You can change the monument on the grave. Old monuments - renew or throw in a landfill

Original sin represents the violation of God's commandment to obey by the first humans, Adam and Eve. This event led to their exclusion from the state of godlike and immortal. It is considered sinful, entered into human nature and transmitted at the moment of birth from mother to child. Liberation from original sin occurs in the sacrament of Baptism.

Original sin in Christianity occupies a significant part of the teaching, since all the troubles of mankind came from it. There is quite a lot of information that describes all the concepts of this act of the first people.

Fall is the loss of an exalted state, that is, life in God. Adam and Eve had such a state in Paradise, in contact with the highest Good, with God. If Adam had then resisted temptation, he would have become absolutely unyielding to evil and would never have left paradise. Having betrayed his destiny, he forever departed from unity with God and became mortal.

The first type of mortality was the death of the soul, which departed from divine grace. After Jesus Christ saved the human race, we again got the chance to return divinity to our lives full of sin, to do this we just need to fight them.

In the old days, this happened through sacrifice in order to correct the grievances and insults caused to the gods. Often all kinds of animals acted as redeemers, but sometimes they were also people. In Christian teaching, it is generally accepted that human nature is sinful. Although scientists have proven that in the Old Testament, namely in the places dedicated to the description of the fall of the first people, nothing is written about the “original sin” of humanity, nor that it was passed on to subsequent generations of people, nor anything about redemption. This suggests that in ancient times all sacrificial rituals had an individual character; they used to atone for their personal sins in this way. This is written in all the sacred scriptures of Islam and Judaism.

Christianity, after borrowing many ideas from other traditions, accepted this dogma. Gradually, information about “original sin” and “the redemptive mission of Jesus” became firmly integrated into the teaching, and its denial began to be considered heresy.

What does original sin mean?

The original state of man bore the ideal source of divine bliss. After Adam and Eve sinned in Paradise, they lost their spiritual health and became not only mortal, but also learned what suffering is.

St. Augustine considered the Fall and Redemption to be the two main foundations of Christian doctrine. The first doctrine of salvation was interpreted by the Orthodox Church for a long time.

Its essence was as follows:

Their perfection prevented them from falling into sin on their own, but Satan helped them. It is this neglect of the commandment that is included in the concept of original sin. As a punishment for disobedience, people began to experience hunger, thirst, fatigue,... The guilt is then passed from mother to child at the time of birth. Jesus Christ was born in such a way as to remain free from this sin. However, in order to fulfill his mission on Earth, he accepted its consequences. All this was done in order to die for people and thereby save the next generations from sin.

How can we explain why the original sin committed by Adam and Eve was passed on to their descendants?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

The sin of the ancestors had a profound impact on human nature, which determined the entire subsequent life of mankind, because man created by God wished consciously and freely, instead of the will of God, to establish his own will as the main principle of life. The attempt of created nature to establish itself in its own autonomy grossly distorted the divine creative plan and led to the violation of the divinely established order. The inevitable logical consequence of this was a falling away from the Source of Life. Being outside of God for the human spirit is death in the direct and precise meaning of the word. Saint Gregory of Nyssa writes that he who is outside of God inevitably remains outside of light, outside of life, outside of incorruption, for all this is concentrated only in God. Moving away from the Creator, a person becomes the property of darkness, corruption and death. According to the same saint, it is impossible for anyone to exist without being in Existing. Any person who sins commits Adam’s fall again and again.

In what way exactly has human nature been damaged as a result of the egoistic desire to establish one’s existence outside of God? First of all, all the gifts and abilities of man have weakened, they have lost the sharpness and strength that the primordial Adam had. The mind, feelings and will have lost their harmonious coherence. The will often manifests itself unreasonably. The mind often turns out to be weak-willed. A person’s feelings rule the mind and make him unable to see the true good of life. This loss of inner harmony in a person who has lost a single center of gravity is especially harmful in passions, which are malformed skills of satisfying some needs to the detriment of others. Due to the weakening of the spirit, sensual, carnal needs prevailed in man. Therefore St. The Apostle Peter instructs: Beloved! I ask you, as strangers and pilgrims, to abstain from carnal lusts that war against the soul(1 Peter 2:11). This is a revolt of the soul carnal lusts- one of the most tragic manifestations of fallen human nature, the source of most sins and crimes.

