By St. Photius the Great
Question 11. Why, after Adam sinned and received death as punishment, did his son, who had not even sinned, die before him? (Gen. 3:19; 4:8)
The deepest and most sublime explanation of this question could be to plunge into the abyss of divine decrees (Ps. 35:7), leaving human reasoning aside. But still, from what is available to us, Adam did receive his punishment, but his son died before him, so that the guilty one, seeing with his own eyes how heavy and painful death is, might more clearly realize the gravity of sin. And so, overcome by fear and anxiety, through repentance and sorrow for his audacity, he might soften the punishment.
Indeed, every threat and punishment that is foreseen becomes more terrible when the guilty witness the suffering. And Adam would not have realized it if he had not seen his child dead and had not seen with it how terrible things accompany death – that difficult struggle in which there is no help, the anxiety of the soul and its separation from the body, as well as everything that follows – decay and putrefaction, stench, dust, pus, worms.
Thus Adam sees in another person how terrible and unbearable his own punishment is, and, seeing this, deeply realizes the gravity of his sin. Therefore he is led to repentance and, although he loses his child, he wins the salvation of his soul. And if anyone thinks that it was more unbearable for Adam to lose his child than to die himself, he will find many fathers who confirm this thought – those who would have gladly exchanged their own lives for the salvation of their children many times.
Thus, according to what has been said, before Adam himself died, the punishment destined for him reached him through the death of his son – a death that dealt a heavier blow and struck him with unbearable grief.
But, please, pay attention to a third thing. The world then had only three men as its inhabitants, and one woman lived with them. Of these, the man and the woman were parents, and the other two were their children. Adam was not punished for the reason mentioned. Eve, on the one hand, was not punished for the same reason, and on the other – because she was the only woman, her death, since it would have made childbirth impossible, would have led the human race to ruin.
It was also not logical that Cain should be put to death for his conspiracy. For Cain was worse, and Abel better. How then could it be possible that he who was free from deceit, envy, and all malice, should reach out with murderous hands against his brother? Only he remains – the one who, even before committing this wicked deed, grieved God with his sacrifices and was overcome by envy of his innocent brother, and with evil thoughts and a cunning mind planned the murder (Gen. 4:3-5).
And here, please, pay attention to the wisdom and inscrutability of God’s Providence (Rom. 11:33). With that by which the evil one thought that he would prevail, raising his hand against the better, the beginning of his own destruction overtakes him. The word of God and the inscrutable economy of God allow Abel to become a victim of unjust and murderous hands, and the death of the child to precede the death of the father. But the power of hell and its first manifestation turn out to be weak.
If he had accepted Adam first, he would have had an unshakable foundation – to begin with him who was condemned by divine decision. But because he unjustly defeats the innocent, his power is shaken from the very beginning. Thus the unjust death of the righteous becomes a harbinger of the complete destruction of hell.
