The Blessed Virgin in the Fathers of the First Six Centuries

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Chapter I. The Primitive Patristic Idea of Mary as the Second Eve.


It has been already said that there is nothing in the nature of the case to prevent the less explicit knowledge of revealed truth in the first age of the Church being better in kind than that of theologians later on. What was wanting in explicitness and extension of detail might be more than compensated in intensity, by greater depth, a stronger impress, and a more lively energy. This is strikingly exemplified in the doctrinal teaching of three of the earliest Fathers with regard to the Blessed Virgin. *[the scan is badly garbled here; the sense appears to be:]* The idea of Mary presented in the writings of S. Justin, S. Irenaeus, and Tertullian, in the second century, for fulness of conception, clearness of definition, and suggestion of a type of excellence, unique and without parallel, is more perfect and complete than what appears in some Fathers of a subsequent period.

S. Justin, A.D. 120-165, thus writes:

"We know that the Son of God . . . before all creatures came forth from the Father by His power and will . . . and through means of the Virgin became Man, that by what way the disobedience which was from the serpent took its beginning, by the same way it might have its undoing. For whereas Eve, yet a virgin and undefiled, through conceiving the word that came from the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death; the Virgin Mary, taking faith and joy, when the Angel told her the good tidings that the Spirit of the Lord should come upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadow her, and therefore, the Holy One to be born of her should be the Son of God, answered, Be it done to me according to thy word. And so by means of her was He born, concerning whom we have shown so many Scriptures were spoken; through whom God overthrows the serpent, and those angels and men who have become like to it, and, on the other hand, works deliverance from death for such as repent of their evil doings and believe in Him."¹

S. Irenaeus, A.D. 120-200, says:

"In accordance with this design [of saving the human race] Mary is found obedient, saying, Behold Thy handmaid, O Lord. Whereas, Eve was disobedient, since she obeyed not whilst yet a virgin. Eve, moreover — having Adam for her husband, though still a virgin — through being disobedient, became the cause of death, both to herself and to the whole human race. Whereas Mary, having a husband fore-appointed,² and yet a virgin, by yielding obedience, became both to herself and to the whole human race the cause of salvation. And for this reason the Law calls her who is espoused to a man, though still a virgin, the wife of him who has espoused her, thereby pointing to that intercircling which traces back from Mary to Eve. For what is knotted up together cannot be unloosed, except by undoing the whole series of knots, and in such a way that the knots earliest made have to be undone, by first untying the knots that were made later. And so these latter set free the former. Hence, because the unloosing of the first-made must depend on the one made next, it is this latter that has to be undone first. And so said the Lord, The first shall be last, and the last first.³ The Prophet also signifies the same, saying, Instead of fathers, thou hast children.⁴ For whereas, the Lord when born was the first-begotten of the dead,⁵ and received into His bosom the primitive fathers, He regenerated them into the life of God, by Himself becoming the beginning of the living, whilst Adam became the beginning of those that die.⁶ For this cause also Luke, beginning his genealogy from Our Lord, carried it back to Adam, to signify that it was He who regenerated them [His own forefathers], not they Him, into the Gospel of life. Even so, too, the knot of Eve's disobedience obtained its unloosing through the obedience of Mary: for what Eve, a virgin, bound by her unbelief, that same, Mary, a virgin, unbound by her faith."⁷

*[the scan is badly garbled here; the sense appears to be:]* The Saint's argument is somewhat obscure. He compares Mary with Eve, the faith and obedience of the former with the unbelief and disobedience of the latter, the intimate union of Mary and Jesus her Son — the Man predestined to be the Second Adam through the mystery of the Incarnation — with Eve's marriage to the first Adam. He says then, that just as Eve, a virgin though married, by her sin of disobedience implicated the whole human race in, so to say, an intricate series of knots, and was to it the cause of death, so too the Virgin Mary, also like Eve espoused to a husband,⁸ by means of her faith and obedience, unloosed the knots that Eve had tied, and thus became the cause of salvation both to herself and to all mankind. That an espoused virgin, whose marriage is not yet consummated, has, according to the Law, the name of wife, is interpreted by the Saint as mystically referring to Eve and Mary — who are alike in being espoused virgins, wives, and mothers — in order thus to contrast the nature and fruit of their maternity, and to show how Mary's virginal Motherhood of the Incarnate Word counteracted the evil consequences of the marriage of Eve to Adam. For, argues the Saint, as what is bound up together by a number of knots cannot be unloosed except by beginning with those last made — there being no other way of getting at the knots first tied — so it is in the present matter. Through Eve's marriage to Adam, which was consummated after her disobedience, all succeeding generations of the human race were inextricably bound together by so many knots of sin, until the time of Mary and the coming of Jesus Christ, the Second Adam. Mary, by her faith and obedience, was the first to undo the complication, and not for herself alone. For the unloosing which she began went through the whole preceding series, until it came back to Eve. In this way the knot wherewith Eve was tied by her own disobedience, and the baneful complication that resulted from her marriage to fallen Adam, consummated in sin, were undone by means of the faithful obedience of Mary, and her union with Jesus Christ the Second Adam in grace and sanctity.⁹

S. Irenaeus says again:

"The Lord then plainly came to His own; and whilst that of His own creating which He Himself sustains then sustained Himself, He wrought the undoing of that disobedience which took place with the tree [of knowledge] by that obedience which took place on the tree [of the Cross]. That seduction, too, was put an end to, whereby the virgin Eve, already destined for a husband, was evilly seduced. Of all these good tidings the Virgin Mary, already under a husband, was truly informed by the Angel. For as Eve was seduced by an angel's word so as to shun God, after she had transgressed His word, so Mary also by an Angel's word had the glad tidings given her, that she might bear-God, obeying His word. And if the former had disobeyed God, yet the latter was persuaded to obey God, that the Virgin Mary might be the advocate (paraclete) of the virgin Eve. And as the human race was bound to death by means of a virgin, it is saved by means of a Virgin; the poise of the balance being restored; a virgin's disobedience is saved by a Virgin's obedience. For while the sin of the protoplast was still receiving correction through that punishment of his, the prudence of the serpent having been overcome by the simplicity of the dove, we were set free from those chains by which we had been bound to death."¹⁰

Tertullian, A.D. 160-240, writes:

"Now the whole of this new birth [of the Second Adam] was prefigured, as was the case in all other instances, in ancient type; the Lord being born as man by a dispensation in which a virgin was the medium. The earth was still in a virgin state, wrought as yet by no human labour, with no seed as yet cast into its furrows, when we are told God made man out of it into a living soul. As, then, the first Adam is thus introduced to us, it is a just inference that the Second Adam likewise, as the Apostle has told us, was formed by God into a quickening spirit out of the ground — in other words, out of flesh as yet unstained by any human generation. But that I may not lose the opportunity of supporting my argument from the name of Adam, why, I ask, is Christ called Adam by the Apostle, unless it be that, as Man, He was of that earthly Virgin?¹¹ And reason, too, here maintains the same conclusion: because it was by a rival operation that God recovered His own image and likeness, of which He had been robbed by the devil. For it was whilst Eve was yet a virgin that the word crept in, which was the framer of death. Into a Virgin, in like manner, must be introduced the Word of God who was the builder up of life: so that by that same sex whence had come our ruin, might also come our recovery to salvation. Eve had believed the serpent, Mary believed Gabriel. The fault which the one committed by believing, the other by believing blotted out. But, it might be said, Eve conceived nothing in her womb from the devil's word. Nay, but she did conceive; for the devil's word became to her as seed, that she might conceive as an outcast, and bring forth in sorrow. She gave birth, in fact, to a fratricidal devil; whilst Mary, on the contrary, bare Him who was one day to save Israel, His own brother after the flesh and the murderer of Himself. God sent down therefore into the Virgin's womb His Word to be our true Brother, who should blot out the memory of that evil brother. Hence it was necessary that Christ should come forth for the salvation of man in that condition [of flesh] into which man had entered ever since his condemnation."¹²

In these passages Mary is set forth as the Second Eve, taking a part with her Divine Son in our Redemption corresponding to the share which the first Eve had with Adam in our Fall; compensating by her faith and obedience for the unbelief and disobedience of the guilty Eve, and being thus an advocate with God in her behalf.

