www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Intercommunion agreements-Armenian, Asserian, and general

I would like to get a list of all the churches that have intercommunion agremetns, especially if there are documents I can read on it.

I've also come across a curious claim:
Granted the person erred by considering the Assyrian church among the Oriental Orthodox, (though I think I read something about the Syriac Orthodox church having an agreement), but this is the second time I have read that about the Armenians. I would like to get either another confirmation that this is false or confirm the truth of it.

Well, intercommunion or pastoral care agreements.

I'm sorry I don't have time for research right now to give you links. Though there is full, mutual and official recognition of true common Sacraments and priesthood, There are no OFFICIAL (I assume by that term you mean Church-wide) pastoral provisions between the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic Churches. Any provisions you will find will be on a LOCAL level. It is easy enough, for example, for you to find local catechetical material from Armenian Apostolic sources that permit Catholics to be godparents for Armenian Apostolic Christians.

Pastoral provision between the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic Churches was a de facto reality in Armenia in the early part of the 20th century, when both Churches lost so many priests to the Communist regimes. Those who migrated to Western lands (both Catholic and Orthodox) after WW2 most likely took that attitude with them, and a lot of communing on the local level was going on. But such intercommunion is not the official position of both Churches.

The only OFFICIAL (i.e., Church-wide) pastoral provision between an Oriental Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church that currently exists is between the Syriac Orthodox/Malankara Syriac Orthodox and the Catholic Church. Also, the Malankara Orthodox have one in the works with the Catholic Church last I looked.

The Catholic Church also has OFFICIAL pastoral provisions with the Polish National Catholic Church and the ACOE.

Pastoral provision is not equivalent to intercommunion. Your last post seems to indicate you know the difference.

Blessings,
Marduk

Illustrates what I always say: there's a lot of garbage on the internet.

Mardukm has already given the primary response that's is needed there, namely

I only add that it nowadays it's better to describe the Polish National Catholic Church as traditional Old Catholic (rather than simply saying Old Catholic), because of the split about a decade ago with the more liberal Old Catholic Union of Utrecht.

Anastasia,

There have been both formal and informal pastoral agreements in place over some decades - informal agreements predominate.

Mardukm is correct in stating that there is a formal such agreement between the Syriac Orthodox/Malankara Syriac Orthodox and the Catholic Church. (The Syriac Catholic Church is also a party to that agreement.) The text is on-line at the website of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate.

Likewise, as he noted, there is a formal agreement between the Assyrian and Catholic Churches, to which the Chaldean Church is also a party. The text of that agreement is also available on-line.

(By the way, to address your comment, the Assyrians, together with the Ancient Church of the East are both frequently lumped in with the Churches of the Oriental Orthodox Communion since the average person barely understands that there is any distinction between the Churches of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Communions, let alone discern that there are other Apostolic Churches out there by their lonesome.)

In both instances, such agreements were enacted to assure access to the Mysteries by the faithful of each Church in places where they might find themselves without recourse to their own clergy - at the time. this was a matter of concern principally in the diaspora, especially North America and Oceania. Reality is that neither is likely often exercised much in that regard anymore, as most of the Churches involved have since significantly strengthened their presence in the diaspora. The most likely to have benefited initially were Syriac Catholics and Chaldeans - as their counterparts were better represented in the diaspora back when these were enacted (that's still true for the Syriacs). These days, I suspect that the opportunity of reliance on the provisions is more often for reasons of convenience or familial unity at liturgical

As for informal agreements, almost all the Oriental Orthodox Churches have had such with Rome at one time or another beginning in the mid-20th century - the sole exceptions being the Ethiopians and Eritreans, neither of whom ever did. The informal agreement between Rome and the Copts existed from probably the early 1960s until the mid- to late 1970s after which its continued existence began to be looked on with disfavor by the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate.

The Armenians have perhaps the longest history in respect to an informal agreement, dating to the immediate aftermath of WWII and continuing to date - although it's possible to surmise that it went back even further, given that relations between Rome and both Holy Ecthmiadzin and the Great House of Colicia have been particularly cordial for centuries, excepting occasional intermittent periods of disenchantment with one another.

Needless to say, there is no written documentation available as regards any of the informal agreements - or, if there is, it's buried in some ecclesial archive.

There are also informal pastoral care agreements often acknowledged to exist between and among various of the Churches in the Middle East - the Antiochian Orthodox, Melkite Catholics, Syriacs - Orthodox and Catholic, and, possibly, the Maronites.

(The existence of these are not always enthusiastically embraced nor even acknowledged by those living in places where one need not fear to travel between municipalities to find one's own priest and where each Church is free to erect its own temples.)

In the US, particularly the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the Antiochian Orthodox, the Melkite Catholics, and the Syriac Orthodox and Catholics were pretty accepting of informal intermingling liturgically, including reception of the Mysteries in counterpart Churches. Family dispersal among the various ecclesia was a major driving force in this regard. It was pretty much a matter of routine until about the early to mid-1980s, when the Antiochians began to step back from the practice, something that came about as the Antiochian numbers started to be bolstered by an influx of non-Arabs to their ranks.

Many years,

Neil