Ancestral Sin
Results in our inheritance of death
The fact that we Orthodox do not accept the doctrine
of original sin as espoused in the West, does in no way suggest that we do not
need to be born again (born anew). We believe, as did the Early Church Fathers,
that we inherit only the results of Adams sin, not his guilt. This is known as
ancestral sin because the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, resulted in
our inheritance of death, sickness and an inclination toward evil. Christ's
death on the cross has its power, not in an atonement sacrifice, but in the
conquering of the power of death. Death is trampled down by death, and it is by
Christ's resurrection that a way was made for us to be transformed by contact
with the Living God, thus becoming his children by adoption.
We know from the Ancient Church Fathers that, had
there not been a fall, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity would still have
incarnated into the flesh and taken on our nature. It is by this condescension
that our Creator God took on the nature of His creation, and that we have
therefore been granted the opportunity of being deified ourselves, or as Saint
Paul said, "become as gods". Our journey into the heart culminates in
theosis, where we are joined in everlasting communion with the very God Who
created us. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria said, "The Son of God became
man, that we might become gods," and "becoming by grace what God is
by nature".
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: Father Theoklitos (Kusemchak), a monk of Saint
Anthony Monastery in Arizona, is spending a few days with us.
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