Augustine of Hippo : Note that the name Cain means "ownership," which explains what was said at the time of his birth by his father or mother: "I have come into possession of a man through God." — City of God 15.17 Bede : Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying: I have acquired a man through God. Henceforth, after the delights of paradise and the guilt of the first transgression, the events of this world and mortal life are narrated, when the first-created, who had been made immortal, after receiving the condition of dying, began to generate mortal offspring from themselves, all conceived in iniquity and brought forth from the womb in sins. Cain is interpreted as possession, the reason for which name the mother herself explained when she said: I have acquired a man through God. And with this statement, our mother now teaches us with catholic discernment that although she bore a son subject to the sin of her transgression, nonetheless this which was born a man, that is, which possessed a soul and body, was a gift of divine creation and the first blessing. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Jerome : (Chapter 4, Verse 1) And she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have gained a man from God. Cain, meaning acquisition or possession, is interpreted as κτῆσις in Greek, and expressing its etymology, it is said, Canithi, meaning possession of a man from God. (Ver. 4.) And God looked upon Abel and upon his offerings: but upon Cain and his offerings he did not look. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So Cain knew that God had accepted his brother's offerings and rejected his own, unless that interpretation which Theodotion has given is true. And the Lord was angry with Abel and his offering: but with Cain and his offering he was not angry. But fire used to come from heaven to devour the sacrifice: and we read of it in the dedication of the temple under Solomon, and when Elijah built an altar on Mount Carmel (2 Chronicles 7:1; 1 Kings 18:38). — Hebrew Questions on Genesis John Chrysostom : After his disobedience, after their loss of the garden, then it was that the practice of intercourse had its beginning. You see, before their disobedience they followed a life like that of angels, and there was not mention of intercourse. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 18.12 John Chrysostom : "Now, Adam had intercourse with his wife Eve." Consider when this happened. After their disobedience, after their loss of the garden, then it was that the practice of intercourse had its beginning. You see, before their disobedience they followed a life like that of the angels, and there was no mention of intercourse. How could there be, when they were not subject to the needs of the body? So, at the outset and from the beginning the practice of virginity was in force, but when through their indifference disobedience came on the scene and the ways of sin were opened, virginity took its leave for the reason that they had proved unworthy of such a degree of good things, and in its place the practice of intercourse took over for the future. Accordingly, consider, I ask you, dearly beloved, how great the esteem of virginity, how elevated and important a thing it is, surpassing human nature and requiring assistance from on high. I mean, for proof that those who practice virginity with enthusiasm demonstrate in the body the characteristics of incorporeal powers, listen to the words of Christ to the Sadducees: when they were discussing the question of resurrection and wanted to learn his view, they asked, "Master, there were seven brothers of our acquaintance. The eldest married and died without children, leaving his wife to his brother. The second died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother; likewise with the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. So at the resurrection to which of the seven will the wife belong? After all, she belonged to them all." So what reply did Christ make to them? "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God: at the resurrection, far from marrying or being given in marriage, they will be like angels." Do you see how those who have followed the vocation to virginity for the love of Christ imitate the life of angels through treading the earth and being clad in a body? I mean, the greater and more elevated the task, so much and even greater the laurels, the rewards and the good things promised to those who give evidence of the practice of good works along with this vocation. "Now, Adam had intercourse with his wife Eve," the text says, "and she conceived and gave birth to Cain." Since sin had come on the scene through the act of disobedience, and the sentence had the effect of making them liable to death, for the future God in his inventiveness arranged for the continuance of the human race according to his wisdom by allowing for the propagation of the race through intercourse. "She said, 'I have gained a human being, thanks to God.'" See how the imposition of the punishment brought the woman to her senses? She attributes the child she bore not to a natural process but to God, and displays her own gratitude. Do you see how the punishment proved an occasion of admonition to them? The text says, remember, "'I have gained a human being, thanks to God." ' It was not nature, she is saying, that presented me with the child; instead, grace from above has given him to me. Symeon the New Theologian : Since Adam had been blinded in the eyes of his soul and had fallen from the life imperishable, he began to look with his physical eyes. He turned the vision of his eyes on visible objects with affectionate desire and "knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain." Such knowledge