First Eastern Catholic liturgy: some questions

[NoPlaceLikeRome]

Today I attended a Liturgy of the Ruthenian Catholic Church. I live in the US. I have a few questions… The first one is about something from the parish website:

“All practicing members of the Eastern or Oriental Orthodox churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, or the Polish National Church who are in good standing with their church and who spontaneously request it may receive the Holy Mysteries of Repentance and Holy Communion, but they are counseled to follow the guidelines their own churches have set.”

…

This isn’t what a Roman Catholic church would do; we hold that we aren’t in communion w/the Orthodox (unless in danger of death)… I know the Eastern Catholic churches AREN’T Roman but I’d’ve thought they wouldn’t be “allowed” to commune Orthodox? Or do the ECCs have a different view of their own relation to the RCC than the RCC does?

—Are Eastern Catholics bound by Canon Law? I believe the Orthodox have their own customs and do not have a body of laws. Does Canon Law apply to the ECCs or only to Roman Catholics?

–Specifically: What are the rules for fasting before communion in the Ruthenian Rite (if anyone knows); or what are they like generally for Eastern Catholics? I thought it was from midnight but a friend said she knew Byz. Catholics who ate right before liturgy because they knew it’d be over an hour before Communion…

–And also the church I went to has a 7:00 PM Liturgy on Wednesdays–How would that work with fasting? and I thought Orthodox only had Liturgy once a week, except monastics, and assumed it would be the same for ECs… but no?

–Switching rites: When should a layperson do this? How is it done? (A friend of mine is deeply drawn to the Byzantine Rite but has heard rite-switching is sometimes discouraged. BTW I will look up this one in the forum archives too.)

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Today I attended a Liturgy of the Ruthenian Catholic Church. I live in the US. I have a few questions… The first one is about something from the parish website:

“All practicing members of the Eastern or Oriental Orthodox churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, or the Polish National Church who are in good standing with their church and who spontaneously request it may receive the Holy Mysteries of Repentance and Holy Communion, but they are counseled to follow the guidelines their own churches have set.”

…

This isn’t what a Roman Catholic church would do; we hold that we aren’t in communion w/the Orthodox (unless in danger of death)… I know the Eastern Catholic churches AREN’T Roman but I’d’ve thought they wouldn’t be “allowed” to commune Orthodox? Or do the ECCs have a different view of their own relation to the RCC than the RCC does?

Actually this is not true. Look in the Missal in the pews at your parish.

This is the exact wording from Today’s Missal published by OCP.

Members of the Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Polish National Catholic Church are urged to respect their own Churches. According to Roman Catholic discipline, the Code of canon Law does nto object to the reception of communion by Christians of these Chruches (canon 844 §3).

This Canon reads;

**Can. 844

§3** Catholic ministers may lawfully administer the sacraments of penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick to members of the eastern Churches not in full communion with the catholic Church, if they spontaneously ask for them and are properly disposed. The same applies to members of other Churches which the Apostolic See judges to be in the same position as the aforesaid eastern Churches so far as the sacraments are concerned.

—Are Eastern Catholics bound by Canon Law? I believe the Orthodox have their own customs and do not have a body of laws. Does Canon Law apply to the ECCs or only to Roman Catholics?

Eastern Catholics are bound by the Code of Canons for Oriental Churches. It is very much like the Code of Canon Law but there are some differences.

–Specifically: What are the rules for fasting before communion in the Ruthenian Rite (if anyone knows); or what are they like generally for Eastern Catholics? I thought it was from midnight but a friend said she knew Byz. Catholics who ate right before liturgy because they knew it’d be over an hour before Communion…

The traditional Eucharistic fast is from the night before but the particular law for the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church is one hour.

 

[NoPlaceLikeRome]

Thanks!

P.S. I avoid OCP missalettes like the plague but Canon Law I can’t object to

 

[RPConover]

Actually, if you go to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC, the same exact thing is written on the back of the bulletin they hand out that contains the psalms and hymns of the day…

 

[Woodstock]

The traditional Eucharistic fast is from the night before but the particular law for the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church is one hour.

To clarify that further, the Byzantine Catholics are held to the Byzantine fasts. Visiting Latins may keep the Byzantine fasts if they desire, but they continue to be bound by Latin canons and are not *required *to do more.

 

[Aramis]

–Specifically: What are the rules for fasting before communion in the Ruthenian Rite (if anyone knows); or what are they like generally for Eastern Catholics? I thought it was from midnight but a friend said she knew Byz. Catholics who ate right before liturgy because they knew it’d be over an hour before Communion…

–And also the church I went to has a 7:00 PM Liturgy on Wednesdays–How would that work with fasting? and I thought Orthodox only had Liturgy once a week, except monastics, and assumed it would be the same for ECs… but no?

–Switching rites: When should a layperson do this? How is it done? (A friend of mine is deeply drawn to the Byzantine Rite but has heard rite-switching is sometimes discouraged. BTW I will look up this one in the forum archives too.)

The fast, as taught at St. Nicholas in Anchorage, AK, which is within the Eparchy of Van Nuys, is three hours, with a preference for since the noon meal for evenings and since midnight for the morning.

Switching Rites: When one is certain that one wishes to spend the rest of their life in that rite, or prior to admission to the seminary programs for the Deaconate or Priesthood.

Mid-week liturgies: many EC parishes, especially in the US, have the DL offered on one or more days during the week if the parish priest(s) are not occupied with mundane employment.

 

[Manofvirtue]

I am the answer to all of them.

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