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Hello, Father, According to the Orthodox church, one of the ways in which Satan tricks people is by fooling them by believing that he doesn't exist. According to the theologian, Francopolous in his book,on the Orthodox Christian faith, this is a way he leads people into perdition. Given the above, shouldn't Adam and Eve have been warned that they had a dangerous enemy who was also a liar,indeed the father of lies? Also concerning the creation story,one view put forward was that the fruit of the two trees placed there namely the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life were to be eaten by Adam and Eve at some later stage when God deemed fit. Is this a view accepted by the Church?
Answer to Question 479 Adam and Eve were warned beforehand, they possessed theoretical knowledge of good and evil, i.e. it was innate and natural to them. This knowledge was included in the “according to the image”, which was their wisdom and prudence, their gift of discernment. “Adam could discern both these things [good and evil]”, says St. John Chrysostom, and “it was impossible for him not to know what was good and what was bad”, for “God from the very beginning in creating man placed within him natural law”. Thus man knew from the moment of his creation what was good and what was evil; what was beneficial and salutary and what was harmful and destructive. But this knowledge was theoretical. He possessed knowledge but not experience. He knew that his aim was to reach perfection and union with God, but perfection could only be achieved through practical and experiential knowledge. But how was he to gain this knowledge? Precisely by trusting and obeying God's commandment.
The Devil, appearing in the guise of a serpent told Eve that if they eat of the tree “By death ye shall not die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3: 4-5).
At this point Eve should have recognized that the serpent was evil, and should have stopped the conversation with him immediately, but instead she listened to him with great trust as he slandered God. She chose to believe in the devil rather than God who created her. St. John Chrysostom says, “Eve was puffed up with the hope of becoming equal to God and imagined great things for herself”. Thus the tree, which she had seen many times before and only identified it with God’s command, suddenly looked different. She looked upon it as for the first time and saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant for the eyes to look upon, and fair to contemplate. Believing therefore the serpent, she ate of the fruit and gave to Adam also with her, and they ate.
In Paradise was another tree, the tree of life which if Adam should have eaten would again have become immortal, but he would have been immortal in a sinful state not having communion with God. Mercifully, God did not permit this to happen. Adam was cast out of the Paradise. No longer could he even contemplate eating from the Tree of Life. It was beyond his reach. We understand that the Tree of Life is Christ himself who grants immortality to whoever partakes of his precious Body and Blood.
It is possible that God had planned for Adam and Eve to partake of both trees at a later date, but within the Church we don’t speculate on “IFs”, we stay within the given story we have been given.
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