Recognition of marriages from outside the Church

[Digitonomy]

1. Is it the case that for Orthodox and Eastern Catholics a marriage is neither valid nor sacramental if it is outside the Church (say between Presbyterians)?
2. Would the marriage of a Presbyterian couple converting become valid through economia? Would there be any difference if only one of the couple converted?

**

 

[5Loaves]

1. Is it the case that for Orthodox and Eastern Catholics a marriage is neither valid nor sacramental if it is outside the Church (say between Presbyterians)?
2. Would the marriage of a Presbyterian couple converting become valid through economia? Would there be any difference if only one of the couple converted?

**

Two validly baptized Christians who marry (say two Presbyterians) have a valid and sacramental marriage in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Nothing changes if they are received in to the Church, one or both of them. Let me add, they had to be free to marry each other when they did marry. Their present marriage had to have been either the first marriage for both or if one had a prior marriage that spouse deceased. If one partner was divorced then he/she would be considered still married to the previous spouse. There are some other impediments to marriage (consanguinity, close blood relatives cannot marry one another for example), and these do vary in the Eastern Churches from those in the Latin Church, but typically the impediment would be any prior marriage with that spouse still living.

Can. 1055 §1.

 

[Digitonomy]

Two validly baptized Christians who marry (say two Presbyterians) have a valid and sacramental marriage in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Nothing changes if they are received in to the Church, one or both of them…There are some other impediments to marriage (consanguinity, close blood relatives cannot marry one another for example), and these do vary in the Eastern Churches from those in the Latin Church…

I notice that you quote the Western Code of Canon Law, rather than the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches.

Here is where my confusion arises: Is it not true that per the CCEO, and the longstanding tradition of the Church in the East, that a marriage must be blessed by a priest in order to be valid, except in extraordinary circumstances? Furthermore, it’s my understanding that at least in the Orthodox Churches, sacraments (including baptism) outside the Church are not recognized as valid. This usually includes even Catholic sacraments. I’m not sure how closely the Eastern Catholic Churches follow this approach. But in the absence of a valid baptism of the participants, and the absence of a valid minister to perform the sacrament, how can the marriage itself be valid?

My assumption is that it is not recognized as valid, but that these oversights become water under the bridge through economia upon the conversion of the participants. But I know what happens when I assume, hence the question.

 

[5Loaves]

I notice that you quote the Western Code of Canon Law, rather than the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches.

… Furthermore, it’s my understanding that at least in the Orthodox Churches, sacraments (including baptism) outside the Church are not recognized as valid. .

CCEO Canon 776 §1. The matrimonial covenant, established by the Creator and ordered by His laws, by which a man and woman by an irrevocable personal consent establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the generation and education of the offspring.

§2. From the institution of Christ a valid marriage between baptized persons is by that very fact a sacrament, by which the spouses, in the image of an indefectible union of Christ with the Church, are united by God and, as it were, consecrated and strengthened by sacramental grace. 3. The essential properties of marriage are unity and indissolubility, which in a marriage between baptized persons obtain a special firmness in virtue of the sacrament.

See also the New commentary on the Code of Canon Law
By John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green Page 1234

There are as well as the CCEO/Code of Canons of Oriental Churches in some cases Eastern Churches who have their additional codes of Canons which comes up in these CCEO canons with phrases like “that patriarchal Church”.

As for Orthodox Churches the Orthodox faithful here regarding the Holy Mystery of Matrimony may speak to the difference there. I know some Orthodox churches will baptize again or chrismate again a Catholic or other Christian and others do not administer these mysteries again when the person becomes Orthodox.

I’m unaware of ECCs or OCCs which would baptize again a Christian who was validly baptized, as for example, your example, a person baptized in the Presbyterian Christian Community. If both parties were validly baptized Christians, and married, with no impediments, then their marriage is valid and sacramental.

 

[5Loaves]

the Church in the East, that a marriage must be blessed by a priest in order to be valid, except in extraordinary circumstances?.

I may be mistaken but it sounds as if you are talking about the marriage taking place in an Eastern Church. In that case of Catholics who are joining in the holy mystery of matrimony the priest is minister of the sacrament, where as in the Latin Church the man and woman confer upon each other the sacrament of matrimony, so either a priest or a deacon may be the witness in the Latin Church* for a valid marriage taking place in the Church*. You were asking about a couple married outside of the Church and then being received into the Church after they are already married.

Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 1623 In the Latin Church, it is ordinarily understood that the spouses, as ministers of Christ’s grace, mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing their consent before the Church. In the Eastern liturgies the minister of this sacrament (which is called “Crowning”) is the priest or bishop who, after receiving the mutual consent of the spouses, successively crowns the bridegroom and the bride as a sign of the marriage covenant.

 

[Little_Boy_Lost]

This has been a longstanding conundrum I’ve had.

How can both byzantine marriage tradition and latin marriage tradition be in the same church? Is it just an agreement to disagree? When a priest has to marry a couple, vs just witness in a latin one? This not only speaks about the marriage mystery itself but also the role of the diaconate in the west vs. the east and the presbyterate. I know latin deacons who love to say they can “marry people”.