[align=justify]
أشكرك أبونا على ردك، أما بعد:

مع فائق احترامي لك أبتي العزيز، لا أريد أن أرد على تعليقك، لأننا فعلاً سنعيد "الحلقة المفرغة" مرة أخرى كما قلت. ولكني أتركك مع بعض أقوال لاهوتيين قديسين في سفر التكوين، واعذرني لأنها باللغة الإنجليزية، وبعد ذلك، لأي شخص أن يأخذ بما يقوله لاهوتيي اليوم، أو ما يقوله الآباء القديسون:


[/align]
[align=left]
St. Macarius the Great of Egypt, a Saint of the most exalted mystical life and whom one certainly cannot suspect of overly literal views of Scripture, writes on Genesis 3:24
That Paradise was closed and that a Cherubim was commanded to prevent man from entering it by a flaming sword: of this we believe that in visible fashion it was indeed just as it is written, and at the same time we find that this occurs mystically in every soul

This is a passage which many of us might have expected to have only a mystical meaning, but this great seer of Divine things assures us that it is also true "just as it is written" - for those capable of seeing it
[/align]
[align=left]
There is, further, one important kind of statement in Scripture - and there are many examples of it in Genesis - which the Holy fathers tell us specifically not to understand in a literal way. These are anthropomorphic statements made of God as though He were a man who walks, talks, gets angry, etc. All such statements we are to understand in a "God-befitting" manner - that is, based on our knowledge from Orthodox teaching that God is purely spiritual, has no physical organs, and that His acts are described in Scripture as they seem to us. The Fathers are very careful over the text of Genesis in this regard. Thus, St. John Chrysostom states
[/align]
[align=left]
When you hear that "God planted Paradise in Eden in the East," understand the word "planted" befittingly of God: that is, that He commanded; but concerning the words that follow, believe precisely that Paradise was created and in that very place where the Scripture has assigned it
[/align]
[align=justify]
بركاتك
[/align]