is in reality ignorance of all goodness, for had he not first fallen from the knowledge and contemplation of God he would not have been brought down to this knowledge. — DISCOURSES 15.1 Ambrosiaster : WHY WAS THE SACRIFICE OF ABEL APPROVED OF GOD, AND THAT OF CAIN REFUSED? — One can conclude from the terms alone of this narrative that the truth of history is not veiled by any literary artifice. The Holy Scripture tells us here clearly that Abel was prudent and religious, while Cain was negligent and careless, and by the same had much less religion. Abel therefore chooses the best sheep of his flock to offer them to his Creator. By offering God the first fruits of the possessions he had made, he testified of God's excellence and deep submission, he testified his feelings of respect and adoration, and acknowledged that God was the author of all things. Cain, guided by coarser sentiments, could not offer God a similar sacrifice. When he was plunged into the things of the earth, he could not raise the eyes of his soul to heaven to consider what might be worthy of his Creator, and he offered to God the most common fruits of the earth. It is in this also that the Jews lacked righteousness. For the Lord has often reproached them that they are inconsiderately charging on his altar victims even unworthy of being offered to men. "You offer me," said he, "sightless or blind victims, I will not receive them from your hands; Offer them to your master or chief if they please him. (Mal. 1:8)” Everyone agrees, indeed, that one must offer what is most excellent to a person of higher dignity. The Lord therefore rejected Cain's gifts and said to him, Why are you angry and why is your face sad? If you do your offering with righteousness, but you do not have it in the choice of your gifts, you sin. Stay at rest. Your offering comes to you and you are the master of it. (Gen. 4:6). You see that it was the choice of the gift which rendered it, usable. He was not able to discern what was worthy of God, and reserved the best fruits for his use. It is not therefore the offering he has made that God reproaches Cain, but the unworthy presents he offers him. And he is not even condemned for this fact, but because in spite of this warning he would not correct his conduct. "This offering comes to you, and you are the master of it, (ibid., 7), that is, those gifts that I reject become your property again. He wants to teach him what to do in the future. Cain conceived a violent jealousy against his brother. This man of iniquity put to death the first righteous man, and thus gave men the example of crime. In fact, this profound jealousy blinded him to the point that not only did he not give thanks to God, who, far from punishing him as guilty, taught him to correct his conduct, but that he fell into a far more enormous crime which attracted his just condemnation. The imprudent conduct of the Cain fratricide resembles that of that wretched servant, who, ungrateful for the forgiveness he had just received from his master, wanted to acquit his companion, and thus deserved to be condemned without excuse, and for the fault which had been forgiven him, and for his cruelty to his fellowman (Mt. 18:28). Nevertheless, Cain was not condemned at once; he was left on earth to be confounded and terrified by his crime, and to facilitate the way of repentance and forgiveness. And as he was afraid of being put to death for the crime he had committed, he said to the Lord, " My iniquity is too great for me to be forsaken; If you reject me today from the face of the earth, I will escape from all eyes, I will be wandering and groaning on earth, and whoever finds me will kill me (Gen. 4:13). Cain, afraid of the condemnation of the just Judge, fears that this abandonment of the Lord forces him to flee the eyes of men, certain that it is that he who has against him an angry God must fear to be put to death by the men. But what does the Lord answer? "It will not be so," said he, "that is to say, I will not let you go, you who do not deserve to live, that you may fall under the blows of your likes, but so that you may spend your life in groans, in fear, and in alarms, as a punishment for the evil example which you first gave on earth, and seeing that the earth does not respond by your productiveness to your labors. He , he adds, who will kill Cain will be punished seven times (Gen. 4:24). This sentence proves the justice of Cain's condemnation. When he saw this law given with that threatening sanction which forbade imitation of his criminal conduct, he knew the whole extent of the crime he had committed, and his fears increased. God threatens to punish seven times as great a punishment, so that by understanding how great the crime of Cain was before the promulgation of a positive law, he knew that he was incurring punishment seven times more severe if he was guilty of it, that is to say that knowledge of the law would add six degrees more to the punishment which Cain had deserved, and that this punishment would be literally sevenfold. This same number also represents the reward of those who have left everything to follow the Lord, and who, in addition, will receive eternal life in the other world. This is the sign that the Lord put on Cain, so that whoever would find him would not do so (ibid. 15). By virtue of this law which has been brought against the murder, every man who has committed a murder, because all murder is a homicide, would be seven times more guilty than Cain. God wanted the fear of such severe punishment to stop those who would be tempted to commit such a crime. [Questions on the Old and New Testaments, PL 35, — QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON GENESIS, Q. 127 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)