Faculties for Confessions

  • Thread starter Thread starter DixitDominus
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

DixitDominus

Guest
From where do Eastern Orthodox priests receive the faculties to hear confessions and absolve penitents?
 
from their bishops…same as the Roman Catholic priests. While they have their own patriarch, apostolic sucession can be traced back in the Eastern church, same as in the west.

Am I answering the right question?
 
I wonder that too. They are in schism, so how do they get faculties to do anything if they arent connected to Rome? Even if they do have their own Bishops.
 
[edited] even if the Orthodox have their own hierarchy, by what authority do they have to give authority, yes they have a valid priesthood, but so does the SSPX, and their confessions and marrages arent valid, and their masses are illicit. What makes the Orthodox different?
 
bacon_man said:
I wonder that too. They are in schism, so how do they get faculties to do anything if they arent connected to Rome? Even if they do have their own Bishops.
Click to expand...
Orthodox would argue that Catholics are the ones in schism, not them.

IN any case, not all priests, especially in Greece, are blessed to hear confessions (as the term goes), or for that matter, to preach sermons of their own composition.
 
bpbasilphx said:
Orthodox would argue that Catholics are the ones in schism, not them.

IN any case, not all priests, especially in Greece, are blessed to hear confessions (as the term goes), or for that matter, to preach sermons of their own composition.
Click to expand...
Interesting, what is required of the priest to be granted these faculties?
 
DixitDominus said:
From where do Eastern Orthodox priests receive the faculties to hear confessions and absolve penitents?
Click to expand...
From the same source they always have since the beginning of the Church. Nothing much has changed for the Orthodox.

Vatican II has repeated affirmed this. Unitatis Redintegratio:
  1. Already from the earliest times the Eastern Churches followed their own forms of ecclesiastical law and custom, which were sanctioned by the approval of the Fathers of the Church, of synods, and even of ecumenical councils. Far from being an obstacle to the Church’s unity, a certain diversity of customs and observances only adds to her splendor, and is of great help in carrying out her mission, as has already been stated. To remove, then, all shadow of doubt, this holy Council solemnly declares that the Churches of the East, while remembering the necessary unity of the whole Church, have the power to govern themselves according to the disciplines proper to them, since these are better suited to the character of their faithful, and more for the good of their souls. The perfect observance of this traditional principle not always indeed carried out in practice, is one of the essential prerequisites for any restoration of unity.
Orientalium Ecclesiarum:
  1. History, tradition and abundant ecclesiastical institutions bear outstanding witness to the great merit owing to the Eastern Churches by the universal Church.(5) The Sacred Council, therefore, not only accords to this ecclesiastical and spiritual heritage the high regard which is its due and rightful praise, but also unhesitatingly looks on it as the heritage of the universal Church. For this reason it solemnly declares that the Churches of the East, as much as those of the West, have a full right and are in duty bound to rule themselves, each in accordance with its own established disciplines, since all these are praiseworthy by reason of their venerable antiquity, more harmonious with the character of their faithful and more suited to the promotion of the good of souls.
The power of governance is what gives the Eastern Orthodox bishops the authority to grant jurisdiction to their priests. The SSPX never had the power of governance, which is why jurisdiction is completely lacking among the SSPX priests.
 
It sounds like those are reffering to the eastern rite churches, which are Catholic and still united under the Pope, but have their own liturgical rules and code of canon laws. Those are still equally Catholic as the Latin right, they’re independent from the Latin rite. But they are fully Catholic. The Orthodox, while having all the sacraments, a valid priesthood, and similer theology, are considered to be in schism because they refuse to recognize the Popes authority as supreme head of the Church. I think they recognize him as the Bishop of Rome, but not as head of the Church.
 
banished said:
I just tried to make a Confession less that 2 hours ago. And like always, the Priest refused to absolve my sins and allow me to have the Eucharist. The reason being that 20 years ago I was married outside the Catholic Church. Honestly, my wife and I have lived a very strict Christian life for 20 years, but that’s still not good enough to make a Confession.

Richard
Click to expand...
Hopefully this subgroup of posts on this thread gets split off into a new thread or combined with an existing thread. It’s off topic Likewise, “the real world we live in,” is off topic.
 
bacon_man said:
It sounds like those are reffering to the eastern rite churches, which are Catholic and still united under the Pope, but have their own liturgical rules and code of canon laws. Those are still equally Catholic as the Latin right, they’re independent from the Latin rite. But they are fully Catholic. The Orthodox, while having all the sacraments, a valid priesthood, and similer theology, are considered to be in schism because they refuse to recognize the Popes authority as supreme head of the Church. I think they recognize him as the Bishop of Rome, but not as head of the Church.
Click to expand...
The last sentence from the Unitatis Redintegratio quote mentions prerequisites for the restoration of unity, so it is referring to the Eastern Orthodox Churches, not Eastern-rite Catholics.

I don’t know for certain which the Orientalium Ecclesiarium quote is referring too – I’ve always assumed that it referred to both Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. I’ll try to look it up sometime.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top