I will be getting married this fall, and I am having my reception at a Roman Catholic college - they have a chapel available to perform the ceremony, but niether myself nor my fiance are of the Roman rite - I am Byzantine. Are we able to have a ceremony there?

Welcome to the forum, Ali, and congratulations on your coming marriage.

Certainly, the ideal would be to celebrate your crowning in a Byzantine temple of the Church to which you both belong. But, given the oft-times necessity of booking a church well in advance of a scheduled wedding date, is that still an option?

You don't indicate why you would elect to have the crowning served in a Latin chapel, as opposed to a Byzantine temple. Are you both students at the college and does it have particular sentimental significance for that reason? If so, can that significance be satisfied by hosting the reception there, after the ceremony at the parish to which one of you belongs? Or, if distance is a factor, in another closer Byzantine parish?

I suppose the most basic query is whether a priest of your Church is celebrating the crowning ceremony? If so, then the one presumes that he has the permission of his bishop to do so and the permission of the Latins for the use of the chapel. If that is the case, will a temporary iconostasis be erected or a facsimile of one - with icons on easels or other stands, so that the Byzantine aspect of the service will be clear. Only the priestly faculties are requisite, but it seems to me that - if you are asking - you are experiencing some concerns in your own mind about not evincing your Byzantine heritage. The transformation of the Latin worship space into one more akin to your heritage might mitigate those concerns.

If the ceremony is to be Latin, there are other considerations. To have a Latin ceremony requires that your bishop grant a dispensation for the marriage to be served as such. And, part of that is a requirement that the marriage be officiated by a priest - not by a deacon. Although the Latin Church allows a deacon to act as the witness to a marriage - since it considers the bride and groom to be the the ministers of the marriage - the Eastern Churches do not. The priest - and only a priest - may validly act as the minister to a marriage involving an Eastern Catholic.

I hope these comments are of some assistance in thinking through what you will do and why.

Many years,

Neil

Thank you for your response! I should be more specifice - we want to have the ceremony at the Roman catholic college because one of the priests (a Roman Catholic) at the college is a very close friend and mentor to my fiance - he will be performing our ceremony. While there, my fiance took religious classes and attended mass but, he never fully confirmed himself to be Roman Catholic and does not attend a local church. However, due to his close relationship with the priest, he feels most comfortable having it in this manner. And I have no obligation to a Roman ceremony vs. a Byzantine ceremony, just as long as it is Catholic.

Ali,

Ok, with the circumstances more clear, you will have a Latin ceremony, performed by a Latin priest.

You need to request permission of the bishop of your eparchy for the ceremony to be performed in the Latin Rite and church. The priest is required to annotate the Sacramental Register as to the fact that you are a Byzantine Catholic (of, I'm presuming, the Ruthenian Church) and should notify the pastor of your own (Byzantine) parish of the marriage, so that he can record it appropriately in the parish register.

That covers the canonical requirements, I believe. (If I missed anything there, someone please speak up.)

Many years,

Neil

I was married in the Latin church and had (at that time) my byzantine catholic priest con-celebrate.

The detailed discussion of the theological, canonical, and ecclesiastical differences between marriage in the Eastern versus Western Churches can be found here. This thread is limited to discussion of the situation presented by the original poster.

Many years,

Neil

I would be interested in exploring the idea of a co-celebration, hoping that both the Latin and Eastern priests would oblige.

I have learned recently that my EC priest would be able to perform the ceremony at the Roman church - this I did not know prior to asking a Roman priest!

Job- did you perform a Byzantine crowning, or the Roman rite traditional marriage?

We had a Roman rite tradional marriage. My, now wife, was not thrilled with the whole idea of "crowning"...My pastor stood in the sanctuary vested in Byzantine vestments, he read the Gospel and gave the Homily...then we utilized the service of the common cup, as found in the trebnik at the end of the service, then sang Christ is Risen! several times in place of God Grant them many years. (End of April)