Editing Episcopus vagans (section)

===Eastern Orthodox===
Vlassios Pheidas, on an official [[Church of Greece]] site, uses the [[Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church|canonical]] language of the [[Eastern Orthodox Christian theology|Eastern Orthodox tradition]], to describe the conditions in ecclesial [[praxis (Eastern Orthodoxy)|praxis]] when [[sacraments]], including [[Holy Orders]], are real, valid, and efficacious. He notes language is itself part of the [[ecclesiological]] problem.<ref name="Pheidas">{{cite web
 |publisher=Online Cultural Center of the Church of Greece
 |series=Myriobiblos: The online library of the Church of Greece
 |work=The limits of the church in an orthodox perspective
 |title=Chapter I
 |last=Pheidas
 |first=Vlassios
 |url=http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/pheidas_limits_1.html
 |access-date=14 May 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030122810/http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/pheidas_limits_1.html
 |archive-date=30 October 2005
 |url-status=live
 |df=dmy
}}
{{cite web
 |title=Chapter II
 |url=http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/pheidas_limits_2.html
 |access-date=14 May 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030122835/http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/pheidas_limits_2.html
 |archive-date=30 October 2005
 |url-status=live
 |df=dmy
}}
</ref>{{rp|at=ch. 1}}
{{Blockquote|If […] [[Grace (Christianity)|divine grace]] is granted to all, […] then it stands to reason that it is bestowed also in those believers outside the [Eastern] Orthodox Church, even if such persons belong to a heresy of schism. Thus, the sacraments performed outside the Church are not only real ({{lang|el|υποστατά}}), but also valid ({{lang|el|έγκυρα}}), because they only lack the efficacy ({{lang|el|ενέργεια}}) of the bestowed divine grace, which is operative through the [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]] only within the [Eastern] Orthodox Church.

[...]

Through such a teaching […] one finds himself face to face with the […] principle of "{{lang|la|[[Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus|extra Ecclesia nulla salus]]}}", which strictly determines the canonical limits of the Church. Thus, the  [Eastern] Orthodox Church, while accepting the canonical possibility of recognising the existence ({{lang|el|υποστατόν}}) of sacraments performed outside herself, it questions their validity ({{lang|el|έγκυρον}}) and certainly rejects their efficacy ({{lang|el|ενεργόν}}). It is already well-known that in the ecclesial praxis, the Orthodox Church moves, according to the specific circumstances, between canonical "[[akribeia|acribeia]]" and ecclesial [[economy (religion)|economy]], recognising by economy the validity ({{lang|el|κύρος}}) of the sacraments of those ecclesiastical bodies. Yet, such a practice of economy does not overthrow the canonical "acribeia", which also remains in force and expresses the exclusive character of orthodox ecclesiology.

This observation is really important, because it reveals that the canonical recognition ({{lang|el|αναγνώρισις}}) of the validity of sacraments performed outside the  [Eastern] Orthodox Church: (a) is done by economy, (b) covers only specific cases in certain given instances, and (c) refers to the validity of the sacraments only of those who join the  [Eastern] Orthodox Church, and not of the ecclesiastical bodies to which belong those who join the  [Eastern] Orthodox Church. There is, […] a variety of opinions or reservations concerning this question. No one, […] could propose or support the view that the mutual recognition of the validity of sacraments among the Churches is an ecclesiastical act consistent with orthodox ecclesiology, or an act which is not rejected by the [[Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church|orthodox canonical tradition]]. […]

[…]

[…] the mutual recognition of the validity of certain sacraments, […] is for an [Eastern] Orthodox an act of inconsistency, when it is assessed with orthodox ecclesiological principles. These ecclesiological principles manifest in a strict fashion the organic unity of the orthodox ecclesial body and differentiate those who do not belong to its body as either schismatics or heretics.

