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What is the mainstream Eastern opinion on the sinlessness of the Old Testament saints? I'm thinking here specifically of Enoch and Elijah. Are they considered never to have committed any personal sins whatsoever? Does the Eastern tradition speculate on how it was possible for them to triumph over the condition of sinfulness into which they were born? How does their sinlessness compare to John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary?

I had never heard that any saint was sinless (with the exception of the All-Holy, All-Pure, Blessed and Glorious Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary). It would run counter to all of the texts of the funeral services, which repeatedly remind us "that there is not a man who does not sin in thought, or word, or deed".

Indeed, most of the saints would probably protest loudly against any intimation that they were without sin--particularly the Desert Fathers.

It is a matter of speculation as to the nature of Mary and sin. I don't think there is any settled opinion. I have never heard of Elijah, Enoch or John the Baptist being considered sinless.

There is no speculation on the sinlessness of Mary. The hymnography of the Church and its liturgical texts all state clearly that Mary is All-Holy, All-Pure, etc. etc. The East and West both agree on this, but the West insists on providing an explanation as to why, whereas the East just accepts it as a mystery.

I can only say, that as I member of an Orthodox Church, I have read and heard various opinions such as the one held by Metropolitan Hierotheos. I am of course also familiar with the hymns. I respectfully stick by my statement.

In his book *The Friend of the Bridegroom*, Sergius Bulgakov explicitly asserts the personal sinlessness of John the Baptist and compares him to the Theotokos, "who is free of all personal sin and even of any sinful inclination. And in the view of the Church, which venerates his saintliness from the moment of his conception, the Forerunner too is free of personal sin. ... Because they participate in the human essence, the Mother of God and the Forerunner also possess in a fundamental property or state of this essence: they are subject to original sin and death. But this condition that is common to the whole human race, hamartema, is not actualized in them by particular, personal sins, parabaseis, paraptomata. It is suppressed and vanquished by their personal freedom" (p. 20).

I do not have the impression that Bulgakov was asserting anything novel but rather the long-standing tradition in the Eastern Churches.

Gotta be careful with Bulgakov, Father. Sometimes his opinions are his alone, sometimes they reflect the tradition of one particular Orthodox Church, but not all.

I have contemplated this a lot recently, and used to believe as you did.

You say you are familiar with the praise of Mary's sinlessness incorporated throughout the liturgy. What is it you think when you sing these words?

I actually didn't state any belief of my own. I simply said there is variable opinion. All of which just means there are different interpretations of what spotless means, and no exact settled opinion. I believe I am perfectly comfortable with that ambiguity.

As I understand it, "spotless" is agreed to mean without sin. The difference in Orthodox thought, again as I understand it, is when/how this spotlessness happened. Conception, birth, Annunciation, etc.

Or maybe we just don't care that much about the "how"?

Yeah, that's kinda what I mean. The lack of a desire for dogmatic specificity leads to differing interpretations.

But I was questioning AMM in whether this ambiguity extends all the way to the very meaning of spotlessness, as opposed to when it may have happened.

No, it does not. You will not find any reputable Orthodox hierarch or theologian who would endorse the idea that Mary sinned in any way. I have never run across any book of Orthodox theology that endorsed the notion that she had. It is not an acceptable theologumenon, even if, in their day, certain of the Fathers, including John Chrysostom, speculated that she had.

I just posted this article over at the Orthodox Christianity forum. Thought you all might find it of interest:

The Sinlessness of the Theotokos and John the Baptist [orthodoxchristianity.net]

I welcome your reflections.

Those two are part of the same question.