Folia Canonica 5. (2002)
STUDIES - Jobe Abbass: Alienating Ecclesiastical Goods in the Eastern Catholic Churches
ALIENATING IN THE EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES 143 Well-known relics, icons or images that are held in great veneration by the people in a certain church cannot in any manner be validly alienated nor perpetually transferred to another church51 without the consent of the Apostolic See or the patriarch, who can give it only with the consent of the permanent synod, with due regard for can. 1037. Since it may not always be so easy to distinguish between a precious image or icon and a well-known image or icon, the decision will evidently have to be made on a case by case basis. Within the territory of a patriarchal Church, depending upon the determination made, the authority whose consent is necessary will differ. If the image or icon is precious, consent is needed of the patriarch and synod of bishops {CCEO c. 1036 §3) as well as the hierarch concerned (CCEO c. 887 §2). If the image or icon is well-known or significant, but not precious, then CCEO canon 888 §1 requires consent of the patriarch and his permanent synod for validity. 3. Outside Patriarchal (In Other) Churches — Value Exceeds Maximum (c. 1036 §4) Given the dispositions for the patriarchal Churches in CCEO canon 1036 §§2-3 concerning the alienation of goods whose value exceeds the maximum amount set by the synod of bishops, CCEO canon 1036 §4 states that, in other cases regarding alienation in which the value of the goods exceeds the amount established or approved by the Roman See or it concerns precious goods or goods given to the Church by reason of a vow, consent is required of the same Apostolic See. There is no question that the “other cases” intended here are alienations outside the territories of the patriarchal Churches as well as those in the metropolitan and other Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris. CCEO canon 1036 §4 does not apply to any alienation of goods within the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church even if it concerns goods of a juridic person, such as a religious order, of pontifical right.52 Nor does this Eastern norm requiring the consent of the Roman See regard any alienation of precious goods within the territory of a patriarchal Church.53 Both cases are provided for in the earlier paragraphs of CCEO canon 1036. 51 Again, the CLSA translation which refers to “Church” is corrected here as “church” to conform to the Latin “ecclesiam". 52 Compare, however, Rajeh, Beni temporali (nt. 4), 135. The author states: “In the other cases, that is, for the other Churches and for all the other juridic persons, outside the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church as well as for the goods of juridic persons of pontifical right inside the boundaries of the patriarchal territory, when the value exceeds the maximum sum by more than double, as opposed to precious goods or ex voto goods belonging to them, the consent of the Apostolic See is required (c. 1036 §4).”
