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SLAVONIC VITA ADAE ET EVAE
From-The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
R.H. Charles
Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1913
 And we sat together before the gate of paradise, Adam weeping with his face
bent down to the earth, lay on the ground lamenting. And seven days passed by
and we had nothing to eat and were consumed with great hunger, and I Eve cried
with a loud voice: 'Pity me, O Lord, My Creator; for my sake Adam suffereth
thus!'
And I said to Adam: 'Rise up! my lord, that we may seek us food; for now my
spirit faileth me and my heart within me is brought low.' Then Adam spake to me:
'I have thoughts of killing thee, but I fear since God created thine image and
thou showest penitence and criest to God; hence my heart hath not departed from
thee.'
And Adam arose and we roamed through all lands and found nothing to eat save
nettles (and) grass of the field. And we returned again to the gates of paradise
and cried aloud and entreated: 'Have compassion on thy creature. O Lord Creator,
allow us food.'
And for fifteen days continuously we entreated. Then we heard Michael the
archangel and Joel praying for us, and Joel the archangel was commanded by the
Lord, and he took a seventh part of paradise and gave it to us. Then the Lord
said: 'Thorns and thistles shall spring up from under thy hands; and from thy
sweat shalt thou eat (bread), and thy wife shall tremble when she looketh upon
thee.'
The archangel Joel said to Adam: 'Thus saith the Lord; I did not create thy
wife to command thee, but to obey; why art thou obedient to thy wife?' Again
Joel the archangcl bade Adam separate the cattle and all kinds of flying and
creeping things and animals, both wild and tame; and to give names to all
things. Then indeed he took the oxen and began to plough.
Then the devil approached and stood before the oxen, and hindered Adam in
tilling the field and said to Adam: 'Mine are the things of earth, the things of
Heaven are God's; but if thou wilt be mine, thou shalt labour on the earth; but
if thou wilt be God's, (pray) go away to paradise.' Adam said: 'The things of
Heaven are the Lord's, and the things of earth and Paradise and the whole
Universe.'
The devil said: 'I do not suffer thee to till the field, except thou write
the bond that thou art mine.' Adam replied: 'Whosoever is lord of the earth, to
the same do I (belong) and my children.' Then the devil was overcome with joy.
(But Adam was not ignorant that the Lord would descend on earth and tread the
devil under foot.) The devil said: 'Write me thy bond.' And Adam wrote: 'Who is
lord of the earth, to the same do I belong and my children.'
Eve said to Adam, 'Rise up, my lord, let us pray to God in this cause that He
set us free from that devil, for thou art in this strait on my account.' But
Adam said: 'Eve, since thou repentest of thy misdeed, my heart will hearken to
thee, for the Lord created thee out of my ribs. Let us fast forty days perchance
the Lord will have pity on us and will leave us understanding and life.' I, for
my part, said: 'Do thou, (my) lord, fast forty days, but I will fast
forty-four.'
And Adam said to me: 'Haste thee to the river, named Tigris, and take a great
stone and place it under thy feet, and enter into the stream and clothe thyself
with water, as with a cloak, up to the neck, and pray to God in thy heart and
let no word proceed out of thy mouth.' And I said: 'O (my) lord, with my whole
heart will I call upon God.' And Adam said to me: 'Take great care of thyself.
Except thou seest me and all my tokens, depart not out of the water, nor trust
in the words, which are said to thee, lest thou fall again into the snare.' And
Adam came to Jordan and he entered into the water and he plunged himself
altogether into the flood, even (to) the hairs of his head, while he made
supplication to God and sent (up) prayers to Him.
And there, the angels came together and all living creatures, wild and tame,
and all birds that fly, (and) they surrounded Adam, like a wall, praying to God
for Adam.
The devil came to me, wearing the form and brightness of an angel, and
shedding big teardrops, (and) said to me: 'Come out of the water, Eve, God hath
heard thy prayers and (heard) us angels. God hath fulfilled the prayers of those
who intercede on thy behalf. God hath sent me to thee, that thou mayst come out
of the water.'
But I (Eve) perceived that he was the devil and answered him nothing. But
Adam (when) he returned from Jordan, saw the devil's footprints, and feared lest
perchance he had deceived me; but when he had remarked me standing in the water
he was overcome with joy (and) he took me and led me out of the water.
Then Adam cried out with a loud voice: 'Be silent, Eve, for already is my
spirit straitened in my body; arise, go forth, utter prayers to God, till I
deliver up my spirit to God.' |
