when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of
the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High God. And
she replied: ‘Be it done unto me according to thy word’.”
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3, 22, 4 (c. 180 AD)
“Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying:
‘Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.’
Eve, however, was disobedient; and when yet a Virgin, she did not obey.
So also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being
obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole
human race ... Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the
obedience of Mary. What the virgin had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary
loosed through faith.”
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 5, 19, 1 (c. 180 AD)
The Virgin Mary … being obedient to His word, received from an angel
the glad tidings that she would bear God.”
Tertullian, The Flesh of Christ 17, 5 (c. 210 AD)
“Likewise, through a Virgin, the Word of God was introduced to set up a
structure of life. Thus, what had been laid waste in ruin by this sex, was by
the same sex re-established in salvation. Eve had believed the serpent;
Mary believed Gabriel. That which the one destroyed by believing, the
other, by believing, set straight.”
St. Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin (ante 373 AD)
“O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who
is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom
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