We all share in the consequences of original sin because Adam and Eve are our first parents. A father and mother, having given life to a son or daughter, can only give what they have. Adam and Eve could not give us either the primordial nature (they no longer had it) or the regenerated one. According to St. Apostle Paul: From one blood He brought forth the entire human race to live on all the face of the earth.(Acts 17:26). This tribal succession makes us heirs of original sin: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, [because] all sinned in him(Rom. 5:12). Commenting on the above words of the chief apostle, Archbishop Theophan (Bystrov) writes: “This study shows that the holy Apostle clearly distinguishes two points in the doctrine of original sin: parabasis or crime and hamartia or sin. By the first we mean the personal transgression of the will of God by our forefathers in their failure to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; under the second - the law of sinful disorder, which has entered human nature as a consequence of this crime. When we talk about the heredity of original sin, what is meant is not parabasis or the crime of our first parents, for which they alone are responsible, but hamartia, that is, the law of sinful disorder that afflicted human nature due to the fall of our first parents, and “sinned” in 5:12 in such In this case, it must be understood not in the active voice in the sense of “they committed a sin,” but in the neutral voice, in the sense of verse 5:19: “they became sinners,” “they turned out to be sinners,” since human nature fell in Adam. Therefore St. John Chrysostom, the best expert on the authentic apostolic text, found in 5:12 only the thought that “as soon as he [Adam] fell, then through him those who did not eat from the forbidden tree became mortal” (On the Dogma of the Redemption).

The fall of our first parents and the inheritance of spiritual corruption by all generations gives Satan power over man. The sacrament of baptism frees one from this power. “Baptism does not take away our autocracy and self-will. But it gives us freedom from the tyranny of the devil. who cannot rule over us against our will” (St. Simeon the New Theologian). Before performing the sacrament itself, the priest reads four incantatory prayers over the person being baptized.

Since in the sacrament of baptism a person is cleansed from original sin and dies to a life of sin and is born into a new life of grace, baptism for infants has been established in the Church since ancient times. When the grace and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit(Tit. 3, 4-5).

Original sin in Orthodoxy is one of those provisions that is unclear to a person just beginning to become acquainted with Christian doctrine. You can learn about what it is, what its consequences are for all of us, as well as what interpretations of original sin exist in different branches of Orthodoxy from this article.

What is original sin?

At first glance, this looks absurd: in the Christian tradition it is believed that a child is born with an already damaged human nature. How can this happen if he has not yet committed sins, if only because he has not yet reached conscious age? In fact, the problem is different: the essence of original sin is that every person is born into the world initially damaged (primarily in the spiritual sense, but not only) due to the act of the first ancestor Adam. It was through him, as we know, that a spiritual illness entered the world, which all his descendants will inherit.

Many people make the mistake of trying to explain what original sin is. We should not assume that in this case we are responsible for the fact that Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Everything is not so literal, and if you read the holy fathers, this will become clear. Adam's sin is no longer our sin, the fact is that for us it lies in human mortality. As follows from the Bible, the Lord God told Adam that he would die if he ate the forbidden fruit, and the serpent - that he and Eve would become equal to God. The tempting serpent did not deceive the first people, but together with the knowledge of the world they became mortal - this is the main consequence of original sin. Thus, this sin was not transmitted to other people, but had disastrous results for them.

Consequences of Adam and Eve's sin

Theologians believe that the results were so severe and painful precisely because God's original commandment was not difficult to fulfill. If Adam and Eve really wanted to fulfill it, they could have calmly refused the tempter’s offer and remained in paradise forever - pure, holy, sinless and, of course, immortal. What is original sin? Like any sin, this is disobedience to the Creator. In fact, Adam created death with his own hands by alienating himself from God and subsequently wallowing in it.

His act not only brought death into his life, but also clouded the initially crystal clear human nature. She became distorted, more prone to other sins, love for the Creator was replaced by fear of him and his punishment. John Chrysostom pointed out that previously the animals bowed before Adam and saw him as a master, but after being expelled from paradise they ceased to recognize him.

Thus, man, from the highest creation of God, pure and beautiful, turned himself into dust and dust, which his body will become after inevitable death. But, as follows from the Bible, after the first ancestors ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge, they hid from the Lord not only because they began to fear his wrath, but also because they felt guilty before him.

What happened before original sin

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve had a very close relationship with the Lord. In a sense, they were one with him, so deeply were their souls united with God. Even saints do not have such a connection, much less other Christians who are not so sinless. Therefore, it seems extremely difficult for us to understand it. However, this does not mean that this union should not be sought.

Man was a reflection of God's image, and his heart was pure. The original sin of the first ancestors is called before it; they knew no other sins and were absolutely pure.

How to escape the consequences

Baptism does not eliminate original sin, as is commonly believed. It only gives a person the opportunity to become a different, true Christian. After baptism, a person remains mortal, imprisoned in a mortal body, and at the same time possesses an immortal soul. It is important not to destroy it, because, according to the Orthodox tradition, at the end of time the Last Judgment will come, at which it will become clear what fate is destined for each soul.

