What is Original Sin & Immaculate Conception?

Do Orthodox Believe in it?

The Doctrine of Original Sin is a doctrine found in both Catholic and Protestant Churches. It teaches that all humans inherit the guilt of Adam. All human beings, the day they are born, according to the doctrine of Original Sin, are condemned to hell. "In Catholic theology, baptism is seen as a sacrament that removes the guilt of original sin. Protestants who adhere to the Calvanist tradition believe that human beings are worthy of damnation, and that God's glory demands that some human beings be predestined for salvation, others for damnation." Both of these ideas -- inherited guilt and predestination -- have their roots in the western Doctrine of Original Sin.

But Orthodox Christians do not speak of inherited guilt. "Adam's guilt was Adam's alone, and we do not inherit Adam's guilt. In baptism we are joined to Christ's life and death and the hope of resurrection. The communion broken by sin is restored.

The Doctrine of Immaculate Conception refers to Mary's conception, not Christ's. Since all humans inherit Adam's guilt, according to Original Sin, then the Virgin Mary was born guilty. And since she gave a human body to Christ, does this mean that Christ inherited Adam's guilt in his human nature? The Catholics know that would be silly. But rather than abandon the novel concept of Original Sin, they invented Immaculate Conception whereby Mary was born without sin, and therefore had no sin to pass on to Christ's human nature.

The Orthodox reject the Doctrine of Immaculate Conception. As Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmeman said, the Theotokos is "the great example, not the great exception."

(Citations from: John Garvey, Orthodoxy for the Non-Orthodox, chapter 3.)