If I am Roman Catholic, is it valid to take communion from an Eastern Rite church? An Eastern Orthodox church?
Is it against my rules, their rules, or both?
I thought it was a common misconception that they were interchangeable, but they were, to my knowledge, not interchangeable. What about the Maronite church?
“Eastern Rite” usually refers to Catholics who use different formulae. It’s still the same Church. Maronites are, again, Catholics.
Never heard of “Eastern Orthodox,” just plain “Orthodox.”
I was taught that Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican sacraments are considered valid and interchangeable (except for that little detail on the ordination of women). An example we were given is that post-Vatican II and the ecumenic work that’s been done, Sophia of Greece would most likely have remained an official Orthodox after her marriage to then-prince Juan Carlos; back then, it was unthinkable.
The mileage of individual priests will definitely vary.
It seems like it’s ok for RC to get communion from other rites and the Orthodox, but it is not ok for orthodox to give communion to RC.
Still researching.
…
how would it be OK for A to get something from B, but not for B to give it to A?
What am I supposed to do if I go to an Orthodox Mass, steal the form?
Orthodox will not commune Catholics, and Orthodox will not commune in Catholic churches.
The Eastern Rite churches are Catholic churches, in full communion with the Pope, part of “the Catholic Church,” with identical theology to the Roman (AKA Latin) Rite but customs derived from their own national (usually formerly Eastern Orthodox) ceremonials. And Roman Catholics (i.e., Catholics in the majority Roman Rite) are fully entitled to take communion in Eastern Rite churches, and vice versa.
The Catholic Church authorizes its members to receive communion in Eastern Orthodox Churches when a Catholic Church is not available – but customarily an Eastern Orthodox church will not communicate a Catholic.
As I understand it, the 1600-year break between the Eastern Orthodox and the (non-Chalcedonian) Oriental Orthodox – the Copts, Armenians, and Jacobites – has very recently been healed, and they are entitled to intercommunicate with each other. My assumption is that the same rule applies for Catholics with regard to Oriental Orthodox as for Eastern Orthodox.
Anglicans practice open communion; all that is required is that one be a baptized Christian to receive communion. As a general rule, Catholics and Orthodox are prohibited by their own churches from receiving Anglican communion, but would be fully welcome to do so from the Anglican perspective. (We can spend pages of posts discussing the nuances here, and it’s not relevant to the OP.)
To sum up: Eastern Rite Catholics are separate “branches” within the Catholic Church, and there’s no prohibition against any interrelationship whatsoever between Eastern and Roman Rite Catholics. Orthodox Churches are national churches united in one communion and distinct from Catholicism, which recognizes the validity of their orders. Catholics have their own church’s permission to receive Orthodox communion, but will not be given communion by the Orthodox (as a general rule). Neither has a high opinion of Anglicans, but Anglicans recognize and welcome them, although both groups are (nearly always) prohibited by their own churches from receiving Anglican communion.
Thank you, Polycarp, for a definitive answer.
That’s news to me. Some Antiochians and some Jacobites have entered into a very limited intercommunion, and some American churches will allow Ethiopians to commune, but as a whole the two communions are still separated.
Here is a list of the Eastern Rite groups who are in communion with the Latin (Roman) Rite: CATHOLIC RITES AND CHURCHES
In terms of the Eucharist, the Catechism notes
Note the “lacks little” phrase. The Orthodox are recognized as sharing in the same belief regarding the Eucharist as the Catholics, but the fact that we are, indeed, separate, means that inter-communion is not accepted.
Part of Catholic theology regarding the Eucharist is that it not only presents Jesus in a phyical presence, but that it expresses union. Lacking that union, we do not engage in intercommunion.
This is not a statement regarding the recognition of the physical presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, (a point often confused by many Catholics because many of their Protestant neighbors do see Communion as only symbolic). The Real Presence is held by the Orthodox, the Anglican Communion, many Lutherans, and some other groups. It is the insistence by the Catholic church that the Eucharist additionally expresses current union (rather than hoped for union) that separates our practices from that of the open communion practices of the Anglicans that Poly noted, above.
With permission, (typically at a wedding), a Catholic may participate in an Orthodox, Anglican, or Lutheran communion, or invite an Orthodox, Anglican, or Lutheran to participate with us, but it is not a recognized practice.
(Shorthand: if the church has “Catholic” in the name, you can probably participate with no issues while if the church includes “Orthodox” in the name, it is polite and liturgically approporaite to refrain from participating. If the church says “Catholic” but also says “National,” it is probably not appropriate as it probably indicates that the church is in schism, but you’d have to research each church, individually, as the name “National” is not used consistently.)
yBeayf: It was in fact an Antiochian Orthodox, and a fairly “liberal” person by Orthodox standards, who told me the EO/OO intercommunion bit, so I may be operating on someone very much overstating the case. In which case, my apologies for providing false information.
Tom~: As I understand it, there is a distinction drawn between the EO and the other churches who recognize the Real Presence, best explained by example. If you and Deb take a round-the-world trip, you would be expected to attend Mass and take communion at a Catholic Church if at all possible. But if you visited Kyla and ended up on a Sunday in a small town in Bulgaria with solely an Orthodox church, you would be completely within Catholic discipline in attending Divine Liturgy and presenting yourself for communion there. On the other hand, if you ended up the next Sunday in Hogtrollfjord, Norway, where there is only a Lutheran church, you would properly have to have your bishop’s prior consent to present yourself for communion there (in order, of course, to remain completely within the bounds of Catholic propriety).
You are correct in your example, (although it would be a pretty rare occasion for most people).
That is because we only had a schism with the Orthodox while the rest of you people are “bluiddy hiritics.” 
as far as i know, (pascal announcement before communion being the most recent example) only orthodox persons who have completed precommunion preparations are able to recieve communion. if you did go up and the priest doesn’t recognize you, there will be a bit of a discussion, and depending on how that goes, you may recieve or be turned away.
orthodox does not give communion to non-orthodox, and there are consequences (severity depends on what flavour of orthodox ) if orthodox recieves communion in non-orthodox churches.
some churches will do the announcement thing before communion, others will just have the q&a at the chalice.