According to Irenaeus, therefore, the
procedure of redemption follows exactly the course of events of the fall of
man. For every faulty step which man took, having seduced by Satan, God exacts
from him a compensation in order to make his victory exacts the seducer complete.
Mankind receives a new progenitor in place of the first Adam. But since the
first woman was also implicated in the fall of her disobedience, the healing
process starts also by the obedience of a woman. Giving life to the New Adam, she
becomes the true Eve, the true mother of the living, and the causa salutis.
In this way Mary becomes the advocate Evae [AH 5.19.1; 4.33.11] (Johannes
Quasten, Patrology, 4 vols. [Westminster, Md.: Christian Classics, Inc.,
1992], 1:298)
