melkite greek catholic church

I am a Greek Melkite Catholic and my fiance is a Christian. We plan to get married at my church. However, I think my church is asking too much. My church is asking for a copy of my fiance's baptism certificate. My fiance can't seem to find it, but the priest of my church said my fiance should call his church and request a copy or get a letter from them acknowledging that he was baptized in the Christian faith.

In addition to his baptism certificate, my church is asking for a letter acknowledging that my fiance has never been married before. I asked my priest, who generates such a letter. And he stated that my fiance's church would draft that letter. But my fiance hasn't been attending that church for years; and I don't think that they would do that. Another option would be is for his parents to come to my church and place their hands on the gospel vowing that their son has never been married before.

Does this sound too extreme or is this of the norm? Please advise. Thank you!

Catholics are christian.

2009-05-14 16:55:40 by Cathy

The Melkite, or Greek Catholic Church, is a church of Byzantine tradition in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

These are just a few of our Christian Churches

Armenian Catholic Church
Belarusian Catholic Church
Bulgarian Catholic Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
Coptic Catholic Church
Croatian Greek Catholic Church
Ethiopian Catholic Church
Georgian Catholic Church
Greek Catholic Church
Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
Macedonian Catholic Church
Maronite Catholic Church
Melkite Catholic Church
Romanian Catholic Church
Russian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church (usually called the "Byzantine Catholic Church" in the United States)
Slovak Greek Catholic Church
Syrian Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church considers itself the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that Christ founded.[4]
[edit]Anglican Communion
Main articles: Anglicanism, Anglican Communion
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
Anglican Church in Thailand
Anglican Church of Australia
Anglican Church of Canada
Anglican Church of Kenya
Anglican Church of Korea
Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Church in Wales
Church of England
Church of Ireland
Church of Nigeria
Church of Uganda
Church of the Province of Burundi
Church of the Province of Central Africa
Church of the Province of Melanesia
Church of the Province of Myanmar
Church of the Province of Rwanda
Church of the Province of South East Asia
Church of the Province of Tanzania
Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
Church of the Province of the West Indies (History)
Church of the Province of West Africa
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
Episcopal Church in the United States of America
Episcopal Church of Cuba
Episcopal Church of the Sudan
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central America
Iglesia Anglicana de México
Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de las Americas
Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil
Lusitanian Church of Portugal
Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Japan)
Philippine Episcopal Church
Scottish Episcopal Church
Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church
[edit]Eastern Orthodox Church
(In order of precedence. Indentation indicates autonomy rather than autocephaly.)
Orthodox Church of Constantinople: the Ecumenical Patriarchate
Orthodox Church of Finland
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
Orthodox Church of Estonia
Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria
Antiochian Orthodox Church
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
Western Rite Vicariate of the North American Archdiocese
Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai
Russian Orthodox Church
Chinese Orthodox Church
Japanese Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Metropolia of Western Europe
Belorussian Orthodox Church
Moldovan Orthodox Church
Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric
Romanian Orthodox Church
Metropolis of Bessarabia
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
Cypriot Orthodox Church
Church of Greece
Polish Orthodox Church
Albanian Orthodox Church
Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church in America
I think that you missed the names from the African countries. I've attached a map link if you don't know what they are.

http://www.africaguide.com/afmap.htm

Well, I'm not sure about African American churches, but I must add that the majority of Armenians are "Armenian Orthodox", with only minorities being Catholic and/or Evangelical. On that note, Armenia prides itself on being the first nation to formally adopt Christianity (301ad)! Nice Q!

2008-01-08 11:20:32 by mrs.w

Price: $18.75 $11.96

I am a greek melkite catholic getting remarried; and have my annulment completed. My fiance is protestant, however does not practice it, but he goes with me to my church.

For the marriage preparations, the priest is requesting my fiance's baptism certificate. My mother-in-law to be is scrambling to find it. If we can't find it, the priest advised that his church should have copies. Also, the priest is asking a letter from his church validating that my fiance has never been married. Now the problem is that my fiance's church no longer exists. It was called All Nation Foundation in Wrightwood, CA. We cannot find anything about it online.

