THE CHRONICLE OF THE FALL

by Fr. George Prouzos   

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROLEGOMENA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Transcending ignorance

Presuppositions for proper Scripture interpretation

·  Faith or knowledge? A flunked pseudo-dilemma

·  The illumination of the Holy Spirit

Patristic hermeneutics

The authoring of Genesis

The translation of the Seventy (The Septuagint)

CHAPTER I

Day One

·   Creation as a common energy of the Triune God

·   Heaven and earth

·   Angelic Hosts

·   “Earth” as the material of the whole Universe

·   Darkness and abyss

·   Genesis of light

·   Day and night

·   Why “day one” and not “first day”?

·   Duration of the creative Days

Second Day

·   Genesis of the firmament

Third Day

·   Separation of land and seas

·   First appearance of life

Fourth Day

·   The illumination of the earth

Fifth Day

·   Life in the sea and in the air

Sixth Day

·   The animal world

·   The “logoi” (reasons) of beings – a first reference

·   The order of animals’ mentioning

·   Creation of the living beings “according to kind”

Creation of man

·   “According to image” and “according to likeness”

·   The “dominion” over the animate and the inanimate

·   More elements of the “image”

·   From the “image” to the “likeness” of God

·   Male and female

·   Value of life

·   Value of virginity

·   Increase and multiplication

·   “Dominion over all the earth” and life in other worlds

·   God’s care for the food of His creatures

·   Ontology of the created

·   The human person

CHAPTER II

Seventh Day

The name “Lord God”

The fall of the devil

Man’s creation

·   Man as a psychosomatic entity

·   The human body

·   The human soul

·   True human from conception

The planting of Paradise

·   The time between Hexaemeron and Paradise

·   Life in Paradise

·   The “eastward” location of Paradise

·   Alone in Paradise

·   Plants of Paradise

·   The “tree of life”

·   The tree of learning the known of good and evil

·   Ways of knowing evil

·   Rivers of Paradise

·   Precious stones

·   The character of Christian Baptism

·   “Working and guarding” the Paradise

·   The command of the forbidden fruit

·   The Divine will for the creation of the woman

·   Animals of Paradise

·   The creation of the woman

·   Completion of God’s creative actions

·   The man-woman relationship

·   Nakedness without shame

CHAPTER III

The dialogue between the Woman and the serpent

·   The prudence of the serpent

·   The serpent becomes an instrument of the devil

·   The query of the serpent

·   Woman’ s answer

·   The response of the serpent

The final act of the Fall

·   Fall of Adam

·   Moral will

·   Theological concept of freedom

·   Sin as a disease of man

·   Awareness of sin

·   God is looking for man

·   Adam’s response

·   God prolongs man’s chance to return

·   Transfer of responsibility

·   The curse on the serpent

·   Announcement of the final defeat of the devil (protoevangelion)

·   Consequences of sin for the woman

·   Consequences of sin for Adam

·   Life, the “mother of all living”

·   The tunics of skin

·   Exit from Paradise

·   The keeping of “the way of the tree of life”

·   Inheritance of the fall and hope of redemption

·   The period of stay in Paradise

CHAPTER IV

Cain and Abel

·   The beginnings of priestly rituals

·   The authentic Priesthood

·   Cain’s murderous thoughts

·   Murder of Abel

·   Dialogue of God with Cain

·   The potential killers of Cain

·   Example of death

·   Descendants of Cain

·   Birth of Seth

CHAPTER V

The Genealogy of Adam

·   Divine pleasure and longevity

·   The righteous Enoch

·   The righteous Mathusala

·   The prophecy of Lamech

CHAPTER VI

Sons of God and daughters of men

Noe – the bright exception

·   A Champion of continence

·   Noe’s devoted wife

Prevalence of injustice

Divine instructions for the construction of the Ark

Pre-announcement of the Flood

CHAPTER VII

Final preparations and entry into the Ark

Exclusion of corruption

Duration and extent of the Flood

CHAPTER VIII

End of the Flood and exit from the Ark

·   Descent of the water level – grounding of the Ark

·   The raven and the dove

·   The exit from the Ark

·   Acceptance of Noe’s sacrifice by God

CHAPTER IX

The divine blessings on Noe and his family

·   Renewal of the blessing of the Protoplasts

·   God’s consent to meat-eating

·   The value of blood

·   Divine guarantees and sign of the Covenant with Noe

Noah’s drunkenness and the behavior of his sons

·   Loss of Noema

·   Death of Noe

CHAPTER X

The genealogies of Sem, Cham, and Japheth

·   Descendants of Japheth

·   Descendants of Cham

·   Descendants of Sem

CHAPTER XI

Tower construction and confusion of languages

·   Making and implementing the decision for the construction of a  city and a tower

·   Divine intervention and confusion of languages

Genealogical list of Sem

·   Transmission of piety to the descendants

·   The descendants of Sem did not participate in the daring of the tower-building

EPILOGUE

SOURCES – PATRISTIC WRITINGS