According to the Old Testament legend, Adam was the first man created by God ‘in God’s image and likeness” (G.1:27) “out of dust of the ground “(G. 2: 7) in the sixth day of Creation. God settled Adam in the Garden of Eden and commanded him “to till it and keep it” (G. 2:15).God permitted the Man to partake of fruit of any tree in the Garden, but of the Tree of Knowledge (G. 2:17).However, Adam and the first woman Eve could not resist the temptation and partook of the fruit of the forbidden Tree. By way of punishment God banished Adam from the Garden of Eden, “so that he could till the ground out of which he had been taken” (G. 3:23). The Man had to toil in sorrow and in the sweat of his face in all his lifetime.Besides, God deprived man of immortality: after death he has to return to dust of the ground out of which he was taken.

Adam lived for 930 years and gave birth to sons and daughters (G. 5:3-5). Adam and Eve, according to Genesis, are the first parents of the whole humankind. Adam as the Forefather is often mentioned in hymnwriting.

In Byzantine and Russian art Adam is depicted as an old man among the Old Testament Forefathers and Prophets. Initially these depictions occurred in the monumental wall-paintings of the temples.For example, in the Church of the Saviour, on Ilyin Street, 1378. Later, from the XV1th century, icons with the images of the Old Testament Forefathers with scrolls in their hands were put in the separate Forefathers tier of the iconostas.In the lists of icons of the iconostas of the Moscow Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral in the XVШ-X1X centuries are mentioned icons with Adam and Eve from the Forefathers tier of the mid-XV1th century.

Memory of Adam as Father and Forefather is venerated on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers and Forefathers.