How is attending an Orthodox Sunday Divine Liturgy viewed by the Eastern Catholic Churches?

[theistgal]

I specifically asked for the Eastern opinions. I know what the West teaches already.

I attended the Vigil Mass at a local Latin rite parish this afternoon, to fulfill my obligation, so that tomorrow I can attend a Divine Liturgy at a nearby Orthodox church. I know a lot of ECs who will do this from time to time.

 

[MorEphrem]

I agree with malphono with the reasoning of marimagi.

 

[Peter_J]

I am quite familiar with the fact the Western Catholics are obligated to attend Mass on Sunday and going to an Orthodox Church does not fulfill this obligation. I also know that the notion of obligation is a very Western Idea.

Are Byzantine Catholics allowed to attend an Orthodox Divine Liturgy on Sunday instead of a Catholic Mass/Divine Liturgy? How does the East view this (especially with the close connections between the Orthodox and Eastern Catholics)?

Thanks!

Standard answer: in general No, with a dispensation Yes.

That’s true for both Eastern and Western Catholics. But turning to the topic of Eastern Catholics there is one specific thing I’ve read that I want to share. That when a Melkite Catholic in (I believe) the US is unable to attend an Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgy, he/she is given a dispensation to fulfill the Sunday Obligation by attending an Orthodox Divine Liturgy. (I don’t remember where I read that.)

 

[Peter_J]

Rome officially does not seek the reception of Orthodox Christians into Communion with Rome.

That is my understanding. As you’ve probably heard me say before, I don’t discourage Orthodox from converting to Catholicism, but I don’t encourage them to do so either.

 

[Zekariya]

Standard answer: in general No, with a dispensation Yes.

That’s true for both Eastern and Western Catholics. But turning to the topic of Eastern Catholics there is one specific thing I’ve read that I want to share. That when a Melkite Catholic in (I believe) the US is unable to attend an Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgy, he/she is given a dispensation to fulfill the Sunday Obligation by attending an Orthodox Divine Liturgy. (I don’t remember where I read that.)

This is quite interesting. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Aramis]

I am quite familiar with the fact the Western Catholics are obligated to attend Mass on Sunday and going to an Orthodox Church does not fulfill this obligation. I also know that the notion of obligation is a very Western Idea.

Are Byzantine Catholics allowed to attend an Orthodox Divine Liturgy on Sunday instead of a Catholic Mass/Divine Liturgy? How does the East view this (especially with the close connections between the Orthodox and Eastern Catholics)?

Thanks!

4 of my 6 pastors have said yes, one has said no, and one has yet to make any statement relevant.

Note that the JCD amongst them was positive that, in the US, yes, it does fulfill even a Latin’s obligation. (He cited the Ecumenical Directory for the US.)

 

[theistgal]

4 of my 6 pastors have said yes, one has said no, and one has yet to make any statement relevant.

Well, 4 out of MY 6 pastors say 4 of your pastors are right, one says they’re not, and the 6th told me to stop wasting his time.

 

[AnthonyJ]

I had thought the Ecumenial Directory was revised sometime in the 1990s and the part saying an Orthodox DL could fulfill Sunday Obligation was removed?

4 of my 6 pastors have said yes, one has said no, and one has yet to make any statement relevant.

Note that the JCD amongst them was positive that, in the US, yes, it does fulfill even a Latin’s obligation. (He cited the Ecumenical Directory for the US.)

 

[RimoGrkoKatolik]

I asked my Byzantine Catholic bishop, and he was against that. He said that you can ATTEND liturgy in Orthodox church, but you cannot RECEIVE the Communion, and Communion is the most important part of liturgy. He said that Catholics should go to Catholic churches, because they share the same FAITH. Orthodox church negates many Catholic teachings and dogmas, and I know that in my local Orthodox parish, priests are not in good relations with Catholics of both rites.
Bishop said to me: “Why should you go to the people that call you heretic, when you have over 100 Catholic churches here and you must go to Catholic church on Sundays.”
My bishop and whole Byzantine Catholic church in my country is very traditional, and all Byzantine Catholics attend ONLY Catholic liturgies or masses, especially on Sundays, both Roman and Byzantine. A very few of them visited Orthodox church, I visited it only once, when I was buying chotki in a monastery… I even know a person that was KICKED OUT of the church only because he was Catholic.

So, the final answer to your question would be NO, Eastern Catholics attend only CATHOLIC liturgy or mass on Sundays, but they can attend liturgies if they want, that is not a sin, but on Sundays they must go to Catholic church.

 

[Zekariya]

I asked my Byzantine Catholic bishop, and he was against that. He said that you can ATTEND liturgy in Orthodox church, but you cannot RECEIVE the Communion, and Communion is the most important part of liturgy. He said that Catholics should go to Catholic churches, because they share the same FAITH. Orthodox church negates many Catholic teachings and dogmas, and I know that in my local Orthodox parish, priests are not in good relations with Catholics of both rites.
Bishop said to me: “Why should you go to the people that call you heretic, when you have over 100 Catholic churches here and you must go to Catholic church on Sundays.”
My bishop and whole Byzantine Catholic church in my country is very traditional, and all Byzantine Catholics attend ONLY Catholic liturgies or masses, especially on Sundays, both Roman and Byzantine. A very few of them visited Orthodox church, I visited it only once, when I was buying chotki in a monastery… I even know a person that was KICKED OUT of the church only because he was Catholic.

So, the final answer to your question would be NO, Eastern Catholics attend only CATHOLIC liturgy or mass on Sundays, but they can attend liturgies if they want, that is not a sin, but on Sundays they must go to Catholic church.

