Orthodoxy & Mortal Sin

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Three Questions:

If Eastern Orthodoxy possesses a true priesthood and sacraments, am I correct in concluding that their sacraments are effectual unto salvation, unlike, say, Protestant sacraments?

This leads me to wonder if it would be a mortal sin for a Catholic to convert to Orthodoxy.

If so, why?
 
I have had similar questions. Personally I would think there would be no sin to convert to Orthodoxy if you believed it was more true than Catholicism.
It is very much a political division between Orthodoxy and Catholicism and the East and the West. I don’t think one side is better or more correct than the other and I hope one day the division ceases but that will take work from both sides. Some of the theology is a bit different, but sometimes that is just because it emphasizes different things. They both started as the early Church and many great saints came from the East and Orthodoxy.
 
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I once heard Fr. Larry Richards say that mortal sin is “when it’s wrong, you know it’s wrong, and you do it anyway”. Well, if you think Orthodoxy is more correct than Catholicism, you don’t think what you’re doing is wrong at all. Would that make it not mortal?

EDIT: also mortal sin has to be a “grave matter” apparently
 
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rosejmj said:
Personally I would think there would be no sin to convert to Orthodoxy if you believed it was more true than Catholicism.
It is very much a political division between Orthodoxy and Catholicism
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If you’re going to think like this, then you’d also have to say there’s no sin in converting to many other religions that you believed were “more true than Catholicism”. The Anglican and Lutheran churches were also largely politically driven, for example.

Schism is sin. End of story.
 
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I don’t think there is sin in following your conscience. And there is no mortal sin if you don’t know there is. And if someone truly believed they were doing the right thing becoming Orthodox I don’t think there would be any sin unless they were culpable for their ignorance maybe

I also really wonder if Catholicism is more true than Orthodoxy
 
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The difference is that the Catholic Church recognizes the Orthodox as having apostolic succession and that salvation is found within the Orthodox Church.

Protestants broke from the Church. The Catholic and Orthodox are the Church and this schism - which is within, not from the one true Church - revolves around just ONE substantive issue, which is the nature, definition, and exercise of the primacy held by the Church of Rome.

ZP
 
Yes, if you conscience is malformed, there could very well be culpability for that. As to there being no sin in following one’s conscience, that is not correct, imo. Sin is sin, so while one may have zero culpability because of a malformed conscience beyond one’s control, ie no personal sin, the sin still occurred. The effects of that sin in the world still occurred. A little more evil entered the world. For example, one may have been raised in an atheist, libertine environment, truly see nothing wrong with fornication, the I’ll effects of one’s fornication still occur. Sin still occurred.
And as @Tis_Bearself so aptly said, Schism is sin.
 
For Catholics, that is a pretty big substantive issue.
Also, you’re on a forum called “Catholic Answers” where we uphold the Catholic faith.
We don’t just say oh well, it’s only over the Pope, it’s internal, so yeah, sure, just go be Orthodox.

Let’s not forget that we have lots of Eastern Catholics here who maintain the Eastern tradition while in communion with Rome. This wasn’t necessarily an easy thing for them to do. If being Orthodox was perfectly okay then what they have done would mean nothing.
 
tafan2 said:
And the inverse?
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From what I have seen and heard, If a Catholic priest comes into the Orthodox Church they are vested and not re-ordained, therefore they, the Orthodox, would acknowledge apostolic succession in the Catholic Church.

Here are some quotes from Orthodox:

Father Georges Florovsky said there is ecclesiology in the Roman Catholic Church in his article “On the Limits of the Church.”

Reception of Roman Catholics by Chrismation was affirmed by the Council of Trullo, the 1667 Synod in Moscow and the Council of Jerusalem.

Saint Mark of Ephesus after the Council of Florence, forbade the rebaptism of Roman Catholics.

ZP
 
ziapueblo said:
Reception of Roman Catholics by Chrismation was affirmed by the Council of Trullo, the 1667 Synod in Moscow and the Council of Jerusalem.
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And I thin kit bares repeating that the Orthodox view Chrismation (Confirmation) in a slightly different manner than Roman Catholics do. AFAIK it can be repeated multiple times if need be but I could be mistaken on that.
 
We’re not talking about you personally, zia. We’re talking about the impression left by people who think it’s perfectly fine for somebody to just quit Catholicism and go be Orthodox.

It’s a sin (mortal or not depends on the situation) and is wrong. End of story. And I don’t see why someone being Eastern Catholic makes it okay, or makes it okay for that person to say it’s okay. It’s denigrating to the Church.

This is not hating on the Orthodox, and of course those who were raised Orthodox or otherwise were never Catholic are not “leaving the Church” to join Orthodoxy, so it’s a different situation for them. For one who is a member of the Church, it’s never okay to leave it. If you are stuck permanently in some area where there is no Catholic Church and only an Orthodox one, I could maybe see it being okay in that limited circumstance only.
 
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The Catholic Church views the Orthodox Church as the Church…the Schism is internal. Ultimately each person has to decide for him/herself whether or not being in Communion with Rome is worth it or not. The Orthodox have the Eucharist and Jesus said that unless you partake of it you will not have life within you…good enough for me.
 
What would have happened then if I had gone from Protestant to Orthodox instead of Protestant to Catholic ?
 
You weren’t Catholic to begin with so this discussion doesn’t apply to you.
For you, going from Protestant to Orthodox would have put you in touch with more valid sacraments (particularly Eucharist) and valid apostolic succession, so it would have been a step nearer the goal. Of course, becoming a Catholic put you even closer to the goal.

For a Catholic to change to Orthodox would be taking a step away from the goal.
 
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