Orthodox at Communion?

by Michael Shackleton · May 4, 2009

A friend of mine who is Greek Orthodox regularly stays with me while on holiday. There is no Greek church in the area, and so she accompanies me to Sunday Mass and receives Communion with me. Am I right in believing that the Church has no objection to this?

The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church officially recognise each other as two expressions of Christ�s Church, having the same sacramental, and especially Eucharistic structure, and episcopal�service�handed down from the time of the apostles.

Although there are disagreements that, alas, continue to separate us, many efforts are being made, especially lately, to work towards mutual understanding and respect and to initiate a momentum towards total union one day. In the 1980s Pope John Paul II presided over an international commission to discuss our common heritage, and much ground was covered in his effort to stress the tragedy of the 11th century split between East and West, and to encourage mutually warm and friendly relations between us.

On the other side, Bishop Hilarion Alfeev of the Russian Orthodox Church said in 2007: �The restoration of communion with the Orthodox Church must be as important for the Catholic Church as the restoration of communion with the Church of Rome for the Orthodox Church.�

In view of this common heritage, which Catholics and Orthodox do not share with the Protestant churches, Canon 844.3 permits Catholic ministers to administer the sacraments of penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick to members of Eastern Churches not in full communion with the Catholic Church. This is not a blanket permission but it would be safe to say that in individual cases, such as you mentioned, there can be no objection to a member of the Orthodox Church receiving Communion at a Catholic Mass.

Both sides agree that the growth of secularism is damaging the Church�s mission in the world. They�surely also would agree�that�the smart way to begin to counter this would be to speed up our coming together�again and speaking with one voice.

The principal sticking points are�the Roman primacy and the Catholic addition to the Nicene Creed, stating our belief that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (which some argue can be resolved). The Orthodox acknowledge Rome as the senior patriarchal see in the Church, but deny that the pope is the Church�s supreme pontiff.