Hymn of the 9th Ode of the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos   Being created in the image and likeness of God, man was not originally made to feel pain, to be sick and to die. The Fathers agree on this: for example, St Maximus the Confessor says that "When God created human nature, he did not create sensible pleasure and pain along with it." 1 Sin darkened the minds of the first created, Adam and Eve, and their nature was inexorably changed. Since pain, suffering and ultimately death became part of their nature it was passed down in a [...]