Author: chiefeditor

By St. Ephrem the Syrian

When I set out to draw with accuracy from the divine narrative, that is, from a pure source, spiritual teachings from deeds and words, I gave myself up to prayer, that I might understand them well. And as soon as my mind caught them, I immediately turned my gaze to the depth of the narrative and, behold, I saw in the plain two young men of strong build, very handsome, and of gentle gait; and when they reached a place, one rushed upon the other to kill him (Gen. 4:8).

When I saw this, I, wretched and unhappy, was dizzy with the terrible and unjust murder; and since I wanted to understand for what reason one killed the other with an unshaken hand, I tried for a moment to rise above, in order to learn the truth through the meaning of the word. For the slain lay like a lamb in the field, and the murderer stood without fear and went away indifferent.

Therefore, brothers, I resorted to the Scriptures, wanting to know the truth, what both were. And the divine narrative generously watered me with its waters, that I might understand what pertained to them, and to present figuratively a few abstract thoughts concerning the sight of the slain and the murderer. Only I beg you, brothers, receive these words in a spiritual way and open your ears to listen to what will be said. For as the shepherd leads his sheep to a place where they may graze by life-giving waters, that his flocks may be fed, so he who speaks words of grace does so for the benefit of men.

Here, then, are Cain and Abel, children of Adam and Eve, born after the crime (Gen. 4:1–2). The firstborn[1], from the very beginning, had self-willed thoughts, although he constantly heard from his parents about their expulsion from paradise (Gen. 3:23–24) and often saw them shed tears, complaining that they had proved unworthy of such grace. Hearing this from them, he took care to become pleasing.

And from their labors both brought gifts and sacrifices to God, desiring that they themselves might become worthy of the enjoyment of paradise. Cain brought gifts from the ground (Gen. 4:3), but not from the first fruits, but from the latter, because he considered himself more worthy than the One who had given them to him. And his brother Abel also brought to God all the choicest sheep (Gen. 4:4) from his flock.

But the all-seeing God understood the thoughts of both, and Abel’s gift proved acceptable and pure in comparison with that of Cain. So, God accepted Abel’s sacrifice (Gen. 4:4) because of the purity of his heart; but He did not look upon Cain’s sacrifice (Gen. 4:5), because He wanted to lead him to repentance and show him that He knew his greedy heart. For the Lord does not require from us mere gifts, but pure hearts. When Cain saw, therefore, that his brother Abel’s gift had been accepted, he was greatly troubled and would not bow down and pray to God, but was even more inflamed with anger and wrath. But the merciful God, being long-suffering and wanting to bring him back to the right path, to teach him that if he repented, he would accept his gifts, said to him: “Why are you angry? This sin is on you, Cain” (cf. Gen. 4:6–7).

However, Cain, not wanting to turn his heart to mercy, left the presence of God in anger and spoke these words: “I will ascend to the mountains, I will open the heavens and there I will speak to God Most High, because He grieved me and honored Abel more than me, the firstborn, and accepted his sacrifice favorably and loved him more than me.”

And then God, who looks down on the mountains from above, when Cain boldly approached the gates of heaven, was angry with him. And the mountains, seeing his great foolishness, as soon as he tried to climb one of their peaks, immediately turned into plains. When Cain saw this, how the mountains merged with the earth and rose again, he was afraid, lost the strength of his body, so that he did not dare to approach them and climb them anymore. For whatever mountain he wanted to climb, it was lowered, because everything was created by the will of God, so that creatures easily obey their Creator.

Having lost his strength, he sat down in a place and said to himself:

“What shall I do, since I cannot reach the heavens? I see that even the mountains are at war with me. Behold, I see a high mountain and the sky above it; if I wish to climb it, it overtakes me and becomes a plain. What then shall I do? He sits in the heavens, and I am in trouble. All things are subject to Him. He sits in the heavens and sees all things on earth, and has power over all; and darkness cannot approach His light, for He treads on the winged winds” (cf. Ps. 17:11).

“And how can I grieve Him, as He grieved me for my offerings, which He did not accept? If I set fire to the mountains and the forests, they will spring up twice as much; if I kill the beasts and the cattle, they will increase and multiply my grief. But I see Abel, before he even approaches the Most High, his offering is accepted; for when we both stood holding our offerings, fire came down and consumed only his offering, leaving me to hold the offering in my hands. Therefore I will grieve him, as he grieved me. For I cannot ascend to heaven to express the dispositions of hearts “Behold, I have found a way to grieve Him: I will kill His beloved Abel, and sorrow will overtake Him, as it is with me.”