Thus, baptism helps restore the lost connection with God, although not fully. In any case, original sin made the essence of man more prone to evil than to good, as it was originally, and therefore it is extremely difficult to reunite with the Creator in this world. However, judging by the examples of the saints, it is apparently possible.

In essence, this is why baptism is mandatory for those who consider themselves Christians - only in this way, and no other way, can they be with God and be saved from the death of their soul.

Original sin in Protestantism

It is worth understanding what original sin is in the understanding of Protestants, namely Calvinists. They, unlike the Orthodox, believe that the consequences of Adam’s sin are not only the death of all his descendants, but also their inevitable bearing of guilt for the sin of their ancestor. For this, every person, in their opinion, deserves punishment. Human nature in Calvinism is thoroughly corrupted and saturated with sinfulness.

This view is most consistent with the Bible, although it is puzzling.

Original sin in Catholicism

Catholics believe that the sin of the first-born people lies in disobedience and weak trust in the Creator. This event entailed a large number of different consequences: Adam and Eve lost the favor of God, and as a result, the relationship between the two of them was disrupted. Previously pure and sinless, they became lustful and intense. This affected other people with moral and physical damage. However, Catholics believe in the possibility of his correction and redemption.

Archpriest Peter Andrievsky for the magazine "Blessed Fire"

It so happened that the beginning of my interest in theology had a place, a time and an event. The Moscow Theological Academy, where I entered in 1984, became such a place. And the event was the presentation of the dogma of original sin by Professor Mikhail Stepanovich Ivanov in the first year of the academy. I think that this name means nothing to many. However, prof. Ivanov has been the vice-rector of the academy for several decades and heads the department of dogmatic theology at the Moscow Academy of Arts, the most important educational center of our Church.

Original sin or corruption of nature?

So, explaining the doctrine of original (or as it is also called) ancestral sin, Prof. Ivanov said that the concept of “original sin” is actually a common noun. For Adam, this sin is sin in the proper sense of the word. For us, his descendants, “original sin” must be understood as the corruption of our nature, which we inherit from our forefather. And only the damage of nature.

Frankly, these words of Prof. Ivanov became a real revelation for many first-year students. Of course, it cannot be said that after seminary our knowledge of dogmatic theology was perfect. However, that Adam’s sin spread to all his descendants, that we all sinned in Adam, we have well learned this position of Orthodox dogma. And suddenly we hear that the descendants of Adam are not guilty for the sin of their forefather. That original sin only for Adam is sin in the proper meaning of the word. For his descendants, this is just damage to the nature they inherit. We could not agree with this.

In Adam we all sinned. Or not?

For some reason we decided to convince prof. Ivanova. To our dogmatic theology classes we brought sayings of the Holy Fathers, which, it seemed to us, irrefutably spoke in favor of the fact that descendants are guilty of Adam’s sin. However, the patristic expressions convincing for us for Prof. Ivanov were not like that. He said that in the sayings we quote, the Holy Fathers speak about the corruption of human nature, which occurred due to the sin of Adam. But here the Holy Fathers do not say that we are guilty before God for the sin of Adam.

I don’t remember exactly what sayings of the Holy Fathers we brought. I remember exactly that one day we brought to class a saying from the “Orthodox Confession of Faith of the Catholic and Apostolic Church of the East.” It sounds like this:

“Original sin is a crime of the law of God given in paradise to the progenitor Adam. This ancestral sin passed from Adam into all human nature, since we were all then in Adam, and thus, through Adam alone, sin spread to all of us. Therefore, we are conceived and born with this sin, as the Holy Scripture teaches: By one man sin came into the world, and death came into the world through sin, and so death came to all men, in whom all sinned (Rom. 5:12)” (Part 3, answer to question 20).

This saying cannot be reinterpreted. It is clearly stated here that “this”, i.e. original or ancestral sin, “passed from Adam into all human nature... therefore we are conceived and born with this sin.” Prof. Ivanov did not argue that what is being said here is the involvement of all Adam’s descendants in original sin. “But the Eastern Patriarchs,” he said, “are not Holy Fathers.”