This comparison between Mary and Eve is one both of likeness and contrast: *[the scan is badly garbled here; the sense appears to be:]* of likeness, in original sanctity and virginal innocence; of contrast, in their conduct and its effects. Eve and Mary, alike, are virgins, and virgins espoused. Both one and the other co-operate in union with a man, the guilty Eve with her husband Adam, himself now fallen; Mary, a holy and immaculate Virgin, with the Man predestined as the Second Adam, her Divine Son, the Incarnate Word. Each holds a place in the human family exclusively her own, and a rank of pre-eminence above that of all other women, absolutely unrivalled and unique. For Eve and Mary alone are first Mothers of the entire race. Eve the Mother of all men according to the flesh, in the order of nature: Mary their spiritual Mother in the supernatural order of grace. Hence their prominence in Genesis and the Gospel as the twin representative women of the two Dispensations: Eve of the Old Testament, Mary of the New; and hence the striking parallel of circumstances in the opening scenes of the world's two great dramas — Man's Fall and Redemption — as now Eve, then Mary, first appears on the stage of humanity, with issues of vital consequence to the whole race.

Alike in Eden and at Nazareth, to a virgin in solitude an angel speaks. But, at once, how great the contrast! In Eden, the serpent, an angel of darkness, speaks false to the virgin Eve, who, giving credence to his word, withdraws from God her faith and obedience. In the house of Nazareth, the holy angel, Gabriel, greets with good tidings the Virgin Mary, who, receiving his message with faith and joy, believes in God, and is obedient to His word. Eve conceives a lie that works man's ruin and death; Mary conceives the Word of God, who restores to man salvation and life. Both alike are Mothers; but their Motherhood how unlike! Unbelieving, disobedient Eve, as wife of fallen Adam, is Mother, according to the flesh, of her children conceived in sin, and bound to death. The faithful and obedient Virgin Mary, by her union with Jesus Christ, her Son, becomes the spiritual Mother of children regenerated to a Divine life of holiness and grace.

We will here make a brief transition, and note the similar parallel drawn by S. Paul between Jesus Christ and Adam, which has corresponding points of likeness and antithesis. The Apostle speaks of Adam as the figure of Christ; he, moreover, expressly calls Our Lord the Second Adam. The likeness between Adam and Christ may be said to lie generally in the relation which they both bore to the human race as its father and head; Adam in the natural order of creation, Our Lord Jesus Christ in the supernatural order of grace. But there is yet another and a closer resemblance of Adam to Christ, which, inasmuch as it formed part of the Divine plan concerning Adam, should be accounted a real likeness, though through his transgression it failed of actual effect. For, had Adam remained unfallen, he would — because constituted the natural father and head of the whole human race — have preserved, by his own obedience, both himself and his descendants in original justice and life, and been thus in a true sense their father and head, not only by nature, but also spiritually in the order of grace.

The contrast drawn of the two lies in the different conduct and effects of each: that, whereas the sin and disobedience of the first Adam wrought our condemnation and death, the justice and obedience of the Second Adam obtained our justification and life. Hence we see S. Paul likens Our Lord to Adam whilst yet unfallen, and contrasts Him with Adam in his transgression.¹³

There is another point of analogy in these two comparisons of Mary with Eve, and of Christ with Adam, which is of great significance. This is the wholly subsidiary part that Eve had in the Fall, corresponding to that which Mary had in the Redemption. They both alike have their share of co-operation; but are not the efficient causes of either one or the other result. For to speak with just precision, it is through Adam's disobedience alone that all are made sinners and die; and it is through Christ's obedience alone we are justified and live. He of Himself alone is to all who obey Him the cause of eternal salvation.¹⁴

S. Paul's comparison of Christ with Adam, founded as it is on the account of man's fall in Genesis, seems necessarily thence to demand for its complement, a like comparison between the woman there predicted as the Serpent's antagonist who should give birth to the promised Seed, and Eve, the first woman, who, with Adam, had taken part in the Fall. *[the scan is badly garbled here; the sense appears to be:]* And since, as a matter of fact, such a comparison is found in Fathers of the sub-Apostolic age, it would be only reasonable to believe that the doctrine of Mary as the Second Eve was explicitly taught by the Apostles themselves, and had its place in the revealed deposit. That this was actually the case is certain from S. John's Apocalyptic vision,¹⁵ wherein the old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, comes once more on the scene; and, in conflict with him, appears the woman predicted in Genesis to be his perpetual foe, who has now brought forth her promised Seed, that Man-child who was to rule over all nations,¹⁶ Jesus Christ Our Lord.

The triple patristic testimony which we cited, shows clearly that this idea of Mary as the Second Eve was the tradition prevalent throughout Christendom in the first centuries. Those three Fathers represent the three Patriarchates of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. S. Justin from Palestine is witness for Antioch; the African Tertullian for Alexandria; and S. Irenaeus for Rome. S. Irenaeus, we should remember, had been instructed in his youth by S. Polycarp, who was made Bishop of Smyrna by appointment of the Apostles, and had himself been in early years a disciple of S. John the Evangelist, to whom personally was revealed that vision of Mary, which under Divine inspiration, he has recorded in the Apocalypse.

This same Irenaeus, thus removed but one step from the Apostles, had resided for a considerable time in Rome, in order to become conversant with the traditions of its Church. He tells us in his writings that S. Clement, Bishop of Rome, from the intimate relations and intercourse he there enjoyed with S. Peter and S. Paul, "had still the preaching of the blessed Apostles ringing in his ears, and their tradition before his eyes, and not Clement alone; but many in that Church still survived, who had been taught by the Apostles." The Saint testifies, furthermore, that "the same tradition and preaching of the truth, which the Church had received from the Apostles, had come down to him; and consequently that one and the very same life-giving faith had been preserved in the Church, and was handed down in its purity and integrity from the Apostles even to his own day."¹⁷

Now this idea of Mary as the Second Eve is one of the highest and most important signification. It assigns to her a place in God's decrees, and in the Divine economy of the human race that is absolutely exceptional and unique. For as Eve was mother of all mankind, not only in the physical order of nature, but in the moral order also as regards sin, through her own personal disobedience, and her becoming a mother, as wife of Adam, after his transgression. So too, Mary was not only physically the Mother of the Incarnate Word, but her motherhood both of Himself, the Saviour of mankind, and of all those whom He came to save, was of the moral order also, through her own personal faith and obedience, the consent which she gave to be herself the Mother of the Divine Word made man, and the co-operation which she bore with Him, as His Mother in the work of Redemption. And hence as the place of Eve amongst women is in the natural order, and in what relates to the heritage of original sin altogether solitary and without parallel, so too is that of Mary in the supernatural order and the economy of grace.¹⁸

What, however, we would here principally insist upon is, that this idea — thus early impressed upon the Church's mind — of God's ever-Virgin Mother, co-operating, as an unfallen Eve in our Redemption, implicitly contains in its fulness whatever else the Catholic Church has at any time taught concerning Our Lady. The idea is, so to say, so broad and far-reaching as to cover all that has since been explicitly defined, and formed matter for the pious belief and devotion of the faithful regarding Mary's graces and privileges.

