can do this on my own, and I disconnect myself from the IV that's going into me, that the doctors have plugged into me; if I disconnect myself from the machinery; if I am no longer getting the oxygen support that I need with the machines that they have plugged into me so I can get, you know, the air flowing through my lungs; if I disconnect myself from all of those things and then, within a matter of just a few minutes, I fall down and die, can someone then blame the hospital and say the hospital killed Father Anthony? No... no!
The warning that was given to me was clear: If you disobey, you have chosen death. But if you allow Me to be the source of your life (this is the commandment the Lord God gave to Adam), if you choose Me, Adam, if I become the source of your knowledge, if you let Me teach you what is good, if you pursue life through Me, in Me and with Me, I will give you this life. But if you separate yourself from Me, then you will die. Why? Because just like in the example of Father Anthony in the hospital, you have disconnected yourself from the source of life. So, my beloved, the example here is meant to describe to us what? That death was a choice. It was not a punishment where God was angry and He said: because you didn't listen, I will kill you. No! Rather, it was very much a choice that was placed before us.
So, what does that mean? It means that if you consider what is written in this passage, what were the real options that were placed in front of Adam and Eve? Two trees were named: a tree of life and a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree clearly gives life. This tree, if you choose it, you will surely die. So, what were the ultimate choices placed before Adam and Eve? Choose life or choose death. And this is what we fail to realize, that this is still the very same options that we have placed before us today. We have the option of choosing life, we have the option of choosing death.
St. Ephraim the Syrian, he says something beautiful. He's talking about how it is that the tree of life, after they fell, was made inaccessible for a time. And he explains that the reason why the Lord God removed the option of the tree of life after they fell into sin is because God was loving and merciful. Let's read what St. Ephraim has to say. He says:
''But it was now decreed that they should live in toil, in sweat, in pains and in pangs. Therefore, lest Adam and Eve, after having eaten of this tree [the tree of life], [would] live forever and remain in eternal lives of suffering, [then] God forbade them to eat, after they were clothed with a curse, that which he had been prepared to give them before
they incurred the curse and when they were still clothed with glory.'' (St. Ephraim the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis 2:35)
The Lord wanted to give them the tree of life before they fell into the curse of what sin would do to them, before they fell into the trap of sin, before they allowed death to enter into them. And so now, the tree of life, if they eat of it while being in a state of death, they would now be eternally in that state, because the tree of life extends your state eternally; it gives you life in that condition that you are in.
And so, the Lord God removes the tree of life for a time being, why? Because He does not want to be eternally dead, but rather, He reintroduces it later. He gives us access to the tree of life after He has conquered death. But somebody might sit and ask: When did the Lord God reintroduce the tree of life? And we will get there.
But for now, I want us to be reminded of these options. These options are very important. Before us, we have life and we have death. And even after the fall of the human being, the Lord God continues to speak to us and says what? Don't forget the options you have before you; don't forget what I have set before you. And so, in the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord, in speaking to Moses and to the people of Israel, what does He say? He says, in Deuteronomy, chapter 30:
'' 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.'' (Deuteronomy 30:19- 20) - [New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised]
The options that were given to Adam and Eve were given to the people of Israel and are still given to you and me today. We have the option before us: choose life or choose death; those are your options. And which one does the Lord want us to choose? It is made very clear: choose life so that you and your descendants may live. This is what the Lord wants us to choose.
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