The Return to Eden
With the blade of the sword of the cherub
was the path to the Tree of Life shut off,
but to the Peoples has the Lord of that Tree
given Himself as food.
Whereas Eden’s other trees were provided
for that former Adam to eat,
for us the very Planter of the Garden
has become the food for our souls.
Whereas we had left that Garden
along with Adam, as he left it behind,
now that the sword has been removed by the lance,
we may return there.
Commentary on the Diatessaron
p. 61-62
Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on the Diatessaron XLIX.9–10 (in the Armenian Translation). Translation from Sebastian Brock Hymns on Paradise, Popular Patristics Series, (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1990)