Thanks! You really made a good point. I know an OCA parish that I used to attend considers me an apostate (the deacon even wrote me on Facebook concerning that). I really like this: “Why should you go to the people that call you heretic, when you have over 100 Catholic churches here and you must go to Catholic church on Sundays.”

 

[RimoGrkoKatolik]

You must know that in my country, Orthodox and Catholics are not in the good relations it is because the war that happened before 20 years an the aggressor was ORTHODOX country. What my bishop wanted to say was, that if you live in a whole Catholic country, with a Catholic church in almost every quarter, every village, why would you go to Orthodox church? And if you want to know, Orthodox in Europe, especially Eastern Europe and Balkans hate Byzantines, they call us “heretic uniates” and they say that we betrayed the Orthodox church, but you must also know that Byzantine Catholic church in Croatia is old almost 500 years, and today, my church has only one monastery, and many churches were burned down by Orthodox people. In the USA, the situation is different, but in ex-Yugoslavia, Orthodox priests hate Byzantine Catholics. I am talking about Serbian Orthodox church, while Bulgarian and Macedonian Orthodox churches are in pretty good relations with Catholics from both rites.

 

[TheAdvocate]

I agree with what you said and yet still hold to what I said.

Attending an Orthodox liturgy for the sake of attentinding is fine.
However attending one in replacement of your catholic liturgy (to fulfill your Sunday obligation) is not allowed. You can’t attend a non-catholic liturgy to fulfill your Sunday obligation unless in the situation stipulated in my previous post. That is Church teaching.

That is Church teaching? I doubt it. Could you please find the teaching for me? In East and West, if you attended an Orthodox service instead of your own service, that would not be a big deal. If you did it all the time, that would be a problem.

 

[RimoGrkoKatolik]

Thanks! You really made a good point. I know an OCA parish that I used to attend considers me an apostate (the deacon even wrote me on Facebook concerning that). I really like this: “Why should you go to the people that call you heretic, when you have over 100 Catholic churches here and you must go to Catholic church on Sundays.”

And yes, I know that it sounds stupid, but that is how I translated it, he didn’t really say: “Why should you go to the people that call you heretic, when you have over 100 Catholic churches here and you must go to Catholic church on Sundays.” That is what people say, and it is not far from truth.

 

[Zekariya]

And yes, I know that it sounds stupid, but that is how I translated it, he didn’t really say: “Why should you go to the people that call you heretic, when you have over 100 Catholic churches here and you must go to Catholic church on Sundays.” That is what people say, and it is not far from truth.

 

[RimoGrkoKatolik]

Read this please!
You must know that in my country, Orthodox and Catholics are not in the good relations it is because the war that happened before 20 years an the aggressor was ORTHODOX country. What my bishop wanted to say was, that if you live in a whole Catholic country, with a Catholic church in almost every quarter, every village, why would you go to Orthodox church? And if you want to know, Orthodox in Europe, especially Eastern Europe and Balkans hate Byzantines, they call us “heretic uniates” and they say that we betrayed the Orthodox church, but you must also know that Byzantine Catholic church in Croatia is old almost 500 years, and today, my church has only one monastery, and many churches were burned down by Orthodox people. In the USA, the situation is different, but in ex-Yugoslavia, Orthodox priests hate Byzantine Catholics. I am talking about Serbian Orthodox church, while Bulgarian and Macedonian Orthodox churches are in pretty good relations with Catholics from both rites.

 

[Zekariya]

Read this please!
You must know that in my country, Orthodox and Catholics are not in the good relations it is because the war that happened before 20 years an the aggressor was ORTHODOX country. What my bishop wanted to say was, that if you live in a whole Catholic country, with a Catholic church in almost every quarter, every village, why would you go to Orthodox church? And if you want to know, Orthodox in Europe, especially Eastern Europe and Balkans hate Byzantines, they call us “heretic uniates” and they say that we betrayed the Orthodox church, but you must also know that Byzantine Catholic church in Croatia is old almost 500 years, and today, my church has only one monastery, and many churches were burned down by Orthodox people. In the USA, the situation is different, but in ex-Yugoslavia, Orthodox priests hate Byzantine Catholics. I am talking about Serbian Orthodox church, while Bulgarian and Macedonian Orthodox churches are in pretty good relations with Catholics from both rites.

Lord, have mercy! That is sad.

 

[RimoGrkoKatolik]

Lord, have mercy! That is sad.

Wait, are you kidding me?
Are you making fun of killed Croatian Byzantine bishops only because they wanted to be Catholic?
I wrote about situation in my country, where you are traitor if you go to a different church, and that is what I hate about my country.
In the case if you think I hate Orthodox church, I love Orthodox same as Catholic church, I almost converted to Orthodox church, I even know the archbishop Jovan,but I found out that the real church is the One, Holy, Apostolic Catholic church, and I am becoming a Byzantine Catholic priest.

 

[Zekariya]

Wait, are you kidding me?
Are you making fun of killed Croatian Byzantine bishops only because they wanted to be Catholic?
I wrote about situation in my country, where you are traitor if you go to a different church, and that is what I hate about my country.
In the case if you think I hate Orthodox church, I love Orthodox same as Catholic church, I almost converted to Orthodox church, I even know the archbishop Jovan,but I found out that the real church is the One, Holy, Apostolic Catholic church, and I am becoming a Byzantine Catholic priest.

Sorry. I meant that it is sad about how the Orthodox treated the Catholics.

 

[RimoGrkoKatolik]

Sorry. I meant that it is sad about how the Orthodox treated the Catholics.

Ah okay, I thought that "Lord have mercy, that is sad " comment was sarcasm, but sorry if I insulted anybody, I just want to say that it is sad that country with 30 000 Byzantines has no monasteries, only one for the Basilian sisters, but not a single one for monks.