The primordial Adam, being in paradise, fell into pride at the suggestion of the serpent, and dreaming of being a god, as the devil told him, he ate from the tree from which God commanded him not to eat. For this he is given over to great punishments - corruption and death, to humble his pride. But when God condemns for something, He gives a sentence, and His sentence becomes a deed, and an eternal punishment, and there is no longer any possibility to destroy this punishment, which is according to God's definition…. And now, as you see, the sentence of God remains an eternal punishment forever. And we all became both corruptible and mortal people, and there is nothing that could avert this great and terrible sentence. When it is not possible to remove this sentence, then what is the use of wisdom, or wealth, or power, or the whole world? For this sake, the Most High Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to humble himself instead of Adam, and indeed humbled Himself even to death on the cross.
St. Simeon the New Theologian (+1022), Homily 1
Eleventh Century