The main idea represents Mary as a second unfallen Eve, bearing a part in the work of man's Redemption similar to that which the first Eve, by her transgression, had in his Fall. In this view the Fathers are so often led to draw a parallel of contrast between the Gospel narrative of the Annunciation made by the Angel Gabriel to Mary of the Incarnation, and the scene in Genesis of Eve's seduction to disobedience by the serpent.

This whole idea is made up of two parts. The matter of the first is Mary, an unfallen Eve; that of the second, her co-operation as such in man's Redemption. In order to show the normal development of the whole, let us put each part to the test of some analysis.

1. Mary is Eve unfallen. The first Eve was created innocent, free from all sin and moral imperfection, in the state of original justice and sanctifying grace. Consequently, Mary, the second Eve, was also created in Divine grace, holy and immaculate from the first moment of her conception. Had Eve remained unfallen and faithful to God, she would have not only continued altogether sinless, but by her co-operation with grace, increased its store, and, full of virtues and merits, obtained from God the crowning grace of confirmation and final perseverance in her blessed state. All this was verified in the case of Mary, the true unfallen Eve, through her faithful correspondence with the fulness of grace which she received, and through the intimate union she had with the Second Adam, Jesus Christ her Son. The first Eve, in contrast, lost her true union with Adam by sin. Whereas, had both Adam and Eve remained unfallen, they would have remained united to one another more closely than by any natural ties, through means of the supernatural bond of Divine grace and charity; sharing, furthermore, the blessedness of together being the first parents of a sinless and holy race.

Again, had Eve not sinned, she would have been recompensed for all her virtues and sanctity exercised for God's glory in her stainless course on earth, by exemption at its close from death and corruption as the penalty of sin. More than this, instead of passing through death, she would by privilege have been translated in body as well as in soul from earth to heaven, there to receive her merited crown of immortal glory. The immaculate Virgin Mary, the Second Eve, persevered to the end unfallen. Consequently, so far as sin was concerned, she was in no way bound by the law of death. She died, indeed, as heir to the ordinary and purely physical consequences to which all human flesh had in Adam become by nature subject. She died, too, because Jesus Christ her Son had died, and herein she was to be made like to Him. But though she died, death, having no claims of sin upon her, might not detain her. Hence she was preserved from such of its effects as would have impeded the recompense which, as the unfallen Eve, she had merited by her perfectly holy life, and was assumed at its close in body as well as soul to the glory of Paradise, that there, reunited to her Divine Son, she might be enthroned beside Him, as Mother of the King of Angels and Saints, and crowned as their Queen. Besides, it was not fitting that the virginal body of Mary, of whom as His own true Mother the Divine Word had become incarnate, should ever see the corruption of the tomb.

Our Lady's glorious Assumption into heaven thus shows itself doctrinally contained in the primitive idea of Mary, the Second unfallen Eve: whilst early tradition testifies to a more or less explicit belief of the faithful as to the fact.

2. Mary, as the Second unfallen Eve, bore a great part in the work of man's Redemption, corresponding to that which the first Eve, by her transgression, had in his Fall. But here the better to illustrate our point, instead of drawing a contrast, we will suppose for the moment Eve to have remained unfallen, preserving her original state of innocence, and then on this hypothesis compare with her Mary, the Second Eve, in the office and effects of each as regards the human race.

Had both Adam and Eve remained unfallen, Eve would have shared with her husband in the grace and blessedness of being not only the natural, but also the spiritual parents of the human family conceived and born in the state of original justice derived from Adam. Eve would thus, in a true and supernatural sense, have verified her name as Mother of all the living¹⁹ instead of being, as she proved herself in fact to be, the Mother of all the dead, who died in Adam. Whereas, Mary the Second Eve, is really the Mother of all the living, that is to say, of all the redeemed, who in Christ are made alive.

Had Eve remained unfallen, her chief solicitude would surely have been that all the human family of which she was Mother, should persevere in their happy and holy state. She would have used all diligence, and every means that her maternal love might suggest, to preserve her children from the danger of losing God's grace through disobedience to His commands. And were any child of hers to incur so great a misery, how intense would be then her grief! Must not that holy mother — if so to do accorded with the Divine Will — out of compassion for her perishing child plead earnestly for mercy in his behalf. But however this might be, Mary the Second Eve is set forth in the Church's primitive idea of her as the advocate of guilty Eve, and a cause of salvation not to her alone, but to all her children who were fallen in Adam. This means, that God was graciously pleased to accept by anticipation the merit of Mary's faith and obedience as an intercessory plea for the pardon of their sins in union with the infinitely meritorious and satisfactory obedience of the Second Adam, Jesus Christ her Son. It means, that when Eve had forfeited her right to be called the Mother of the living, and was with all her posterity subject to death, the Woman, thereupon foretold by God as the true Eve, had already in His Divine prevision made good her title, and borne her part as that Mother of the living who should restore lost life to the dead; and that already by anticipation were her pleadings for her children of avail in His sight.

The Sacrifice of the Cross — being that of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world — was retrospective in its fruits. Whilst efficacious for the pardon of the sins of all men in every antecedent generation, pre-eminently did it atone for the sin of Adam, in whom as their father and head, all the rest of men had sinned; and of whom the Divine Redeemer bore the name, and was Himself the antitype. In like manner, Mary's advocacy in behalf of sinners, that is to say, the whole part she took with her Divine Son in the work of Redemption, was also retrospective. And whilst as Mother both of the Redeemer and His redeemed, she is in truth the advocate of all, yet emphatically is she called the advocate of Eve, whose name she bore, and who as mother in the natural order of the whole human family co-operated most with Adam in its ruin.

But if Mary's advocacy in behalf of sinners had by anticipation so great avail, even before she had herself any real existence at all, how much more powerful must that advocacy be now, after she has acquired her rich store of virtues, after the consummation of that intimate union which she has, as His Mother, with the Incarnate Word; after her actual co-operation in the work of man's Redemption, after her realised motherhood of the redeemed, and her exaltation to glory — now, too, that that advocacy is everywhere so fully known, and so constantly and fervently invoked by her children.

Had Eve, instead of sinning and contributing to our ruin, borne her part with Adam in securing to us the heritage of original innocence and grace, how should we not all, as children of such a mother, have cherished her memory with grateful veneration and love! Now it is precisely because Mary, God's own Virgin Mother, is become, as the Second Eve, our spiritual Mother and advocate of peace, and because, as such, she has done and still does so much for our salvation, that the Church has decreed to her so great honour, and proclaims so loudly the power of her intercession. Hence it is that her faithful children in every generation are wont to bless and praise her with filial love and ardent devotion, profess such lively confidence in her powerful protection, seek continually graces and favours through her mediation, and invoke her in their straits and dangers as their Mother of Mercy, the Advocate, Hope, and Refuge of sinners, Consoler of the Afflicted, and Help of Christians.

