Mary, Eve's Advocate

+St. Irenaeus
c. 177 A.D.
Against Heresies

For as Eve was seduced by the word of an angel to avoid God after she had disobeyed his word, so Mary, by the word of an angel, had the glad tidings delivered to her that she might bear God, obeying his word. And whereas the former had disobeyed God, yet the latter was persuaded to obey God in order that the Virgin Mary might be the advocate of the virgin Eve. And as the human race was sentenced to death by means of a virgin, it is set aright by means of a virgin. The balance is restored to equilibrium: a virgin's disobedience is saved by a virgin's obedience. For while the sin of the first man was emended by the correction of the First-born, the guile of the serpent was overcome by the simplicity of the dove [Mary], and we were set free from those chains by which we had been bound to death.

Unknown

Author

AB-Philosophy undergraduate at Notre Dame of Marbel University.