The Orthodox Gospel is a process or synergy - so long and convoluted in its complete form it will take some time to post it here..... watch this space.
The basic elements of the "Gospel by which we are saved" in Eastern Orthodoxy are
1) Jesus gives you a "leg up" toward eternal life (he does not save{
2) Acts of priestcraft, EXAMPLES infant baptism, Chrismation, the communion of the Liturgy (riddled with man made rites) etc
3) Your own works (called filthy rags by God in terms of helping to save yur soul)
4) Your own repentance (repentance is actually only the quality indicator of belief, it does not save you as it is not Christ)
5) Grace and salvation add ons obtained via Mary saves, This is proven in many General and Special prayers of Orthodoxy. example: "My Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the intercession of the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin St. Mary, have mercy on me, a sinner."
6) Salvation add ons also obtained via saints. proof / quote: "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of Your most pure Mother and of all the Saints, have mercy on me."
7) Aerial Toll Houses - Many Eastern Orthodox believers add that when you die you are not is a state of salvation or damnation (that is destined to travel immediately either to the waiting place of the saved, called "Abraham's Bosom" or the waiting place of the damned in Hades, where the rich man was who ignored Lazarus.) you must instead pass through a zone of Aerial Toll Houses where it is possible to be syphoned into Hell.
5 & 7) note: when Mary died the Catholics accuse Jesus of the sin of nepotism . Explanation: Normally a soul after death dis described as going to one of 4 places:
1) Sleep
2) Abraham's Bosom
3) The pit wherein a great gulf is fixed between it and Abraham's Bosom
4) Under the Altar of God (*2) "martyrs only".
However in Eastern Orthodoxy, Mary through the sin of nepotism. goes to none of these 4 places, but goes directly into an exaltation in heaven. I have not yet been able to ascertain at what point Mary (pseudo ever virgin) obtains the super human power to hear multi millions of prayers simultaneously, on earth early, on earth late, on the way to heaven, or in heaven.
* Aerial toll houses (also called "telonia", from the Greek: τελωνεία / telonia, customs) are a belief held by some in the Eastern Orthodox Church which states that "following a person's death the soul leaves the body, and is escorted to God by angels. During this journey the soul passes through an aerial realm, which is inhabited by wicked spirits (Ephesians 6:12). The soul encounters these demons at various points referred to as toll-houses where the demons then attempt to accuse it of sin and, if possible, drag the soul into hell."[1]
A number of the Eastern Orthodox saints, modern elders and theologians have openly endorsed it, but some theologians and bishops have condemned it as heretical and gnostic in origin.[2]
(*2) The Fifth Seal: Martyrs in Heaven - Revelation 6:9-11. When the fifth seal is opened John sees all the souls of those had been slain for the word of God gathered under the altar of God calling out for vengeance.
The basic idea is, that when Jesus said "Whoever believes in me has everlasting life" he was only joking.
They believe that Evangelical Christians are evil, as they accept Christ as their one and only Saviour.
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1) That Jesus purged the corporate "ancestral sin" nature of man in his incarnation:
Their doctrine is that in the incarnation Jesus, being fully God and fully man, purged the corporate human "ancestral sin" nature by himself partaking in it yet at his conception purging it as it met his God nature..... thus the very incarnation of Christ itself helped to save us in Orthodox theology.
This means the concept of "ancestral sin" is directly involved in our actual salvation. It is also blasphemy to say Jesus was born with "original sin" as he was the Second Adam, and as such like Adam before The Fall. If Jesus was born with neither "original sin nature" (tending toward evil) neither "ancestral sin" (a will weakened by the Fall through Adam) but rather the 3rd option "with a will like the unfallen First Adam" (I believe this) it would mean that the Orthodox explanation of salvation fails at the very outset.
This begs the question: "As the unique Orthodox concept of ancestral sin (a weakening of human will) is best described as Semi-Pelagian, if Jesus corporately purged this nature in his conception, was mankind therein after born Pelagian in nature?
Is such a convoluted Orthodox doctrine possibly at all part of "the simplicity of the Gospel" of Christ? Being complex from the very outset.
Protestantism on this: is of two divided views (but we have no statistics on the percentages % of each view)
a) Jesus, the 2nd Adam, was born with the human nature of the unfallen First Adam (I believe this).
b) Jesus in order to fulfill the scripture "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb 4:15 must have been born with "original sin" that is a nature tending toward evil (it is not being "blamed for Adam's sin") but he overcame this nature and remained sinless. I find this to have potentially blasphemous connotations, as does the Orthodox view of Jesus having "ancestral sin" at any point.
Evolution - how this false doctrine evolved - After delving into questions over the Godhead, such as whether Jesus had two natures or one (as he was one person, but fully God and fully man) the Orthodox finally stumbled on the most logical sounding answer (but not before chopping off the hand and cutting out the tongue of the first person to answer this correctly - Gregory of Nyssa). This process of "spiritually dissecting God" made them so vain they decided they were God-like and developed the doctrine of Theosis. They also decided to introduce the subject of "the analysis of God's nature" into actual salvation, (thus this Orthodox nonsense doctrine about Jesus healing the corporate human nature in his incarnation / conception). This explains why it is not part of Catholic theology. The very lateness of the development of this teaching proves they have another gospel other than the one originally preached, which according to Gal 1:6-9 means they are anathema (under the curse of God).
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