In thus developing the primitive idea of Mary as the Second Eve, we have given the sum of all those titles and prerogatives which have at any time furnished matter for the Church's explicit doctrinal teaching on Our Blessed Lady, and been the ground of that veneration and devotion which the faithful have shown to Mary in every age.

We purpose in succeeding chapters to dwell more at length on the several points contained in this summary, and to illustrate their recognition and place in the early Church by quotations from the Fathers of the first six centuries.

Besides those which we now append on Mary as the Second Eve many others bearing on this point will be found in the course of our work.

Besides the passages already cited from S. Justin, S. Irenaeus, and Tertullian, we give the following from other Fathers.

The Author of the Epistle to Diognetus.

After likening the Church to the garden of paradise, the writer goes on to say:

"Here are goods wherewith the Serpent meddles not, wherein error has no part. Here no Eve is seduced; but a Virgin shows her faith (πιστεύεται)."²⁰

S. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch.

"Since this Eve was deceived of old by the serpent, and became the beginner of sin, the evil-working demon who is also called Satan, who then spoke to her through the serpent, and who works even until now in those men that are influenced by him, calls on her as Eve. Now the devil is also called the dragon from his having revolted (ἀποστῆναι) from God. For he was at first an angel."²¹

Origen.

"Before John Elisabeth prophesies; before our Lord and Saviour's birth Mary prophesies. And just as sin began from a woman, and then found its way even to man: so too the beginning of salvation had its origin from women, that the rest of women laying aside the weakness of their sex might imitate the life and conversation of these blessed women."²²

"It behoved me (Elisabeth) to come to thee, for thou art above all other women blessed; thou the Mother of my Lord, thou my Lady, who bearest the undoing of the curse."²³

S. Gregory Thaumaturgus.

"Meekly then did grace make election of the pure Mary alone out of all generations. For truly she proved herself prudent in all things; neither has any woman been born like her in all generations. She was not like the primeval virgin Eve, who, keeping holiday (χορεύσασα) alone in paradise with thoughtless mind, hearkened unguardedly to the word of the serpent, the author of all evil, and thus became depraved in the thoughts of her mind; and, through that deceiver discharging his poison and infusing death with it, brought it into the whole world. From this source, it was, has arisen all the trouble of the saints. But in the holy Virgin is the fall of that (first mother) repaired."²⁴

"Hail, thou full of grace! Be not ashamed, as if thou wert the cause of our condemnation. For thou art made the Mother of Him who is at once our Judge and our Redeemer. Hail, thou stainless Mother of the Bridegroom of a world bereft! Hail, thou that hast sunk in thy womb the death (that came) of the mother (Eve)! Hail, thou equal home of heaven and earth alike. Hail, thou amplest receptacle of the illimitable nature."²⁵

S. Cyril of Jerusalem.

"Since through Eve, a virgin, came death, it behoved that through a Virgin, or rather from a Virgin, should life appear. That as the Serpent had deceived the one, so Gabriel might bring good tidings to the other."²⁶

"Eve being born from Adam's side without a mother, Jesus Christ was born from His Mother without father. For the female sex owed a debt to man; and this Mary paid by giving birth to Jesus Christ of herself alone, by the Holy Ghost, through the power of God."²⁷

S. Gregory of Nyssa.

"The woman hath made an excuse for the woman. . . . The one through the wood brought in sin: the other through the wood brought in against it a blessing."²⁸

S. Amphilochius.

"By a Virgin has the world been set free, which had of old through a virgin fallen under sin."²⁹

S. Ephrem.

"Brethren, sons of Eve, let us listen to the fall of our first Mother, a fall which Mary repaired. . . . Through Eve the beautiful and desirable glory of man was extinguished; but through Mary it has revived."³⁰

"The foolish mother is the fountain of our miseries, but her prudent sister is the treasury of our joys."³¹

"Adam by means of the new Eve entered again into paradise."³²

"It is plain that Mary is the gate of life, because by her the world and its inhabitants have been illumined, who had been darkened by Eve the cause of all evils. They are like to a body, one eye of which is blind and darksome, and the other pure and luminous, enlightening all things. So, to the world are affixed two eyes: Eve the blind eye, the left; whilst Mary is the eye full of light, the right. . . . The eye is by the light made bright at the access thereof, and gains splendour by its means, and fairness by its rising, and brilliance by its brilliancy, and comeliness by its beauteousness. Mary is typified by the eye. Light dwelt within her and purified her thoughts and cleared her virginity. The river that baptised Him was again a type of His Conception; the soft womb of the water conceived Him in purity, and brought Him forth in brilliancy, and raised Him up in glory. In the pure bosom mayest thou learn of the daughter of our race, who conceived without man, and brought forth without seed, and brought up by the Gift the Lord of the Gift. The rising was in His river, the brightness in His sepulchre, and the rays He gave out on the top of the Mount; and His rising light, in the womb; and He glistened, in His lifting up, and was bright, in His Ascension. Brightness did Moses put on; he was clad with Him from without. The river wherein He was baptised put on brightness from within. The body in which He dwelt was made brilliant from within, as Moses was from the glory."³³

"Thou dost not hide thyself in thy bareness, Pearl! With the love of thee is the merchant ravished also, for he strippeth off his garment, not to cover thee, seeing thy clothing is thy light, thy garment is thy brightness, O thou that art bared! Thou art like Eve who was clothed with nakedness. Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her and left her. The serpent cannot strip off thy glory. In the mysteries that thou typifiest, women are clothed with light in Eden."³⁴

"Travail Adam on the woman brought that from him had come forth. She to-day her travail ransomed, who to us a Saviour bare. To Eve our mother birth a man gave, who had no birth himself. How much more should Eve's daughter be believed to have borne a Child without a man. The virgin earth, she bare that Adam that was head over the earth. The Virgin bare to-day the Adam that was head over the heavens. The staff of Aaron it budded, and the dry wood yielded fruit. Its mystery is cleared up to-day, for virgin womb a Child hath borne."³⁵

"With the weapon of the deceiver, the First-born clad Himself, that with the weapon that killed, He might restore to life again. With the tree wherewith He slew us, He delivered us. With the wine which maddened us, with it were we made chaste. With the rib that was drawn out of Adam (i.e. Eve), the wicked one drew out the heart of Adam. There arose from the Rib (i.e. Mary) a hidden power, which cut off Satan as Dagon: for in that Ark (Mary again) a Book was written that cried and proclaimed concerning the Conqueror."³⁶

"Eve with that vile and worthless serpent was not minded, glorious as she was, to turn his words back upon him; although his words were very questionable, and should have been fused in the assay furnace. As she had splendour, he had vileness. Marvel we at Mary, who questioned even the great Angel, and dreaded not; who asked him, and feared not. Eve was not minded to question even the vile serpent that had no feet: the Virgin answered Gabriel. Mary did not question in order to pry into the Son of the Living One. It was about a mortal that she asked, since none knew her. Mary asked about things easy to the True One: Eve received all manner of difficulties of a promiser. The mother of no discretion is the fountain of our troubles; and the Sister of understanding is the store-house of our joys. The serpent, who ought to have been questioned, was not pried into, and Christ, who ought to be believed, is pried into."³⁷

"In her virginity Eve put on the leaves of shame. Thy Mother put on in her virginity the garment of Glory that sufficeth for all. She gave the little vest of the Body to Him that covereth all. Blessed is she in whose heart and mind Thou wast. A King's palace she was by Thee, O Son of the King, and a Holy of Holies by Thee, O High Priest. . . . Eve, again, was a nest and a cave for the accursed serpent that entered in and dwelt in her. His evil counsel became bread to her that she might become dust. Thou art our Bread, and Thou art also of our race, and our garment of glory."³⁸

"Eve lifted up her eyes from hell and rejoiced in that day, because the Son of her daughter as a medicine of life came down to raise up the mother of His Mother. Blessed Babe that bruised the head of the serpent that smote her."