Reflecting thus, Cain was moved to fratricide and said to himself: “I will go to my parents, hiding this thought, and with flattering words I will deceive my brother, in order to find a convenient moment to take him away from our parents and take him to the mountains, so that they will not mourn him when they see him die. On the contrary, I will approach with feigned joy, in order to take him away without arousing suspicion, and I will slaughter him in the field like a lamb, and I will get rid of sorrow. For we two alone offer sacrifice to the Most High – of fruits and of animals. And behold, I am abhorrent on the earth, as are my sacrifices, and my brother is accepted with his offerings. But if he is killed, there will be no one left to offer offerings to the Most High, and my sorrow will turn into joy.”

And so, while Cain was pondering all this within himself, he arose and went to his parents, bearing a hidden malice. And when he arrived at them, he said: “Now I have clearly understood about my brother Abel that he is loved by the Most High, because he loved God. Let him then hasten to appease God for me also. For what is more worthy than for a man to love God and serve his parents? And because I did not do this, therefore He did not accept my gift as He did Abel. Only he remains to pray with me to God, that he may also accept my gifts.”

And when he had said this, he approached with deceit and kissed his brother in the presence of their parents, in order to tear him away from them. And Abel, the innocent and true servant of God, gladly listened and even encouraged Cain to climb the mountain and offer worship to God, saying: “And you yourself know, brother, that if you incline your ear to listen, God does not say that he is dead, as you think, about the one who angers God, because you do not place your hopes in the one Creator God. Do you not see the tears of Adam and Eve, our parents, how they grieve because they have grieved Him, because they have transgressed the commandment of the Creator, and they cannot be consoled at all; and since they transgressed the commandment of God, by their own choice they acquired the experience of exile and therefore have been weeping forever since then? But I advise you to draw near to God, praying to Him without hesitation, so that you too may not live your days in sorrow, as our parents did. See, brother, here I have told you everything.”

And Cain, answering, said: “I know these things also, for I have sinned, in that I have offended God; but come with me as a brother, for I know that you are a friend of God. Pray therefore for me, and come with me without laziness into the field, that we may offer a sacrifice to God; for it is good to appease God.” And he spoke other peaceful words, to flatter his brother: “Behold, my brother, I have told you that which is profitable; do not turn away through laziness, but come with me, that we may offer a sacrifice to God.” And Abel answered: “On the contrary, it is better that you go all alone and say: ‘Have mercy on me, O God.’ Come with humility and say: ‘Have mercy on me, O Master; I have sinned as an earthly man, I have committed a sin as a man, I have erred as a weak one.’ Let your tears be shed; let your cry reach the gates of heaven. Cast aside all your malice and say: “Here I will die, Master, before Your mercies, until You forgive me.” Thus show your repentance before the Lover of Mankind and you will receive forgiveness, for such is our God, long-suffering and full of mercy, and He accepts those who return to Him. Therefore, I also rejoice at your return.”

For the blameless and unmalicious Abel knew the malice of Cain. And although he had advised him so much, he did not soften his hard heart, but he with even greater zeal sought murder and spoke such words to Abel: “Have mercy on me, my brother, and come with me into the field, and kneel before God for me, that He may be reconciled to me.”

When Abel heard this from Cain, he took pity on him and said, “So am I the reason for your good reconciliation with God? Come then, let us go quickly.”

And Eve, when she heard their long conversation and when Abel prepared to depart, her heart was wounded, and she said to them: “My dear children, this is not the hour for sacrifices; indeed, my children, my heart is greatly troubled and burns, seeing this meeting and anxiety. What is this haste and anxiety of yours? And where are you leading Abel, Cain? What has happened to you? Has the Serpent, who deceived us, done this again out of envy, to deceive you and make you offer sacrifice before the time? For this is not the time for sacrifice.”

And Adam, seeing the calmness of Abel and the anxiety of Cain, said with sadness: “Go, my children, and after you have offered sacrifice, return to us.”

Eve also said to Cain: “Behold, my children, I am the mother of both of you, and I will also have this care until you return to me.”

But when they both went up, walking calmly and thinking only about how to offer a sacrifice to God, and they arrived at one place, Cain began to be angry with Abel. He even changed his mood and hardened his words against Abel, accusing him with an unjust accusation and saying to him such things: “Come, tell me: for what reason and in what is my fault that I was hated by God, and you, on the contrary, were loved? Answer me quickly, are we not both children of Adam? And how is it that your gift was accepted, and mine was not? And is that why you imagine, saying: “Because God loved me more than my brother, therefore he gave me all creation to enjoy it as I wish”? But I will not only make you not enjoy it, but I will also soon deprive you of your life, because you have become a thorn in my side and have wanted to inherit everything, driven by greed.”

