by Fr. Antony Hughes

This excellent essay details the vast divergence between western/Scholastic theology and Orthodox Patristic theology with regard to the sin of Adam.

Pastor of St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fr. Anthony has also served as Orthodox Chaplain at Harvard University.

A young man called me recently to discuss his family’s movement toward the Orthodox Church. He told me a priceless story about how his seven-year old daughter helped him and his wife understand an Orthodox practice that is often a hindrance to inquirers. Although the family had icons in their home they could not grasp the reason for the practice of venerating (kissing) them. One evening after prayers with his daughter she looked at the icon in her room and asked,

“Who is on those pictures, Daddy?”

He replied,

“The Virgin Mary and Jesus.”

She picked up the icon, kissed it and hugged it to her chest exclaiming,

“Oh, daddy, they love you so much!”

“Then,” he told me, “We understood. It’s all about affection.” Read more

by St. Theodoret of Cyrus

Our father among the saints, Theodoret of Cyrus,  Cyrrhus, (c. 393 – c. 457) was an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria (423-457). He played a pivotal role in many early Byzantine church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms.

This little gem comes to us from my friend Fr. Ted Bobosh at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Dayton, OH.

Theodoret like many of the Patristic writers in the Antiochian biblical commentary tradition does not hold to the tenets of what is commonly called “original sin” as translator Robert Hill noted in his comments.

“Theodoret never speaks of original sin or the transmission to posterity of the guilt for Adam’s sin…” (translator’s note p 81). Read more