Can an Orthodox priest administer the Sacraments to a Catholic in an emergency?

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In these troubled times with priests having obstacles in their way from attending the dying to administer the Sacraments, if a priest was not able to access the dying in a hospital setting (for example on a Coronavirus ward) but if there did happen to be an Orthodox priest available (perhaps an Orthodox hospital chaplain) then would he be able to, in an emergency, administer Confession, the Sacrament of the Sick, the Eucharist and the Apostolic Pardon to a Catholic?

And if this is allowed by the Church, in an emergency, what is the Orthodox position on this? Would they allow their priests to do this?
 
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The Catholic Church doesn’t seem to have a problem with it; the Code of Canon Law says:
Canon 844 §2 Whenever necessity requires or a genuine spiritual advantage commends it, and provided the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided, Christ’s faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a catholic minister, may lawfully receive the sacraments of penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick from non-catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid. (source)
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Actually then any validly ordained priest would be OK. If no diocesan priest was available, then an SSPX priest would presumably also be OK?
 
Yes, they could. (The Apostolic Pardon is something particular to the West).
There is no one answer whenever asking about Orthodox; your mileage may vary. I know Orthodox priests who would gladly do this, and others that would not.
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Any validly ordained priest (Orthodox or Catholic) can anoint someone in danger of death, including even laicized priests. Yes, even those belonging to schismatic groups and the like.

Deacon Christopher
 
A Catholic could licitly seek the sacraments from an Orthodox priest, or any validly ordained priest, in an emergency situation. Finding an Eastern Orthodox priest willing to give the sacraments to a Catholic might be a bit of a challenge however. Oriental Orthodox priests, particularly Armenians and Syrians, as well as priest of the Assyrian Churches (not Oriental Orthodox, but still apostolic) might be more willing, as the sacramental theology of those Churches is closer to that held by the Catholic Church.

As to your other point, one can seek sacraments, especially reconciliation, from an SSPX priest whether or not there’s an emergency, even if one passes 30 diocesan parishes on the way to see him. The faculties granted by Pope Francis a few years ago were extended indefinitely, and contain no conditions.
 
Confession, yes, but I thought Mass with the SSPX was perhaps still illicit (or at least a ‘grey area’).
 
Jump over to Fr. Z’s site, or the other recent thread here dealing with the SSPX which contains a link. He addressed this very issue only a few days ago.
 
new-kirishitan said:
Looks like the Orthodox Church of America doesn’t allow it. Here’s the link:
https://www.oca.org/questions/divineliturgy/receiving-communion

But again, the different Orthodox Churches might give you different answers, because there are Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Orthodox Church USA… And each Orthodox church is pretty much independent from the others.
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I think it’s important to draw the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary/emergency situations. The Q&A you link to is speaking to ordinary circumstances - and in those cases, no, an Orthodox priest will not commune a Catholic. And, I believe, the same would be true in reverse.

However, in extraordinary circumstances, Roman Catholic canon law explicitly states that Orthodox may receive Catholic Sacraments. While the Orthodox Church doesn’t make such an explicit statement, I believe most Orthodox Priests (at least the many I’ve met) would attend to the sacramental needs of a Catholic in an emergency situation that prevents them seeking their own clergy, for the good of that individual’s soul.
 
The Catholic Church does not even require extraordinary circumstances with regard to the Orthodox, only that they ask on their own for the sacraments and that they are properly disposed. If you look in the back of any missal or hymn book in a Catholic Church in the US, you’ll see the unqualified statement that the Church has no objection to the reception of Communion by Christians of the Orthodox, Polish National Catholic, or Assyrian Churches.

Also, while I cannot personally speak for the Orthodox, back when CA was frequented by Orthodox Christians in the days of the Eastern Christianity forum, this question was posed to some resident Eastern Orthodox priests. The answer was that sacraments could not be given to Catholics, even in an emergency, because they would have to absolve them from the “sin” of not being Orthodox. Different priests may answer differently, and you would almost certainly get a different answer from Oriental Orthodox or Assyrian priests.
 
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A grey area. The situation with the SSPX is very nuanced. As someone has pointed out the blog Fr Z’s Blog (here) has had a recent series of interesting posts on the position of the SSPX.
 
From a Catholic standpoint, it’s fine, from an Orthodox standpoint, it’s really going to depend on the bishop. I actually know an Orthodox priest, whom I’m pretty sure, were there an emergency and I had to confess to him, he would probably not have a problem granting absolution.
 
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