Do orthodox believe that when a Catholic priest says the words of consecration the Holy Spirit turns the bread

Question

and wine into the Body and Blood of christ, or does it remain just plain bread and wine? (Basically what I'm asking is do Orthodox Christians believe Catholic priest have the authority to consecrate the bread and wine?)

Orthodox Christians*

Answer 1

>>Basically what I'm asking is do Orthodox Christians believe Catholic priest have the authority to consecrate the bread and wine?<<

From what I can determine, the Orthodox do not recognize the validity of any orders outside their Church, so no.

Answer 2

*Is Catholic*

First let's not use the term "Orthdox Christians". Simply say "Orthodox Churches" or members of the Orthodox Faith.

Second, the link above by Meg M from OrthoWiki is semi incorrect. That is a different topic, not your topic.

To your question. There is no one set hard and fast rule book for the Orthodox Churches. A unified catechism, Canon Law, etc. that binds all of the Churches does not exist. So really the question needs to be asked, does the Russian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox, the Ukranian Orthodox, etc. believe that .....

For Catholics, it is very clear that valid orders are necessary for there to be a valid Eucharist. This understanding is not necessarily the same for the Orthodox Churches which focus on the necessity of being in communion with the Orthodox Church for validity. So you see some Orthodox writers say that as soon as there is schism the priest looses his Orders.

So it is a very complicated question, especialy when you consider that the Orthodox Churches are not entirely in communion with each other and there has been periods of history when they have not been in full communion with each other. Then there is the whole issue of who gets to decide who is and who is not in full communion with each other.

It is also important to remember that some of the Eastern Churches stayed with Rome when the East and the West split. Parts of other Easter Churches came over later. Their theology is exactly the same as Orthodox Theology and they obviously think that the Roman Catholic priests have the ability to consecrate the bread and wine.

Orthodox Churches are not in communion with Rome, they teach that an Orthodox may never recieve the Eucharist by a Catholic priest. However, an Orthdox Priest might (and I stress might) allow a Catholic to recieve at a Divine Liturgy even though the Catholic affirms the Catholic belief. So there is this real sense that Catholics and Orthodox believe the same thing about the Eucharist, but the communion of the Churches with each other is important.

Answer 3

I understand your question----I know that Catholics believe that the Orthodox have a true consecration, but I am not sure if the Orthodox Christians (Russian, Greek and so forth) believe the Catholics have a valid consecration. There is the Catholic Orthodox which is affiliated with Roman Catholic Church, so that would be one and the same, just a different rite. Sorry if I couldn't fully answer your question.

Answer 4

The Mass is a true Sacrifice: Christ, as the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, offers the graces of His once and for all Sacrifice on the Cross to us sacramentally under the appearances of bread and wine through the ministry of His ordained priests


Christ's ordained priests offer Christ to the Father under the appearances of bread and wine. Christ is really and truly present, under the appearance of bread and wine, in every way: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

Answer 5

Yes, the Orthodox believe the same as the Roman Catholics. It becomes the actual body and blood of Christ.

Answer 6

I'm not sure what the Orthodox Catholic believes, but my Grandparents were Roman Catholic, and they believed they were partaking in the Body of Christ. Back then, they didn't give wine.
And if you are about to "judge" the Catholics for this, or any such thing, other than for learning's sake. PLEASE give it up, all this religious bickering is making me tired and angry. Don't we all have better things to do than bash each other?
**Sorry, that sounded cynical, but I have religious questions about different religious beliefs. I have been reading other peoples questions, to see if I can get some answers. But it seems that most people on YA, just bash each other and condemn each other for different beliefs.

Answer 7

no person gave a real answer to your question. Im no longer the two, sorry. yet expensive asker, have you ever considered the sacrament of communion? it truly is practiced in some form by skill of maximum protestant church homes, and isn't any longer biblically based. Emerson wrote an exciting sermon on the undertaking, 'The Lords Supper' until now leaving the pulpit. identity guess youd savour it. Cricket, Ive study a pair of your reaction, and that they have all been considerate and nicely written. yet I do carry that we would desire to constantly be sure that each and every person our doctrine is biblically based. The unexamined existence heavily isn't worth residing, the comparable is real of unexamined faith. I see human beings gave Hames a thumbs down? Why might you do this? His answer isn't low high quality! Its considerate and addresses yalls comments if no longer the question consistent with se,

Answer 8

As I understand your question, you are not asking about orthodox believes on transubstantiation but on the status of full communion between the roman and orthodox churches.

At the present time, neither church is in full communion with the other. Therefore, members of both faiths are discouraged from taking communion from a priest of the other faith unless they are in danger of dying. On the other hand, both faiths will gladly give communion to a member of the other faith. So if you're orthodox, the catholics will let you take communion with them but you shouldn't (and vice versa).

Answer 9

I think (but I'm not sure), that the orthodox have the same believe with the catholics on that question

Answer 10

You might have to blow the dust of some pretty anchient treaties to establish how these two anchient sects view each other. I suspect since they split up after agreeing on details of the eucharist, they probably do agree on these details and nominally recognise each others legitimacy in performing it. But in reality they don't have much time for one another.