What is the tree of life, whose fruit Adam should have eaten in Paradise?

The answer

St. Ephrem thinks that in the Garden of Eden, there were two different trees. One symbolizes the Holy of Holies while the other symbolizes the sanctuary. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is the gate that leads to the Tree of Life.⁴⁵⁷

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty

Notes

⁴⁵⁷ Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Paradise, trans., Sebastian P. Brock, (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1990), 3:13: p. 95.

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Catechism of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Volume 1, Books 1–3. First English Edition, 2023. Published by St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, Sporting, Alexandria, and Queen St. Mary & Prince Tadros Coptic Orthodox Church, South Brunswick, NJ. Copyright © 2023. Translation and Editing: Youth of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Arabian Gulf, and Egypt.