Orthodox
Does the Orthodox Church really reject original sin?
Not entirely — Orthodoxy affirms all humanity inherits death and corruption from Adam, but tends to emphasize inherited mortality and a wounded nature over inherited personal guilt, a difference of emphasis rather than a flat contradiction with Catholic teaching.
Catholic teaching
The Catholic Church teaches that all descendants of Adam inherit a fallen nature deprived of original holiness, a real privation properly called sin though not a personal fault committed by the infant, transmitted by human generation, and healed by the grace of baptism.
Biblical foundation
Paul teaches that 'sin came into the world through one man... and so death spread to all men' (Rom 5:12) and that 'as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive' (1 Cor 15:22), a solidarity in Adam's fall that both East and West affirm from the same texts.
Scripture references
Historical evidence
Eastern Fathers like St. Cyril of Alexandria spoke of humanity falling 'sick' in Adam and needing the Second Adam's healing, and Orthodox liturgical texts pray for cleansing from ancestral sin, showing real continuity beneath differing theological vocabularies.
The Church Fathers
“We became sinners by Adam's disobedience in this manner... we were made subject to death, and it was for this reason that death came to prevail.”