Adam and Eve
No fixed feast day in the calendar
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Adam and Eve, the first parents of all people, who fell but received God’s promise of a Savior.
Who are they?
Adam and Eve are the first man and the first woman, the ancestors of the whole human race. The Bible tells us that God created human beings “male and female”, in his own image (Gn 1:27). That is why each one of us is precious in God’s eyes.
Life story
God placed them in the garden of Eden, a beautiful garden, “to cultivate and care for it” (Gn 2:15). They lived as close friends of God, and he gave them the task of caring for his creation.
God told them not to eat the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (cf. Gn 2:17). But the serpent tempted them, and they both ate that fruit, disobeying God (cf. Gn 3:1-6). Right away, they felt ashamed and hid. God called out: “Where are you?” (Gn 3:9). The Church calls this first disobedience original sin. Since then, suffering and death have entered the world, and everyone is born carrying the wound of that sin: we did not commit Adam and Eve’s fault ourselves, but we are born without the holiness people had in the beginning (cf. CCC 404–405).
Yet God did not abandon them. He promised that one of the woman’s offspring would “strike at your head”, the serpent’s head (Gn 3:15); the Church calls this the first Good News. Before they left the garden of Eden, God even made them “garments of skin” and “clothed them” (Gn 3:21). Outside the garden, they had to work hard and raise their children.
Why does the Church honor them?
God’s promise came true in Jesus. Saint Paul writes: “by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:19). Jesus is the new Adam, and Mary, who always said “yes” to God, is the new Eve. The Church believes that when Jesus died and descended to the dead, the place where those who had died were waiting for the Savior, he opened the gates of heaven for the righteous who had gone before (cf. CCC 632–635). Old icons still show him taking Adam and Eve by the hand and pulling them up. The Eastern Churches honor Adam and Eve as saints.
A lesson for you
- When you do something wrong, don’t hide from God the way Adam and Eve did: say “here I am” and tell God you are sorry.
- Take care of nature, of trees and animals, just as God entrusted them to people.
- Thank Jesus, the new Adam, for opening again the way home to the Father for you.
Identifying marks
- Clothes made of animal skins: after they sinned, “The LORD God made for the man and his wife garments of skin, with which he clothed them” (Gn 3:21). God still cared for them.
- Adam’s spade: when he left the garden of Eden, he had “to till the ground” (Gn 3:23).
- Eve’s spindle: old paintings show her spinning thread, working to support her family.
- A light of hope in the distance: God promised to send a Savior (cf. Gn 3:15).
- The tree, the forbidden fruit and the serpent (*): the scene of temptation in the garden of Eden (cf. Gn 3:1-6).
(*) Only in some pictures and statues.
The text on this page is the card in the Catholic Information app, word for word.
Compiled by i-Catholic · About