The connection between original sin and infant baptism

Then we never found a single piece of evidence belonging to the Holy Father of the Ancient Church that could not be reinterpreted. Only a few years later, when I was reading the rules of the Council of Carthage, I found such evidence. This is what is said in Rule 124 of this Council:

“It is defined in the same way: whoever rejects the need for the baptism of small children and newborns from the mother’s womb, or says that although they are baptized for the remission of sins, they do not borrow anything from the ancestral Adam’s sin that should be washed with the wash of rebirth (from which it would follow that the image of baptism for the remission of sins is used over them not in the true, but in a false meaning), let him be anathema. For what was said by the Apostle: by one man sin came into the world, and by sin death: and so (death) came into all men, and in him all sinned (Rom. 5:12), it should not be understood differently than what the Catholic Church has always understood, spilled and spread everywhere. For according to this rule of faith, even infants, who cannot commit any sins of their own accord, are truly baptized for the remission of sins, so that through the new birth that which they took from the old birth may be cleansed in them.”

As we see, the rule of the Council is directed both against those who deny the need for baptism of children, and against those who deny the transference of our ancestral, Adamic sin to us. The Fathers of the Council say that if we are not guilty for the sin of our forefather, then it turns out that the image of baptism for the remission of sins is performed by the Church on infants not in the true, but in a false sense. For infants have no personal sins. What sins are forgiven babies in baptism? And if they are not guilty for the sin of Adam, then the Church, baptizing infants for the remission of sins, goes out and uses this image of baptism over them in a false meaning. It is noteworthy that in confirmation of this, the Council, as well as the Eastern Patriarchs, cited the saying of the Apostle Paul (Rom. 5:12), the same saying that heretics are now trying to reinterpret. But the Council testified that this saying of the Apostle should be understood exactly as the Orthodox Church has always understood it: that all people sinned in Adam, that original sin spread to everyone. And its authority is unconditional: by the 2nd rule of the VI Ecumenical Council, the rules of the fathers of the Council of Carthage, among other rules of the Local and Ecumenical Councils, were “sealed by agreement,” i.e., approved. And the VII Ecumenical Council, with its 1st rule, confirmed this statement.

Babies are sinful only through their ancestors' sin.

It is not by chance that the Fathers of the Council in this rule combined the transfer of Adam’s sin to his descendants with the need for infant baptism. That is why infants need to be baptized, because they are sinners, sinners of the only sin - the ancestral sin with which they are born into the world. And if this sin is not cleansed in the baptismal font, then in the event of the death of the baby, he will appear as a sinner before the judgment of God. Why did the fathers of the Council, under pain of anathema, order the baptism of infants?

Therefore, all the reasoning and conclusions of another MDA professor A.I. Osipov, trying to prove that it is impossible to baptize infants, are meaningless and are broken by the anathemas of the Local and two Ecumenical Councils. And Prof. Osipov, along with those whom he managed to convince of his rightness, are under anathema.

Adam's sin spread to all humanity

Returning to prof. Ivanov and his reinterpretation of the sayings of the Holy Fathers, it should be noted that not all of them can be reinterpreted. So it is impossible to reinterpret the two sayings found in “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology” by Met. Makaria (Bulgakov):

St. Ambrose of Milan: “We all sinned in the first man, and through the succession of nature the succession spread from one to all in sin...; So Adam is in each of us: human nature sinned in him, because through one sin passed on to all.”

St. Gregory the Theologian: “This newly implanted sin came to unfortunate people from the progenitor... all of us who participated in the same Adam were deceived by the serpent, and killed by sin, and saved by the heavenly Adam.”

It is also impossible to reinterpret the saying of St. Simeon the New Theologian: “That saying, which says that no one is sinless except God, even if he lived one day on earth (Job 14:4-5) does not speak about those who themselves personally sin, because How can a one-day-old child sin? But this expresses the mystery of our faith, that human nature is sinful from its very conception. God did not create man as a sinner, but as a pure and holy person. But when the primordial Adam lost this robe of holiness, not from any other sin, but from pride alone, and became corruptible and mortal; then all people descended from the seed of Adam are involved in ancestral sin from their very conception and birth. Whoever was born in this way, even if he has not yet committed any sin, is already sinful by that ancestral sin” (Words of St. Simeon the New Theologian. Issue 1. M. 1892. P. 309).

It should be added that there is not a single testimony of the Holy Father of the Ancient Church, which would say that we not guilty for the sin of his forefather. If there are expressions of the Holy Fathers where they talk about the damage to human nature that occurred due to Adam’s sin, this does not mean at all that they say that as a result of sin only nature was damaged, and Adam’s sin was not passed on to his descendants.

And here we need to name one more prof. MLA of Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev. This professor did discover one expression. It belongs to Rev. Mark the Ascetic. And he waves this expression like a flag in his books. But, unfortunately, he did not have the intelligence to understand this expression correctly.