And he rushed upon him like a wild beast, gnashing his teeth to kill him. And the blameless Abel, when he saw that Cain was so angry with him, was utterly astonished, and began to fall at his feet, beseeching him with pitiful words, desiring to appease him and make him compassionate. But seeing that he was so cruel and in a hurry to kill him, he said to him:

“Are these your words, my brother Cain, which you spoke before our parents? Did you not beg me with tears, saying: ‘I want to pray to God with reverence, but I do not dare; therefore I want to take with me Abel, my brother and friend of God, and I want him to come with me as a loving brother and fall on his knees before the Most High, that He may be reconciled to me.’ Truly, brother, you have deceived me with flattering words, just as the deceitful serpent deceived our parents (Gen. 3:1–6).

You have become to me, my brother, a terrible serpent that sits on the path and secretly pours out its poison; you have become to me, my brother, a wicked farmer who, seeing a fruitful tree, out of envy, destroyed it and uprooted it; you have become to me, my brother, like an inexperienced shepherd who, seeing a good ram, envied it and slaughtered it. What is my fault, tell me? Did you ever hear me say of the earth or of its world that I would inherit them? Behold, now I tell you, my brother: everything is yours.

Keep this, I pray you; only grant me one thing – to see our parents. But know that I have never been an obstacle to your sacrifice. Have I told the Most High not to accept your gifts, and therefore are you angry with me? God knows the thoughts of everyone from the beginning and knows well your heart before he created you, what you will do. But be soft, my brother, and receive my tears, and let me kiss the gray hairs of Adam and the face of Eve. For, behold, their eyes are fixed upon the doors, and they watch continually when they shall see us return to them. What profit will it be to you now to shed my blood?”

“Do not, my brother, I beg you; for this will not be good for your soul. You will be judged, and then what defense will you find for this before God? Or do you think you will deceive Him? Everything will be revealed to Him, for He who searches the hearts sees even here. Therefore, I beg you, be satisfied with the thought you had against me, and have pity on the gray hairs of our parents. Have pity on me, your brother, who falls at your feet; come, let us fall on our knees before the Lover of Man, and let it not be found that you have added sorrow to sorrow and grief to grief. Do not darken the eyes of our father Adam, and do not injure the sight of our mother Eve; for if you do this, where will you go and where will you hide from the face of God? And with what eyes will you look at our parents? And what will you say to them when they ask you about humble Abel? How will you move your tongue to justify yourself in this sad matter? How will you “Can your ears bear it? And how can your mind bear the inconsolable weeping of both, when they will say to you: ‘Where is Abel, your brother?’ Do not force, my brother, Adam to come here, seeking where my body lies.”

“And then, when he finds me, how will he stoop over me, seeing me lying like a slaughtered lamb in the field? Do not wish that Eve should come, weeping and anointing her gray hair with the blood of her child. Understand, brother, what you are about to do, and when you realize it, shed tears before God and do not do this. On the contrary, I tell you: the earth with the whole world is before you, enjoy it; it is enough for me to see your angelic face. I, therefore, shed tears and pray, and you, possessed by anger, do not pay attention. How did you close your eyes, how did your ears close, how did your heart become insensitive, so that you do not hear my words and rise up to kill me unjustly? I beg you, brother, tell Adam and Eve to come and see this unseen spectacle and my sad slaughter; and as they accepted the pleasure in paradise and through their disobedience to God became naked, so here they may see my sad slaughter and mourn; as they mourned when they were driven from paradise, so let them mourn for the recently slain dead. Let Adam kiss my humble body with a sad and last kiss.

Receive, earth, my blood and cry out loudly to God, that justice may be given me soon; and cover, earth, my body from beasts and birds, that they may not tear it apart, for there is no Adam here to bury me. Hear, heavens, my pitiful cries, for me, who am unjustly slain, and do not be silent. Weep for me, all the joys of the earth. Let the sheep that I have fed in the fields and on the mountains mourn for me. Let the streams of water mourn for me, for I shall no longer see them, leading the flocks. Let the grass of the field mourn with its flowers, for I shall no longer see them.”

Although Abel spoke these words, which could have softened even a heart of stone, the pitiless and cruel Cain stood like a poisonous snake that stops its ears (cf. Ps. 57:5), and raged like a beast against the righteous, plotting how to commit murder. And lifting up his hand on high, the pitiless one immediately slew his brother; and the wretched man said to himself with joy:

“What profit did you have, Abel, although your sacrifices were accepted? See what has happened to you and where you lie, the zealous offerer; I am now alive, and you, on the contrary, are dead. But what is left for me to do for myself, I, the wretched man? From now on I must think what I will answer Adam and Eve about Abel, the offerer. For I know that both of them are standing at the doors waiting for us, and when they see me returning alone, since they do not know what has happened, they will ask me about Abel what has happened. And if they begin to question me: “Why did I return alone?” I will answer them with a harsh voice: “Why do you ask me about my brother? Has he not the right to go wherever he wishes? Or am I his keeper?”

