-->



Must the Eastern Orthodox Believe in Original Sin?


E-mail this post



Remember me (?)



All personal information that you provide here will be governed by the Privacy Policy of Blogger.com. More...




Council of Ephesus in 431

I know that this is a very ecumenically incorrect thing to say. We are used to accepting that the Eastern Orthodox have their own valid way of expressing the fall of Adam and its effects on humanity.

We all know that the Eastern Orthodox are stalwart defenders of the first Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Church. However, two of these Ecumeical Councils (Ephesus in 430 and Nicea II in 787) received the explicitly Augustinian conciliar canons of the Council of Carthage in AD 418.

This Council of Carthage canonized nine beliefs to be received the Church. These nine statments were put forth to deny the errors of Pelagius. They are as follows:

1. Death came from sin, not man's physical nature.
2. Infants must be baptized to be cleansed from original sin.
3. Justifying grace covers past sins and helps avoid future sins.
4. The grace of Christ imparts strength and will to act out God's commandments.
5. No good works can come without God's grace.
6. We confess we are sinners because it is true, not from humility.
7. The saints ask for forgiveness for their own sins.
8. The saints also confess to be sinners because they are.
9. Children dying without baptism are excluded from both the Kingdom of heaven and eternal life.

Every canon was accepted as a universal belief of the Church and banished all Pelagians from Italy. These Carthaginian canons were accepted by the Church at the Ecumenical Council in AD 431. There were received yet again at the Seventh Ecumenical Council (the Second Council of Nicea) in AD 787.

This occurred when the Seventh Council ratified the Canons of Trullo (also called the Quinsext Council), which had received the Canons of the African Code which include those of the Carthaginian conciliar condemnations of AD 418.

Sooooo...it looks to me that Eastern Orthodox are bound to accept the nine beliefs put forward by the Council of Carthage of 418, which states that infants much be baptized and "cleansed from original sin."

I am looking for some solid Orthodox theologians out there to prove me wrong. I'd be happily corrected. But it seems that the Augustinian tradition is not something peculiar to the West, but something canonized by the Conciliar tradition.

| |
| Follow Taylor on Twitter! |
Copyright © 2009 Taylor Marshall

visitors since 2006

About Taylor Marshall

I am a convert to the Catholic Church and a former Episcopal priest.
Currently, I am a Ph.D. student at the University of Dallas.
Listen to lectures & podcasts.
Why I am Catholic Christian.
Red dots represent current worldwide readership of Canterbury Tales blog.

 Subscribe in a reader


Recent Comments

-->

Catholic Apocalypse Podcasts by Taylor Marshall

Jewish Roots of Catholicism Podcasts by Taylor Marshall

Catholic Apologetics by Taylor Marshall

Popular Posts

Thomism

Catholic Culture

Locations of visitors to this page

Blogroll

Links

My site was nominated for Best Religion Blog!

Archives


Place your ad on this blog - it's inexpensive and thousands will see it! Click here for details.