"Not all Easterners believe reading Meyendorff is a good idea! :)"
You can say that again! :-)
Seriously, I'd be interested in seeing what is being referred to here from Meyendorff about economia. The Paris school, from which M. came, is very big on economia and on cutting theological corners (by Orthodox standards.)
K's description of what economia does and doesn't mean is right on target. Economia always has to be considered in light of akrevia. This is to say, that when a bishop exercises economia for the sake of an individual soul, he is specifically acknowleging that this is not the way that things are supposed to be done. The bishop is making allowances for human weakness, within bounds considered acceptable by Orthodoxy as a whole.
When Kaspar writes that economia is "a superior wisdom that guides bishops and allows them to resolve problems that the laws cannot handle", this is simply not an accurate description at all. The application of akrevia is always preferable, and akrevia can handle anything. The question is rather whether *we* can handle the demands of akrevia. Economia is an acknowledgement of human weakness, not a "superior wisdom."
As a final note on this, it has been said that even akrevia is an exercise of economia, in the sense that the entire work of salvation by God is an act of great condescension to man. It is only in this sense that economia can be thought of as a "superior wisdom" -- i.e. having the wisdom to see the inner and deep meanings of the practices of akrevia, while keeping the strict practices of akrevia. All of us as Orthodox Christians have encountered someone in our lives who live out a very strict praxis, yet do so in a way that is organic and not at all legalistic. This is true economia in action, by these lights.
What Kaspar seems to be suggesting is that economia means that the rules can be rewritten. Nothing could be farther from the truth in the Orthodox understanding. One stuggles to imagine Kaspar saying to a divorced and remarried Catholic, "it is wrong for you to be divorced and remarried, and wrong for you to commune, but I'm going to allow it in this particular situation because I think it is in the best interest of saving your soul." I would imagine that he would want rather simply to say "it's OK for Catholics to divorce and remarry."
"Seriously, I'd be interested in seeing what is being referred to here from Meyendorff about economia. The Paris school, from which M. came, is very big on economia and on cutting theological corners (by Orthodox standards.)"
My bad!!! A misquote! It wasn't Meyendorff I was thinking of, it was an essay written by John H Erickson in St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 29 (1985). It was entitled "The Problem of Sacramental "Economy""