Orthodox can only speak with certainty that the Mysteries are “valid” within the Orthodox communion of Churches. It’s not for us to ponder what goes on outside the boundaries of His visible Church, yet God can not be limited. All things are possible with Him.I am extremely curious to know whether or not the Orthodox church views the sacraments of the Roman rite as valid, especially the Eucharist, and whether or not a Roman Catholic 1) is allowed by the Orthodox church to receive the sacraments in the Orthodox church, and 2) whether the Roman Catholic church allows its adherents to receive the sacraments in the Orthodox church.
Hopefully this made sense!
God bless.
'Physically impossible" is self-explanatory.Can. 844 of Canon Law governs the norms of receiving Eucharist:
"Can. 844 §1. Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone, who likewise receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone, without prejudice to the prescripts of §§2, 3, and 4 of this canon, and ⇒ can. 861, §2.
§2. Whenever necessity requires it or true spiritual advantage suggests it, and provided that danger of error or of indifferentism is avoided, the Christian faithful for whom it is physically or** morally **impossible to approach a Catholic minister are permitted to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non-
Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid.
§3. Catholic ministers administer the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick licitly to members of Eastern Churches which do not have full communion with the Catholic Church if they seek such on their own accord and are properly disposed. This is also valid for members of other Churches which in the judgment of the Apostolic See are in the same condition in regard to the sacraments as these Eastern Churches.
§4. If the danger of death is present or if, in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops, some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic ministers administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not having full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed.
§5. For the cases mentioned in §§2, 3, and 4, the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops is not to issue general norms except after consultation at least with the local competent authority of the interested non-Catholic Church or community."
Okay, this is a strange scenario but imagine you live in a mostly Orthodox country, like Greece. There is only one Catholic parish within days of journeying and you usually attend here as a Catholic. However, recently the parish priest has begun to entertain strange and probably heretical ideas about the Eucharist and the faith; moreover, he is becoming manifestly sinful in his behaviour and you don’t feel spiritually safe in taking yourself or your family near him. A lot of other Catholics in your community feel the same way.'Physically impossible" is self-explanatory.
“Morally impossible” ? Explanation please.
As both Churches know, should a Catholic approach an Orthodox priest for the Mysteries, he or she would be required to become Orthodox first. According to the above quote, that’s permissible if the Catholic finds it “morally impossible” to receive from a Catholic priest.
I’m not certain that your Church would accept this excuse for missing liturgy. Priests are sinners, too. Rome has evolved a very detailed discussion of what is & isn’t “valid” in her Mass. I’m pretty sure a sinful priest still “confects a valid sacrament” according to Rome…and also that this priest would still have permission to serve from his bishop, making it “licit”. You would need to contact your bishop, in the first instance, and obey his decision.Okay, this is a strange scenario but imagine you live in a mostly Orthodox country, like Greece. There is only one Catholic parish within days of journeying and you usually attend here as a Catholic. However, recently the parish priest has begun to entertain strange and probably heretical ideas about the Eucharist and the faith; moreover, he is becoming manifestly sinful in his behaviour and you don’t feel spiritually safe in taking yourself or your family near him. A lot of other Catholics in your community feel the same way.
Presumably such a scenario would make it “morally impossible” for you to receive Eucharist from him and oblige you to approach an Orthodox priest.
Another possibility I can think of would be in the case of a juvenile, still under his parent’s authority.'Physically impossible" is self-explanatory.
“Morally impossible” ? Explanation please.
As both Churches know, should a Catholic approach an Orthodox priest for the Mysteries, he or she would be required to become Orthodox first. According to the above quote, that’s permissible if the Catholic finds it “morally impossible” to receive from a Catholic priest.
The RCC accepts the Orthodox as Church, albeit in schism. The Orthodox, OTOH, do not accept the RCC as Church, at least not in any official capacity. Rejection of the validity of the RCC as true Church (remaining true to Apostolic teachings) varies among the Orthodox, but no one can speak for the Eastern Churches as a whole, in any universal manner, because there’s no official unity among, or authority over, the various Churches.I am extremely curious to know whether or not the Orthodox church views the sacraments of the Roman rite as valid, especially the Eucharist, and whether or not a Roman Catholic 1) is allowed by the Orthodox church to receive the sacraments in the Orthodox church, and 2) whether the Roman Catholic church allows its adherents to receive the sacraments in the Orthodox church.
Hopefully this made sense!
God bless.
This varies widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and even from parish to parish. Here is an excerpt from a 1997 letter of instruction from the OCA bishop of San Francisco to priests, regarding the reception of converts. It is a very strongly worded document, emphasizing the centuries old tradition of the Russian church to receive converts from Catholicism by profession of faith only, not by Baptism or Chrismation. Priests are to be accepted as priests by vesting, not by ordination. There are other traditions as well, notably among the Greeks, but since each Orthodox jurisdiction unequivocally accepts the sacraments of those with whom they are in communion, it would seem that, on some level Catholic sacraments are accepted among the Orthodox. Yes, I am familiar with the argument that they are accepted by economy, although this document makes no mention of such. On the contrary, the bolded section indicates that it is incredulous to think that a Catholic priest should be received into Orthodoxy as laity.The Orthodox generally will only accept sacraments outside its church as an exercise of economy. I think often when people, including from Rome, convert to orthodoxy, they are received as catachumens.
Here is the entire document can be found here:I would like to point to the reception of St. Alexis Toth (Tovt) of Minneapolis and WilkesBarre. St. Alexis was received according to the rite outlined in the attached document, i.e., by Confession of Faith, Penance, and vesting in the Altar after the Cherubicon. How could it be otherwise? ** Can one imagine Bishop Vladimir or Bishop Nicholas, the two Russian hierarchs of the day, contravening the established practice of the Russian Church and insisting the St. Alexis be ordained according to the formula for ordaining Laity? One may only imagine how history might now differ if the Russian Orthodox Bishop in San (And I may remark that St. Alexis came to the Russian Orthodox bishop in San Francisco in the first place because a Roman Catholic hierarch did not recognize his Priesthood!** Francisco had also refused to recognize his Priesthood and that of many subsequent Clergy of the Church!)
Recently a Hierarch of our Orthodox Church In America received a Priest from the Roman church exactly as our Tradition requires, yet this action was, scandalously, publicly decried by a few clergy and laity of the Orthodox Church in America, and at least one temporarily lost soul went so far as to adopt the custom of the heretical Amish and shunned the Priest that had been received into the community of Orthodox clergy in the prescribed fashion! Dearly beloved and esteemed brother Priests and Shepherds! Let’s always be governed in our conduct by the Tradition of our Church and not by the temporary passions of the day that may splash like waves of the sea of life against the hull of the holy Ship of our salvation, Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Let’s preserve what has been handed on to us! Neither I nor His Beatitude, nor any of the Hierarchs of the Orthodox Church in America are reckless opponents of Church Order or Discipline. We do not “take our cues” from anything but what we have received. The Orthodox practice of receiving Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans as described by the Serbian Bishop Nikodim and the Orthodox reception of Roman Catholic priests as outlined in Nikol’sky are not any sort of indications that our Hierarchy is hostage to ecumenism, branch theory, relativism, positivism, scholasticism, liberalism, indifferentism or any other “ism” conflicting in any way with the Holy Tradition, but a sign of their obedience.