Vitae of Adam and Eve
Lisa Prato & Mandy DiLissio
In the beginning of the text, Adam and Eve were
driven out of paradise and stricken with severe grief for
seven days. After these seven days, they began to search
for food. They encountered various animals that were
supplied by the Lord. Adam and Eve had disobeyed the Lord
and need to repent with a great penitence.
In order to repent, Eve goes to the river Tigris
and Adam goes to the river in Jordan. Adam called the
swimming animals in the water to grieve with him because he
had sinned. They stood still in the water, fasting for
forty days perchance that the Lord will pity them. The
water stood still as they grieved. After eighteen days,
Satan transformed himself into an angel and went to the
river Tigris. There, he found Eve crying. Satan pretended
to grieve with her and tells her that God has heard their
penitence and forgives them. He said that God will give
them their nourishment. He lured her out of the water and
led her to Adam. She realized that this was the devil and
that she had been tricked again. She questioned why Satan
had done this to her again.
The devil explains that he had been expelled from
Glory for Adam. Adam was created in the image of God and
when he was formed the devil was banished from the heavens.
The devil was upset because he was banished from the
presence of angels. Michael, the archangel, said Satan
should worship the image of God, Adam. The devil refused
because he would not worship a being younger than he was.
The devil, banished into another world, was overcome with
grief. Therefore, he inflicted grief upon Adam and Eve.
Eve said to Adam that she had committed these
errors and because she disobeyed God she should be banished.
She left to die in the sunsetting but realizes that she is
with child and needs help from the Lord. She cries out to
God, but the mercy of God did not encircle her. Adam
rescued her and God's assistance soon followed. Next,
twelve angels and two virtues appeared standing next to Eve.
Michael was standing to her right and will help her with her
pain. He helped deliver their son, Cain. Adam took his wife
and son back to the East.
Back in the East, Michael taught Adam how to work
and till the ground so they would have fruit to live by.
Soon after, Eve gave birth to Abel. Cain and Abel were
always together. One night, Eve had a dream that Cain
killed Abel. Out of fear, Adam and Eve separate their sons
making Cain a husbandman and Abel a shepherd. When Abel was
one hundred and twenty-two years old, he was slain by his
brother Cain.
Adam and Eve then had a third son, Seth who
replaced Abel. By the time Adam was eight hundred years old
he was the father of thirty more sons and thirty more
daughters. In total, Adam and Eve had sixty-three children
that spread across the nations.
Adam confides in his son Seth and retells the
stories of the past. He explains how Michael came to him
with a chariot and many thousands of angels. When Adam saw
this, he was fearful as he bowed down before God. God said
that Adam had disobeyed him by listening to his wife instead
of God. Adam knew that he was wrong so he asked God to
convert his soul and take the breath from his mouth. God
said that he should not be taken but to serve him. Adam
adored the Lord God and was loyal to him. After he had
worshipped the Lord, Michael took him by the hand and led
him back.
The Lord would give commandments and statutes.
Adam and Eve would build a house in honor of the Lord where
they would transgress. The people who have kindled with the
wrath of God shall be dispersed. Righteousness will begin
to shine and enemies will not be able to touch believers in
the house. All will obey God and men were purified from
sins by water. Those who were unwilling to be purified by
water were sinned. God was the judge of all.
When Adam was nine hundred and thirty years old, he
knew he was going to die. He called all his sons together
to assemble in the house of prayer. There, he told his sons
that he was sick and in pain. Seth believed that Adam
needed the fruit of paradise and told his father that he
would go anywhere to get it. Adam said that it was not the
fruit that he wanted. He explained to Seth that he felt
great pain and weakness in his body. Seth asked to know and
understand his pain.
Adam told Seth how when God created them he placed
them in paradise and laid a prohibition about the tree of
knowledge. They were forbidden from eating this fruit. The
Lord gave parts of paradise to Adam and Eve. He also gave
them two angels to guard them. But, the devil led the
mother astray to eat from the forbidden fruit. This upset
the Lord because he had been disobeyed. He would bring upon
them seventy blows and cruel pains to their race as a
consequence. Adam and Eve wept and Eve wanted to take over
the pain because it was her fault for sinning.
