are the roman catholic church and the orthodox church in communion with each other?

Question

i want to know if i am allowed to go to an orthodox church and do all the stuff they do.

Answer 1

>>are the roman catholic church and the orthodox church in communion with each other?<<

No, they are not in communion.

>>i want to know if i am allowed to go to an orthodox church and do all the stuff they do.<<

The Catholic Church will allow Catholics to do so under certain circumstances:

"Whenever necessity requires it or true spiritual advantage suggests it, and provided that danger of error or of indifferentism is avoided, the Christian faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister are permitted to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non-Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid."
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2T.HTM

HOWEVER, it is my understanding that the Orthodox do not permit Catholics to receive the sacraments in their churches. See Pew Potato's excellent answer.

If you are looking to experience the Eastern rites, there are Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Catholic_Churches

Answer 2

From the official website of the Orthodox Church in America:

QUESTION:

I have a question about receiving communion. I am Roman Catholic and I know we normally do not allow non-Catholics to receive communion during our services. However, I see in our catechism that there is an exception for Orthodox christians. They are also allowed to receive communion at Catholic services. Is the same true for Orthodox churches. Can I receive communion if I attend an Orthodox service?


ANSWER:

It has been many years since I read the Roman Catholic regulations on admitting non-Catholics to the Eucharist, but if I remember correctly, the Roman Catholic regulations state that an Orthodox Christian may receive the Eucharist in a Roman Catholic Church:

for good reason or cause
only with the mutual agreement of the local Roman Catholic and Orthodox ordinaries, i.e., diocesan bishops

While one might argue that any number of situations constitute a "good reason or cause," the critical point is that without the mutual agreement of both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic bishops, offering Communion to an Orthodox Christian would not be allowed. I know of no situations where local Roman Catholic and Orthodox ordinaries have made such an agreement.

Further, Orthodox Christianity does not permit its faithful to receive Holy Communion in non-Orthodox communities, whether they be Roman Catholic, Protestant, or whatever. Hence, while Roman Catholicism may extend Eucharistic hospitality to Orthodox Christians, it does not mean that Orthodox Christians are permitted to accept such hospitality.

For Orthodox Christians, the Eucharist is a visible sign of unity; to receive the Eucharist in a community to which one does not belong is improper. If one does not accept all that the Church believes and teaches and worships, one cannot make a visible sign of unity with it. The Eucharist is the result of unity, notthe means by which unity is achieved. While many non-Orthodox see this as a sign that the Orthodox Church excludes non-Orthodox from the Eucharist, in reality the opposite is true. Because a non-Orthodox individual has chosen not to embrace all that Orthodox Christianity holds, the non-Orthodox individual makes it impossible for an Orthodox priest to offer him or her communion. It is not so much a matter of Orthodoxy excluding non-Orthodox as it is the non-Orthodox making it impossible for the Orthodox to offer the Eucharist.

Sometimes people argue, "But Father, I believe everything the Orthodox Church teaches." If this is indeed the case, then the question is not one of Eucharistic hospitality but, rather, "Then if you believe everything the Orthodox Church teaches, why haven't you become an Orthodox Christian?"

________________________________________________


QUESTION:

As a Greek Orthodox may I receive the sacrament of Holy Communion in a Catholic Church. Do you know the rules regarding Greek Orthodox and Catholic relations? I live in an area where the closest church is a Roman Catholic Church. Does the Catholic Church recognize us as equals?


ANSWER:

Orthodox Christians are not permitted to receive Communion in non-Orthodox communities, including the Roman Catholic. To do so would imply a unity that in fact does not yet exist. Also it implies that we are "united" to the faith community from which we receive the Eucharist.

In brief, while Roman Catholicism sees Orthodoxy as a "sister church", Orthodoxy sees herself as the fullness of the Church, not the "other half" of the Church, as implied in the notion of a "sister church."

Answer 3

If you are Roman Catholic, the short answer is that you can pray with the Orthodox and attend their services. But the two churches do not share Eucharist/Holy Communion with each other. . . The Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch have prayed together at a vespers-type service, but they do not share or concelebrate the Mass / Divine Liturgy.

So you can go, but don't take Holy Communion.

Answer 4

No.

+ Eastern Orthodox +

Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics separated from one another in 1054. There are very few theological differences. The main difference is that the Eastern Orthodox Churches (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11329a.htm) use the Byzantine Rite (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04312d.htm) and the Roman Catholic Church use the Roman or Latin Rite.

Pope John Paul II said of the Eastern Orthodox Churches in Orientale Lumen, "A particularly close link already binds us. We have almost everything in common." (see http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_02051995_orientale-lumen_en.html)

+ Catholic Churches +

But another group of Catholic Churches are in communion with the Pope and the Latin Rite (Roman) Catholic Church. These are the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches and include:

Alexandrian liturgical tradition
+ Coptic Catholic Church
+ Ethiopic Catholic Church

Antiochian (Antiochene or West-Syrian) liturgical tradition
+ Maronite Church
+ Syrian Catholic Church
+ Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Armenian liturgical tradition:
+ Armenian Catholic Church

Chaldean or East Syrian liturgical tradition:
+ Chaldean Catholic Church
+ Syro-Malabar Church

Byzantine (Constantinopolitan) liturgical tradition:
+ Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church
+ Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
+ Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
+ Byzantine Church of the Eparchy of Križevci
+ Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
+ Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
+ Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
+ Macedonian Greek Catholic Church
+ Melkite Greek Catholic Church
+ Romanian Church
+ Russian Byzantine Catholic Church
+ Ruthenian Catholic Church
+ Slovak Greek Catholic Church
+ Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

+ With love in Christ

Answer 5

its your decision
but the Catholics think they corner the mkt and wont join the world Council of Churches
i prefer one called methodist who know there are other Christians

Answer 6

Yes. They are two branches of false religion.