The Lament of Eve
By Johanna Manley
If you learned to appreciate the Holy Fathers in The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox and in Grace for Grace: The Psalter and the Holy Fathers, you will want to read The Lament of Eve. This book offers a compunctionate Lament by our ancestress, Eve, directed to her progeny in her old age. The Lament is entirely based upon commentary by early Church Fathers on sections of the Book of Genesis, Chapters 1 through 5 (Septuagint).
A Prologue provides commentary from Sts Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzus, Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, Didymus the Blind, Irenaeus and others. The Lament of Eve follows in simple style for easy rending and presentation for both elementary and advanced Bible Study. Annotations key the more significant statements to their patristic sources. Many surprising and thought-provoking insights are included to spark lively discussions at spiritual retreats and Lenten get-togethers on:
• The creation and dignity of men and women;
• The image and likeness of God and theosis;
• Mankind's stewardship of the earth;
• Propagation before and after the Fall;
• The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;
• The fall, the reasons for the expulsion from Paradise and the sentence of mortality;
• The offerings of Cain and Abel;
• God's love and providence and His primacy in our lives;
• The new generations starting with Seth;
• The disappearance of Enoch.
An Epilogue in three inspiring parts develops the themes of love, hope, salvation, resurrection, restoration and theosis through Christ.
