05 — The Canons and Their Use

Oikonomia is the hinge of this collection and the single most abused word in Orthodox discourse. It does not mean that the rules can be waived when they are inconvenient. It is a specific act, by a specific authority, for a specific person, presupposing the norm it relaxes and leaving that norm in force. This section sets out what economy is and how it relates to akriveia, and then — in the second file, which does most of the work — what economy cannot do.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Contents

File Description
akribeia-and-oikonomia.md The two principles defined; the therapeutic rather than juridical conception of canon law in St Basil’s canonical epistles and in Trullo, Canon 102; what the canons are and are not (Photius’ Nomocanon, the Pedalion and the status of Nikodemos’ footnotes, the Slavic Kormchaia); the classic applications — reception of converts, remarriage after divorce, fasting, penance, ordination impediments; and ROCOR’s documented tendency toward akriveia, which is a disposition rather than a rule
the-limits-of-economy.md The four limits: dogma is not subject to economy; economy is not a precedent and cannot become the norm without ceasing to be economy; economy belongs to the bishop or the synod and not to the individual priest or believer; and economy cannot make a sacrament out of nothing. Then the harder cases where the limits are argued about — the reception of heterodox, the canonical status of acts performed outside the Church, and whether economy can operate retroactively — and the plain statement that sometimes akriveia is the merciful course

The Point of the Section

A great deal of loose ecclesiological argument runs through the word “economy,” in both directions: a relaxed practice is defended by invoking it and a strict one attacked for refusing it, and in neither case is the word doing work beyond signalling the speaker’s preference.

The canonical tradition is more precise. Economy presupposes that the canon is right and remains in force; it is the act of a physician who knows the treatment and adapts the dose; and it is bounded, most importantly by the rule that a bishop may adapt discipline and may not adapt dogma. These constraints are not modern rigorism — they are in Basil, in Trullo, and in the commentators.

Both of the hard questions later in the collection turn on this. Whether reception of a convert by chrismation is a recognition of his baptism or an economy over its absence is the question of section 06; whether the acts of hierarchs outside communion can be received by economy is one of the questions of section 09. Neither can be discussed until the word is fixed.

See Also