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The Eastern Orthodox Church presents a view of sin distinct from views found in Catholicism and in Protestantism, that sin is viewed primarily as a terminal spiritual sickness, rather than a state of guilt, a self-perpetuating illness which distorts the whole human being and energies, corrupts the Image of God inherent in those who bear the human nature, diminishes the divine likeness within them, disorients their understanding of the world as it truly is, and distracts a person from fulfilling his natural potential to become deified in communion with God.

Overview

As in Western Christianity, in Eastern Orthodoxy the goal is union with God. Orthodoxy also understands sin as a disease of the soul, a condition where the soul is lacking in God's grace. Orthodoxy regards the mysteries of the Church, also known as sacraments in the West, as vehicles leading towards union with God.

Ancestral sin

The Eastern Orthodox church accepts the teachings of John Cassian and the doctrine of ancestral sin, but not original guilt. Ancestral sin () is distinguished from the Western formulation of original sin. Humanity is understood to inherit the consequences of the primordial transgression, namely morality, corruption, and inclination to sin, instead of guilt based on the actions of Adam. The fall introduces a condition in which human beings are born into a disordered and corruptible existence, without bearing personal culpability for the first sin.

Sources and modern scholarship describe ancestral sin in ontological rather than juridical terms. In Greek patristic tradition, sin is primarily compiled as a state of corruption and separation from God, instead of it being inherited as legal guilt.

Original guilt

However, Orthodox doctrine doesn't affirm original guilt. The Orthodox Church affirms the understanding that humanity inherits sin's consequences and a fallen environment, but explicitly denies inherited guilt or a fallen nature.

John Meyendorff observes that the Greek Fathers didn't develop the concept of inherited guilt characteristic of later Western theology, instead describing the fall in terms of corruption and death affecting human nature. Furthermore, original sin isn't transmitted as personal culpability but as a condition into which each individual is born.

Sexuality

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not hold that sex is inherently sinful, but rather condemns seeing sex as something which can be divorced from the loving act between a married couple.

Marriage

One of the Fathers of the Church, John Chrysostom, in elaborating on the words of Paul the Apostle and writing commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians 7 in his homilies, states that:

Homosexuality

Despite varying views from different jurisdictions, the Orthodox Church has consistently condemned homosexuality, including notes from the early Church Fathers and Byzantine Empire. Today, they're mostly consistent in agreeing that homosexuality is damaging to the human person and that temptation is an ascetic struggle. Evidence from the New and Old Testament suggests how homosexuality is viewed as sinful, including Romans 1:26-27:

The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) also provides detailed advice on homosexuality in their 1992 10th All-American Council:

Idolatry and iconoclasm

Idolatry

In Eastern Orthodox theology, idolatry is defined as the worship () of created objects as though they were divine. The tradition distinguishes this from the veneration () accorded to icons, which is directed not to the material object but to the prototype it presents. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD formalized this distinction, affirming that "the honor paid to the image passes the prototype" and thereby rejecting the identification of icon veneration with idolatry.

Patristic and later sources interpret biblical prohibitions such as Exodus 20:4 ("You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below") within the context of pagan idol worship instead of condemnation on sacred images. John of Damascus wrote that the Incarnation establishes the legitimacy of depicting Christ, since the invisible God has become visible in human form. Modern Orthodox scholarship maintains this distinction.

Iconoclasm

This refers to the rejection and destruction of religious images, particularly during the Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy (). Imperial policies under Leo III and his successors prohibited the use of icons, leading to sustained theological and political conflict within the Byzantine Empire. The controversy culminated in the restoration of icons in 843, commemorated in the Orthodox Church as the Feast of Orthodoxy.

Theologically, iconoclasm was opposed because it compromised the doctrine of the Incarnation. Iconophile writers, including John of Damascus and Theodore the Studite, argued that the denial of icons implied a denial of Christ's true humanity and visibility. The Seventh Ecumenical Council condemned iconoclasm as a doctrinal error.

Notes

  • Celibacy, Marriage or "free love"... — Which way to choose? by Bishop Alexander (Mileant)
  • The Sacrament of Marriage: A commentary on the Orthodox marriage service
  • The Orthodox Christian Marriage: Part 1 by Fr. Alexey Young
  • The Orthodox Christian Marriage: Part 2 by Fr. Alexey Young
  • "The Homosexual Christian," by Fr. Thomas Hopko, The Orthodox Research Institute