Anathema

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(Greekanathema — literally, placed on high, suspended, set aside).

A term formerly indicating offerings made to the divinity which were suspended from the roof or walls oftemples for the purpose of being exposed to view. Thusanathema according to its etymology signifies a thing offered toGod. The wordanathema is sometimes used in this sense in theOld andNew Testaments: InJudith 16:23, it is said that Judith, having taken all the arms of Holofernes which the people had given him and the curtain of his bed which she herself had brought, offered them to the Lord as an anathema of oblivion. In II Mach., ix, 16, Antiochus promises to adorn with precious gifts (anathemata) the temple he has pillaged; and inLuke 21:5, mention is made of the temple built of precious stones and adorned with rich gifts (anathemata). As odious objects were also exposed to view, e.g. the head of a criminal or of an enemy, or his arms or spoils, the wordanathema came to signify a thinghated, or execrable, devoted to public abhorrence or destruction. "To understand the word anathema", says Vigouroux, "we should first go back to the real meaning ofherem of which it is the equivalent.Herem comes from the wordharam, to cut off, to separate, to curse, and indicates that which is cursed and condemned to be cut off or exterminated, whether aperson or a thing, and in consequence, that which man is forbidden to make use of." This is the sense of anathema in the following passage fromDeuteronomy 7:26: "Neither shalt thou bring anything of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema." Nations,individuals, animals, and inanimate objects may become anathema, i.e. cursed and devoted to destruction. It was thus that the people inhabiting the Promised Land were anathematized as Moses says (Deuteronomy 7:1, 2): "When . . . theLord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them." When a people was anathematized by the Lord, they were to be entirely exterminated. Saul was rejected byGod for having spared Agag, King of the Amalecites, amid the greater part of the booty (1 Samuel 15:9-23). Anyone who spared anything belonging to a man who had been declared anathema, became himself anathema. There is the story of Achan who had charge of the spoils ofJericho: "The anathema is in the midst of thee, OIsrael: thou canst not stand before thy enemies till he be destroyed out of thee that is defiled with this wickedness." Achan, with hisfamily amid herds, was stoned to death. Sometimes it is cities that are anathematized. When the anathema is rigorous all the inhabitants are to be exterminated, the city burned, and permission denied ever to rebuild it, and its riches offered toJehovah. This was the fate ofJericho (Joshua 6:17). If it is less strict, all the inhabitants are to beput to death, but the herds may be divided among the victors (Joshua 8:27). Theobligation of killing all inhabitants occasionally admits of exceptions in the case of young girls who remain captives in the hands of the conquerors (Numbers 31:18). The severity of the anathema in theOld Testament is explained by the necessity there was of preserving the Jewish people and protecting them against theidolatry professed by the neighbouringpagans.

In theNew Testament anathema no longer entails death, but the loss of goods or exclusion from thesociety of thefaithful.St. Paul frequently uses this word in the latter sense. In the Epistle to the Romans (9:3) he says: "For I wished myself to be an anathema fromChrist, for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh", i.e. "I should wish to be separated and rejected ofChrist, if by that means I would procure thesalvation of my brethren." And again, using the word in the same sense, he says (Galatians 1:9): "If any one preach to you a gospel besides that which you have received, let him be anathema." But he who is separated fromGod is united to thedevil, which explains whySt. Paul, instead of anathematizing, sometimes delivers aperson over toSatan (1 Timothy 1:20;1 Corinthians 5:5). Anathema signifies also to be overwhelmed with maledictions, as in1 Corinthians 16:22: "If any manlove notour Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema." At an earlydate theChurch adopted the wordanathema to signify the exclusion of a sinner from thesociety of the faithful; but the anathema was pronounced chiefly againstheretics. All the councils, from theCouncil of Nicæa to that of the Vatican, have worded their dogmatic canons: "If any one says . . . let him be anathema". Nevertheless, although during the first centuries the anathema did not seem to differ from the sentence ofexcommunication, beginning with the sixth century a distinction was made between the two. A Council ofTours desires that after three warnings there be recited in chorus Psalm cviii against the usurper of the goods of theChurch, that he may fall into the curse ofJudas, and "that he may be not onlyexcommunicated, but anathematized, and that he may be stricken by the sword ofHeaven". This distinction was introduced into the canons of theChurch, as isproved by the letter ofJohn VIII (872-82) found in theDecree of Gratian (c. III, q. V, c. XII): "Know that Engeltrude is not only under the ban ofexcommunication, which separates her from thesociety of the brethren, but under the anathema, which separates from the body ofChrist, which is theChurch." This distinction is found in the earliestDecretals, in the chapterCum non ab homine. In the same chapter, the tenth ofDecretals II, tit. i,Celestine III (1191-98), speaking of the measures it isnecessary to take in proceeding against acleric guilty of theft, homicide,perjury, or other crimes, says: "If, after having been deposed from office, he is incorrigible, he should first beexcommunicated; but if he perseveres in hiscontumacy he should be stricken with the sword of anathema; but if plunging to the depths of the abyss, he reaches the point where he despises these penalties, he should be given over to the secular arm." At a late period,Gregory IX (1227-41), bk. V, tit. xxxix, ch. lix,Si quem, distinguishes minorexcommunication, or that implying exclusion only from thesacraments, from majorexcommunication, implying exclusion from thesociety of thefaithful. He declares that it is majorexcommunication which is meant in all texts in which mention is made ofexcommunication. Since that time there has been no difference between majorexcommunication and anathema, except the greater or less degree ofceremony in pronouncing the sentence ofexcommunication.