"In the beginning by the sin of our first parents, death passed upon all men; to-day through Mary we are translated from death unto life. In the beginning, the serpent filled the ears of Eve, and the poison spread thence through the whole body. To-day, Mary through her ears received the Champion of eternal happiness. What, therefore, was an instrument of death, has been also one of life."³⁹

"Two women flowered in innocence and simplicity, Mary and Eve; the one was the source of our salvation, the other of our death."⁴⁰

S. Epiphanius.

"She it is who is signified by Eve, who received in figure the appellation of Mother of all living. For Eve was called Mother of the living even after having heard the words: Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, subsequent to the transgression. It is, indeed, a marvel that after the fall she had this great title given to her. True it is, according to the exterior, the whole race of man upon earth was born from this Eve; but in reality it is from Mary that Life is truly born to the world, so that by giving birth to the Living One, Mary might also become the Mother of all living. Thus then in a mystical sense Mary is called Mother of the living. Concerning these two women it was said: Who hath given to woman wisdom, or knowledge of weaving?⁴¹ Since, on the one hand, the first wise Eve devised material garments for Adam, whom she had made to be naked — for to her was given this toil. And because through her it was that the nakedness was discovered, to her it was given to clothe that body thus exposed to visible nakedness. But to Mary was it given by God to bear for us a lamb and sheep, that out of the glory of that same lamb and sheep might be wrought for us, as from a fleece, in wisdom through its virtue, a garment of immortality.

"There is, moreover, something else wonderful to contemplate here about Eve and Mary. Eve became an occasion of death to man, since through her it was that death entered into the world; but Mary an occasion of life, for through her was born to us Life, so that instead of death there might be life, to ward off that death which came by woman, through the birth of Him — once more by woman — who has thus become life to us. And as Eve in the garden whilst still a virgin fell into the sin of disobedience, so again by the Virgin came the obedience of grace, when she received the glad tidings of the coming down from heaven of the Incarnate Word and of life eternal. For there God says to the serpent: And I will put enmity between thee and between her, and between thy seed, and between her seed. But nowhere is (such) seed of woman to be found. Hence evidently to Eve mystically must be referred the enmity to her posterity, of the serpent and the devil, and that envy of his contained in the serpent."⁴²

"Eve brought ruin on God's creatures by means of the transgression: allured as she was by the serpent's speech and promise, led astray from the commandment and perverted in mind. For this cause the Lord and Saviour of all, wishing to heal the sore, build up what was fallen to ruin, and redress what was gone wrong, of a Virgin woman Himself was born, that He might banish death, supply what was wanting, and perfect what was impaired."⁴³

S. Ambrose.

"It is well to recall to mind, how from paradise the first Adam was cast forth into the desert, that thou mayest remark how the Second Adam returned to paradise. . . . From virgin earth Adam, Christ from the Virgin. . . . By the woman folly, by the Virgin wisdom. Death by the tree, life by the cross."⁴⁴

"What hast thou gained, O devil, by hiding the wood, but again to be vanquished? Mary vanquished thee when she conceived the Conqueror . . . Christ visited woman in Mary . . . Mary was visited that she might liberate Eve."⁴⁵

"As a cloud Mary rained upon the earth the grace of Christ. . . . The shower of this sacred cloud our fathers announced to us would be the world's salvation. . . . This rain quenched the appetite of Eve: this unguent wiped away the stench of hereditary error."⁴⁶

"Reflect, my children, who it was that the Lord Jesus, in coming upon earth, chose to be His Mother. When about to give salvation to the world, He came by a Virgin, and by a Virgin's childbirth He undid the woman's faults. May also your virginal integrity undo my errors. . . . Who will not call blessed . . . who will not honour the Mother of so many virgins? Who will not venerate the Court of chastity?"⁴⁷

"It is no wonder if the Lord, being about to redeem the world should begin His work with Mary; that she by whom salvation was prepared for all might herself first receive the fruit of salvation as a pledge (ex pignore)."⁴⁸

"By a woman came on trouble, by a Virgin took place salvation."⁴⁹

"But if that first man who conversed with God when in paradise could fall so easily, though created of earth that was virgin, which had at the word of God been formed and created of recent origin, and was not as yet through our flesh condemned to the curse of obnoxious heritage, how much more we," etc.⁵⁰

"But why should I speak of how great is the grace of virginity, which merited to be chosen by Christ, to be even the corporal temple of God, wherein, as we read, dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead? . . . In the Virgin Christ found what He wished to be His, what the Lord of all should assume to Himself. By a man and a woman was flesh cast forth from paradise; by a Virgin is it united to God."⁵¹

"Hear, most dearly beloved brethren, what is the mystery of the Law. The first man was from earth and heaven; the Second from heaven and earth; the latter from God and Mary, and so from earth; the former from the earth and the Spirit, and so from heaven. Yet both one and the other from a virgin, and without carnal intercourse. One from an inviolate Virgin, the other from pure unsown earth, that knew nor plough nor rain. By the first man life was lost, by the second restored. The first man lost grace received, the second with life brought back grace; the first fell by the suasion of a virgin; the second by a Virgin's childbirth raised up what lay fallen: the first by sinning brought the punishment of death, the second by suffering bestowed pardon: the first for guilt was cast forth from paradise, the second for glory was crucified by the world.

"Hence evil by woman, nay rather by woman good; for by Eve we fell, by Mary we stand: prostrated by Eve, raised up by Mary; by Eve reduced to slavery, by Mary made free. Eve took from us length of days, Mary restored to us immortality; Eve caused us to be condemned by an apple of the tree, Mary wrought our pardon by the gift of the tree; because Christ also hung upon the tree as fruit.