I asked the priest what if my fiance was baptised as a melkite catholic to help speed the process; and his reply was that there is no time; it takes months and months. I then inquired about the letter mentioning he wasn't married before. The priest replied that if my parents knew him well enough, then they could place their hands on the gospel and swear to it. The issue is how would they know if he was married while I was married in way back in the past? I know in my heart he was never married before. This will be his first marriage and has no kids.

What do I do? I would like a church wedding. But if I can't get married in the Catholic church, where else could I get married? Wouldn't churches like to take your money so you can get married in it?

I do not want to get married at city hall. Please assist with serious answers.

Thank you!

Marriages and divorces are public records. You should be able to do a search to verify that no marriage licenses have been taken out in his name and the same for a divorce. I suggest that you talk to a lawyer about how to do this. A lawyer may also be able to track down where the records of his former church are kept.

And you are right not to get married in city hall. You went to all that trouble to get your first marriage annulled so don't undo that work now. If it takes a little longer to do it right and get married in the Catholic church, than that is what you need to do. In other words, you may have to postpone your wedding until you find the baptismal record and can prove that he was not married before.

God bless you and your forthcoming marriage!

2009-06-02 13:13:02 by Cathy

Price: $17.75 $11.05

I am a greek melkite catholic getting remarried; and have my annulment completed. My fiance is protestant, however does not practice it, but he goes with me to my church.

For the marriage preparations, the priest is requesting my fiance's baptism certificate. My mother-in-law to be is scrambling to find it. If we can't find it, the priest advised that his church should have copies. Also, the priest is asking a letter from his church validating that my fiance has never been married. Now the problem is that my fiance's church no longer exists. It was called All Nation Foundation in Wrightwood, CA. We cannot find anything about it online.

I asked the priest what if my fiance was baptised as a melkite catholic to help speed the process; and his reply was that there is no time; it takes months and months. I then inquired about the letter mentioning he wasn't married before. The priest replied that if my parents knew him well enough, then they could place their hands on the gospel and swear to it. The issue is how would they know if he was married while I was married in way back in the past? I know in my heart he was never married before. This will be his first marriage and has no kids.

What do I do? I would like a church wedding. But if I can't get married in the Catholic church, where else could I get married? Wouldn't churches like to take your money so you can get married in it?

I do not want to get married at city hall. Please assist with serious answers.

Thank you!

When you get married in the church you still have to file for a marriage license at the county courthouse and when you fill these papers out you have to list if you've ever been married before, if you lie on these papers it's punishable by law and the courthouse checks all past information with your social security number, therefore I'm sure that your parents could head down to the court house, with you and your fiance when you apply for your license to see what he answers on the form OR if they want to be entirely sure then they can go to the court house with your fiance separately and they could request that they do a background check on him (it costs $30 here in MI to have one done) and it would tell them if he had ever been married before, then they could both go and honestly swear on the gospel that he has never been married. It's an easy fix. As for the baptism record, if his mom can't find it the church does keep copies of all of that and sense his church has dissolved you would need to ask the other local protestant churches if they know where the church records were transferred to. Usually when a church dissolves they hand off the records to one of the other local churches of the same faith, so someone should be able to tell you where to go to get that. Good Luck!!!

2009-06-02 13:13:59 by Cathy

Examples: In the Greek Orthodox Church - "The sign of the Cross is made by joining three fingers (thumb, index finger and middle finger together; putting two fingers (third finger and little down on the palm and lifting the hand first to the forehead, then to the heart, then to the right shoulder, and then the left shoulder." http://www.mliles.com/melkite/signcross. shtml

In the Catholic Church - "At the beginning of Mass the celebrant makes the sign of the cross by placing his left hand extended under his breast; then raising his right to his forehead, which he touches with the extremities of his fingers, he says: In nomine Patris; then, touching his breast with the same hand, he says: et Filii; touching his left and right shoulders, he says; et Spiritus Sancti; and as he joins his hands again adds: Amen.)" http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13785a.h tm

As salaamu 'alaikym, my friend.

Insha'allah, it is my understanding the originally everyone used the version as performed in the Eastern Orthodox manner. Then, in medieval Europe, as the uneducated Christians attempted to imitate the priest, they began performing it as Catholics do to this day.

Instead of performing as the Orthodox priest actually does, they performed the motion in a mirror image style of repetition.

Ma'a salaam.

2007-10-26 10:22:05 by Gatekeeper