The Living Tradition An Orthodox Archive of the Church Fathers and Early Church

The canons of Nicaea — lesson 3

The canons today

Akribeia, oikonomia, and the difference between a canon that has lapsed and a canon that has changed.

  • Canonical normEstablished by a received canon of a council, or of a Father whose canons the Church has received. Canons are applied within the Church's pastoral and conciliar life; a canon is not a rule a reader applies to themselves or to anyone else.
  • Pastoral applicationHow a teaching is ordinarily applied in practice, under the guidance of a priest and bishop. Never a substitute for that guidance.
  • Jurisdiction-specific practicePractice varies legitimately between canonical Orthodox jurisdictions. Variation in practice is not variation in faith.

Primary evidence verified Content last reviewed 2026-08-29

What still needs checking (1)
  • Confirm the account of akribeia and oikonomia against an official Orthodox source or a qualified Orthodox canonist. This lesson currently rests on primary canonical texts and general description.

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What this lesson covers

  • Explain akribeia and oikonomia without turning either into a loophole.
  • Distinguish a canon whose application has changed from one that is void.
  • Say who applies the canons and who does not.

About 7 minutes to read.

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akribeia is strictness: applying a canon according to its full letter. oikonomia is the pastoral flexibility by which the Church applies a canon in the way that serves a person's salvation. Neither is a loophole, and neither is a private instrument.

Both are exercised by those with responsibility in the Church — a bishop, or a priest acting with his bishop's blessing — in relation to a particular person in a particular situation. A reader cannot grant themselves oikonomia, and cannot impose akribeia on someone else.

Lapsed, changed, or still in force

Still directly in force
Canon IV of Nicaea, on the ordination of a bishop by the bishops of the province with the metropolitan's confirmation, describes Orthodox practice now.
Principle in force, application changed
Canon XI assigns twelve years of penance. The graded public discipline is gone; the principle that repentance is worked out within the Church, and that restoration is its purpose, is not.
Addressed to conditions that no longer exist
Canon XII concerns soldiers who left the army for the faith under a persecuting emperor and bought their posts back. There is no modern equivalent, and the canon still shows how the Church weighed coercion against consent.
Historically conditioned in a way that requires saying so
Some canons of Trullo regulate relations between Christians and Jews in terms that belong specifically to their setting. Naming that is not embarrassment; it is accuracy about what kind of canon it is.

The reason the Church keeps the canons rather than replacing them is that they carry the memory of judgements the Church has already made. Reading them well is a way of consulting that memory, not of extracting rulings from it.

Key Scripture

  • Matthew 18:15-18 — The pattern of correction within the community.
  • 1 Corinthians 5 — Paul exercising something like akribeia.
  • 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 — The same apostle urging restoration, lest the person be overwhelmed.

On Scripture references. References are given so you can read the passage in the translation your parish uses. This site does not reproduce a modern copyrighted Bible text.

Council and canon connections

  • Canon II of Trullo names the collections the Orthodox Church receives.

Why this matters in lived Orthodoxy

In ordinary parish life oikonomia is invisible and constant: a fasting rule adjusted for illness, a marriage blessed after a pastoral inquiry, a convert received by chrismation rather than baptism. None of this is laxity, and none of it is the priest deciding the canons do not matter.

Review

Who exercises akribeia and oikonomia?
Those with pastoral responsibility in the Church — a bishop, or a priest with his bishop's blessing — in relation to a particular person.
Is a canon whose application has changed void?
No. The principle it protects can remain in force even where the specific arrangement no longer applies.

Your notes

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Going deeper

Sources for this page

  1. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) The Canons of the Council in Trullo, Canons I-CII annotated edition of conciliar texts Source record
  2. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) The Canons of the 318 Holy Fathers, Canons IV, XI and XII annotated edition of conciliar texts Source record

Tiers are explained in the methodology. No page on this site has been reviewed or approved by any bishop, priest, synod or seminary.