He speaks of praying for Bernard's wife and for the search parties...

He refuses to speak after he kills 2 people...A form of penance perhaps?

He refuses to eat (it looks like)...Is he fasting? It looked like he was staggering a little as he went into the bunker.

He is more intrigued with the Bible in the bunker than the glass eye or anything else...

After 40 days, he finally speaks. This is an amount of time referenced several times in the Bible...(fasting for 40 days and nights, it rained 40 days and nights)

So is he a bad guy or no?

Def, not a bad guy.

I'm willing to bet $10 that he's a priest.

I think his silence was an act of healing toward Ana-Lucia. He refused to give his guidance and wisdom to her because she was not allowing herself to show weakness by showing emotion at all. She was very stoic and harsh. Finally, when she began to cry, Eko spoke again. He solidified my line of thought by saying something along the lines of "I waited 40 days to speak. You waited 40 days to cry."

I think Eko is going to be as great a 'healer' as Locke is.

didnt locke not talk for a while either, i remember seeing an out take on the dvd where hurly is offering locke some food and hes just flat out ignoring him.

When I first heard him mention "40", I was reminded of the quarantine period. It just made me think that his not speaking had to do with the "disease" but now that I think about it, it probably is more of a Biblical reference.

I'm willing to bet $10 that he's a priest.
I'll bet that's right. Priest or minister of some kind. Maybe was a violent man and then found religion and now he has to revert to his former ways as a matter of survival.

I googled some 40 day things and posted them in this thread

http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?t=26303

I'm willing to bet $10 that he's a priest.

same here. i was thinking that when he saw the bible.

I don't think Eko is a preist or a bad guy.

A couple weeks ago, I found a site about Reverend Master Eko

http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?t=24515

Dharma is even mentioned.

I would guess that Eko has known violence in his life.

I also agree that not speaking for 40 days after killing the two others was a form of penance. I think we will also find out that this was not the first kill of his life and that like Sayid he did something that he had sworn never to do again and was very distraught.

Sayid left and went off by himself after torturing Sawyer. I think this is one of the parallels between the two groups.