Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. III:
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret.: To Eulogius the Œconomus.

CV. To Eulogius the Œconomus. 1841

We have heard from many sources of your piety’s efforts on behalf of true religion. It is therefore right that you should readily succour one who is calumniated for the same cause, and should refute the reviler’s lies. You, O godly Sir, know what I hold, and what I teach, and that no one has ever heard of my preaching two sons. Exert, I implore you, in this case too your divine energy, and stop the mouths of the evil speakers. In conflicts of this kind one must help not only one’s friends but even those who have caused us pain.

Footnotes

In an ecclesiastical sense the title œconomus was used of

(i) the treasurer of a particular church: e.g. Cyriacus of Constantinople (Chron. Pasch. p. 378).

(ii) a diocesan official. The Council of Chalcedon ordered that every diocese should have its œconomus.

(iii) the custos monasterii, who had charge of the secular affairs of the monastery, as the diocesan œconomus of those of the diocese.