[Question:]{.underline} Can a Catholic marry in a schismatic Orthodox church?
[Answer:]{.underline} This question concerns what is called the canonical form of marriage. The canonical form of marriage was established by the famous 1563 decree of the Council of Trent, entitled Tametsi. This new law was promulgated in order to put an end to clandestine or secret marriages, of which the Church had no record, and it declared that henceforth such marriages would be invalid. Canonical form is the requirement, still retained in Canon Law, that only those marriages are valid that are contracted in the presence of the parish priest (or one delegated by him) and at least two witnesses (Canon 1094 in the 1917 Code and 1108 in the 1983 Code).
However, the details of this law requiring canonical form have been modified from time to time since the Council of Trent. For example, in 1741 Pope Benedict XIV exempted heretics from this law, either when they married amongst themselves or when they married Catholics. The 1917 Code of Canon Law also contains some exemptions to the requirement of canonical form. They are contained in Canons 1098 and 1099. The first concerns the extraordinary form of marriage, that exempts from the canonical form whenever there is a grave inconvenience to using that form that lasts for more than one month. The second concerns the automatic exemption from canonical form for those non-Catholics who were never baptized in the Catholic Church, or never converted to it. It also exempted those who had been baptized in the Catholic Church, but who had not been raised in it. However, this latter determination was reversed by Pope Pius XII, who in 1948 promulgated the law stating that all who had been baptized in the Catholic Church, without exception, are bound to observe the canonical form for the validity of marriage.
Consequently it can be seen that the Church’s discipline concerning this precept of the Church has varied with time, so as to best reconciliate on the one hand the obligation of Catholics to submit their holy sacrament of marriage to the jurisdiction and control of the Church and on the other hand the desire not to bind those who might not be able to follow the canonical form through no fault of their own.
The dispositions of the 1983 Code of Canon Law are similar, requiring the canonical form of marriage for validity and allowing for the exception of grave inconvenience (Canon 1116). However, it allows many more exceptions to the canonical form of marriage, for example in the case of those baptized Catholics who have formally apostasized from the Catholic Church (Canon 1117) - exception abolished by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 - and in cases of mixed marriages, in which the Ordinary can grant a dispensation from the canonical form, so that the marriage can take place in a non-Catholic church (Canon 1127, 2), and also in the case of marriages between a Catholic and a schismatic Orthodox of Eastern rite. The latter case is precisely what concerns us here, and Canon 1127, 1 explicitly states that the presence of the Catholic is only necessary for the marriage to be licit, but not for it to be valid, and that any sacred minister, including that of a schismatic religion, is sufficient for validity.
Consequently two answers must be given to the question as to whether or not a Catholic can marry in an Orthodox church:
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Firstly, such a marriage is certainly valid if entered into after 1983, and if the non-Catholic were a baptized member of an Eastern rite church
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Secondly, such a marriage is not licit nor permissible.
The very letter of the 1983 Code itself still prohibits such a marriage, and consequently, it would be a grave sin for a Catholic to marry in an Orthodox church, unless he had received the dispensation from canonical form. However, much more serious is the spirit that underlies the 1983 Code, and that grants ready dispensation from the canonical form to those who are neither ignorant nor in good faith and who simply wish to escape the requirements of the Church’s law, as in the case of mixed marriages of those who have apostasized to a false religion. It is the ecumenical spirit of Vatican II that is manifestly the inspiration for these changes in the law, namely that it might promote respect for and equivalence between between all religions. This is devastating for the Catholic Faith and does untold harm, making young couples think that mixed marriages are acceptable and that once one has entered into such a marriage the two can go to either church, and that there is no longer the obligation of raising all the children in the Catholic Church, an obligation that is of divine law.
Whilst accepting the validity of a marriage between a Catholic and a schismatic Eastern Orthodox in an Orthodox church, we must, nevertheless, stand opposed to it with all our force, as promoting indifferentism to the difference between the Catholic and schismatic Orthodox churches. In general, Catholics with a clear understanding of their Faith ought not to assist at such marriages before non-Catholic ministers, even if according to the technicalities of the post-conciliar church law they are valid. This can certainly cause family problems, but mixed marriages being such a great evil, it is necessary to profess our Faith in such cases. However, once these marriages have been contracted, it is the obligation of Catholics to accept and recognize these couples as duly married, for life, before God.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.