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==Discussion==
In the [[Book of Genesis]], Chapter 3, [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] committed a sin, the ''original sin''. The [[Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] church Church teaches that no one is guilty for the actual sin they committed but rather everyone inherits the consequences of this act; the foremost of this is physical death in this world. This is the reason why the original fathers of the church Church over the centuries have preferred the term '''ancestral sin'''. The consequences and penalties of this ''ancestral act'' are transferred by means of natural heredity to the entire human race. Since every human is a descendant of Adam then 'no one is free from the implications of this sin' (which is human death) and that the only way to be freed from this is through baptism.
In contrast to Jewish exegesis of Genesis, Christianity has a Christological reading. We understand the depth of the Fall in the light of redemption. It is in the contrast of the old and new Adams that we understand what the significance of original sin has been.
Mortality is certainly a result of the Fall, but along with this also what is termed "concupiscence" in the writings of St [[Augustine's writings of Hippo]] -- this is the "evil impulse" of Judaism, and in Orthodoxy, we might say this is our "disordered passion." -- it It isn't only that we are born in death, or in a state of distance from God, but also that we are born with disordered passion within us.
Orthodoxy would not describe the human state as one of "total depravity" (see [[Cyril Lucaris]] however). One writer has said that "if Latin babies are born blind, and Pelagian babies are born with 20/20 vision, then Greek babies are born in need of spectacles" (ref?).
Orthodox Christians have usually understood [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] teaches as professing St. Augustine's teaching that everyone bears not only the consequence, but also the guilt, of that Adam's sin. This teaching appears to have been confirmed by multiple councils, the first of them being the [[w:Councils of Orange|Council of Orange]] in 529. This difference between the two [[Church]]es in their understanding of the original sin was one of the doctrinal reasons that led underlying the Catholic Church to devise their 's declaration of its [[dogma]] of the '[[Immaculate Conception]]' in the 19th century, a dogma that is completely rejected by the Orthodox Church.</strike>(If this is historic RC teaching, it needs to be documented -- quotes from [[John S. Romanides|Romanides]] are not sufficient here. Certainly it is not the teaching today, see the CCC. Modern Orthodox polemics can be traced back to Fr. John Meyendorff (?)... earlier explanations tended to have a scholastic tone, both in Russia and in Greece) For decadesHowever, at least, Orthodox teaching has often been contrasted to traditional Roman Catholic teaching on original sin. Modern contemporary [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic teaching]] is best explicated in the ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', which includes this sentence: ""original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted" (§405). The Roman Catholic Church has defined its teaching of original sin in multiple councils. The first of these was a [[w:Councils of Orange|Council of Orange]] in 529, which expanded upon the [[w:Augustine of Hippo#Doctrine of Original Sin|teachings]] of [[Augustine of Hippo]], whose interpretation of "all dying in Adam"
==Sources and further reading==
