Genesis 2:25
And they were both naked, Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev):
Adam and Eve, until they transgressed the commandments of God, did not feel disordered sensual movements in themselves. Looking at each other, did not allow unclean thoughts within themselves. Their mind was so bright that it was not darkened by lust: their love for God was so pure that it easily removed from their hearts sensual attachment to each other. Their sexual relations were of a blameless nature, because their goal was not the satisfaction of lust, but the fulfillment of God’s blessing: be fruitful and multiply. Therefore, neither feeling anything unclean in themselves, nor suspecting each other of the unclean thoughts aroused in a sinner by looking at another’s nakedness, they had no reason to be ashamed of their nakedness. Such was the state of innocence of the first people. How long it lasted is unknown.
Fr. Dimitry Baritsky:
The sublime view of women that we find in the Bible is striking. Scripture says that God created Eve from the rib of Adam. The Hebrew word can be translated as side. So the woman is the side of a man, a facet of his being, she is of the same nature as he.
This passage reveals one of the greatest truths - man was created for communication! The fathers teach that in this way we are like God. After all, the Lord is the eternal communion of three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Man is called to the same communication with a creature similar to himself. That is why Adam, at some point in his life, acutely felt the need for another, just like him. The first woman became this other full-fledged person. So the wife is not just someone who entertains Adam at his leisure. She is the being who helps Adam become what he should become according to God’s plan, fully human. Therefore, Scripture emphasizes that man and woman complete each other. Having entered into marriage, they become one, gaining that fullness of communication to which they are called and for which they yearn.
Why has everything changed so much since then? The answer is the Fall. The one whom Scripture calls Satan, that is, the enemy, using the serpent, first seduces the wife, and then through her Adam. Together they break the commandment that the Lord gave them - they eat the forbidden fruit. The result is disaster. Everything in the world is turned upside down.
One of the most serious consequences of breaking a commandment is a change in the relationship between the two halves of a human being. If earlier, being naked, they were not ashamed of each other, because each felt the other as a continuation of themselves, now they make clothes for themselves from leaves. This is nothing more than an unconscious desire to hide from each other. Evidence that the former unity and mutual understanding is disappearing.
Now people begin to live according to the laws of the rough, animal world, in which one law reigns: whoever is stronger is right. What we would call a rigid vertical of power appears. As a more gentle creature, the wife falls under the power of her husband. Now her life is completely dependent on him: he is forced to earn food for his family by the sweat of his brow and protect her from danger. Therefore, Adam gives his wife a name only after the Fall. This is a sign of his power over her. So Eve pays for having done her part in breaking God’s commandment.
Everything changed when Christ came. It was He who gave man the strength, already here, in this life, to return to that heavenly state in which people were before their departure from God. And therefore, a full-fledged relationship between a man and a woman, the path to true unity between them is, first of all, the path of following Christ and His Church.
Saint Demetrius of Rostov:
Adam and his wife were both naked in paradise, and were not ashamed (just as small babies are not ashamed today), for they did not yet feel within themselves carnal lust, which is the beginning of shame and about which they knew nothing then. This very thing, their dispassion (Grk. apatheia) and innocence were a beautiful robe for them. What clothes could be more beautiful for them than their pure, virgin, immaculate flesh, delighting in heavenly bliss, nourished by heavenly food and overshadowed by the grace of God?
Saint Augustine (City of God 14.17):
Man and woman were aware, of course, of their nakedness, but they felt no shame, because no desire stirred their organs in defiance of their deliberate decision. The time had not yet come when the rebellion of the flesh was a witness and reproach to the rebellion of man against his Maker.