And so, speaking to them in this strict manner, they will be afraid to ask me more about him; and if they are troubled and angry because of him, they will not be able to kill me. Since, moreover, they are alone on earth, there will be no other man on earth to denounce me. The angels did not see me, and I will not be afraid of this, but on the contrary, from now on I will walk proudly.”

But while the wretched man was considering telling this lie to his parents, the righteous judgment of God was moved to do justice to Abel. And when the divine voice was fearfully rebuking him, just when he was thinking of lying to his parents, he answered the terrible Judge and God: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9).

And again the divine voice said to him: “Cain, why did you kill your brother, by covering his blood carelessly, while it cries out to Me from the ground? (Gen. 4:10). Why did you do this? What injustice did he do to you by offering his gift with complete sincerity? And you were envious and malicious from the beginning. Therefore, accept the condemnation according to the value of your offering, for which you worked with envy, murder and deceit: you will wander the earth, groaning and trembling (Gen. 4:12), so that everyone will know that you have shed innocent blood.” And their mother was worried because they were delaying the sacrifice. And running into the field, she saw Abel lying in the field like a slaughtered lamb, and Cain groaning and trembling like a leaf in the wind. Then Eve stood by them and could not explain this unprecedented spectacle – her child lay dead; but she did not know what death meant, and so she called her child, saying:

“Abel, Abel, my child, what has happened to you? You lie as if asleep and do not answer your mother. I truly see a strange dream in you, for your face and countenance have turned white, your eyes do not rest in their sockets, your feet have contracted. Tell me, are you Abel, born of my womb, or have you changed? Why then are you so silent and do not speak to your mother? If nothing else, at least have mercy on the springs of my tears and on the breasts from which you sucked, and answer me. What is this strange and unbearable sight? You, Abel, are silent and do not speak to your mother, and I will return to Adam with tears. From now on I will weep and lament for you, my child, because you were snatched from my embrace so suddenly, like a sparrow.”

Then, turning to Cain, he said: “Why do you groan and tremble, and are you shaken like a leaf in the wind? Why do you not stand firmly on your feet and why are your clothes red? Why is blood dripping from your hand? God, what is this unseen spectacle!”

And again to Cain he spoke: “Has the Devil deceived you also and led you to brotherly murder, as he deceived me? Has he seen you also and made you the murderer of Abel?”

“Woe to me, I am perished! With what eyes shall I look upon old Adam, and what words shall I speak to him? If I tell what has happened, I shall neither help Abel, nor avoid accusing Cain. And how shall I become an accuser of my own offspring? For one I pity life, and another I lament death; one stands, groaning and trembling, and another lies silent, but his blood cries out; and the mother is no longer a mother, and she who rejoiced in her children now mourns. What shall I do and what shall I say? Shall I pity Adam, who, digging the ground with the hoe and toiling, will eat his bread in the sweat of his face? (cf. Gen. 3:19).

Rather, I will lament myself, for the child whom I bore in pain has fallen, as unripe fruit falls before the wind; and as we have partaken of the fruit of the tree of deceit (Gen. 3:6), so he was deceived by the tree of deceit, because he killed him too, and deprived himself of life; because he was the first to show death and the first to interpret God’s threat (cf. Gen. 2:17). Since I gave birth to him because of the crime, he showed envy towards Abel.

Woe to me, my son Abel, you will no longer come to your father carrying a lamb; you will no longer sing that field song; you will no longer stay awake at night, guarding your flocks; you will not stand on the mountain tops to admire the games of the lambs; you will not milk the udders of the sheep to get milk!

The cause of this sorrow of mine was not the serpent (cf. Gen. 3:13), nor the tree (cf. Gen. 3:6), but the hostile attitude towards the law of God; I reaped, therefore, enmity, I also reaped death. I mourn my offspring, because I lost my son “by nature.” Because I denied my Father “by grace,” I lost paradise and found death. From paradise I took the fruit and ate it, and from death I gained sorrow. Paradise expelled me, and death received me. Because I ate the fruit of the tree (Gen. 3:12), I reaped death.”

But as we stop speaking here, beloved, let us give glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

[1] Cain is the firstborn (Gen. 4:1).

Source: Οσίου Εφραίμ του Σύρου. Εργα. τ. Ζ΄. μετ. Κωνσταντίνου Γ. Φραντζολά. εκδ. Το Περιβόλι της Παναγίας, εκδ. Α΄ 1998. The text is from manuscript No. 99 of the Pantokrator Monastery on Mount Athos, 16th century, l. 375r–396r. A similar text is also contained in manuscript No. 80 from Jerusalem, 13th century, l. 83–92 (see A. Papadopoulou-Kerameos, Jerusalem Library II, p. 144).