Friday, March 11, 2022

"Oikonomia" in Eastern Orthodoxy

  

Only in line with dogma

 

The principle of oikonomia [“flexibility”] is conditioned by theology and can never touch the substance of faith, go against dogma, or compromise with the truth. In other words, in matters of faith and doctrine, akribia [“exactness”] <<alone is valid>>. If not, okonomia would supercede the dogmas of the Church rather than preserve them, and become apostasia (apostasy). In Orthodoxy, this condition is so important that some consider it the only <<necessary presupposition>> concerning the exercise of oikonomia. (Kevin Schembri, Oikonomia, Divorce and Remarriage in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition [Kanonika 23; Valore, Italy: Pontificio Instituto Orientale, 2017], 113, comments in square brackets added for clarification [cf. p. 75])