The Anglican Church has formulated this dogma much in the same words as
that of the Orthodox Church. Yet it is not nearly so vivid in the daily
faith of the English people as in that of the Slavs. The friends of the
reunion of the Anglican and Orthodox Churches never mention this
difference, which is, I think, the only really great difference between
them. This life on earth for the English Christian conscience is a normal
one with some few objections. Given some correction, and life here on earth
would be quite normal and perfect. Slav Orthodoxy, on the contrary,
emphasises very emphatically the abnormality of human life on earth from
the beginning. Sin is the beginning of life, and sins are the continuation
of it. The first man deviated in some way from God's will; the first
brother killed his younger brother; the first-born nation made war with the
second-born nation, and this bloody business of men, of which, in the
greatest degree, we are the witnesses to-day, continued through many
thousands of years. The development of human virtues is not so obvious as
the development of human sins. Still, nobody has written a work on the
development of sins. The Orthodox Church believes quite seriously in this
fatal development; she believes more than seriously that "the whole world
lies in evil." Suffering is a consequence of sin. Even the righteous man
suffers, not because of virtue, but because of sin. If he himself has no
personal sins still he must suffer because of the sins of other men, no
matter if near or far from him in space or time. For all men from the first
to the last are made from the same piece of clay, therefore they all, from
the first to the last, form one body and one life. Each is responsible for
all, and each is influencing all. If one link of this body sins, the whole
body must suffer. If Adam sinned, you and I must suffer for it. If St. Paul
suffered, it is because his suffering is a consequence of the sins of other
links of the same body. If Christ suffered and died because of Adam, it is
also just. It is not good, but it is just. The suffering of nature around
us is incomparably small compared with the suffering of men. The
abnormality of the animal, plant or mineral world is not nearly so obvious
as the abnormality of our life. God's creatures, who were created on the
sixth day and destined to be the most perfect among creatures, are abased
by sin to an imperfection which is unknown among the creatures made before
the sixth day.