Dear Alexey —
Greetings on the feast of our 20th-century wonderworker!

I’ve been finding more patristic citations, and the “patristic notes” I sent should really be expanded into a little treatise on the Orthodox view of the creation, including the eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge — but how can you keep the whole article within manageable size if that’s done?

By the way, according to St. Gregory of Sinai, the incorruption of the first creation was a somewhat modified one, which means you probably shouldn’t be so bold as I was in saying “no fossils” — the main point remaining that in any case it is unknowable to present-day science. With thorough documentation of each point you make, the whole article can be even understated and still turn out extremely powerful.

Father Herman returns tomorrow morning. According to the account of his talk at Jordanville in “Orthodox Russia,” it left a powerful impression — with 150 people present.

Pray for us — with love in Christ,

Seraphim, m.