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Once again St. Ephrem contrasting Mary and Eve.
ST. EPHREM “In the beginning, by the sin of our first parents, death passed upon all men; today, through Mary we are translated from death unto life.
In the beginning, the serpent filled the ears of Eve,
and the poison spread thence over the whole body;
today, Mary from her ears received the champion of eternal happiness:
what, therefore, was an instrument of death, was an instrument of life also.”
— St. Ephrem Opp. Syr. iii.
Listen to St. Ephrem contrast Mary and Eve yet again.
ST. EPHREM . . . Mary and Eve, two people without guilt, two simple people, were
identical. Later, however, one became our the cause of our death,
the other the cause of our life. (4)
— St. Ephrem. St. Ephrem died in 373 A.D.
Likewise Saint Epiphanius (320-403 A.D.) had this to say . . .
ST. EPIPHANIUS “She it is, who is signified by Eve, enigmatically
receiving the appellation (designation or title) of the Mother of the living . . .
. . . It was a wonder that after the fall she had this great epithet (an epithet is a term used to describe what a person does. A title.
An epithet for King Solomon would be “Wise one”).
And, according to what is material, from that Eve
all the race of man on earth is generated.
But thus in truth from Mary the Life itself was born in the world,
that Mary might bear living things, and become the Mother of living things.
Therefore, enigmatically, Mary is called the Mother of living things . . .
. . . Also, there is another thing to consider as to these women,
and wonderful, as to Eve and Mary.
Eve became a cause of death to men …
and Mary a cause of life; … that life might be instead of death,
life excluding death which came from the woman, viz (viz = power, strength, life).
He who through the woman has become our life.”
St. Epiphanius Adv. Haer. 78. 18.
St. Jerome (331-420) summarizes a contrast of Mary and Eve this way . . .
ST. JEROME “Death by Eve, life by Mary.”
— St. Jerome Ep. xxii. 21, ad Eustoch.
St. Augustine (354-430) echoed these same contrasts also seeing Mary as the NEW Eve . . .
**
ST. AUGUSTINE** “By a woman death, by a woman life” (Opp. t. v. Serm. 232);
Elsewhere St. Augustine enlarges on the idea of The Blessed Virgin Mary as the New Eve. In one place he quotes St. Irenaeus’s words as cited further above (in adv. Julian i. n. 5).
In another he speaks as follows:
ST. AUGUSTINE “It is a great sacrament that, whereas through woman death became our portion, so life was born to us by woman; that, in the case of both sexes, male and female, the baffled devil should be tormented, when on the overthrow of both sexes he was rejoicing; whose punishment had been small, if both sexes had been liberated in us, without our being liberated through both.”
— St. Augustine. Opp. t. vi. De Agon. Christ. c.24.
But wait! There’s more!
St. Peter Chrysologus (400-450 A.D.), Bishop of Ravenna, also teaches us the same thing . . . .
ST. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS “Blessed art thou among women; for among women, on whose womb Eve, who was cursed, brought punishment,
Mary, being blest, rejoices, is honoured, and is looked up to.
And woman now is truly made through grace the Mother of the living,
who had been by nature the 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 breast, 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 earthly,
the union of God Himself with human flesh.”
— St. Peter Chrysologus Serm. 140.
Monsignor Matthew Smith sums this whole concept up nicely showing the continuity of the ancient Church and the contemporary Church (via Cardinal Newman) concerning Mary as the New Eve.
QUOTE:
Cardinal John Henry Newman in his Difficulties of Anglicans, vol. ii, page 36, calls attention to the fact that the Apostolic Fathers do not speak of the Blessed Virgin merely as a physical instrument of Our Lord’s taking flesh, but as an intelligent, responsible cause of it; her faith and obedience being accessories to the Incarnation. As Eve failed in these virtues and thereby brought on the fall of the race in Adam, so Mary by means of the same had a part in its restoration. The Cardinal has shown that Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Irenaeus represented distinct parts of the Church, geographically. Each taught that Mary is the second Eve. We must admit, therefore, that the doctrine that she was given a place in the plan of salvation comparable to that which Eve held in the fall of the human race was widespread throughout the earliest Church .
Quote from Unspotted Mirror of God By Monsignor Matthew Smith. Register College of Journalism, Denver Colorado, 1943. P. 131.
There are other quotes as Mary being the New Eve too, but you get the idea. Mary is the new Eve, whether implicitly stated or explicitly stated. All of these Ancient Church Fathers saw this. None denied it.
Incidentally. The fact that the Blessed Virgin is the New Eve is another reason WHY you would expect the Blessed Virgin Mary to be brought into the world preserved by God from the stain of sin (as Origen alluded to earlier).
If EVE was brought into the world without sin (and she was), how much MORE would you expect the Blessed Virgin Mary (the New Eve) to be brought in the world free from the contagion of sin?