"As therefore we died through a tree, so by a tree are we brought to life. A tree showed us our nakedness, a tree clothed us with leaves of pardon. A tree excited the heat of sins, the tree of knowledge clad us with cooling refreshment for our sins; a tree brought forth thorns and briers, the tree of knowledge hope and salvation. . . . O mystery of the sacraments of Mary. O teaching hidden to unbelievers, and revealed to the faithful. The Immortal builds up a mortal: she brings forth the Immortal. The Incorporeal finds His place on earth, the corporeal in heaven; God is made man, but is shown to be God. All that was done by Adam is washed out by Mary. Hence happy Eve, by whom was given the occasion; yea, rather happy Mary, by whom was offered the cure; happy Eve, by whom is born the people; happier Mary, by whom was born Christ. Hence, whilst He is better to one, both indeed are glorious; for Christ would not have made Mary glad, had He not deformed the former Eve from whom too Mary was herself born: nor would He have come to the people, had she not first sinned in the world. The one is called mother of mankind, the other of salvation. Eve taught us a lesson, and Mary gave us strength. By Eve we grow, by Mary we reign: by Eve we were brought down to earth, by Mary we are raised to heaven; and with the view of briefly making plain the whole mystery of the Law, I shall show the intimate relation of these two women to one another, and with them of all: how of old Mary was in Eve, and afterwards Eve was revealed by Mary."⁵²

S. Augustine.

"Hail Mary, full of grace: Blessed art thou amongst women. In saying, Full of grace, he showed that the wrath of the first sentence was entirely removed (ex integro iram exclusam primae sententiae), and the full grace of benediction restored. In saying, Blessed art thou amongst women, he expressed what was the blessed fruit of her virginity. . . . For Eve, who once was cursed, has now, we believe, through Mary returned to the glory of benediction."⁵³

"For man's deception he was given to drink poison by woman; for man's restoration let salvation be given him to drink by woman. Let woman compensate for the sin of man through her deceived, by giving birth to Christ."⁵⁴

"Because man fell through the female sex, by the female sex was man restored. Because a Virgin had given birth to Christ, a woman announced His resurrection. By woman death, by woman life."⁵⁵

"Eve by her disobedience merited punishment; Mary by obeying obtained glory. The one through tasting what was forbidden was cursed; the other by believing was blessed."⁵⁶

"The first man, by persuasion of a virgin, fell; the Second Man, with consent of a Virgin, triumphed. By a woman the devil brought in death; by a woman the Lord brought in life. An evil angel of old seduced Eve, a good angel likewise encouraged Mary. Eve believed, so as to ruin her husband; Mary, so as to prepare her womb to be a habitation worthy of the Son of God, that Him whom she had as Lord, she might have also as Son. Eve perished by a word; to the Word likewise did Mary commit herself; and what had perished she repaired. What Eve did by her ill-believing, Mary by her good-believing blotted out. From a woman was the beginning of sin, and on her account we all die; from a woman was the beginning of faith, and on her account are we repaired unto everlasting life."⁵⁷

"It is a great sacrament that, whereas through woman death became our portion, so to us by woman life was born: that in the case of both sexes male and female, the baffled devil might be tormented, who on their overthrow had rejoiced. Since his punishment had been small, if in us both sexes had been liberated, without our being liberated by means of both."⁵⁸

"Elisabeth conceived a man, and Mary a Man — Elisabeth the mother of John, Mary the Mother of Christ — but Elisabeth one who was only a man, Mary one who was both God and Man. A marvel it is how a creature could conceive the Creator. What then are we to understand, my brethren, but that He made for Himself flesh from a Mother alone, He who made the first man without father and mother. That first man was our ruin, when the woman through whom we died, conceived in her heart the serpent's poison. For the serpent tempted to sin, and through his evil tempting obtained admission. If the first man was our ruin, when the woman conceived in her heart the serpent's poison; we should not wonder that our salvation was wrought, when a woman conceived in her womb the flesh of the Omnipotent. Both sexes had fallen; both had to be repaired. By a woman we had been given over to destruction; by a woman was salvation restored to us."⁵⁹

"Since the devil through the serpent spoke to Eve, and through the ears of Eve brought death to the world; God, through the Angel, brought the word to Mary, and thus shed life on all ages. The Angel cast the word, and the Virgin conceived Christ. . . . With this splendour is the Son of God conceived; with this purity is He generated. . . . The Physician from heaven passing through the Virgin, after His passing, caused the Virgin to remain unscathed. For He who was able to restore the dislocated bodily members in others by His touch, how much more could He not by His birth preserve inviolate in His own Mother what He found intact? For through her childbirth her corporal integrity increased rather than diminished; and her virginity was rather greatly enhanced, than impaired."⁶⁰

S. Maximus.

"Christ is born of Mary, both that the female sex might give man, and virginal integrity bring forth God. Christ is born of a woman, that as Adam was unable to provide against the devil who deceived him by means of Eve, so the devil might not discover God to be present at His coming by means of Mary. A woman therefore gives birth to the salvation of the world, that she who had shown herself an incentive to iniquity, might become a ministress of justice, and by her, through whom death opened for itself an entrance into this world, life might find access to us. And that the Creator of the human race, and of both the sexes, might show the care that He has for both sexes. A man is born and comes forth from a woman that thus we might be reminded that there is with God no distinction between man and woman in obtaining salvation. And why should we not believe with all devotion, that a Saviour Child could be born of a Virgin, since we believe that a perfect man was formed from the dust?"⁶¹

One ancient author calls Mary: "The one and only daughter of life."⁶²

And another: "The new Eve and mother of life."⁶³

S. Jerome.

"When the virgin conceived in her womb, and brought forth a Child for us . . . the curse was done away. Death by Eve, life by Mary."⁶⁴

"The plenitude of all the grace which is in Christ came to Mary, though in another way. And therefore he says: Blessed art thou amongst women, that is, more blessed than all women. And by reason of this the malediction which was infused by means of Eve, was entirely taken away by the blessing pronounced on Mary."⁶⁵

S. John Chrysostom.

"A virgin cast us forth from paradise; through a Virgin we have found eternal life. By what things we were condemned, by these same are we cured."⁶⁶

"To-day we celebrate a glorious triumph of victory. . . . Let us then all rejoice, exult, and be glad. . . . For He hath wrought all for our salvation; and by what things the devil worsted us, by these same did Christ overcome him. He took those same arms, and with them He prostrated him. And how? Listen. A virgin, wood, and death were the symbols of our defeat. For Eve was a virgin, since she had not yet known man when she was deceived. The wood was the tree. Death was the punishment pronounced on Adam. Thou seest how a virgin, wood, and death were the symbols of our defeat. Now see how these very same are the cause of our victory. Instead of Eve, Mary. Instead of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the wood of the Cross. Instead of Adam's death, the Lord's Death."⁶⁷

"What then? Is the female sex doomed to sentence of condemnation, kept in sorrows, and the bond not loosed? Christ has come, who looses the bond. She who brought forth the Lord has presented herself as advocate for the sex (ὑπὲρ τοῦ γένους ἀπολογουμένη), the holy Virgin in place of the virgin. For Eve too was a virgin when she sinned. The former loosed the sorrow and the groaning of her who was condemned. For just as when any one is called to the regal court, he is eager to confer honours on those who belong to him, and, should they be in distress, to deliver them. So the holy Virgin when called to the regal court to minister to the divine generation, and brought to an unexampled childbirth, asks this first favour, nay rather she is given it. For since it befitted not the woman under condemnation to bring forth the Innocent (τὸν ἀθῷον), he comes, who first will loose Eve's sorrow by joy. The angel comes saying to the Virgin, Hail, full of grace. Thus then by the Hail, does he loose the bond of sorrow. Hail: he has come to loose the sorrow. Hail, full of grace: because until now, subject to the curse. Pay attention here to the grace of God. Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. For whereas, with her was the serpent, in sorrow: with thee is God. And see the word of the angel, how he interprets the whole economy of Christ. Hail, full of grace. Because she received a double curse, sorrow, and childbirth in pangs, he now brings in a childbirth that will loose that childbirth: Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins.⁶⁸ The sins of thy fathers He looses, who from thee blossoms forth the fruit. Henceforth all is changed. Hitherto, those who hear of Eve bewail her: Alas for the wretched one, from what glory has she fallen! Alas for the wretched one, how greatly has she suffered! And now every day is Mary in the mouth of all called Blessed: filled, verily, is she with the Holy Ghost. Hear, in fact, what the Virgin herself in prophecy says. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid: for from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. In order thus to show that she bears the person of Eve: Me, she says, until now despised, henceforth shall all generations call Blessed. But what difference, you may ask, will it make to her, if she does not hear? Nay, but she does most certainly hear, since she is now in a place that is all light, in the land of the living, the Mother of our salvation, the source of that Light that is perceptible both sensibly and intellectually, sensibly by reason of His Flesh, intellectually by reason of His Divinity. Thus, therefore, is she proclaimed altogether Blessed. Nay even whilst still living in the flesh, she was called blessed. For she heard of her blessedness whilst still in the flesh. She it was who first saw and then tasted of the tree; she first spoke, and then heard, her blessedness. For when the Saviour was teaching, a certain woman from the crowd lifted up her voice, and said to Him in the hearing of all, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps that Thou hast sucked."⁶⁹

