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I'm presently a confirmed Catholic but am considering conversion to the Orthodoxy. Something I understand of it is that there is no single diocese in America, but multiple overlapping ones for historical ethnic reasons. In my city, there are several OCA parishes, a few Russian Orthodox, a Serbian Orthodox, and the largest is the single Greek Orthodox.

Something I have become used to as a Catholic is that I can attend Mass at any Catholic church and make confession at any Catholic church; this allows me to be a regular parishioner at a small parish but avoid confessing to a priest with whom I have a rapport by going to the cathedral which has a random priest in the confessional daily.

Within the Catholic Church, I've learned, it is allowed for a Roman to receive Eastern Catholic sacraments despite the distinct jurisdictions, but I feel as though this is partly because they're all under the same hierarchy.

Would it be permissible, then, for an OCA parishioner to make confession at the Greek church, or a Serbian to confess at a Russian church, without having to change his affiliation to that diocese?

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  • Good luck with your conversion. I too am a Catholic who is the process of converting to Orthodoxy.
    – David P
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:36

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The short answer is yes. I converted into an OCA parish. When i had to move, the closest Orthodox parish was an Antiochian one. On occasion, I have also attended srevices in a Greek parish. The important thing for me was to establish a Parish as my home parish.

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  • I agree - I have been attending catechism at a Greek Orthodox Church, and that's what I was told as well. If I am chrismated in the Greek Orthodox, I could decide to attend the local OCA parish (English, and not 1/2 Greek and 1/2 English). which I might do since I am not Greek.
    – David P
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:40

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