Адам и Ева как прообраз Нового Адама и Новой Евы (по учению святителя Иринея Лионского, Тертуллиана и святителя Викторина Петавийского). К вопросу о теории рекапитуляции в раннехристианском богословии
Authors: Khandoga Nikolay A. 
Published: January 2022

The doctrine of Adam and Eve as prototypes of New Adam and New Eve (the so-called theory of recapitulation) was first encountered in the epistles of the apostle Paul. Revealing the main feature of this teaching, the supreme apostle reports that the disobedience and sin that Adam and Eve committed were corrected by New Adam and New Eve (see: Rom. 5, 14-15). As a result, instead of the death of Adam and Eve and their descendants (by bodily birth), humanity received immortality, starting with New Adam and New Eve and their descendants (by spiritual birth). Subsequently, the pre-nicene christian writers, for example, Irenaeus of Lyon, Tertullian and Victorinus of Poetovio, resorted to the doctrine of Adam and Eve as prototypes of New Adam and New Eve.

Developing the theory of recapitulation, Irenaeus of Lyon in his works — «Against heresies» and «Proof of the apostolic sermon» — used the epistles of the apostle Paul and the typological method of interpreting Holy Scripture. The saint of Lyon taught, first, that on that day (that is on friday), on which Adam was born, New Adam, or the Lord Jesus Christ, was born; secondly, on that day (that is on saturday), on which Adam violated the only commandment of God (see: Gen. 2, 16-17), the incarnate Son of God suffered. In addition, what the virgin Eve did not fulfill, being disobedient, since she ate the forbidden fruit, the Virgin Mary did, being obedient, since she gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Following tradition in the presentation of the theory of cancer-capitulation, Tertullian in his treatise «On the flesh of Christ» uses the epistles of the apostle Paul, the works of Irenaeus of Lyon and the typological-mysterious method of interpreting Holy Scripture. The first latin theologian in his work resorted to analogies: the first is an uncultivated land, that is, since the first Adam was created from an uncultivated earth — the Second Adam was also created from an uncultivated earth, or was born from the Blessed Virgin Mary; the second — the heard word, that is, because through the heard word the first Eve sinned — the second Eve also through the heard word did not sin, or became the cause of the salvation of the entire human race.

Developing the theory of recapitulation, Victorinus of Poetovio in his works — «On the сreation of the world» and «On the life of Christ» — relied on the epistles of the apostle Paul, the works of Irenaeus of Lyon and the typological method of interpreting Holy Scripture. The saint of Poetovio taught, first, that on that day (that is on friday), on which Adam was born, the incarnate Son of God was born; secondly, on that day (that is on saturday), on which Adam and Eve violated the only commandment of God (see: Gen. 2, 16-17), the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place and the Lord Jesus Christ suffered; and, thirdly, on that day (that is on the resurrection), on which God the Father and the Son of God created light, the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place, the incarnate Son of God rose from the dead and the second time He will come to earth to judge all human genus.