ST. EPHREM “In the beginning, by the sin of our first parents, death passed upon all men; today, through Mary we are translated from death unto life.
In the beginning, the serpent filled the ears of Eve,
and the poison spread thence over the whole body;
today, Mary from her ears received the champion of eternal happiness:
what, therefore, was an instrument of death, was an instrument of life also.”
— St. Ephrem Opp. Syr. iii.
Listen to St. Ephrem contrast Mary and Eve yet again.
ST. EPHREM . . . Mary and Eve, two people without guilt, two simple people, were
identical. Later, however, one became our the cause of our death,
the other the cause of our life. (4)
— St. Ephrem. St. Ephrem died in 373 A.D.
Likewise Saint Epiphanius (320-403 A.D.) had this to say . . .
ST. EPIPHANIUS “She it is, who is signified by Eve, enigmatically
receiving the appellation (designation or title) of the Mother of the living . . .
. . . It was a wonder that after the fall she had this great epithet (an epithet is a term used to describe what a person does. A title.
An epithet for King Solomon would be “Wise one”).
And, according to what is material, from that Eve
all the race of man on earth is generated.
But thus in truth from Mary the Life itself was born in the world,
that Mary might bear living things, and become the Mother of living things.
Therefore, enigmatically, Mary is called the Mother of living things . . .
. . . Also, there is another thing to consider as to these women,
and wonderful, as to Eve and Mary.
Eve became a cause of death to men …
and Mary a cause of life; … that life might be instead of death,
life excluding death which came from the woman, viz (viz = power, strength, life).
He who through the woman has become our life.”
St. Epiphanius Adv. Haer. 78. 18.
St. Jerome (331-420) summarizes a contrast of Mary and Eve this way . . .
ST. JEROME “Death by Eve, life by Mary.”
— St. Jerome Ep. xxii. 21, ad Eustoch.
St. Augustine (354-430) echoed these same contrasts also seeing Mary as the NEW Eve . . .
**
ST. AUGUSTINE** “By a woman death, by a woman life” (Opp. t. v. Serm. 232);
Elsewhere St. Augustine enlarges on the idea of The Blessed Virgin Mary as the New Eve. In one place he quotes St. Irenaeus’s words as cited further above (in adv. Julian i. n. 5).
In another he speaks as follows:
ST. AUGUSTINE “It is a great sacrament that, whereas through woman death became our portion, so life was born to us by woman; that, in the case of both sexes, male and female, the baffled devil should be tormented, when on the overthrow of both sexes he was rejoicing; whose punishment had been small, if both sexes had been liberated in us, without our being liberated through both.”
— St. Augustine. Opp. t. vi. De Agon. Christ. c.24.
But wait! There’s more!
St. Peter Chrysologus (400-450 A.D.), Bishop of Ravenna, also teaches us the same thing . . . .
ST. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS “Blessed art thou among women; for among women, on whose womb Eve, who was cursed, brought punishment,
Mary, being blest, rejoices, is honoured, and is looked up to.
And woman now is truly made through grace the Mother of the living,
who had been by nature the 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 breast, 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 earthly,
the union of God Himself with human flesh.”
— St. Peter Chrysologus Serm. 140.
Monsignor Matthew Smith sums this whole concept up nicely showing the continuity of the ancient Church and the contemporary Church (via Cardinal Newman) concerning Mary as the New Eve.
QUOTE:
Cardinal John Henry Newman in his Difficulties of Anglicans, vol. ii, page 36, calls attention to the fact that the Apostolic Fathers do not speak of the Blessed Virgin merely as a physical instrument of Our Lord’s taking flesh, but as an intelligent, responsible cause of it; her faith and obedience being accessories to the Incarnation. As Eve failed in these virtues and thereby brought on the fall of the race in Adam, so Mary by means of the same had a part in its restoration. The Cardinal has shown that Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Irenaeus represented distinct parts of the Church, geographically. Each taught that Mary is the second Eve. We must admit, therefore, that the doctrine that she was given a place in the plan of salvation comparable to that which Eve held in the fall of the human race was widespread throughout the earliest Church .
Quote from Unspotted Mirror of God By Monsignor Matthew Smith. Register College of Journalism, Denver Colorado, 1943. P. 131.
There are other quotes as Mary being the New Eve too, but you get the idea. Mary is the new Eve, whether implicitly stated or explicitly stated. All of these Ancient Church Fathers saw this. None denied it.
Incidentally. The fact that the Blessed Virgin is the New Eve is another reason WHY you would expect the Blessed Virgin Mary to be brought into the world preserved by God from the stain of sin (as Origen alluded to earlier).
If EVE was brought into the world without sin (and she was), how much MORE would you expect the Blessed Virgin Mary (the New Eve) to be brought in the world free from the contagion of sin?
