'''Death''' in Eastern [[patristics|patristic]] literature is both the result of [[Adam and Eve|Adam]]'s sin and the principle of sin's perpetuation in succeeding generations. Because of the Greek construction of [[Romans]] 5:12, most of the Greek [[Holy Fathers|fathers of the Church]] held that the verse read, "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, because of which all have sinned." This leads to a theology of mortality as the mechanism of [[Original Sin|original sin]] and the fear of death as the motive behind particular acts of sin.