ABSTRACT
The Paradise of Ephrem the Syrian is indeed a very high mountain; the summit of the mountain is reserved for God’s Presence. A very similar vision of Paradise and the role of Adam in it appears in another Syrian source, the Book of the Cave of Treasures. The interrelation and cohesion of these two notions: perfection of Adam and identity of primordial and eschatological Paradise seem to be very important for early Syrian Christian cosmology and anthropology. In the fifth century, Syrian poet and theologian Narsai of Edessa also underlines the difference between the primordial Paradise and the place of the eschatological beatitude. It would be a long stretch to conclude that the late antique and medieval authors of eschatological and theophanic images images wanted to underline the identity of these two places or praise the beauty of primordial Adamic condition.
