[B-Greek] OIKONOMIA

Dave Smith (REL110, 211,212) rel21x at charter.net
Wed May 17 21:09:49 EDT 2006


Barbara,

This is a good point, but we should be careful with synchronistic and
diachronistic meanings here. What a word came to mean in the technical
termonology of the Greek Orthodox Chruch or English, the word ecumenical
being a derivation of OIKOMENH, may have little to do with the usage of a
word at a different period of time. But, there is some parallel between what
you say and the meaning of OIKONOMIA, in that it is a way of dealing with
certain matters, or how to administer or even distrubite resources within a
community and manage the workforce. This word was often used of the
administration of household affairs, the agent/manager being the OIKONOMOS,
and the employees/servants being the OIKETIA, OIKETHS, PAIS, and DOULOS. The
owner was the KURIOS or OIKODESPOTHS.

Dave Smith
Hudson, NC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <babc2 at comcast.net>
To: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 20:29
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] OIKONOMIA


> On 17 May 2006 at 15:43, Mitch Larramore wrote:
>
> > Early Christian Doctrines, by J.N.D. Kelly, has this
> > on page 68:
> >
> > ...Justin, when he argued that, for example, Leah and
> > Rachel prefigured the Synagogue and the Church, or
> > that the polygamy of the patriarchs was a 'mystery'
> > (OIKONOMIA).
> >
> You people are all far better informed concerning everything Greek
> than I am, but reading the above immediately brings to my mind the
> Orthodox use of "economy"  to mean something like a concession to
> human frailty (such as permitting remarriage after divorce).
>
> Barbara D. Colt, babc2 at comcast.net
> St John the Evangelist, San Francisco
> >From envy, hatred, and malice and all uncharitableness
> Good Lord, deliver us!
>
>
>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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>



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