saved through “the Childbirth,” that is, the incarnation, as promised to Eve in Genesis 3:15 (see Theophylact in Migne, and Chrysostom). Eve is the referent of the phrase, “woman will be saved.” In the “pre-gospel” (Protoevangelium) of Genesis 3:15, it was prophesied that the tempter’s temporary victory was ultimately to be thwarted. The Lord said to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”