Anathema remains a majorexcommunication which is to bepromulgated with great solemnity. A formula for thisceremony was drawn up byPope Zachary (741-52) in the chapterDebent duodecim sacerdotes, Cause xi, quest. iii. The Roman Pontifical reproduces it in the chapterOrdo excommunicandi et absolvendi, distinguishing three sorts ofexcommunication: minorexcommunication, formerly incurred by aperson holding communication with anyone under the ban ofexcommunication; majorexcommunication, pronounced by the Pope in reading a sentence; and anathema, or the penalty incurred by crimes of the gravest order, and solemnlypromulgated by thePope. In passing this sentence, the pontiff is vested inamice, stole, and a violet cope, wearing hismitre, and assisted by twelvepriests clad in theirsurplices and holding lighted candles. He takes his seat in front of the altar or in some other suitable place, amid pronounces the formula of anathema which ends with these words: "Wherefore in the name ofGod the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all thesaints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing inHeaven and on earth, we deprive N-- himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of theCommunion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we separate him from thesociety of allChristians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother theChurch inHeaven and on earth, we declare himexcommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned toeternal fire withSatan and hisangels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of thedemon, do penance and satisfy theChurch; we deliver him toSatan to mortify his body, that hissoul may be saved on the day of judgment." Whereupon all the assistants respond: "Fiat, fiat, fiat." The pontiff and the twelvepriests then cast to the ground the lighted candles they have been carrying, and notice is sent in writing to thepriests and neighbouringbishops of the name of the one who has beenexcommunicated and the cause of hisexcommunication, in order that they may have no communication with him. Although he is delivered toSatan and hisangels, he can still, and is even bound to repent. The Pontifical gives the form for absolving him and reconciling him with theChurch. Thepromulgation of the anathema with such solemnity is well calculated to strike terror to the criminal and bring him to a state of repentance, especially if theChurch adds to it theceremony of the Maranatha.

At the end of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, xvi, 22,St. Paul says, "If any manlove notour Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha," which means, "The Lord is come." But commentators have regarded this expression as a formula ofexcommunication very severe among theJews. This opinion, however, is not sustained by Vigouroux, "Dict. de la Bible" (s.v.Anathème). In theWestern Church, Maranatha has become a very solemn formula as anathema, by which the criminal isexcommunicated, abandoned to the judgment ofGod, and rejected from the bosom of theChurch until the coming of the Lord. An example of such an anathema is found in these words ofPope Silverius (536-38): "If anyone henceforth deceives abishop in such a manner, let him be anathema maranatha beforeGod and hisholy angels."Benedict XIV (1740-58--De Synodo dioecesana X, i) cites the anathema maranatha formulated by the Fathers of the Fourth Council of Toledo against those who were guilty of the crime of high treason: "He who dares to despise our decision, let him be stricken with anathema maranatha, i.e. may he be damned at the coming of the Lord, may he have his place withJudas Iscariot, he and his companions.Amen." There is frequent mention of this anathema maranatha in theBulls of erection forabbeys and other establishments. Still the anathema maranatha is a censure from which the criminal may be absolved; although he is delivered toSatan and hisangels, theChurch, in virtue of the Power of the Keys, can receive him once more into the communion of thefaithful. More than that, it is with this purpose in view that she takes such rigorous measures against him, in order that by themortification of his body hissoul may be saved on the last day. TheChurch, animated by thespirit of God, does not wish the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live. This explains why the most severe and terrifying formulas ofexcommunication, containing all the rigours of the Maranatha have, as a rule, clauses like this: Unless he becomes repentant, or gives satisfaction, or is corrected.

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