New Eve
title of Mary
The New Eve (Latin: Nova Eva) is a devotional title for Mary, the mother of Jesus. Since the second century, numerous Eastern and Western Church Fathers have expressed this doctrinal idea of the new Eve as an analogy to the biblical concept of the New Adam in Jesus. The belief that Mary has a unique and necessary participation in the economy of salvation is expressed in the doctrine, particularly her faith at the annunciation of the archangel Gabriel, which facilitates the incarnation of Jesus Christ and human redemption.
Early Church period
The Early Church Fathers looked to Paul's Letter to the Galatians 4:4-5: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption", and related this to the woman spoken of in the Protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel." The church father Irenaeus of Lyons in his Against Heresies (5.21.1), followed by several other fathers of the church, interpreted the verse as a reference to Christ.
Justin Martyr was among the first to draw a parallel between Eve and Mary. This derives from his comparison of Adam and Jesus. In his Dialogue with Trypho, written sometime between 155–167, he explains:He became man by the Virgin, in order that the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, 'Be it unto me according to thy word." And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him.
Irenaeus, bishop of Lugdunum, also takes this up in Against Heresies, written about the year 182:In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word.' Luke 1:38 But Eve was disobedient, for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin ...
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