This is what Rev. writes. Mark the Ascetic: “We did not receive the crime by succession: for if we were to break the law because of succession, then it would be necessary for all of us to be criminals and not to be accused by God, like the one who transgresses because of the necessity of natural succession... Crime, being arbitrary, by no one is not inherited involuntarily, but the resulting death, being forced, is inherited by us, and is alienation from God; for after the first man died, that is, he became alienated from God, and we could not live in God. So, what we inherited was not crime... we inherited death unwillingly.”

Kuraev in these words, Rev. Mark, by “crime”, wants to see our forefathers breaking the commandment of God in the Garden of Eden. And since Rev. Mark says that “crime, being arbitrary, is not inherited by anyone involuntarily,” then it turns out that Rev. Mark says that Adam's sin is not inherited by his descendants against his will. But Rev. Mark is not talking here about Adam’s sin, but in general about sins committed by people. Are they committed due to the irresistible predisposition of Adam’s descendants to sin, or did the freedom not to sin remain in the human soul even after the Fall? In other words, do people commit sins freely or out of necessity, due to the fact that a person inherits an irresistible predisposition to sin from his forefather?

Rev. Mark is conducting a polemic here with heretics, very common in his time, who taught that after the Fall the image of God was completely destroyed in man and man inherits from his forefather an irresistible predisposition to sin. But if this were so, says Rev. Mark, “then it would be necessary for all of us to be criminals and not be accused by God as transgressors due to the necessity of natural succession.” If sins were committed by people due to inheritance from the forefather of an irresistible predisposition to sin, then there would be no punishment for these sins from God.

The image of God in man is damaged, but not destroyed

But that's not true. The image of God in man, although darkened, has not been completely destroyed. Although the human will is inclined towards evil, it is also inclined towards good. And after the Fall, it depends on the will of a person: to do a good deed or an evil one. And therefore “a crime,” says Rev. Mark, “being arbitrary, it is not inherited by anyone involuntarily.”

It is not crime, but death that we inherit. At the same time, Rev. Mark here means spiritual death, the consequence of which is alienation from God. “For after the first man died,” says Rev. Mark - that is, alienated from God; and we could not live in God.” Of course, Rev. is here. Mark speaks specifically about spiritual death, for bodily death does not alienate us from God, which is why our Lord Jesus Christ Himself took on mortal nature and tasted death on the Cross of Calvary. It is spiritual death, which for all Adam’s descendants is a consequence of original sin, that alienates us from God. Therefore, the words of Rev. Mark: “we have inherited death unwillingly,” we understand in the sense that St. Mark speaks here not only about our inheritance of spiritual death, but also its cause - ancestral sin, by inheriting which we become “by nature children of the wrath of God” (Eph. 2:3), by virtue of which man is born into this world “alienated from God." Thus, Rev. Mark not only does not share the delusion about our innocence for original sin, but, on the contrary, professes the Orthodox teaching about our inheritance of original sin, due to which we are born into this world already alienated from God.

Why do modern theologians deny the guilt of descendants for the sin of their forefather?

The question arises: why do modern Orthodox theologians so persistently deny the guilt of the descendants of Adam for the sin of their forefather? The answer is obvious. This is due to the fable they profess, that Christ assumed human nature exactly as it became for Adam after the Fall, with which all of Adam’s descendants are born into the world. If the descendants of Adam are guilty for the sin of their forefather, then Christ will also be guilty, and the creators of the fables themselves will come into clear contradiction with the confession of the Orthodox faith that Christ is absolutely sinless. Thus, obvious difficulties arise with the spread of this fable.

And if this is obvious, then the following is completely incomprehensible: why do people who blatantly deny the teachings of the patrists and the definitions of the Ecumenical Councils freely occupy chairs in Theological academies and seminaries?

How did Christ remain free from sinful passions?

How did Christ the Savior remain free from original sin and the reproachful passions associated with it, which were present in the nature of the Mother of God, from Whom He received human flesh?

Having assumed this mortal nature, Christ, as it is sung in the Octoechos, “cut off the passions of both,” i.e. cut them off from His Divine soul and body. What passions did he cut off? Of course, reproachful. What passions did you perceive? Impeccable. Why did He accept impeccable passions? In order to complete the House of our salvation in the flesh. Consequently, the devil was defeated by the nature that, in the person of Adam, was defeated in him. ... In order to “cut off” from Himself the reproachful passions that would impart sinfulness to His human nature, Christ used an amazing means - supernatural birth, which became a kind of “filter” that prevented the passage of these passions from the nature of the Virgin Mary. At the same time, the impeccable passions from the human nature of the Mother of God were voluntarily accepted by our Lord Jesus Christ.