Aliens in This World

Over on my podcast, “On Divorce” by Asterius of Amasea turned out to be a paean to woman and a scolding to nasty ungrateful men (with pictures of good men and husbands also drawn as examples). Besides that, though, Father Livius’ book, and specifically that chapter on “The Second Eve” image in patristic writing, is turning out to have all kinds of anti-sexist comments in it.

St. Augustine:

“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.”

“Both sexes had fallen; both had to be repaired.”

St. Maximus:

“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.”

St. John Chrysostom:

“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….”

St. Ephrem:

“There arose from the Rib a hidden power, which cut off Satan like Dagon.”

Btw, Ephrem obviously was born to be a Scully fan:

“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… Marvel we at Mary, who questioned even the great Angel, and dreaded not; who asked him, and feared not.”