Yes, you can. All canonical Orthodox parishes share the same faith, the same Liturgy, and the same sacraments, we’re in communion with each other.
If you’re traveling to Houston or Lake Charles for work, visiting family in Dallas, or evacuating for a hurricane, you can attend any Orthodox church and receive Communion there (assuming you’ve been to confession recently and are otherwise prepared). The Greek Orthodox church down the road? You can go. An OCA parish you pass on vacation? Same thing. A Russian or Serbian or Bulgarian parish? Yes. We’re all the Orthodox Church, even if we have different administrative structures and your yiayia’s spanakopita recipe differs from their pirozhki.
This isn’t some modern ecumenical compromise. It’s how the Church has always worked. The ancient canons are strict about not attending non-Orthodox worship or receiving sacraments outside the Church, but they don’t restrict movement between Orthodox parishes. Canon LXV of the Holy Apostles and Canons IX and XXXIII of Laodicea forbid praying with heretics or schismatics. But another Orthodox parish isn’t heretical or schismatic, it’s just Orthodox.
So if you’re working a turnaround at a refinery in Port Arthur and can’t make it back to Beaumont on Sunday, find an Orthodox church there. If you’re visiting your Baptist parents in Jasper for the weekend and there’s no Orthodox parish nearby, that’s a different problem (pray at home, read the Scripture readings for the day, and get back to Liturgy the next week). But if there’s an Orthodox option, take it.
Here’s where it gets more complicated: regular attendance elsewhere.
Visiting occasionally is one thing. Quietly transferring your attendance to another parish without telling anyone is another. The canons say that missing Liturgy for three consecutive Sundays requires confession before you receive Communion again. But beyond the canonical requirement, there’s the pastoral reality. Your parish is your spiritual family. If you’re regularly attending somewhere else, your priest needs to know. Maybe there’s a good reason, you moved and the commute to Beaumont is now an hour each way. Maybe there’s a problem that needs addressing. Either way, don’t just disappear.
Orthodox parishes expect members to care for each other. When Lazarus was sick, Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus. They didn’t wait for him to notice. Same principle applies here. If you’re going to be gone for a while, let someone know. If you’re thinking about transferring to another parish, talk to your priest first. It’s not about permission exactly, you’re not trapped, but about maintaining the relationships that make parish life work.
The jurisdictional thing confuses people. We’ve got Antiochian, Greek, OCA, ROCOR, Serbian, Bulgarian, and others all operating separate parishes in America, sometimes in the same city. It’s messy and it’s not ideal, but it doesn’t mean we’re separate churches. We’re administratively divided but sacramentally united. An Antiochian Christian can commune at a Greek parish. A ROCOR member can attend an OCA Liturgy. The ethnic and jurisdictional labels are historical accidents, not theological divisions.
Some folks worry about the differences they’ll encounter. The Greek parish might do things in Greek. The Russian parish might stand the whole time (no pews). The Antiochian parish might have more English and slightly different music. These are customs, not doctrine. The Liturgy is the Liturgy. You’ll recognize it.
If you find yourself visiting another parish regularly, support them. Put something in the offering. Don’t just show up, receive Communion, and leave without contributing to the community that’s feeding you. And keep supporting your home parish too, if that’s still where you’re officially a member.
One more thing: if you’re a catechumen or someone received by chrismation within the last year, check with your priest before visiting elsewhere. Not because you can’t, but because it’s helpful to have consistency while you’re still learning. Once you’re settled in the faith, you’ll know what’s universal and what’s local custom. Until then, it’s easy to get confused when one parish does something differently than what you’ve been taught.
The Church is bigger than one building in Beaumont. When you travel, find an Orthodox parish and go. You’re not a visitor to the Orthodox Church, you’re already home.
