The Mysteries of Saint John the Apostle and Holy Virgin 10

1Then I rose up and I followed him. I walked through the Paradise, and I looked round about, and I saw the tree in the middle of Paradise; now it had no fruit upon it, and thorns grew all over it, and the trunk went down into the ground a very long way. And I answered and said to the Cherubim, 'Make me to understand the matter of this tree which hath no fruit on it, and which is grown over with thorns.' And the Cherubim said unto me, 'This is the tree [of the fruit] of which Adam ate and became naked.' And I said unto him, 'There is no fruit on it; where did he find the fruit which he ate?' And the Cherubim said unto me, 'A kind of fruit did grow on it, and it was not without fruit [at that time].' And I said unto him, 'Of what kind was its fruit?' He said unto me, 'It was a kind of apple.' And I said unto the Cherubim, 'Shall it remain wholly without fruit, or not?' And he said unto me, 'This is the order which God laid upon it from the beginning.'

2Now whilst I was marvelling at these things I saw Adam. He was coming along at a distance, and he was like unto a man who was weeping. He was spreading out his garment, and he was carrying away in his garment [the leaves] which were under the tree, and pouring them out on the ground, and burying them. And I said unto the Cherubim, 'Why is Adam spreading out his garment, and putting in it the dried leaves which have been blown off the tree, and digging a hole in the ground and burying them therein?' And the Cherubim said unto me, 'From the moment when the Devil entered into Paradise, and seduced Adam, and Eve his wife, the trees, which up to that time had possessed a sweet smell, ceased to have any smell at all, and their leaves [began to] fall off. And Adam used to dress himself in the leaves, and to make them be witnesses for him in the judgement because of what he had done.' Then I said unto the Cherubim, 'My Lord, by what means did the Devil enter into Paradise, and seduce Adam and Eve? Unless this matter had been permitted by God he could not have entered in, for nothing can take place without [the consent of] God.'