The relation of schismatics or heretics to the body of the [Eastern] Orthodox Church is strictly defined by the canonical tradition. However, orthodox canonical tradition and praxis appraises and classifies these ecclesiastical bodies into various categories, […] in which some form of ecclesiality is recognised. This type of ecclesiality is not easily determined, because the orthodox tradition […] does not recognise the efficacy of the divine grace outside the canonical boundaries of the [Eastern] Orthodox Church.<ref name="Pheidas" />{{rp|at=ch. 2}}}}

This applies to the validity and efficacy of the ordination of bishops and the other sacraments, not only of the [[Independent Catholic Churches|Independent Catholic churches]], but also of all other Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]. Through strict adherence to the law superseding economy by their Cyprian understanding, in this instance, there may be questionably valid sacraments outside of the Eastern Orthodox Church, yet they lack any efficacy. However, some mainstream Eastern Orthodox bodies recognize Roman Catholic orders and don't conditionally ordain clergy as each autocephalous church determines the validity and efficacy of another's ordination.<ref name="Pheidas" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Validity of Roman Catholic Orders - Questions & Answers |url=https://www.oca.org/questions/romancatholicism/validity-of-roman-catholic-orders |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=Orthodox Church in America}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=23 July 2011 |title=Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs {{!}} Ordination Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops, 1988 |url=http://www.usccb.org/seia/ordinati.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723002517/http://www.usccb.org/seia/ordinati.shtml |archive-date=23 July 2011}}</ref> There have also been several canonically disputed or independent Eastern Orthodox clergy received into the mainstream or canonical Eastern Orthodox Church in certain instances—also without conditional ordination, whose predecessors were either once part of or remained outside of canonical Eastern Orthodoxy—in contrast with Pheidas' statement on economy.<ref name="Anson2006">{{Cite book |last=Anson |first=Peter F |author-link=Peter Anson |url={{GBurl|lTD_PAAACAAJ}} |title=Bishops at large |publisher=Apocryphile Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-977146-18-5 |edition=1st Apocryphile |series=Independent Catholic Heritage |location=[[Berkeley, California]] |pages=504–506 |oclc=72443681 |orig-year=1964 |lang=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=History of the Western Rite Vicariate |url=https://www.orthodoxwest.com/history-wr-anderson |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307180758/https://www.orthodoxwest.com/history-wr-anderson |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=theorthodoxwest |language=en |quote=The Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America was founded in 1958 by Metropolitan Antony Bashir (1896–1966) with the Right Reverend Alexander Turner (1906–1971), and the Very Reverend Paul W. S. Schneirla. The Western Rite Vicariate (WRV) oversees parishes and missions within the Archdiocese that worship according to traditional Western Christian liturgical forms, derived either from the Latin-speaking Churches of the first millennium, or from certain later (post-schismatic) usages which are not contrary to the Orthodox Faith.}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Namee |first=Matthew |date=2011-03-15 |title=Bishop Joseph Zuk: A brief biographical overview |url=https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2011/03/15/bishop-joseph-zuk-a-brief-biographical-overview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307181036/https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2011/03/15/bishop-joseph-zuk-a-brief-biographical-overview/ |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Orthodox History |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] likewise teaches that through "extreme oikonomia [economy]", those who are [[Baptism|baptized]] in the [[Oriental Orthodox]], Roman Catholic, [[Lutheran]], [[Old Catholic]], [[Moravian Church|Moravian]], [[Anglican]], [[Methodist]], [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]], [[Presbyterian]], [[Church of the Brethren]], [[Assemblies of God]], or [[Baptists|Baptist]] traditions can be received into the Eastern Orthodox Church through the sacrament of [[Chrismation]] and not through [[re-baptism]].<ref name="Isaiah2000">{{cite web |author=Metropolitan Isaiah |date=9 May 2000 |title=Protocols 2000 |url=http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/encyclicals/goarch/isaiah/isaiah_protocols_2000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127075030/http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/encyclicals/goarch/isaiah/isaiah_protocols_2000.htm |archive-date=2010-11-27 |publisher=Orthodox Research Institute |language=English}}</ref>

The predominant view, however, continues to reject those raised to the episcopacy outside of the mainstream or canonical Eastern Orthodox Church as valid bishops in holy orders.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Damick |first=Fr Andrew Stephen |date=2013-03-05 |title=Media Discovers Episcopus Vagans at Vatican, Film at 11 |url=https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxyandheterodoxy/2013/03/05/media-discovers-episcopus-vagans-at-vatican-film-at-11/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250308021841/https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxyandheterodoxy/2013/03/05/media-discovers-episcopus-vagans-at-vatican-film-at-11/ |archive-date=2025-03-08 |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy |language=en-US}}</ref>