S. Peter Chrysologus.

In a mystical interpretation of the raising of Lazarus, John xi., the Saint says as follows:

"Christ had care of woman first, since the tempter infected her first. He banishes perfidy from woman, and restores faith to woman, that she who had wrought perdition might be also the ministress of salvation; and at length, through God she might be mother of the living, who so long, through the devil, had been mother of the dead. And since woman had been the beginning of evil, He deals with death in such wise as first to do away with the charge before granting pardon, and annul the prosecution, before pronouncing the sentence. He takes precaution too, lest man should refuse to admit woman, by whom he had been once deceived, to have her share with him in life; and so woman should perish, to the loss of many, had Christ the Lord reached man first.⁷⁰ Hence it is, brethren, that Christ is born by means of woman; hence it is that woman raises man up from the sepulchre of her womb, that with dolours she may recall him whom she made an exile of by her blandishments; and by her weeping restore whom she ruined by her eating. At last when Martha had confessed to Christ,⁷¹ and by her holy confession blotted out whatever there was of fault in the person of woman, she is sent to Mary, because without Mary neither death could be done away, nor life restored. Let Mary come, let her come hither, bearing the name of Mother, that man may know that Christ dwelt in the secret of her virginal womb, to the end that the dead might go forth from hell, that the dead might go out from the sepulchres."⁷²

"A woman received from God the leaven of faith; since a woman had received from the devil the leaven of unbelief. She hid it in three measures, that is to say, in the three periods of mankind, viz., from Adam to Noe, from Noe to Moses, from Moses to Christ; that woman, who had corrupted by the leaven of death the whole mass of mankind in Adam, might by the leaven of the resurrection repair the whole mass of our flesh in Christ; that woman, who had made bread of groans and sweat, might provide the bread of life and salvation; and might be Mother of all the living by Christ, she who was mother of all the dead in Adam. Since for this cause Christ willed to be born, that as death came to all by Eve, so life might return to all by Mary. Mary it is who fulfils the type of this leaven, sets off the parable, and verifies the figure; in that she received from on high the leaven of the Word, and in her virgin womb, yea in her virgin womb, brought together into a one whole (in massam) His human flesh."

What the holy doctor goes on to say illustrates a later chapter of this work, Mary and the Church, but we give it here in order not to separate it from its context:

"Let us now show another allegorical meaning of this parable. The woman who took the leaven is the Church: the leaven she received is the mystery of heavenly doctrine: the three measures in which she is said to have hid the leaven are the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel," etc.⁷³

"Blessed art thou amongst women: for amongst women, on whose womb Eve, who was cursed, brought punishment, Mary being blest, rejoices, is honoured, and looked up to. And now through grace is truly made mother of the living, woman, who had been by nature mother of the dying. . . . Heaven feels awe of God, angels tremble at Him, the creature sustains Him not, nature sufficeth not, and yet one maiden so takes, receives, entertains Him as a guest within her bosom, that, for the very hire of her home, and as the price of her womb, she asks, she obtains peace for the earth, glory for the heavens, salvation for the lost, life for the dead, a heavenly parentage for the earth-born, and the union of God Himself with human flesh."⁷⁴

"The good Shepherd, the kind Shepherd, who had put in one sheep, that is to say, in Adam, the whole flock of mankind, set this sheep amidst the delights of paradise, in the region of living pasture. But it forgot the Shepherd's voice, through giving ear to the howling of wolves; it lost the salutary fold, and was all-wounded with deadly wounds. Christ, then, coming into the world to seek it found it in the Virgin's womb."⁷⁵

"Let the woman haste hither, for the woman shows not the tree of death, but brings forth the tree of life: the virgins . . . the mothers also, for the Virgin Mother has amended the tree of disobedience by the tree of life. The female sex is no longer in execration, for it has obtained whereby it shall surpass even the angels in glory. Eve has been healed . . . and Mary is venerated (adored), because she has become mother and handmaid, cloud and chamber, and ark of the Lord. . . . For this cause let us say to her: Blessed art thou amongst women, who alone hast healed the grief of Eve; who alone hast borne the world's price."⁷⁶

S. Proclus.

"Have we then to fight with a second Eve? Must we range our hosts against an immaculate woman?"⁷⁷

S. Eleutherius Tornacensis.

"By Eve death came into the world, but by Mary is lost life restored. After the Virgin conceived Christ in her womb, Virgin she brought forth the Light that enlightens every man who comes into this world."⁷⁸



