A tree may be “good for food and.. pleasant to the eyes”

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


A tree may be “good for food and.. pleasant to the eyes” (Gen 3:6) and yet one must turn away from it.
By abstaining from food, man rises above the level of the body and above matter, and this is the wisdom behind fasting.
Had the first man succeeded in triumphing over his bodily desire for food, and controlled his bodily senses that saw the tree as an appetising sight, it would have proven that his soul had overcome his bodily desires and he would have been worthy to eat from the Tree of Life.