I have tried to present the Greek patristic view of original sin as inherited mortality which provides a new meaning to Christ’s death and resurrection. Christ had to die in order to eliminate mortality and reveal to us that human life is immortal. For the resurrection of Christ means indeed that death has ceased to be the controlling element of man’s existence and that, therefore, man is also free from slavery to sin. While Death certainly remains as a physical phenomenon, it does not dominate man as an unavoidable and ultimate fate: As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. And Athanasius writes: Henceforth we are dissolved for a time only according to our bodies’ mortal nature, in order to better to receive resurrection; like seeds cast into the earth, we do not perish, but sown in the earth we shall rise again, since death has been brought to naught by the grace of the Savior. And John Chrysostom writes: It is true, we still die as before, but we do not remain in death; and this is not to die. The power and the very reality of death are just this, that a dead man has no possibility of returning to life. But if after death he is to be quickened and, moreover to be given a better life, then this is no longer death, but a falling asleep. Since death has ceased to be the only possible end of existence, man is free from fear and sin. The vicious circle was broken on Easter Sunday and is broken each time the death of Christ is announced and His resurrection is confessed.

But what does being in Christ mean concretely? A quotation from the Anaphora of St. Basil’s Liturgy suggest this: through Baptism, Chrismation and the Eucharist, man freely   becomes a member of the risen Body of Christ. The element of freedom and also even that of consciousness – is truly essential to the doctrine of salvation as understood by the Byzantine patristic, sacramental and liturgical tradition. On the one hand, there are emphatic affirmations of the universality of         redemption. Gregory of Nyssa, says: As the principle of death took its rise in one person and passed on in succession through the whole of the human nature, so the principle of the Resurrection     extends from one person to the whole of humanity. This is the mystery of God’s plan with regard to His death and His resurrection from the dead, and his thoughts on the universality of             redemption and recapitulation are echoed by Maximus the Confessor.

Think about what the Fathers said. Their view is our view as an Eastern Church. Do you understand the real difference of the Eastern viewpoint? There is not only one correct view of what God revealed through Jesus!