Friday, December 31, 2021

How Mary is the New Eve in Ephrem’s Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron

 

[Humanity] had been held by involuntary bonds undeservedly, for its wounds were undeserved. [Adam] had not sinned against Satan who struck him, just as he had not given anything to the Benefactor who healed him. Samson killed many with the jawbone of an ass, but the serpent killed the entire human race through Eve. Our Lord therefore took up these [same] arms with which the adversary had been victorious, and the world condemned. He came down into the combat, and in the flesh which [he had received] from a woman, conquered the world. Conquered, the adversary was condemned. (Saint Ephrem's Commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron: An English Translation of Chester Beatty Syriac MS 709 with Introduction and Notes I §1 [trans. Carmel McCarthy; Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement 2; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993, 2000], 40)

 

{[Simeon] also said, In a sign of contradiction, and in your soul itself, for many heretics have expressed different opinions on this matter. Some say that he assumed a body incapable of suffering, and others that he did not accomplish his role as guide in a true body. Some say of [his] body that it was terrestrial, while others say that it was celestial. Some affirm [that he existed] before the world, while others say that his beginning was in Mary. [Simeon] said likewise, You will remove the sword. [The sword], which was protecting Paradise because of Eve, was removed by Mary. (Saint Ephrem's Commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron: An English Translation of Chester Beatty Syriac MS 709 with Introduction and Notes II §17 [trans. Carmel McCarthy; Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement 2; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993, 2000], 67-68)