Eve and Seth venture off to paradise to lament and
to get the oil of life. This was from the tree of mercy.
On their voyage, they encountered a beast/serpent who bit
Seth. From this, Eve believed that she was a curse. The
serpent told Eve that it was not anything against her but he
was hungry. Seth and Eve continued to look for the oil of
mercy to anoint. When they arrived at the gates of
paradise, they took dust from the earth and put it on their
heads and lamented. They asked for God to help and to send
an angel down to them. After many hours, Michael appeared
to tell Seth that Adam would not be able to be saved in the
last days.
Michael said that after 5,500 years, the son of God, Christ,
will revive the body of Adam and the bodies of the dead.
Christ would be baptized in the river of Jordan and will
anoint, from the oil of mercy, all that believe in him.
Christ will lead Adam to the tree of mercy. In six days,
Adam's soul would leave his body. Michael left and Eve and
Seth returned to their family bearing herbs of fragrance
(nard, crocus, calamus, and cinnamon).
When they reached Adam, they told him how the
serpent bit Seth. Adam replied that a plague had come upon
them as a result. Eve wept and moaned and in six days Adam
died. Before dying, Adam told his sons that he was 930
years old and to bury him towards the sunrising and after he
died the sun darkened for seven days.
Everyone mourned the death of Adam and Michael
appeared once again. All the angels blew their trumpets in
honor of Adam. Seth saw the hand of God reaching out and
holding Adam. He then handed Adam over to Michael and
decided to let Adam be in charge until the day of judgement.
People were told to bring clothes to spread over Adam and
Abel. The two angels, Michael and Uriel buried Adam and
Abel in paradise.
Six days later, Eve thought she was going to die.
She assembled all of her children and told them what Michael
said to her and Adam. He said that because of their sins
the Lord would bring his anger of judgement upon the people;
first by water and then by fire. From this, the Lord would
judge the race.
Eve told the children to make tables of stone and clay
to write all that they have learned from their parents. By
using both clay and stone, at least some of the tables would
survive fire or water. Eve died and after four days Michael
appeared. He told Seth not to mourn more than six days. The
seventh day, the sign of resurrection and of the rest of the
age to come, occurred. And God rested.
We have come to the conclusion that the "Vitae of
Adam and Eve" tells the story of the lives of Adam and Eve
after they were driven out of paradise because they ate the
forbidden fruit. It further explains the trickery and
conflict that they faced with the devil. From this
incident, Adam and Eve lamented to God and prayed for his
help in Eve's time of pain and grief.
The story follows with the bearing of the children
of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. It tells how Cain kills
Abel and a son, Seth replaces Abel. Adam explains the past
to Seth and how he and his wife disobeyed God. "Vitae of
Adam and Eve" continues with the sickness of Adam and the
search for the oil of mercy to anoint him.
The pain and suffering of Adam leads Eve and Seth
to return to paradise to lament and ask for God's help. The
archangel, Michael explains that after 5,500 years the son
of God, Christ, will revive the body of Adam and the bodies
of the dead. The son of God will be baptized and will
anoint all that believe in him. Adam died and six days
later, Eve thought that she would die. Before her death,
she gathered her children to explain the importance of
writing down on tables what had occurred to her and Adam.
In order to ensure that the tables would last, she ordered
her children to create some from clay and some from stone to
be protected against both fire and water.
The significance of the story is how the sin and
deceit of Adam and Eve followed them throughout their lives.
It shows how loyalty and belief in God will overcome all.
The times when they needed the most help they looked to God.
April 4, 1997
prepared for
Intro. to the Old Testament
by Lisa Prato & Mandy DiLissio
DiLissio@albsun3.alb.edu
pratoL@albsun3.alb.edu