Footnotes

1. Tryph. 100.
2. The words of the Latin version, "habens praedestinatum virum," might also be rendered, "having the predestined Man."
3. Matt. xix. 30, xx. 16.
4. Ps. xliv. 17.
5. Apoc. i. 5.
6. 1 Cor. xv. 20-22.
7. Haer. iii. 22, 34.
8. Or, according to the other interpretation, in union with the predestined Man.
9. See the note in loc. Migne.
10. Haer. v. 19. See S. Augustine's text of the passage. Contr. Jul. Pel. i. 5.
11. Or, it might be interpreted: Were not the Man he is speaking of the true standard whereby to judge of the earthly one.
12. De Carne Christi, 17. Patr. Lat. Tom. 2, p. 782.
13. Rom. v. 12-19; 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45-49.
14. Heb. v. 9.
15. Apoc. xii.
16. See Ps. ii. 8, 9.
17. Haer. iii. 3.
18. Jesus and Mary hold a similar place in the re-creation of the human family (only how much more sublime) to that which Adam and Eve held in its creation. . . . Eve was, so to say, second in the order of God's designs. She was created to be a helpmate for Adam. Mary, too, was elected second in the order of grace. She was created to be a handmaiden to Jesus in His Incarnation. Eve was the first to fall, Mary was the first to rise. The fall of Eve, if it had not drawn along with it the fall of Adam too, would have had no effect in the rest of her race. They would not have thereby forfeited the sanctifying grace and original justice, which God had promised. So in like manner, the personal immunity of Mary from original sin would have been of no service to the fallen children of Adam, had it not also entailed with it the Incarnation of the Word and the Nativity of the Redeemer. The first Adam was the head and representative of man, upright; and his fall was the fall of all his progeny. His sin was vicarious; and the universal stain was its consequence. The Second Adam was the Supreme Head and Representative of man fallen. His Passion, Death, Merits, Resurrection, Ascension, were the passion, death, merits, resurrection, and ascension of all. His abundant Satisfaction — His obedience unto death — was vicarious. And man's reconciliation with God, and restoration to grace, were the joyful result. We may then surely affirm that, as without Adam there would have been no Eve; so in like manner, but for Christ Our Lord, there would have been no Mary. Her predestination is the consequence of His. She is, of a truth, like the moon; for while she affectionately girdles the earth, shining upon it during the long night of its exile from God; yet her pure, tranquillising light is a simple reflection of the Sun, whose rising on the morning of the Resurrection will be our Light and Life during the endless days of our Bliss. — Fr. Harper, Peace through the Truth, 1st series, p. 235.
19. Gen. iii. 20.
20. Ep. ad Diognet. in fin. P. Gr. Tom. 2, p. 1185. The passage is obscure and probably corrupt; but the comparison of the Church to Paradise, and the allusion to Mary, are plain. For an analogous use of the passive of πιστεύω, see S. Justin, Apol. 2, 10. The two last chapters of the Epistle are, however, held by many critics to be doubtfully genuine, though of the same early period.
21. Ad Autolycum. L. ii. 28. Tom. 6, p. 1097. We have quoted this passage, because it identifies the dragon in the Apocalyptic vision (Apoc. xii.) with the serpent in paradise, and consequently also the woman who should be Mother of the promised Seed in Genesis with the woman who brought forth the Man-child in the Apocalypse.
22. In Luc. Hom. vii. Tom. 13, p. 1819.
23. Fragment. in Luc. Ib. p. 1902.
24. Hom. I. in B. M. V. Int. Opp. S. Greg. Thaum. Patr. Gr. Tom. 20, p. 120.
25. Hom. III. in B. M. V. Ib. pp. 139-142. These Homilies are of doubtful genuineness.
26. Catech. xii. 15. Patr. Gr. Tom. 33, p. 741.
27. Ib. 29, p. 761.
28. Opp. vol. iii. p. 352 b, ap. Morris, Select Works of S. Ephrem, p. 36.
29. Orat. in Occurs. Dom. P. G. Tom. 34, p. 57.
30. Opp. Syr. ii. p. 318.
31. Ib. p. 321.
32. Ib. p. 326.
33. Ib. p. 328, Morris, p. 86, n.f.
34. "That is," explains Fr. Morris, "with the mysteries, typified in the pearl, women are clothed with light at Baptism, and have the robe of righteousness, which was lost through Eve, have Him who is Light, and are restored to Paradise." — The Pearl, Rhythm iii. Morris, p. 92. "Upon Genesis (p. 27 c.) S. Ephrem notices how Adam, when in paradise, had a brightness like to Moses, to overcome the creatures; and at p. 31 f. that Eve after sin was not immediately stripped of this glory, that Adam's faith might be tried also, and that he might not be frightened at seeing her countenance fallen." R 51, note y.
35. In Nat. Dom. Serm. i. 396, Morris, p. 2.
36. Ib. Serm. iii. Morris, p. 20.
37. Ib. p. 321 c. Morris, p. 396.
38. Ib. p. 430. Morris, Rhythm xii. p. 53.
39. Serm. de laud. Mariae. i. Opp. Gr. et Lat. iii. p. 607.
40. In Genes. T. 5. Op. p. 327. Ap. Malou, L'Immaculée Conception. T. ii. p. 21, ed. 1867.
41. Job xxxviii. 36. An ancient Greek rendering of the text, quite different from that of the Vulgate.
42. Haer. 78, n. 19. Patr. Gr. Tom. 42, p. 728.
43. Haer. 69, 9.
44. Exposit. in Luc. Lib. iv. n. 7.
45. De obitu Theodosii, n. 44-46.
46. De Instit. Virg. xiii. 81-84.
47. Exhortatio Virginitatis, cap. iv. 26, 27.
48. In Luc. iii. 17, P. L. Tom. 17, p. 1640.
49. Ep. 42, 3.
50. Ep. 45.
51. Ep. 63, n. 33.
52. Sermo xlv. De primo Adam et Secundo. Int. opp. S. Ambros. Its author is unknown.
53. Serm. 123, 2, De Natali Domini, vii. Int. opp. S. Augustini, Appendix.
54. Serm. 51 (al. De divers. 63), c. 2. P. L. Tom. 57, p. 335.
55. Serm. 232 (al. De tempore, 44), cap. 2. Ib. p. 1108.
56. Serm. 10, In Natal. Dom. iii.
57. Serm. 28, In Nat. Dom. xx. See also xxi. and xxvi.
58. De Agon. Christi, c. 24.
59. Serm. 289. In Nat. Joan. Bapt., iii. 2.
60. Serm. 123. In Nat. Dom. vii. 1. Append.
61. Hom. De Nativ. Dom. xv. Patr. Lat. Tom. 57, p. 253. See also Serm. liii. pp. 638-640 and Serm. xi. and xii. int. Opp. Append, pp. 864-869.
62. Epist. ad Paul. Samos. attributed to S. Dionysius of Alexandria.
63. Serm. de Annunt. Deip. int. Opp. S. Athanasii.
64. Ep. 22, ad Eustoch. 21.
65. De Assump. B. M. V. Int. Opp. S. Hieron.
66. Exposit. in Ps. xliv. P. G. Opp. Tom. 5, p. 193.
67. Hom. in S. Pasch. ii. Tom. 52, p. 767.
68. Luke i. 28, 31. Matt. i. 21.
69. De Mundi Creatore, Orat. vi. 10. Int. Opp. S. Chrysost. Tom. vi. p. 497, Migne. It is considered certain that the author of this treatise was Severianus, Bishop of Gabala, in Syria, at one time the friend, afterwards the adversary of S. Chrysostom.
70. "Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, restored what was lost, in the same order wherein it had fallen. Woman fell by sin before man; it was therefore fitting that woman should be restored before man. S. Augustine says: 'The commandment from the Lord was by Adam, and thence to woman; but sin from the devil was by woman, and thence to man' (De Gen. ad lit. L. ii. c. 54), and again: 'The penalty was given first to woman, and then to man' (c. 37). So, if the Redeemer had come to man before woman, the woman would have remained on in her sick state, and the wonted order of reparation would not have been kept. Or at any rate man in displeasure might have refused to have as partner, in the life acquired by divine reparation, her whom he had experienced to be the source of evil unto death. . . . But how, thou askest, or when did Christ come first to woman before man? When through the aforeseen merits of Christ who was to come, the Eternal Word chose for Himself the Blessed Virgin for His Mother, and made her exempt from all stain of sin. Or then, it was, Christ the Lord came to the woman, when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God. For then the Blessed Virgin was earnestly praying to God, that He would come down to redeem the human race, as He had promised by the Prophets." etc. (Nota in loc. ap. Migne.)
71. i.e. Confessed His Divinity.
72. Serm. 64, T. 52, p. 380. Patr. Lat. Migne.
73. Serm. 99, Ib. p. 478 sq.
74. Serm. 140, Ib. p. 576. See especially Serm. 117, p. 520.
75. Serm. 68, Ib. p. 641.
76. Orat. iv. and v. In Natal. Dom. P. G. Tom. 65, p. 710.
77. Laudat. Deip. n. 8, p. 634.
78. Serm. de Natal. Dom. Tom. 65, p. 94.