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The Roman Catholic Church holds that a bishop's consecration is valid if the Sacrament of Holy Orders is validly done according to a valid sacramental form and the consecrating bishop's orders are valid, regardless of whether this takes place within or outside of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, Roman Catholics recognize the validity of the episcopacy of Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox. Assyrian Church of the East, Old-Catholic, and Independent Catholic bishops, although these orders are considered "illicit." The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that a bishop's consecration is less than fully valid if it is not within the " One Holy Catholic And Apostolic Church ", i.e., one of the canonical Eastern Orthodox churches. In many cases, the doctrine of Ekonomia is applied to such bishops if they convert to Orthodoxy. The Eastern Orthodox position on Anglican orders is a grey area, involving disagreements among national churches, theologians and bishops. Because of changes in the Ordinal (the rites of Holy Orders) under King Edward VI , the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize Anglican Holy Orders as valid, although the latter are recognized (and participated-in) by Old-Catholics, whose Holy Orders are considered valid by Rome. Lutheran and other episcopally ordered Protestant successions are not recognized by Roman Catholics, Old Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, while many Anglicans, themselves often influenced by the English variant of the Reformation , do not principally reject their validity. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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