Letter 182

To the Same Person. No one who has offended God and is being driven into exile receives a blessing. But Adam, who was formed from the earth, and Eve, who came into being from his rib as a helper and for the bearing of children, since they had as yet committed no sin, are blessed by God to increase and to multiply and to have dominion over the whole inhabited world. How then, as you say, did Adam and his wife sin beforehand among the things in the heavens?

Οὐδεὶς προσκρούσας τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐξοριζόμενος εὐλογεῖται· ὁ δέ γε Ἀδὰμ πεπλασμένος ἐκ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἡ Εὔα ἐκ τῆς τούτου πλευρᾶς γεγενημένη βοηθὸς πρὸς τε τεκνογονήσας, ὡς μήπω μηδὲν ἁμαρτήσαντες, εὐλογοῦνται ὑπὸ Θεοῦ, αὐξηθῆναι καὶ πληθυνθῆναι, καὶ κατακυριεῦσαι πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης. Πῶς οὖν, ὡς λέγεις, προήμαρτεν ὁ Ἀδὰμ καὶ τὸ τούτου γύναιον ἐν τοῖς ἐπ’ οὐρανοῖς ;