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Thank you, Alice...for your kind words. Your priest is one of the most dynamic I have encountered. I enjoy speaking with him.

Digressing further, there really is no one answer as to why many Orthodox, cradle or otherwise, opt not to attend services of other jurisdictions. Locally, there are pan-Orthodox Vespers services Sunday evenings during Lent (elsewhere too), but attendance seems predicated on a variety of things- who else is going, who will preach, who will be directing the choir and what sort of music will they be singing, how far away is the church, etc. The larger the church, the greater the turnout, or so it appears here. The home church turns out its own in greater numbers than on other occasions. But all this has little to do with what the various criteria for communion are when attending an Orthodox Divine Liturgy, and it is still best to check the parish priest in advance. This thread originally was about who communes with who within Orthodoxy and what is needed, but I guess the answer is to check on a case by case basis beforehand, since no single answer is going to satisfy in all situations.

Hi,

The explicit rule is that if you are a member of a Church with valid sacraments, but not in communion with the Catholic Church, then you are urged to follow your Church's discipline regarding receiving the Eucharist in the Catholic Church.

However, if you would be able to receive in your Church, the Catholic Church would not object if you received the sactament in the Catholic Church, provided that you request that own your own free will.

Non-christians, and members of ecclesial communities without valid sacraments may not receive (well, baptized christians may obtain a special permission from the bishop, but this is quite rare).

However, as my pastor, Fr. Bill, put it: The priest is there to celebrate mass, not to play FBI. If you request Holy Communion, the priest or minister will most probably give it to you without even second thoughts, assuming you are simply a visitor from another Catholic parish.

In our parish (St. Jude the Apostle, Latin Church), our ministers are instructed to do so even with young children, as we have a number of parishoners with Eastern Christian background, and that means that the children might have already received first Holy Communion the day they were baptized.

Our pastor, being himself a Maronite Chor-Bishop with bi-ritual faculties in the Latin Church and the grandson of a Ruthenian Catholic, has a great respect for the Eastern Churches.

Shalom,
Memo.

The so-called ROCOR is not as straight-laced as it seems. Two examples: while in Munich, Germany the local Greek Orthodox church next door has some serious scism or something over a priest embezzeling funds - the entire Greek congregation came across the street to the ROCOR cathedral and communicated. The bishop told me that his main worry was getting into a fight with the Patriach of Constantinople over this. Also while in Monterey and a member of a ROCOR church I knew many OCA adherants including myself who were in no way discriminated and I never hid my OCA ties from the priest.

Memo,

I was about to comment on the sensitivity of your parish to the sacramental practices of our Churches, when I read the final paragraph of your post and understood from whence your pastor's knowledge/understanding comes.

That said, it raises another question, though. Why is a Maronite Chor-Bishop serving a Latin parish? His bi-ritual (or, more properly, bi-ecclesial these days) faculties notwithstanding, it seems odd to find an EC priest incardinated to a Latin diocese as his primary pastoral assignment, given our own shortages of clergy.

Many years,

Neil

Well, you can be an "ethnic" Jew and still be an Orthodox Christian in good standing, as long as you're not a Jew "religiously"...

Christian

Hi,

Well, let's see. I am not even sure about his present canonical enrollment. I asked him once and that is what he told me: He was a Maronite Chor-Bishop with bi-ritual faculties to the Latin Church. However, if the situation is more complex than that, he might have avoided further detail, to avoid confusing me.

I know he is a Maronite Chor-Bishop, because he sometimes signs as such and he is recognized as such by the Maronite clergy roster (as he says, "he runs the tribunal", meaning, he is the judge of this Eparchy's marriage tribunal).

I also know that he is a Monsignor. I do not know if he received his title as a Latin clergyman, or as a Maronite. I think he's "all the way up there", most probably a Prothonotary Apostolic, since he wears purple and can use pontificalia on some solemn celebrations.

I know that my parish is Latin, althugh in addition to Fr. Bill, the other resident priest, Fr. Pierre, is a full-time maronite with bi-ritual faculties. This I know for a fact, because Fr. Pierre arrived to the parish after we did, so he introduced himself as such.

The parish was recently renovated, and the rededication mass was presided by H.E. Roger Cardinal Mahony, our Latin Metropolitan Archbisop... but it was concelebrated by a Maronite Eparch Emeritus (I think his name is John), and for that matter, also by the Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew in Valyermo, Fr. Bill's spiritual director and long time friend.

Fr. Bill is like one of those rare coins you cannot quite place in your collection. But don't take him at face value, for you would underestimate him. He is a very holy man, full of love, compassion and care for his spiritual children, a group which I have the immense priviledge to be member of.

Shalom,
Memo.

"In many cases, particularly in Slavic traditions, priests will not commune you unless you have been to confession the evening or morning before."

According to the Old Russian Rite, confession must be the week before communion, with absolution only being given upon completion of penence and a week of fasting. Even then, the priest may not necessarily bless one to receive Holy Communion.

It is then expected that all of the services of the sunday cycle will be attended - including not only the vigil, but small vespers, compline, midnight office, the hours and the communion hours. All of this is, of course, in addition to the service of preparation for Holy Communion.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Quite correct...I meant to say, Jews of the ethnicity of the parish in question, who are attending to hear their language, and mingle with their countrymen...most often seen in very Russian Orthodox parishes, where there is NOT a correspondingly high Russian Jewish immigrant population. My grammatical error. Sorry about the confusion.

Dear Gaudior,

My OCA priest friend just told me about the high number of Russian Orthodox Jewish converts he has in his parish. He says they are more zealous about the practice of their faith than the "goyim" Orthodox!

Shalom!

Alex

Father Mark,

I am familiar with all the services mentioned above, with the exception of the "communion hours." What are they?

Thank you!

Dave

Dear Dave,

They are basically a doubling up of the third, sixth and ninth hour, with the tropar and kondak of preparation and lessons. This is really for the sake of the clergy who have been performing the proskomidia during the ordinary hours, but are bound to celebrate the hours before celebrating liturgy. It's a bit repetitious for the laity, but completes the liturgical cycle for the celebrants.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Catholics who are interested in ecumenical contact with Eastern Orthodoxy soon become accustomed to the suggestion from the Orthodox that "we are your past" - meaning what the Catholics once were, the Orthodox still are. Why do I have the impression that in at least some instances, the Orthodox represent the Jansenism of the recent Catholic past?
Incognitus

Dear Incognitus,

I don't accept your idea, Sir!

Just because the Orthodox and the Old Ritualists in particular pray so much and are so strict doesn't mean they are "Jansenists."

The two are hardly similar.

Jansenism essentially posited our unworthiness to approach the means of Grace (that make us worthy).

Orthodoxy and Old Ritualism in particular would have us become as worthy as we sinners can to prepare ourselves to receive the means of Grace in the Mysteries via prayer and fasting.

We and especially Ukie Catholics today could use a little more of the discipline of the Old Ritualists.

Alex