that is a strawman.
the issue is really original sin. The IC of the RCC actually brings them back to the Orthodox belief that Mary is the Theotokos, Ever-Virgin, without sin, spotless. Orthodox theology does not really explain HOW this happened, but certainly is was through grace, otherwise, Mary saved herself. The main difference I see here is the the RCC fills Mary with grace right from the beginning - this does not mean that her nature was different from our, otherwise, the same would apply to other grace filled saints; while Orthodox would see a perfected process of theosis, a growth through grace, so that at the time of the Annunciation, Mary was "full of grace" but we didn't necessarily pin point exactly when this happened. Another issue that must be considered are the theophanies of Christ in the OT and the encompassing of Mary's Ever-Virginity wrt those appearances.
Is this a barrier to union? Perhaps, but a minor one, probably ranked below unleavened bread...
I know you're trying to draw a distinction between original sin and IC, but I fail to see how you can separate the two. The IC only makes sense when original is sin is understood as the Romans understand it. Without original sin, the dogma is just absurd.
There is a distinct difference here between Mary being full of Grace and born differently from the rest of humanity.
The two problems with the doctrine of IC seem to go like this:
1. Original sin is simply false. We are not stained with adam's guilt on our soul as a child (nor are we baptized to 'remove this sin' from our infant souls, different topic though). We are born into a broken world, we inherit the
consequences of sin, not the
guilt. Extremely important distinction to make.
2. Now, Mary being conceived without this original sin (besides being an absurdity if you refute original sin) seems to make her 'super-human', just like some have said here. It makes it seem as though Christ was not born of another human and God, but of some kind of person over and above humanity. She doesn't share our nature (this is the worry, I really don't worry too much about this because the argument stops cold once original sin is refuted.). From this (partially), we Orthodox see some worrisome teachings on Mary from the Catholics, not to mention the prayers.
So, I hope this is illuminating to some people. Some of these distinctions people are trying to make are wrapped up too tightly in each other to pull apart.
so, if we say something like "the problem isn't really the IC
per se", we are not talking about the same IC the Catholics do, even though we are using the same words. It would have to be something like Mary being blessd in a particular way from Birth,
not some kind of change in nature.
P), it can't be Orthodox.
