Sabbath Obligation

[o_senhor_falado]

If I attend an Eastern Orthodox liturgy on Sunday, will that fulfill my sabbath obligation? I know Protestant services don’t count, but I was thinking for some reason since Orthodox, I believe, can receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Church, attendance at their liturgy would suffice.

 

[Actaeon]

If I attend an Eastern Orthodox liturgy on Sunday, will that fulfill my sabbath obligation? I know Protestant services don’t count, but I was thinking for some reason since Orthodox, I believe, can receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Church, attendance at their liturgy would suffice.

It only counts if you cannot possibly make it to a Catholic mass, and if you do attend you should refrain from receiving unless you clear it up with their priest first (and that would entail circumstances that warrant receiving from them… such as danger of death, etc).

If you can make it to catholic mass, you need to do so, and may only attend the orthodox liturgy as a respectful observer.

 

[Brendan]

It only counts if you cannot possibly make it to a Catholic mass, and if you do attend you should refrain from receiving unless you clear it up with their priest first (and that would entail circumstances that warrant receiving from them… such as danger of death, etc).

If you can make it to catholic mass, you need to do so, and may only attend the orthodox liturgy as a respectful observer.

One point of clarification. If you cannot make it to a Mass said in union with Rome, then there is no obligation. The Church does not oblige us to do what is impossible to do.

It can be spiritually beneficial to attend a Divine Liturgy, but it does not fulfill the obligation.

 

[ConstantineTG]

It depends if you are Roman Catholic or Eastern Catholic. In the Code of Canon Law which is for Roman/Latin Catholics, it explicitly states that you need to attend a “Mass” of any Catholic Rite (Eastern Rites) on a Sunday to fulfill your obligation. Note that if it is not possible for you to go, then there is no obligation. So if you are in a small town in Russia and there is only an Orthodox parish there and there is no Catholic parish in any direction for hudreds of miles, then you have no obligation to go to an Orthodox Liturgy. You can and it is to your spiritual advantage to do so, but you are not obligated in any way.

In the Eastern Code, that provision is absent. It says that one must attend Divine Praises (at least one of Vespers, Matins or Divine Liturgy), but there is no clause of “any Catholic Rite”. It is up to each Eastern Church to state those provisions, and the reason it is absent is that in areas of great persecution, like the Middle East, there is actually intercommunion in some places (like between the Chaldean Catholics and the Assyrian Church of the East) so you can effectively go to their Liturgy for your obligation. But this is in specific locations as mandated by the respective sui juris Churches.

The other way to go about this is if you have Orthodox family, you may want to just ask for dispensation from your pastor if you are going to Divine Liturgy with them at certain times of the year (like Christmas or Easter).

 

[thistle]

If I attend an Eastern Orthodox liturgy on Sunday, will that fulfill my sabbath obligation? I know Protestant services don’t count, but I was thinking for some reason since Orthodox, I believe, can receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Church, attendance at their liturgy would suffice.

Attending an Orthodox liturgy does not fulfill your obligation.
If there no Catholic Church available then your obligation is dispensed with.

 

[Vico]

If I attend an Eastern Orthodox liturgy on Sunday, will that fulfill my sabbath obligation? I know Protestant services don’t count, but I was thinking for some reason since Orthodox, I believe, can receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Church, attendance at their liturgy would suffice.

No. That capability was suppressed in 1993, (and maybe even before in 1983). DIRECTORY FOR THE APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES AND NORMS ON ECUMENISM115 … it must be remembered that even when Catholics participate in ecumenical services or in services of other Churches and ecclesial Communities, the obligation of participating at Mass on these days remains.
vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/general-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19930325_directory_en.html

 

[Vico]

Also in the canon law there is parallel codification. The CIC 1248.1 also applies Latin and eastern Catholics. It is parallel with CCEO 881.

CIC Can. 1248 §1 The obligation of assisting at Mass is satisfied wherever Mass is celebrated in a catholic rite either on a holyday itself or on the evening of the previous day.

CCEO Can. 881 §1 The Christian faithful are bound by the obligation to participate on Sundays and feast days in the Divine Liturgy, or according to the prescriptions or legitimate customs of their own Church sui iuris, in the celebration of the divine praises.

See: Inter-Ecclesial Relations Between Eastern And Latin Catholics, Salachas and Nitkiewicz, 2009, (CIC Norms Regarding Eastern Catholics, p. 98, and Feast Days and Days of Penance, p 75.)

And from EWTN, Answer by Robert J. Flummerfelt, J.C.L. on 01-23-2005::Also it is interesting to note that the 1967 Ecumenical Directory permitted Catholics to fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation by worshipping in an Orthodox Church. However, the 1993 Ecumenical Directory has no such privilege and John Huels, JCD, the preeminent expert in this area has said that the 1983 Code of Canon Law abrogated the privilege that Catholics used to be able to fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation by worshipping solely in an Orthodox Church which again was originally granted by the 1967 Ecumenical Directory.
ewtn.org/vexperts/showmessage_print.asp?number=426088&language=en