Full communion

Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations or Christian individuals that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constitutes full communion, but typically when two or more denominations are in full communion it enables services and celebrations, such as the Eucharist, to be shared among congregants or clergy of any of them with the full approval of each.

Definition and terminology

Full communion is an ecclesiological term for an established relationship between Christian denominations that may be constituted by shared eucharist, doctrine, and ecclesiology. Different denominations emphasize different aspects or define the term differently.
Several Protestant denominations base their idea of full communion on the Augsburg Confession which says that "the true unity of the church" is present where "the gospel is rightly preached and sacraments rightly administered." They believe that full communion between two denominations is not a merger, but rather is when two denominations develop a relationship based on a mutual understanding, respect and recognition of baptism and sharing of the Lord's Supper. They may worship together, exchange clergy, and share commitments to evangelism and service. For example, groups recognized as being in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church, on this basis, include the Presbyterian Church, Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Moravian Church, and the United Methodist Church. These churches are not necessarily in full communion with each other, however; each denomination is free to develop its own relationships with other churches. For example, The Episcopal Church, in addition to being a member of the Anglican Communion, is in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Moravian Church, Mar Thoma Syrian Church of India, Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht, Philippine Independent Church, and the Church of Sweden. They are not, currently, in full communion with the Presbyterian Church, Reformed Church in America, or the United Church of Christ, though they are currently in dialogue with other churches; including the United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, and Roman Catholic Church.

By Christian denomination

Catholic Church

Full versus partial communion

The Catholic Church makes a distinction between full and partial communion: where full communion exists, there is but the one Church; partial communion, on the other hand, exists where some elements of Christian faith are held in common, but complete unity on essentials is lacking. Accordingly, they see the church as in partial communion with Protestants and in much closer, but still incomplete, communion with Orthodox churches. It has expressed this distinction in documents such as Unitatis redintegratio, the Second Vatican Council's decree on ecumenism, which states: "quite large communities came to be separated from full communion with the Catholic Church. Men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect".
Nonetheless, the Second Vatican Council used the word "communion" in a sense other than communio in sacris when speaking of Christians separated from the Catholic Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, citing the Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI, states:
Full communion thus involves completeness of "those bonds of communion - faith, sacraments and pastoral governance - that permit the Faithful to receive the life of grace within the Church."

Universal and particular churches

In Catholicism, the "universal Church" means Catholicism itself, from the Greek adjective καθολικός, meaning "universal". The term particular church denotes an ecclesiastical community headed by a bishop or equivalent, and this can include both local dioceses as well as autonomous particular churches, which include other rites such as the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches.
A 1992 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith letter to Catholic bishops expressed this idea as: the universal Church cannot be conceived as the sum of the particular Churches, or as a federation of particular Churches'. It is not the result of the communion of the Churches, but, in its essential mystery, it is a reality ontologically and temporally prior to every individual particular Church".

List of Catholic churches in full communion

The autonomous Catholic churches in full communion with the Holy See are:

Of Alexandrian liturgical tradition:
*Coptic Catholic Church
*Eritrean Catholic Church
*Ethiopian Catholic Church
Of Syro-Antiochian or West Syriac liturgical tradition:
*Maronite Church
*Syriac Catholic Church
*Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Of Armenian liturgical tradition:
*Armenian Catholic Church
Of Byzantine liturgical tradition:
*Albanian Greek Catholic Church
*Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
*Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
*Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
*Greek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia
*Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
*Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
*Macedonian Greek Catholic Church
*Melkite Greek Catholic Church
*Romanian Greek Catholic Church
*Russian Greek Catholic Church
*Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
*Slovak Greek Catholic Church
*Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Of Chaldean or East Syriac tradition:
*Chaldean Catholic Church
*Syro-Malabar Church
Of Western liturgical tradition:
*Latin Church
Sharing in the Eucharist

As a practical matter for most Catholics, full communion means that a member of one church may partake of the Eucharist celebrated in another, and for priests, that they are accepted as celebrants of the Eucharist in the other church.
Restrictions in this matter were already in force in the second century as witnessed to by Justin Martyr in his First Apology: "No one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined."
For acceptance into full communion with the Catholic Church a specific profession of the faith of the Catholic Church is required even of those who have been members of a separate church whose sacraments the Catholic Church considers to be valid. Being "in full communion with the Catholic Church" requires that they "firmly accept" its teaching on faith and morals.
Intercommunion usually means an agreement between churches by which all members of each church may participate in the other's Eucharistic celebrations or may hold joint celebrations. The Catholic Church has entered into no such agreement: it allows no Eucharistic concelebration by its clergy with clergy of churches not in full communion with it.
The Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism indicates the limited circumstances in which Catholics may receive the Eucharist from clergy of churches not in full communion, and in which Catholic clergy may administer the sacraments to members of other churches.
The norms there indicated for the giving of the Eucharist to other Christians are summarized in canon 844 of the Latin Church's 1983 Code of Canon Law. The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches indicates that the norms of the Directory apply also to the clergy and laity of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Eastern Orthodox

have an understanding of what full communion means that is very similar to that of the Catholic Church. Though they have no figure corresponding to that of the Roman Catholic Pope, performing a function like that of the Pope's Petrine Office for the whole of their respective communions, they see each of their autocephalous churches as embodiments of, respectively, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. They too consider full communion an essential condition for common sharing in the Eucharist.
For the autocephalous churches that form the Eastern Orthodox Church, see Eastern Orthodox Church organization. Their number is somewhat in dispute.

Church of the East

The Church of the East is currently divided into churches that are not in full communion with one another. The Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East divided in the 20th century over the former's limitation of the post of patriarch to members of a single family and due to the adoption of the New Calendar by the former. There is movement towards reunity, but they are not in full communion with one another at present. The Chaldean Catholic Church shares a similar history with both, but is currently in full communion with neither. The Catholic Church, of which the Chaldean Church is part, allows its ministers to give the Eucharist to members of Eastern churches who seek it on their own accord and are properly disposed, and it allows its faithful who cannot approach a Catholic minister to receive the Eucharist, when necessary or spiritually advantageous, from ministers of non-Catholic churches that have a recognised Eucharist.
The Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East explicitly apply these rules, which hold also for the Ancient Church of the East and all Eastern Orthodox churches, to the Assyrian Church of the East. "When necessity requires, Assyrian faithful are permitted to participate and to receive Holy Communion in a Chaldean celebration of the Holy Eucharist; in the same way, Chaldean faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister, are permitted to participate and to receive Holy Communion in an Assyrian celebration of the Holy Eucharist".